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January 21, 2017
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William Shakespeare humanist, playwright and Renaissance man
No one knows the truth about Shakespeare, there are only legends, opinions, some documents and his great works.
No one has surpassed Shakespeare as a playwright.
The role of Hamlet, created in the XVI century — all actors dream about it, like athletes about a gold medal at the Olympics.
Shakespeare's plays are still being staged, film studios are making films based on his works, and regardless of whether the characters are dressed in historical costumes or modern clothes (as in the Hollywood film "Shakespeare", for example) — all the dialogues and thoughts sound very relevant.
What explains the phenomenon of Shakespeare as a poet and playwright?
First of all, by the fact that even then, in the Renaissance, he touched on universal values.
He literally "blew up" the drama of that time when he showed the inner world of a person on the stage, turning edifying and farcical plots into immortal works.
William Shakespeare was a humanist.
The ideals of the Renaissance, where Man was the main thing, his ability to love and the power of personality, he transferred to the stage.
There are various information about his biography.
At various times, "anti Shakespeare" campaigns were started, where his authorship was disputed.
But this only underlines the importance of his work.
From the biography
William Shakespeare was born in Stratford, a small town on the banks of the river, on April 23, 1564.
His mother, Marie Ardin, came from a noble family, his father was a wealthy citizen and at one time played serious roles in local politics — he was the mayor of the town and an alderman.
His father owned several houses in Stratford, he sold grain, wool and meat, so little William had the opportunity to study at the local "grammar" school.
The school taught the basics of rhetoric and grammar, but the main subject was Latin: students read in the originals of the great thinkers and poets of antiquity Seneca, Ovid, Virgil, Horace, Cicero.
Acquaintance with the works of the best minds of his time was reflected in the future on his work.
At the same time, living in a small provincial town, where everyone knew each other and communicated regardless of class, Shakespeare was well acquainted with the life of ordinary citizens.
He became a connoisseur of folklore, and many features of future heroes were copied from local residents.
Savvy servants, prim nobles, suffering people who were cramped within the conventions — all these characters appeared later in his comedies and tragedies.
Taurus according to the horoscope, William was distinguished by hard work, especially since he had to start working very early — from the age of 16, because his father got confused in business and could not support the whole family.
Biographical information about this time varies.
According to one source, William worked as a village teacher.
According to another legend, he was an apprentice in a butcher's shop, and, according to legend, he was already a humanist — before slaughtering animals, "he made a solemn speech over them."
At the age of eighteen, William married Anna Hathaway, who was 26 years old at the time.
Three years after his marriage, he moved to London.
According to legend, Shakespeare fled from a local landowner who pursued him because William killed deer in the nobleman's domain (it was considered valor to kill a rich man's deer).
In London, Shakespeare got a job in the theater.
He looked after the horses of visitors, and was at first a" playpatcher "("playpatcher"), or, in modern language, a rewriter — he processed old plays for new productions.
He probably tried himself as an actor, but did not become famous.
Soon Shakespeare became a playwright of the theater.
His work was appreciated by his contemporaries during his lifetime in 1599, when the Globe Theater was formed, Shakespeare became one of the shareholders.
Apparently, in material terms, his life turned out well.
About creativity
Shakespeare is as important for England as Pushkin is for Russia.
In tragedies, and especially comedies, Shakespeare widely used the turns of folk speech, which later organically entered the literary language.
But the value of his work was not only in this.
For 20 years of his creative life, he created something that has remained relevant for five centuries.
His sonnets, tragedies and comedies have become classics.
Thanks to Shakespeare, new ideas and a new outlook on life appeared in literature.
In the theater, real people became the heroes on the stage, and not carriers of strictly defined ideas, as was typical of the dramaturgy of that time.
William took as a basis common plots, and brought to them the advanced ideas of that time the Renaissance.
The well known and beloved comedy "The Taming of the Shrew" is one of the examples.
The comedy is based on the plot of a Domostroevsky farce, when a man, in general, rude and narrow — minded Fernando, tames the "obstinate" and quarrelsome Katarina.
At the end, Katarina gives a monologue in which she glorifies the patriarchy, and the essence of which is how wonderful it is to be a married submissive wife.
Shakespeare in his comedy "The Taming of the Shrew" went beyond the farce, showing the humanistic ideals of that time.
Katarina is no longer a grumpy aunt, but a girl who suffers from the conventions of that time and from the behavior of her father, who simply needs to marry his daughters faster to increase capital.
The beautiful sister Bianca is popular with men and really wants to get married, and Katarina, because of her character — from birth strong and active (the ideal of the Renaissance), is fighting for her happiness.
She does not want to get married just like that, just to please her father — she wants to love and be loved.
At the same time, the image of the father is comical — he himself suffers from the inappropriate behavior of his daughter, who enjoys a bad reputation among the local male population, and therefore sleeps and sees when there is a brave and necessarily very rich!
- a man, in order to get rid of the manifestations of the character of the eldest daughter as soon as possible.
