Shakespeare and Me: The Man or the Myth?

The Man from Stratford

On the 23rd April 1564 a child was born. John and Mary Shakespeare were quite ordinary parents, of farming decent, who had become prosperous and advanced into trading wool and leather in the typical country town of Stratford Upon Avon, Warwickshire, England. When the newborn William Shakespeare was brought into the world, little did his parents know that their child would go on to remarkably produce forty plays along with sonnets and poems in a fifty-two year lifetime. What's more, these writings would go on to be declared the greatest body of work in the English language, entering the hearts and minds of the world, being produced in every major language known to man.

So, how did a son of a trader in the middle of the English countryside go on to achieve such worldwide acclaim? Well, the majority of his work he wrote between 1580 and 1613 where he produces his own work as an actor/writer in a theatre company known as the Lord Chamberlain's Men who occupied the Rose and Curtain theatre in Shoreditch, London. From there his work became popular and well known publicly resulting in him being able to produce his plays on a larger scale in the world renowned Globe Theatre, which still stands on the banks of the River Thames.

Shakespeare's journey to the top doesn't stop there as in 1603 he gained Royal patronage from King James I, meaning his work was enjoyed by the crown and thus was the height of Jacobean fashion. People would flock to the Globe to see his plays and his name began to spread across the ever expanding British Empire, planting the seed for his posthumous surge in international popularity.

You may have noticed that there is a gap in my brief biography of the immortal bard: between 1583 and 1592. This is a grey area for historians where there are no records as to what Shakespeare was doing. Naturally, there has been much speculation as to why we do not know. The mystery of this blank space in his history along with the magnitude of the plays and their importance has lead many to doubt whether it was indeed Shakespeare who wrote the body of plays that we attribute to him! Was the Shakespeare of Stratford the same Shakespeare who appears in London in 1594? Over the next few chapters I hope to explore the various theories as to whether he wrote the plays and delve further into the great man's background and, of course, his incredible mind.

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