Romeo And Juliet 11 - :: essays research papers

Why Romeo and Juliet was so popular in Shakespeare’s time and why even today it is still so popular? William Shakespeare was born on April 23, 1564 in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon, England to Mary Arden and John Shakespeare. He was the third of eight children. He went to a local grammar school, where his studies included Latin and Greek (Debnam). At the age of eighteen he married Anne Hathaway who was eight years older than he. Their marriage was hurried because Anne was already pregnant (The Tragedies, 16). Shakespeare was the father of three children, two daughters and one son, Hamnet. At this time, Shakespeare was twenty-one, and the way he supported his family is unknown. In August of 1596, Hamnet died at the age of eleven (Shakespeare’s History). Stories say that Shakespeare began his career by holding horses outside the theaters. More reliable information indicates that he acted in plays, many of his own. From acting Shakespeare progressed to writing plays both for the theater and for court performances (The Tragedies, 17). Shakespeare didn’t attend college, so in order to broaden his education, he studied the ways of a gentleman and read widely. He looked to Cambridge-educated playwright Christopher Marlowe, as a mentor. Marlowe was the same age as Shakespeare, but who preceded him in skillfully combining drama with poetry. In many plays throughout his career, Shakespeare paid tribute to Marlowe, though ultimately he eclipsed Marlowe as a dramatist (The Tragedies, 17). Shakespeare is the greatest playwright the world has ever known. The thirty-seven plays he wrote more than 400 years ago are the most popular on Earth. They are performed more often than those of any other playwright. He also wrote sonnets, a kind of poem. Writing sonnets was thought to be much more important than writing plays in Shakespeare’s day (Debnam). By the time Shakespeare turned thirty years old, he was an established actor and playwright in London. At the age of thirty-three, he had not only written the early poems and the early plays, but in the last three or four years half-a-dozen masterpieces: "A Midsummer Night’s Dream," "Romeo and Juliet," Richard II.," "King John," "The Merchant of Venice," "The Two Parts of Henry IV" (Shakespeare The Man, 382). When he was thirty-five, Shakespeare was a member of the syndicate responsible for building the first Globe theater, in Southwark, in 1599 (General Into). From then on, Shakespeare was completely involved in the theater: He wrote for the company, acted in the plays, shared in the profits, and eventually became one of the owners of the Globe theater (The Tragedies, 19).