About his life
William Shakespeare was born on 23rd April, 1564, in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. He moved to London at around 1585 to begin his acting apprenticeship.
Between 1593 and 1601 Shakespeare composed his famous sonnets. His poetic work examines the passage of time and the failure of language to immortalize beauty and love. Here is some more information about the Shakespearean (or English) sonnet.
In 1594 Shakespeare joined one of the most well-known troupes of London, the Lord Chamberlaine’s Men. By 1599, the troupe had enough money to build the Globe Theatre. Globe became the playhouse where audiences first saw some of Shakespeare’s best known plays.
Shakespeare wrote Tragedies, Comedies and Histories. The common elements in Shakespearean comedies are: happy ending, love triangles, misidentifications, miscommunications, and clever servants. The common elements in Shakespeare’s tragedies are: tragic events, betrayal and death. The protagonist’s demise is caused by a fatal defect in their character. The common elements in Shakespearean histories are: political disputes, power struggles, and power dynamics.
About his Influence
Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Hamlet and King Lear are ranked best among the world’s greatest plays. Hamlet is the most adapted play, at least for the cinema industry, with 79 versions in circulation. The movie The Lion King (1994), loosely based on Hamlet, is the most popular and successful adaptation of Shakespeare’s plays. Over his career Shakespeare invented thousands of words. He would combine or contort French, Latin and other roots to create new words and coin new expressions (neologisms). His opening line from a monologue in “As You Like It” is one of the most influential quotes of all time: “All the world ‘s a stage and all the men and women merely players“.