In this comedy, in addition to an interesting plot and funny dialogues, Shakespeare managed to show several ideas that are still modern, and in some countries they can even be called advanced.
In general, the essence of the play is not to glorify the resourcefulness of men, and not even the equality of men and women.
Shakespeare here showed the "equivalence" of a man and a woman who harmoniously complement each other, and the last monologue of the "submissive" wife Katarina is just about this.
In her words, there is a respectful attitude towards her husband:
"...
Taking care of you
He works on land and at sea,
Does not sleep at night in a storm, tolerates the cold,
While you're at home basking in the warmth,
Not knowing the dangers and hardships.
And all he wants from you is love,
A friendly look, obedience —
A paltry payment for his labors."
Katarina did not just make a scandal, but proved her value as a person who needs a worthy partner.
Petruchio turned out to be so brave and resourceful, who was sincerely interested in the girl (although money played a primary role).
The second idea, which is quite veiled, but reflects the Russian proverb "Not all that glitters is gold", was the behavior of the charmer Bianca, who also revealed her character: "So you behave even more stupid, since you bet money on my submission."
On the other hand, why not see in this phrase that Bianca just learned something from her sister in the course of the play?
The first period of creativity is characterized by a special brightness and cheerfulness.
Shakespeare created a brilliant series of comedies during these years: in addition to" The Taming of the Shrew", the plays" Twelfth Night", "A Midsummer Night's Dream", "As You Like It", "Much Ado about Nothing" are widely known.
Shakespeare's sonnets belong to the first period of his work.
They are widely known, but it is interesting that, unlike their predecessors, the poet sings friendship in sonnets.
According to Shakespeare, it is richer than the passion of love.
Various thoughts and feelings of the poet found expression in the sonnets.
He talks about friendship, love, and fr... the state.
Even the cycle of historical chronicles bloody dramas ("Henry IV"," Henry V"), written at this time, is not so gloomy: everything ends with the triumph of the main character, there is also a comedic character — Sir Falstaff.
Perhaps here Shakespeare whether he wanted to or not tried to show life as it is — with joy and tragedy.
Later, he will not be so cheerful.
The tragedy "Hamlet" opens the second stage of the poet and playwright's work.
There is no more wild fun here, and the heroes of the winners are increasingly turning into victims, but they still fight and live.
Almost all actors dream of playing Hamlet, because the inner world of Hamlet unfolds on the stage, his tossing, suffering, the torment of choice.
At the same time, Hamlet is trying to comprehend his actions, he thinks hard about life and does not see a way out even in death.
When would it not be the fear of something after death,
An unknown country, from where no one
The traveler has not yet returned.
This is what shakes and confuses the will,
What makes us endure suffering more quickly,
Than to run away to other, unknown troubles,
Yes, doubt makes us cowardly...
After meeting with the ghost of his father, Hamlet's life turns upside down.
And if he used to be a gentle dreamer and an enlightened person, now the world has turned upside down and appeared to be its other side: "How boring, dull and unnecessary, it seems to me, everything in the world is!
Oh, abomination!".
Vowing to take revenge on his father, Hamlet makes a difficult choice and decides to destroy the murderer of his father — Claudius.
But hatred and murder entail serious consequences: Hamlet kills the innocent Polonius, becoming the cause of madness and the death of his beloved woman Ophelia.
His mother, the queen and the current wife of Claudius, also becomes a victim, although the goals of both Hamlet and Claudius coincide — the former wants to remove the queen from the "dense clot of meat", as he calls Claudius, and Claudius wants to keep the throne and his wife.
But the queen drinks the poison intended for Hamlet, and dies.
In the tragedy of one murder, a whole series of deaths unfolds.
Along the way, Shakespeare in" Hamlet " shows other aspects of the life of society, which Hamlet (following the author) considers unfair.
We are talking about a scene where 20 thousand soldiers — ordinary people are sent by the nobleman to death for the sake of a piece of land in Poland, for the rent of which it is a pity to give "five ducats".
And although Hamlet makes his own conclusion — about his own indecision, but the topic of the non value of human life has already been identified.
Thousands of volumes of interpretations of "Hamlet" have been written — every researcher finds something of his own in it.
Every actor and director puts on a tragedy in order to also show his own, to highlight some of his accents, and they all turn out to be fair.
And this once again underlines the grandiosity of Shakespeare as a playwright.
Dying, Hamlet still saved one life — his friend Horatio, finding the right words for him: "Breathe in a harsh world to tell my story."
In the same, the second period of creativity, other famous tragedies were written ai — "Othello", "King Lear", "Macbeth".
The works of the third creative cycle are not so well known: "Cymbeline", "Winter Fairy Tale", "Storm".
They are written in the genre of allegorical fiction, since the customer of the theater for which Shakespeare wrote is already becoming a noble audience who wanted fun and entertainment.
But here, too, humanistic ideals find their expression — this is the faith of a talented poet and playwright in the bright future of humanity, the promise of serene tranquility.
Copyright © William Shakespeare materials about life and work 2005-2017.
