William Shakespeare example essay topic

William Shakespeare's Life William Shakespeare was an English playwright and poet. He was recognized in much of the world as the greatest of all dramatists. Many editions of his plays have been published, including translations in all major languages. His plays have probably been performed more times than those of any other dramatist.

He was born like four hundred years ago at the village of Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire, and I use the word "like" because the actual birthdate of William Shakespeare is not known, although, according to Shakespeare Online (2000), April 23, 1564 has been Shakespeare's accepted birthdate. At that time the only date of importance was the date of baptism, though infants often were baptized when they were three days old. No doubt Shakespeare's true birthday will remain a mystery forever. His father was John Shakespeare and his mother was Mary Arden.

William was indeed lucky to survive to adulthood in the sixteenth century. Waves of the plague, which killed some of his seven siblings, swept across the countryside, and pestilence ravaged Stratford, during the hot summer months. The whole family was Anglican. At age of four or five, Shakespeare started attending a proper grammar school, where he learned how to read and write. He began his education at the age of six or seven.

He attended the King's New School at Stratford. When he was a teenager, he is supposed to have worked for a butcher, in addition to helping run his father's business (farm products and wool.) William's daily activities after he left school and before he re-emerged as a professional actor in the late 1580's are impossible to trace. He married at the age of eighteen a twenty-six-years-old pregnant orphan named Anne Hathaway. He had three children: Susanna and the twins, Hamlet and Judith. Shakespeare was a play writing genius. In 22 years, between 1590 and 1612, Shakespeare wrote a total 37 types of play.

One of the keys for his success was the addition of surprise ending to each of his plays. This element pleased his audience. Overall, his literary works can be classified into three groups: (romantic) comedy, historical, and tragedy. Among his comedies, we can find "The Tempest", "The Two Gentlemen of Verona" and "The Merry Wives of Windsor."King John" and "King Richard II" are two of the nine histories he wrote. He also wrote twelve tragedies, like "Coriolanus" and "Titus Andronicus".

His most prominent works are the well-known tragedies of "Romeo and Juliet", "Othello", "Hamlet", and, in my opinion, the beautiful comedy "A Mid-Summer Night's Dream". Shakespeare died at the age of 52 on April 23, 1616 if you think about the Julian calendar of his time, or Gregorian calendar date May 3, 1616. The nature of his final illness is unknown. There's a legend that says that William Shakespeare died because, while in a merry meeting, he drank too much and that caused him a sudden death. There's no surviving painting of Shakespeare so we don't know exactly how he looked like.