Essay, Biography or Paragraph on “William Shakespeare” great author complete biography for Class 10, Class 12 and Graduation and other classes.

William Shakespeare

(1564-1616)

3 Essay on “William Shakespeare”

Essay No. 01

William Shakespeare was a noted actor, poet, and playwright. He was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, a small country town. Shakespeare was the eldest son of Mary Arden, the daughter of a local landowner, and her husband, John Shakespeare (c. 1530-1601), a glover and wood dealer. Hamlet was first printed in 1603. It is Shakespeare’s largest drama, based on a lost play known as the Ur-Hamlet.

Shakespeare was known in his day as a very rapid writer: “His mind and hand went together,” his publishers Heminges and Condell reported, “and what he thought, he uttered in that easiness that we have scarce received from him a blot n his papers.” Despite all the praise, some writers were not enthusiastic about his plays. Shakespeare wrote also two heroic narrative poems, Venus and Adonis (1593) and Lucrece (1594). His sonnets were written earliest by 1598 and published in 1609. Shakespeare’s name was also on the title page of The Passionate Pilgrim (1599), issued by the publisher William Jaggard. The identity of the brunette, who appeared in Shakespeare’s later poems, has been a mystery. Romeo and Juliet were based on real lovers who lived in Verona, Italy and died for each other in the year 1303. At that time the Capulets and Montagues were among the inhabitants of the town. Shakespeare found the tale in Arthur Brooke’s poem The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet (1562). The play has inspired other works, such as Berlioz’s dramatic symphony (1839), Tchaikovsky’s fantasy-overture (1869-80), and Prokofiev’s full-length ballet (1938). The Tempest often considered Shakespeare’s farewell to his theatrical art, has inspired Berlioz, Tchaikovsky, and Jean Sibelius, who wrote music for it in 1926. About 1610 Shakespeare returned to his birthplace, where he had a house, called New Place. He lived as a country gentleman, drank beer, and -co-wrote with John Fletcher The Two Noble Kinsmen, first published in 1634. The original Globe burned down in 1613 but was rebuilt the next year. Shakespeare’s later plays were also performed at the Blackfriars Theatre, which was run by a seven-man syndicate. Shakespeare was one of its members. Shakespeare’s comp the  Under the patronage of King James I, the company the Globe in the summer, and the indoor Blackfrian in the winter. Under the patronage of King James I, the company also performed at court, more often than during the region of Queen Elizabeth. The dramatist John Dennis (1657-1734) claimed, that The Merry witches and portrayal of the legendary ancestor of the Stuart kings, Banquo, had a special appeal to James. He had also written a book about demonology. 

Shakespeare died on April 23, 1616.

Essay No. 02

William Shakespeare

England: Dramatic Genius and Poet

Birth: 1564        Death: 1616

William Shakespeare has been admired in every age and in every country for the beauty and excellence of his literary creations. It is not only English literature but also world literature that is incomplete without Shakespeare. In his dramatic career that lasted for 24 years, Shakespeare wrote more than thirty plays which include some of the world’s most well-known dramatic tragedies and comedies. Shakespeare’s most famous tragedies are Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra, Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, and King Lear. And Shakespeare’s best-known comedies are Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It Twelfth Night, Mid summer’s Night Dream, The Taming of the Shrew, and The Merchant of Venice. However, Hamlet is considered his greatest work. It is worth noting here that while heroes and heroines of Shakespearean comedies are mostly romantic youths, his tragedies mainly center around middle-aged persons.

William Shakespeare was born on 23rd April 1564, at Stratford-upon-Avon. At 18, he started making an independent living and married Anne Hathaway who was eight years older than him. Besides his business, he also acted in a London theatre. His first written piece of work was a long poem Venus and Adonis published in 1593. This poem became very popular. In 1611, he bade farewell to the stage and returned to Stratford where he died in April 1616.

So few facts are known about Shakespeare’s life that many doubt whether he was the real author of the works attributed to him. Some names which have been put forward as the probable real author(s) of his works are the Earl of Oxford, Beaumont, Fletcher, and Christopher Marlowe. Whatever be the substance of truth in these conjectures, it is an incontrovertible fact that a person called Shakespeare lived, who was admired for his works and liked for his qualities.

Essay No. 03

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) is considered to be the world’s most famous and prolific writer in the English language. He was born in England. His most famous writings are: ‘Romeo and Juliet’, `Julius Caesar’, ‘Antony and Cleopatra’, ‘Hamlet’, ‘Othello’, `Macbeth’, ‘King Lear’, and ‘The Merchant of Venice.’ His multifaceted talent to write poetries, tragedies, comedies, romances, and historical plays made him the greatest literary genius. It is not only English literature but also world literature is incomplete without Shakespeare. He passed away in 1616 but left behind a legacy of work for which new interpretations are being given even today.

William Shakespeare was born on 2 April 1564 in Stratford upon Avon, Warwickshire, England. His early life was spent in his birthplace. He attended the local Grammar School there. At the age of 18, he started making an independent living. He married Anne Hathaway, “a local girl of Stratford-upon-Avon. The couple had a daughter, Susanna, and twins, Hamnet and Judith.

In the 1580s, he went to London for higher studies. By 1584, he had emerged as a rising playwright in London. He worked, enjoyed fame and prosperity as a member of London’s leading theatre company.

This company was known as the Lord Chamberlain’s Company. The exact order in which Shakespeare’s plays were written or first produced is not known. Before entering a literary career, he took to acting on stage. Then he started rewriting old plays that helped him in developing his writing genius. It also provided him the opportunity to study the necessities of the Elizabethan stage and the defects of other writers.

He has multifaceted talent in writing poetry, tragedies, comedies, romances, and historical plays with equal ease. This writing ability made him the greatest literacy genius of-English literature of all ages.

The most famous early romantic tragedy he wrote was ‘Romeo and Juliet’ (1594/95). In the second phase of his writings, the important works he had produced comprised mostly comedies. These include The Merchant of Venice (1598/99) and some histories such as Henry IV (1598/99) and Julius Caesar.

In the early years of the 17th century, Shakespeare produced his great tragedies. Their main tragedies are Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth. These four works mark the summit of his art and one of the high points in the history of Western literature.

William Shakespeare’s last plays combine elements of romance, comedy, and tragedy. The Winters Tale (1610/11) and The Tempest 1611/12) are clearly experimental. They are light-hearted and fanciful but basically tragic in form.

He continued to live in London till 1610. By then he had earned fame and prosperity for these writings. He passed away in 1616 and the world lost one of its greatest dramatists of all time.

William Shakespeare has been admired in every age and in every country for the beauty and excellence of his literary writings. Today, even after 400 years, his plays are as fresh and remarkable as they were when first acted in the theatres.