For Many Centuries there had been people with the name Shakespeare in Warwickshire. England. Some Villages contained several families of that name, so nobody thought it an important event when John Shakespeare from a village near Stratford married Mary Arden, a girl from Wilmcote.
No one is certain where the marriage took place because the register in which John and Mary signed their names has been lost. This couple had four daughters and three sons. Only the eldest boy, William, is remembered.
John Shakespeare preferred town life to that of the country. He took his bride to a house he already owned in Stratford-on –Avon) Stratford on the Avon River). He worked as a glove maker but he also sold raw hides, leather, wool and wheat. He even worked as a butcher and some say that hi son William was able to help him.
As his business developed. Jhon Shakespeare was given important position on the town council. His first position was as the official ale tester in 1556. Ten year later he achieved the top position of deputy sheriff.
When William was growing up, his father was an important citizen in a busy market town. Of Course William was proud of his father, who was comparatively wealthy and well known in Stratford-on-Avon. No doubt he enjoyed meeting all sorts of people at his fin house near the town centre.
Because his father was a member of the town council William was able to study at Stratford Grammar School. A very special Scholl that taught Latin and Greek and was attended only by the children of prominent people. His father did not have to pay for his education. This school was one of the best at that time.
Lesson began at six a.m. in summer and at seven in winter, and did not finish until late in the afternoon. Discipline was strict and the teacher didn’t hesitate to use the cane to punish his pupils. There were not many books so the pupils had to memorize a lot. Years later William wrote about a schoolboy walking very slowly because he did not want to go to school.
William’s knowledge of Latin, which he learned at school, was very useful when he wrote his plays. He probably went to church which his father every week because of the Bible and the prayer book. He had a good memory for the sermons given by the priest, but often he could not hear the priest well in winter as he frequently ha a bad cold.
Apart from church and Scholl. The people and the scene of the lovely Strafford countryside were also an important influence in Williams’s life. He learned to fish in the Avon River. Practiced archery, walked through the rich farm land, was interested I hunting and wandered among the tall trees of the forest Arden. All these things, as well as different types of flowers and the customs of the country people in his plays.
We don’t know anything about his friends when he was young, but he made some enemies among the adults in the Stratford. There are stories about what William did when he went poaching and there is evidence that he was caught when he was stealing a deer from a certain land owner. As punishment, William was whipped and locked up. William had his revenge when he described one of the strange characters in his play. “Henry IV” as the same as his enemy the land ford.
When William was bout thirteen, his father’s business was no longer successful. His father had many debts and had to give up his position on town council.
William must have worried about what kind of work he could do.
In fact, two of the Queen’s best friends lived at the castles of Warwick and Kenilworth.
The road from London to these castles went through Stratford. Often the queen stayed at Warwick and Kenilworth. Messengers, knights and court actors travelledthrough his town. Certainly, William must have seen the Queen travel through Stratford during his schooldays there.
Sometimes local towns-people and villagers were allowed into a castle to watch the entertainment held for the Queen. Perhaps William went with his father and saw his first play at Kenilworth castle. Best of All, he would have seen and met the actors themselves.
In those days actors had to obtain a license from an important person before they could perform in public. These players came to Stratford and performed the latest plays from London; Young boys always took the women’s parts in these plays.
When did William decide to become a play writer?
Such a questions cannot be answered. Some say that he was as assistant to a school-master for a few years, some believe that he became a soldier and fought in the wars in Holland. Other says that he traveled perhaps as far as Venice in Italy. In one of the ships that used to sail up the Avon River to Stratford. We know that when he was seventeen years of age he was in Stratford and married a lady seven years older than himself. The marriage was quickly arranged and people say that William did not really want to marry at that time. His wife was Anne Hath away and from this marriage they had several children. In the later were more important to him than his wife.
We know that by the time William was twenty, he was in London, playing small parts in plays. Rewriting old play and learning the skill that he needed as an actor of his life he spent in the world of the theater. However, he never forgot Stratford. When he retired as an actor, he returned to this town and spent his last days there.
GEOGLOBE
Thursday, February 26, 2009
The Childhood of SHAKESPEARE
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