Happy Birthday Shakespeare
23/04/12 05:37
Today is the traditional date for the birth of William Shakespeare. The actual date of his birth is not known, but church records show that he was baptized on April 26, 1564. In those days in that region it was typical for children to be presented for baptism 3 days after their birth. History does conclusively reveal that April 23 was the date of Shakespeare’s death. He died in 1616. He was 52 years old and retired to Stratford three years before.
Details about Shakespeare’s life are few and sketchy. He was not a noble and in England at that time that meant that the details of his life were not recorded. He was the son of John Shakespeare, a leather trader and the town bailiff. After his baptism, the next official record is of his marriage to Anne Hathaway at age 18. She was eight years his senior and their first daughter, Susannna, was born six months later. You do the math. It was as common in those days as it is today.
It is likely that he attended grammar school in Stratford. If so he would have studied Latin and read classical literature. He did not go to university.
The first record of Shakespeare as a playwright came in 1592. It was a decade after his marriage and the reference is a bad review by Robert Greene. Green died shortly after writing his derogatory comments. It is believed that Shakespeare had written Henry VI by that point. The next year, in 1593, Venus and Adonis was the first of his poems to be published. By 1594 he was a part of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, a company of actors that grew to become England’s finest and most famous. They became the Kings’ Men when James I ascended to the throne in 1603. Richard III, The Comedy of Errors, The Taming of the Shrew, Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream were all produced before 1599. That was the year that Shakespeare became a part owner of the Globe Theatre.
Today, Shakespeare’s plays are performed more often and in more nations than ever before. His popularity continues to grow nearly 400 years after his death. His plays and sonnets have been translated into most of the world’s languages. This year’s World Shakespeare Festival will feature 70 productions of the Bard’s plays translated into languages from all over the world.
In Eastern Europe the plays are associated with freedom. Before the fall of the Soviet Union, actors inserted messages of freedom into the plays in many countries. Lithuanian rockstar Andrius Mamontovas has been playing Hamlet for 15 years. In Armenia, Shakespeare is becoming a common first name for boys. There is a sort of hero worship of the playwright. In South Sudan, Zimbabwe, and other African countries, Shakespeare has been translated into Shona, Arabic, and many other languages.
Shakespeare lived in pivotal times. The Protestant Reformation was in full swing. Luther’s 95 theses, written in 1517, are often cited as the beginning of the Reformation. Although the Bible had been translated into English earlier, the King James Version was produced during Shakespeare’s life. The translation was begun in 1604 and completed in 1611. Although the translator’s work was compromised by the royal order that the new version would conform to the ecclesiology and Episcopal structure of the Church of England, it is in common use to this day. It is commonly cited alongside the works of Shakespeare as major contributors to the standardization of written English.
Think of this. Shakespeare composed all of his sonnets and plays without the aid of a dictionary. Although wordlists, glossaries and lexicons existed, there was nothing similar to a modern dictionary produced by the time that Shakespeare did his work. During his life, Robert Cawdrey published his Table Alphabeticall in 1604. Note that spelling had not yet been standardized. The world would have to wait another 149 years before Samuel Johnson’s work became the standard of English Language dictionaries with categories and expressions as well as single worlds.
The spirit of Reformation that was sweeping the church was reflected in social structures and governments as well. Although Shakespeare did not live to see the American Revolution, the concepts that underlie modern democracies were being formed during his life. Some of those concepts are expressed in his plays, thus explaining the contemporary popularity of the plays in countries where democracy is still emerging.
Johannes Gutenberg had invented his moveable type printing press in 1439, long before the time of Shakespeare, but it took a long time for the effects of that invention to unfold. The world was in the midst of a huge transition of literacy. For thousands of years oral language was the standard of communication. Things that were written were deemed to be less trustworthy because of the commonness of errors in hand-copying documents. The press made it possible for consistency in written documents. Shakespeare did his work at the intersection of those two approaches to language. He produced written language intended for oral communication. His sonnets cry to be read out loud. His plays can be boring to read. It is only when they are acted that they come alive. The printed words demand an oral presentation.
Whether or not we are aware of it, our ideas are deeply influenced by the works of Shakespeare. His plays have been the standard of high school English for all of our lives. Our parents and grandparents studied Shakespeare. It is likely that our grandchildren will study his works as well.
Wikipedia lists 410 feature-length film and TV versions of Shakespeare’s plays. According to that source William Shakespeare is the most filmed author ever in any language. There have been significant adaptations in television and movies, of course. Who can forget the 1979 Canadian classic Romie-O and Julie-8? OK, who can remember it?
It is impossible to know what Shakespeare might have thought had he known that he would achieve such popularity so long after his death. It is likely that he would have been a bit more careful in his writing. Perhaps he would have held back a little, fearing that the impact would be far different than the intention. Who knows? Such is the fate of publication. It is the fate of all art. Once it is released, the interpretation cannot be controlled.
