William Shakespeare - The man behind the writing

William Shakespeare was born sometime around the 26th April 1564 and died on the 23rd 1616. He is the world's most pre-eminent playwright and is universally known for his sonnets, poems and creation of words and linguistics that hadn't previously existed. His repertoire consists of aproximately 38 full length plays, 154 Sonnets and two long narrative poems. However it is believed that this one single man was responsible for all of the literary accomplishments that have been afforded to him. His entire life is shrouded in mystery as few records were kept in those days; some say some success could be attributed to his contemporaries, other writers, aliens or even time travel. Either way what can be said that his influence has affected western literature for hundreds of years and will continue to do so for aeons. 

Shakespeare was raised in Stratford Upon Avon which back then was a small market town with a population of around 1,000 people. In 1553 King Edward VI re-founded the grammar school and invested in the infrastructure of the town. This meant that it was now a good place to live and it's young citizens could get an education. Shakespeare was one of the lucky ones who was affluent to be afforded an education. However he didn't favour school and in one of his plays he mocked the institution. Even so this is where he learnt to read and write. Later on in his career he would use features from Greek tragedy, old stories/legends/literature; this meant that he found material he liked and improved upon it by refining; editing and re-writing tales to fit the audience he was trying to please. 

William Shakespeare was born into a prosperous family that would have been considered middle class for the time which is rare considering most of the population lived in poverty. His mother was the daughter of a local farmer, his father a tradesman with good business. However his family life wasn't perfect as he lost his two older sisters to the plague (1 in 5 people died in Stratford during this time period). This could have had an effect on the way he wrote; for example a lot of his work centres around sibling relations: - from reunion in twelfth night and comedy of errors to the loss in King Lear. Also growing up with a socially mobile mother could have influenced his views on the female place within society; this was because he writes complex, three dimensional, diverse women throughout most of his plays. 

In 1582 William Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway; he was just 18 years old when this occurred. This was unorthodox for the time as most men got married late so they could learn a trade and build a life and the women were young so they could bare the children. This relationship must have been based around something more than social conformity. Maybe it was true love? Anyway six months later she gave birth to his first daughter, coincidence? perhaps. Another important relationship that took place was the subject of his sonnets which were already dedicated to another man. Many theories surround this controversy but one popular proposal is that they were written to make another noble become "interested" in the subject if love and make him go off and wed a wife!