WILLIAM
SHAKESPEARE is recognized for his plays and poetry as the premier writer of
the English language. His works explore universal character traits,
ideas and emotions with a masterful style that has endured the test of centuries.
Yet little is known of the man ... that he was born in Stratford-Upon-Avon, England, in April of 1564, that he attended a grammar school that provided him with a fine classical/traditional education which later broadened the scope of knowledge contained in his works. His father, John Shakespeare, was a fairly prosperous tanner and dealer in wool, grain, malt, and other farm products. His mother was Mary Arden. At age 18, he married Anne Hathaway, an older woman who would bear his first child (Susanna) in 1582, and three years later his twins, Hamnet and Judith.
There is a blank after that, "the lost years", before his reputation in London grew. It is known that he was a member of an actors’ company, beginning around 1592. From then till his death in 1616, he wrote 36 plays, including comedies, tragedies, histories, and romances, as well as 154 sonnets, and two long poetic romances.
Personal facts, however, cannot begin to document the influence of Shakespeare, the quintessential voice of the Renaissance in the English language. A philosopher who transcends even an aristocratic sense of culture speaks through his characters of life, of death, of good and evil, love, devotion, greed, envy, and ambition. Each character is an embodiment of such principles, and each plot an exploration into the logical and nearly inevitable outcomes when opposing principles clash. Despite his rather deterministic world view, the worlds in his works remain poignant and instructive to individuals asserting their free will. As a master observer of the psyche, his characters reveal many subtle motivations behind human actions, and he was able to explore these inspirations, vices, and foibles with enough realism to convey both tragedy and humor. Perhaps it was this that led Oscar Wilde to crown Shakespeare "the most purely human of all the great artists".