So we wish a happy birthday to William Shakespeare. His impact continues to spread throughout the world. And, for those of us who come after him, there is no problem deciding whether to acknowledge him on the day of his birth or the day of his death. April 23 seems to work all around.
Details about Shakespeare’s life are few and sketchy. He was not a noble and in England at that time that meant that the details of his life were not recorded. He was the son of John Shakespeare, a leather trader and the town bailiff. After his baptism, the next official record is of his marriage to Anne Hathaway at age 18. She was eight years his senior and their first daughter, Susannna, was born six months later. You do the math. It was as common in those days as it is today.
It is likely that he attended grammar school in Stratford. If so he would have studied Latin and read classical literature. He did not go to university.
The first record of Shakespeare as a playwright came in 1592. It was a decade after his marriage and the reference is a bad review by Robert Greene. Green died shortly after writing his derogatory comments. It is believed that Shakespeare had written Henry VI by that point. The next year, in 1593, Venus and Adonis was the first of his poems to be published. By 1594 he was a part of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, a company of actors that grew to become England’s finest and most famous. They became the Kings’ Men when James I ascended to the throne in 1603. Richard III, The Comedy of Errors, The Taming of the Shrew, Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream were all produced before 1599. That was the year that Shakespeare became a part owner of the Globe Theatre.
Today, Shakespeare’s plays are performed more often and in more nations than ever before. His popularity continues to grow nearly 400 years after his death. His plays and sonnets have been translated into most of the world’s languages. This year’s World Shakespeare Festival will feature 70 productions of the Bard’s plays translated into languages from all over the world.
In Eastern Europe the plays are associated with freedom. Before the fall of the Soviet Union, actors inserted messages of freedom into the plays in many countries. Lithuanian rockstar Andrius Mamontovas has been playing Hamlet for 15 years. In Armenia, Shakespeare is becoming a common first name for boys. There is a sort of hero worship of the playwright. In South Sudan, Zimbabwe, and other African countries, Shakespeare has been translated into Shona, Arabic, and many other languages.
Shakespeare lived in pivotal times. The Protestant Reformation was in full swing. Luther’s 95 theses, written in 1517, are often cited as the beginning of the Reformation. Although the Bible had been translated into English earlier, the King James Version was produced during Shakespeare’s life. The translation was begun in 1604 and completed in 1611. Although the translator’s work was compromised by the royal order that the new version would conform to the ecclesiology and Episcopal structure of the Church of England, it is in common use to this day. It is commonly cited alongside the works of Shakespeare as major contributors to the standardization of written English.
Think of this. Shakespeare composed all of his sonnets and plays without the aid of a dictionary. Although wordlists, glossaries and lexicons existed, there was nothing similar to a modern dictionary produced by the time that Shakespeare did his work. During his life, Robert Cawdrey published his Table Alphabeticall in 1604. Note that spelling had not yet been standardized. The world would have to wait another 149 years before Samuel Johnson’s work became the standard of English Language dictionaries with categories and expressions as well as single worlds.
The spirit of Reformation that was sweeping the church was reflected in social structures and governments as well. Although Shakespeare did not live to see the American Revolution, the concepts that underlie modern democracies were being formed during his life. Some of those concepts are expressed in his plays, thus explaining the contemporary popularity of the plays in countries where democracy is still emerging.
Johannes Gutenberg had invented his moveable type printing press in 1439, long before the time of Shakespeare, but it took a long time for the effects of that invention to unfold. The world was in the midst of a huge transition of literacy. For thousands of years oral language was the standard of communication. Things that were written were deemed to be less trustworthy because of the commonness of errors in hand-copying documents. The press made it possible for consistency in written documents. Shakespeare did his work at the intersection of those two approaches to language. He produced written language intended for oral communication. His sonnets cry to be read out loud. His plays can be boring to read. It is only when they are acted that they come alive. The printed words demand an oral presentation.
Wikipedia lists 410 feature-length film and TV versions of Shakespeare’s plays. According to that source William Shakespeare is the most filmed author ever in any language. There have been significant adaptations in television and movies, of course. Who can forget the 1979 Canadian classic Romie-O and Julie-8? OK, who can remember it?
It is impossible to know what Shakespeare might have thought had he known that he would achieve such popularity so long after his death. It is likely that he would have been a bit more careful in his writing. Perhaps he would have held back a little, fearing that the impact would be far different than the intention. Who knows? Such is the fate of publication. It is the fate of all art. Once it is released, the interpretation cannot be controlled.
So we wish a happy birthday to William Shakespeare. His impact continues to spread throughout the world. And, for those of us who come after him, there is no problem deciding whether to acknowledge him on the day of his birth or the day of his death. April 23 seems to work all around.