Shakespeare Effect On Theatre Essay, Research Paper

William Shakespeare and all of his works greatly contributed to contemporary

theater in many ways. His understanding of other people allowed him to fully

grasp the quality he wrote of. The works of Shakespeare contain a strong and

constant truth, touching emotional and supernatural aspects of life. These

realities make Shakespeare?s works vital, even on toady?s learning

institutions and theatrical realms, accounting for his enormous success.

Shakespeare was born in the Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon in

Warwickshire on April 23rd, 1564. Though his family fell into hard times

financially, young William?s education was not neglected. He attended local

schools in Stratford. Shakespeare viewed annual plays and travelling artists at

a young age. It is possible that these plays and performances ignited a spark

that continued to burn. During the winter of 1582, at the age of 18, he married

Anne Hathaway who was 26 and already six months pregnant by him. Two years later

Anne gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl. With a wife and three children to

maintain, things were getting a bit difficult. Shakespeare moved to London in

1585, where he was very successful. In London Shakespeare worked as an actor and

a writer and even owned his own playhouse. He was a very respected man there. He

was the first playwright to have his formal biography written and published with

his works. Between 1592 and 1594, all theaters were closed due to an outbreak of

the plague. During this time Shakespeare turned to poetry, writing sonnets and

long narrative poems, including Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece. When

the theaters reopened in 1594, Shakespeare joined the newly formed Lord

Chamberlains Men, under the patronage of Queen Elizabeth. Being an important

part of the troupe, he eventually became an honored senior member. Writing plays

soon became a demanding business. Shakespeare wrote thirty-seven plays, which

were separated into three basic categories, comedy, tragedy, and history.

Shakespeare retired t Stratford and became one of its leading citizens. In April

of 1616, William Shakespeare at fifty-two years of age was laid to rest. Without

William Shakespeare and his many great works, contemporary theater would not be

anything like it is today. His verse, especially the power of his metaphors and

his characters, so well rounded and carefully detailed that they often seem like

living people. He was also a master of plot construction, notably episodic plot

structure, which stands alongside climatic structure as one of the two main

forms that have been predominant throughout the history of western theater. With

Shakespear’s vast influence on many different cultures, he tried and tested

variations of grammar and word usage. He experimented so the stuffy English

language would not be so common and boring. Shakespeare was to be a writer for

all time, to be highly acclaimed. He deserves applause by all playwrights, past

and present. His works are timeless and vary according to the interest of the

reader, making him universal. In Shakespear’s own day and time, no one ever

imagined what a huge success his works would become. No writer since William

Shakespeare has ever been as well known. No other writer has evoked so many

emendations, speculations, and commentaries than Shakespeare. William

Shakespeare was indeed an Elizabethan who took advantage of his time and

talents, in turn changing today?s time and talents of contemporary theater.