Shakespeare's birthday celebrated today

Today, April 23, is believed to be the birthday of William Shakespeare, widely regarded as the greatest playright of all time, although this date has never been fully verified.

There appears to be greater consensus regarding the date of his baptism - April 26, 1564, at Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon, England.

It is from this record that it is believed that he was born on or near April 23, 1564.

William was the third child of John Shakespeare, a leather merchant, and Mary Arden, a local landed heiress.

Education

There is not much confirmed record of William's childhood and education.  Scholars have surmised that he most likely attended the King's New School, in Stratford, which taught reading, writing and the classics.

This uncertainty regarding his education led some to question whether he really could have been the author of the works attributed to him, but most scholars today agree that he was indeed the great writer.

There is evidence that by 1592 Shakespeare was earning a living as an actor and a playwright in London and possibly had several plays produced.

By 1599, he and his business partners had built their own theater on the south bank of the Thames River and named it The Globe.

The plays

By 1597, 15 of the 37 plays written by William Shakespeare were published.

With the exception of Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare's first plays were mostly histories written in the early 1590s. Richard II, Henry VI (parts 1, 2 and 3) and Henry V dramatize the destructive results of weak or corrupt rulers, and have been interpreted by drama historians as Shakespeare's way of justifying the origins of the Tudor Dynasty.

Shakespeare also wrote several comedies during his early period: the witty romance A Midsummer Night's Dream, the romantic Merchant of Venice, the wit and wordplay of Much Ado About Nothing, the charming As You Like It and Twelfth Night. Other plays, possibly written before 1600, include Titus Andronicus, The Comedy of Errors, The Taming of the Shrew and The Two Gentlemen of Verona.

It was in his later period, after 1600, that he wrote the tragedies Hamlet, King Lear, Othello and Macbeth. In these, Shakespeare's characters present vivid impressions of human temperament that are timeless and universal. Possibly the best known of these plays is Hamlet, which explores betrayal, retribution, incest and moral failure.

Shakespeare's tragicomedies were among his final works. Among these are Cymbeline, The Winter's Tale and The Tempest. Though graver in tone than the comedies, they are not the dark tragedies of King Lear or Macbeth because they end with reconciliation and forgiveness.

It is believed by some that William Shakespeare died on his birthday, April 23, 1616, though many scholars believe this is a myth. Church records show he was interred at Trinity Church on April 5, 1616.

School competition

Here in Jamaica, a national high school Shakespeare competition will be held this year, with participating schools performing condensced versions of his play.

The winning team will travel to England and will perform at the famous Globe theatre.

SOURCE: www.biography.com