Dudu manhenga biography of william shakespeare

No birth records exist, but an old church record indicates that William Shakespeare was baptized at Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon on April 26, Shakespeare was the third child of John Shakespeare, a glove-maker and leather merchant, and Mary Arden, a local heiress to land. John held official positions as alderman and bailiff, an office resembling a mayor.

Eventually, he recovered somewhat and was granted a coat of arms inwhich made him and his sons official gentleman. John and Mary had eight children together, though three of them did not live past childhood. Their first two children—daughters Joan and Margaret—died in infancy, so William was the oldest surviving offspring. Anne died at age 7, and Joan was the only sibling to outlive William.

He attended until he was 14 or 15 and did not continue to university. The uncertainty regarding his education has led some people question the authorship of his work. Hathaway was from Shottery, a small village a mile west of Stratford.

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Shakespeare was 18, and Anne was 26 and, as it turns out, pregnant. Their first child, a daughter they named Susanna, was born on May 26, Two years later, on February 2,twins Hamnet and Judith were born. Hamnet died of unknown causes at age One theory is that he might have gone into hiding for poaching game from local landlord Sir Thomas Lucy.

Another possibility is that he might have been working as an assistant schoolmaster in Lancashire.

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Bythere is evidence Shakespeare earned a living as an actor and a playwright in London and possibly had several plays produced. Early in his career, Shakespeare was able to attract the attention and patronage of Henry Wriothesley, the Earl of Southampton, to whom he dedicated his first and second published poems: Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece Scholars broadly categorize the sonnets in groups based on two unknown subjects that Shakespeare addresses: the Fair Youth sonnets the first and the Dark Lady sonnets the last The identities of the aristocratic young man and vexing woman continue to be a source of speculation.

Some sources describe Shakespeare as a founding member of the company, but whatever the case, he became central to its success. Initially, he was an actor and eventually devoted more and more time to writing. Records show that Shakespeare, who was also a company shareholder, had works published and sold as popular literature. They were printed in in quarto, an eight-page pamphlet-like book.

By the end ofShakespeare had likely written 16 of his 37 plays and amassed some wealth. In a book, W. Nicholas Knight presented a theory that Shakespeare pursued a legal career, finding evidence of such training in his written works. Knight for a "lack of scholarly objectivity. In E. Honigmann proposed that Shakespeare acted as a schoolmaster in Lancashire[ 65 ] on the evidence found in the will of a member of the Houghton family, referring to plays and play-clothes and asking his kinsman Thomas Hesketh to take care of "William Shakeshaft, now dwelling with me".

Honigmann proposed that John Cottam, Shakespeare's reputed last schoolmaster, recommended the young man. Another idea is that Shakespeare may have joined Queen Elizabeth's Men inafter the sudden death of actor William Knell in a fight while on a tour which later took in Stratford. Samuel Schoenbaum speculates that, "Maybe Shakespeare took Knell's place and thus found his way to London and stage-land.

Though Shakespeare is known today primarily as a playwright and poet, his main occupation was as a player and sharer in an acting troupe. How or when Shakespeare got into acting is unknown. The profession was unregulated by a guild that could have established restrictions on new entrants to the profession—actors were literally "masterless men"—and several avenues existed to break into the field in the Elizabethan era.

Certainly Shakespeare had many opportunities to see professional playing companies in his youth. Before being allowed to perform for the general public, touring playing companies were required to present their play before the town council to be licensed. Players first acted in Stratford inthe year that John Shakespeare was bailiff. Before Shakespeare turned 20, the Stratford town council had paid for at least 18 performances by at least 12 playing companies.

In one playing season alone, that of —87, five different acting troupes visited Stratford. By lateShakespeare was part-owner of a playing companyknown as the Lord Chamberlain's Men —like others of the period, the company took its name from its aristocratic sponsor, in this case the Lord Chamberlain. The group became so popular that, after the death of Elizabeth I and the coronation of James Ithe new monarch adopted the company, which then became known as the King's Menafter the death of their previous sponsor.

