William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
(National Portrait Gallery)
Shakespeare fu anche autore di 154 sonetti e di diversi poemi, alcuni dei quali sono considerati i più brillanti esempi di letteratura inglese mai scritti. La sua abitlità consisteva nell'andare oltre la narrativa per descrivere gli aspetti interiori e profondi della natura umana.
Si ritiene che abbia scritto la maggior parte dei suoi lavori tra il 1585 e il 1610, anche se le date esatte e la cronologia delle opere a lui attribuite non sono note con precisione, mancando sulla figura di questo autorevole letterato una biografia approfondita e completamente attendibile.
| Table of contents |
|
2 Identity and Authorship 3 Plays and their Categories 4 Dramatic Collaborations 5 Plays possibly by Shakespeare 6 Other Works 7 See also 8 External links |
Biografia
La gran parte degli storici che l'attore e lo scrittore erano in realtà lo stetto William Shakespeare, per il quale esistono notevoli registrazioni sotirche. Shakespeare nacque a Stratford-upon-Avon, Inghilterra, nell'aprile 1564, figlio di John Shakespeare, un fabbricante di guanti, e di Mary Arden.
Il battesimo di Shakespeare venne registrato il 26 aprile dello stesso anno, e il 23 aprile viene tradizionalmente considerato il giorno del suo compleanno. Suo padre, di successo all'epoca della nascita di William, venne indagato per aver partecipato al mercato nero della lana, ed in seguito perse la sua posizione come consigliere comunale. Esistono alcune prove che entrambi i rami della famiglia avessero delle simpatie per la Chiesa Cattolica Romana.
Dopo il suo matrimonio con Anne Hathaway, il 28 novembre 1582, a Stratford-upon-Avon (testimoniato da Fulk Sandalls e John Richardson), che sembra sia stato affrettato dalla gravidanza della sposa, poco si sa di William Shakespeare, fino alla sua comparsa sulla scena letteraria londinese.
Il 26 maggio 1583 la prima figlia di Shakespeare, Susanna, venne battezzata a Stratford. Questa venne ben presto seguita il 2 febbraio 1585, dal battesimo di un figlio, Hamnet, e di un'altra bambina, Judith.
(traduzione da completare ...)
By 1592, he was sufficiently known to be denounced by Robert Greene as "an upstart Crow, beautified with our feathers, that with his Tygers hart wrapt in a Players hyde, supposes he is as well able to bombast out a blanke verse as the best of you: and beeing an absolute Johannes factotum, is in his owne conceit the onely Shake-scene in a countrey." (The italicized line is a parody of the phrase, "Oh, tiger's heart wrapped in a woman's hide" which Shakespeare used in Henry VI, part 3)
In 1596 Hamnet died; he was buried on August 11, 1596. Because of the similarities of their names, some suspect that his death was the impetus for Shakespeare's The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark.
In 1597 William sold "one messuage, two barns, two gardens, two orchards, with appurtenances, in Stradford-upon-Avon" to William Underhill for sixty pounds. The house on this property was that built by Sir Hugh Clopton.
By 1598 Shakespeare had moved to the parish of St. Helen's, Bishopgate and appeared top of a list of actors (Every man in his Humor) produced by Ben Jonson.
Shakespeare's signature
Shakespeare became an actor, writer and ultimately part-owner of an acting company known as The Lord Chamberlain's Men - the company was named, like others of the period, for their aristocratic sponsor. It was sufficiently popular that after the death of Elizabeth I and the coronation of James I (1603), the new monarch adopted the company and it became known as The King's Men. Various documents recording legal affairs, and business transactions show that Shakespeare grew increasingly affluent in his London years. He did well enough to buy a property in Blackfriars, London, as well as the largest house in Stratford. In 1609 he published his sonnets, love poems addressed some to a 'dark lady', and some to a young man (or 'fair lord'). He retired approximately 1611 and died in 1616, on April 23rd, perhaps the reason behind the tradition of his birthday being this same day. He remained married to Anne until his death. Of their three children, Hamnet, the only boy, died at the age of 11. There were two daughters, Susannah and Judith. Susannah married Dr John Hall, and was later the subject of a court case.
Interestingly, he died on the same day as his Spanish counterpart Miguel de Cervantes.
Main article: Shakespearean authorship
The vast majority of academics accept that the William Shakespere recorded as living in Stratford-upon-Avon, the actor Shakespeare and the playwright Shakespeare are one and the same person, but this subject has been hotly debated over the years; even the painting that accompanies this article (and appears above the name "William Shakespeare" in the National Portrait Gallery, London) may not be a representation of Shakespeare at all. Sir Francis Bacon, Edward de Vere, and Christopher Marlowe have been suggested as alternative authors or co-authors for some or all of Shakespeare's work.
The idea that Shakespeare himself wrote all of what are commonly accepted as his plays has also been called into question. There is ongoing serious academic work to ascertain the authorship of plays and poems of the time, both those attributed to Shakespeare and others.
Shakespeare's plays continue to be widely studied and performed and are a firm part of the Western canon of literature. (See Folios and Quartos) Other indicators of his contemporary influence are his inclusion in the top 10 of the "100 Greatest Britons" poll sponsored by the BBC and voted for by the public, and the fictional account of the writing of Romeo and Juliet in the 1998 film Shakespeare in Love.
We can divide his dramatic work in this way (although there are many scholarly categorizations of his plays):
His other literary works include:
Identity and Authorship
Plays and their Categories
Some scholars of Shakespeare break the category of "Comedies" into "Comedies and "Romances." The plays included in this category would be Cymbeline, The Winter's Tale, Pericles Prince of Tyre, and The Tempest. See Shakespeare's Late Romances.Dramatic Collaborations
Plays possibly by Shakespeare
Other Works
For a period it was thought on the basis of evidence researched by Don Foster that Shakespeare wrote a Funeral Elegy for William Peter. However most scholars now accept that this piece was not written by Shakespeare.See also
External links
vedi anche:
