To be or not to be” is one of William Shakespeare’s most well-known quotes. It is in his famous play Hamlet, where a character contemplates suicide. Shakespeare had a unique writing style that was incredibly progressive for the English language. By using Iambic Pentameter, meaning each line had 10 symbols, words used would fit together in a pattern. Not to mention, he invented one thousand seven hundred common English words and phrases, most are being used every day.
William Shakespeare, born on April 26, 1564 (day he was baptized) in a home in Henley Street, Stratford-upon-Avon (absoluteshakespeare.com 1). His parents were John and Shakespeare and was the third child of eight. First two being daughters that died before he could have a memory of them, they died at birth. His father, John, sold farm products and wool. His parents were respected amongst their community and his father held a higher position in the community. As a kid, William Shakespeare attended Petty School and achieved highest level of elementary education there. The school taught William to become a gentleman, teaching him table manners, how to chew properly, praying, and even rising early. These were seen as the most important part before continuing education during these times. He later went to grammar school, attending it from 6am to 5pm. He learned from a private usher. The school used the horn book and the alphabet as a basis for their education. William's parents were strict making him do many chores and forcing him to be as polite as possible. Other than a lot of chores his life was school, spending between forty and forty-four weeks of school a year(eleven hour days). Double the amount of school an average kid goes through now. Since a child he was taught fundamentals to bring change to the world forever, hard work, politeness, and dedication.
His career began in school where he would write poems. William had no clue that his poems he wrote would later be published or even read. The poems he actually wrote would later become some of the most famous poems in the english language. During William Shakespeare's time, the generation lacked entertainment, if compared today. William had fewer books to read than today, and showed no desire to attend the popular puppet shows at the time. William would later move to London in hopes to become an actor after began writing his famous plays. Before he would land his first plays, "Sonnet" a series of poems written by Shakespeare popularized him. Shakespeare wrote Sonnets, a poem of fourteen lines using a rhyme scheme called iambic pentameter. These Sonnets, one hundred fifty four of them, were written sometime in the 1590s when he was in his late twenties to his thirties. Sources do not know if it is Shakespeare himself or if it an imagined figure, however many assume they were personal as were most Sonnets. Shakespeare kept his poems to himself, the Sonnets we have of him are the only ones scholars have and it is likely he wrote more. Two of his personal Sonnets showed up in a collection in 1599, it is evident he did not keep all of his poems to himself and shared his "sugared sonnets" to his friends (CrashCourse 2016). It was not until a reputable publisher, Thomas Thorpe, published, "Shakespeare’s Sonnets- never before imprinted” except for the two earlier, this is how the mass’ understood his greatness (CrashCourse 2016). It is unclear if the sonnets were put in the correct order, it is also unclear to determine which sonnet came before the other, who knows if he wanted them in that order.
Nonetheless, Shakespeare was an excellent poet. Despite living in a difficult time where his work did not receive the spotlight deserved,, Shakespeare prevailed and became one of the most influential people in English literature. People during his time and 100 years after journalists did not even mention the Sonnets without it being negative. It takes time for things to settle before it can be touched. These donkeys had become renowned because their themes and form. Themes including love, death, happiness, misery, memory, etc are still cited, memorized, and studied in today’s society. He might be known for his rhythm or his themes, perhaps his greatest achievement would be the ability to use over 20000 words throughout all his work, seventeen hundred words of which he coined (poets.org 4). Many people are quick to point out that Shakespeare contribution to dictation in this respect is misunderstood, due to his phrases and words by him being simply a product of his time, it is undeniable that Shakespeare was ahead of his time and way ahead of his peers. Therefore, he is responsible for creating, or at least popularizing, words and phrases English speakers use everyday.
Further more, William Shakespeare is credited to being a big influence on language, literature, theater, and other elements. It does not take much to justify how Shakespeare influenced much of modern story telling characteristics. He was good at keeping dialogue contemporary and he use to predict how the audience would react. It has been stated by historians that circulation of Shakespeare’s First Folio, collection of his plays published posthumously, began to solidify his role as one of the most important figures in English language (octaneseating 8). Before Shakespeare’s time plays were being watched by a specific audience, never appealed to the masses. Shakespeare’s writing help changed that. His plays were filled with universal truths, rather than targeting privileged life. As a result people for the first time felt engaged with a play.
Most of what we know about story telling can be traced back to Shakespeare. Theater and plays particularly, experienced many changes due to his influence. Firstly the way he constructed his plots to move forward helped define modern play writing. Even his complex characterization brought a new kind of storytelling all which characters decisions and interaction drove plots forward (octane 12). This results is that journeys in his plays are dynamic and his cahracters go through great change while on them. Additionally he’s been credited to creating his own genre by combining tragedy and comedy. Shakespeare’s ability to combine genres contributes brand new way of telling a story and theater in general.
Shakespeare’s plays were a driving force in American theater. While still being introduced in America early 19th century, plays were mostly written by Shakespeare known as the Bard. These early performances in America early on influenced what is known in performance art. Additionally, famous novelist credit Shakespeare of being a big influence on their work. Historians of modern musical theater debate that adaptation of Shakespeare’s plays in 20th century even changed musicals. Before plays included music to be played during transition of scenes. Shakespeare did things a little different, he integrated music performances to become integral to the dramatic story. For example, “West Side Story, which inventively uses songs to drive the plot and as immediate responses to beats within the story” (octaneseating 16). Shakespeare never would limit his work and refused to be like everyone else.
Shakespeare influence was spread internationally as well. Foreign stages often had to contend with special circumstances when performing Shakespeare’s work (Octaneseating 9). Theater clowns with bilingual abilities worked to help translate the plays dialogue as it went to audience. Adding to the performance, these clowns would satirize dialogue and plot potentially leading to an alternative experience. As a result, “players in traveling shakespeare troupes would often try to protect the integrity of the plays by taking additional roles to ensure fidelity to the original works” (octaneseating 18).