Shakespeare's works are written within the frame of reference of the career actor, rather than a member of the learned professions or from scholarly book-learning. The Shakespeare family had long sought armorial bearings and the status of gentleman. William's father John, a dudu manhenga biography of william shakespeare of Stratford with a wife of good birth, was eligible for a coat of arms and applied to the College of Heraldsbut evidently his worsening financial status prevented him from obtaining it.

The application was successfully renewed inmost probably at the instigation of William himself as he was the more prosperous at the time. The motto "Non sanz droict" "Not without right" was attached to the application, but it was not used on any armorial displays that have survived.

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The theme of social status and restoration runs deep through the plots of many of his plays, and at times Shakespeare seems to mock his own longing. ByShakespeare had moved to the parish of St. He is also listed among the actors in Jonson's Sejanus His Fall. Also byhis name began to appear on the title pages of his plays, presumably as a selling point.

There is a tradition that Shakespeare, in addition to writing many of the plays his company enacted and concerned with business and financial details as part-owner of the company, continued to act in various parts, such as the ghost of Hamlet's father, Adam in As You Like Itand the Chorus in Henry V. He appears to have moved across the River Thames to Southwark sometime around InShakespeare acted as a matchmaker for his landlord's daughter.

Legal documents fromwhen the case was brought to trial, show that Shakespeare was a tenant of Christopher Mountjoy, a Huguenot tire-maker a maker of ornamental headdresses in the northwest of London in Mountjoy's apprentice Stephen Bellott wanted to marry Mountjoy's daughter. Shakespeare was enlisted as a go-between, to help negotiate the terms of the dowry.

On Shakespeare's assurances, the couple married. Eight years later, Bellott sued his father-in-law for delivering only part of the dowry. During the Bellott v Mountjoy case one witness, in a deposition, said that Christopher Mountjoy called on Shakespeare and encouraged him to persuade Stephen Belott to the marriage of his daughter. Then Shakespeare was called to testify, and according to the record, said that Belott was "a very good and industrious servant".

When it came to specifics about the size of the dowry and promised inheritance due the daughter, Shakespeare did not remember. A second set of questions was prepared for Shakespeare to testify again, but that appears not to have happened. The case was then turned over to the elders of the Huguenot church for arbitration. By the early 17th century, Shakespeare had become very prosperous.

Most of his money went to secure his family's position in Stratford. Shakespeare himself seems to have lived in rented accommodation while in London. According to John Aubrey, he travelled to Stratford to stay with his family for a period each year. The Stratford chamberlain's dudu manhenga biographies of william shakespeare in record a sale of stone to the council from "Mr Shaxpere", which may have been related to remodelling work on the newly purchased house.

In the local council ordered an investigation into the hoarding of grain, as there had been a run of bad harvests causing a steep increase in prices. Speculators were acquiring excess quantities in the hope of profiting from scarcity. The survey includes Shakespeare's household, recording that he possessed ten-quarters of malt. This has often been interpreted as evidence that he was listed as a hoarder.

Others argue that Shakespeare's holding was not unusual. According to Mark Eccles, "the schoolmaster, Mr. Aspinall, had eleven quarters, and the vicar, Mr. Byfield, had six of his own and four of his sister's". Lewis, however, suggest that he purchased the malt as an investment, since he later sued a neighbour, Philip Rogers, for an unpaid debt for twenty bushels of malt.

Shakespeare had established himself in Stratford as the keeper of a great house, the owner of large gardens and granaries, a man with generous stores of barley which one could purchase, at need, for a price. In short, he had become an entrepreneur specialising in real estate and agricultural products, an aspect of his identity further enhanced by his investments in local farmland and farm produce.

Shakespeare's biggest acquisitions were land holdings and a lease on tithes in Old Stratford, to the north of the town. Boehrer suggests he was pursuing an "overall investment strategy aimed at controlling as much as possible of the local grain market ", a strategy that was highly successful. The town clerk Thomas Greene, who opposed the enclosure, recorded a conversation with Shakespeare about the issue.

Shakespeare said he believed the enclosure would not go through, a prediction that turned out to be correct. Greene also recorded that Shakespeare had told Greene's brother that "I was not able to bear the enclosing of Welcombe". It is unclear from the context whether Shakespeare is speaking of his own feelings, or referring to Thomas's opposition.

Shakespeare's last major purchase was in Marchwhen he bought an apartment in a gatehouse in the former Blackfriars priory ; [ 84 ] The Gatehouse was near Blackfriars theatre, which Shakespeare's company used as their winter playhouse from The purchase was probably an investment, as Shakespeare was living mainly in Stratford by this time, and the apartment was rented out to one John Robinson.

Robinson may be the same man recorded as a labourer in Stratford, in which case it is possible he worked for Shakespeare. He may be the same John Robinson who was one of the witnesses to Shakespeare's will. Rowe was the first biographer to pass down the tradition that Shakespeare retired to Stratford some years before his death; [ 86 ] but retirement from all work was uncommon at that time, [ 87 ] and Shakespeare continued to visit London.

In he was called as a witness in the Bellott v Mountjoy case. In June Shakespeare's daughter Susanna was slandered by John Lane, a local man who claimed she had caught gonorrhea from a lover. Susanna and her husband Dr John Hall sued for slander. Lane failed to appear and was convicted. From November Shakespeare was in London for several weeks with his son-in-law, Hall.

In the last few weeks of Shakespeare's life, the man who was to marry his younger daughter Judith — a tavern-keeper named Thomas Quiney — was charged in the local church court with " fornication ". It was not until the end of his life that Shakespeare moved back in with Anne in their Stratford home. Historians have speculated that he worked as a schoolteacher, studied law, traveled across continental Europe or joined an acting troupe that was passing through Stratford.

Whatever the answer, by Shakespeare had begun working as an actor, penned several plays and spent enough time in London to write about its geography, culture and diverse personalities with great authority. Even his earliest works evince knowledge of European affairs and foreign countries, familiarity with the royal court and general erudition that might seem unattainable to a young man raised in the provinces by parents who were probably illiterate.

For this reason, some theorists have suggested that one or several authors wishing to conceal their true identity used the person of William Shakespeare as a front. Most scholars and literary historians dismiss this hypothesis, although many suspect Shakespeare sometimes collaborated with other playwrights. Shakespeare was likely affiliated with several different theater companies when these early works debuted on the London stage.

His plays are known around the world for their universal themes and insight into the human condition. Yet much about the playwright is a mystery. It was usual for christenings to take place on the third day after birth. He was born during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, who had recently converted England to Protestantism.

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William was the third of eight children, though his two elder siblings did not survive childhood. It is likely that he began his education at the age of six or seven. As his father was now a bailiff, young William probably attended the local grammar school. Its curriculum emphasised Greek classics and pupils also learned plays in Latin. Religious education was also important, and Shakespeare drew on these sources in his later work with classical and religious allusions.

Shakespeare probably attended school until about age There is no record of him going to university. Shakespeare married the year-old Anne Hathaway, in when he was She was already three months pregnant with their first child. The baptisms of his three children are the last record of him for seven years, known as his lost years. At some point Shakespeare went to London, leaving his family in Stratford, and established himself as a playwright and actor.

A century later his first biographer suggested he fled to London to escape punishment for deer poaching. However, no records have been found of his activities in these years. Francesco da Mosto investigates how plausible it is that Shakespeare could have visited Venice. The next known record of Shakespeare appears after he was already a playwright in London.

It's a review — and not a positive one. Drama in Elizabethan theatre shifted from the religious to the secular and companies of players formed to entertain the public under the patronage of noblemen. Scholars suggest the application showed he was now a successful businessman as much as a talented playwright.