Although Shakespeare is regarded an Elizabethan, it was during the period of King James, who succeeded Elizabeth I that he won acclaim. It took no more than a couple of centuries for scholars to conclude that he was the greatest of great poets and playwrights of the world...
Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets were not written by Shakespeare but by another man with the same name,” remarked a witty scholar of literature. That pretty well summarises the controversy which followed several centuries after the death of the greatest figure in world’s literature over his real identity.
He wrote nothing about himself nor did any of his contemporaries bother to write about him. We do not know what he looked like: a large portrait found later shows him to be a balding man in his 30s with a ring in one ear, a goatee on his chin, dressed in fineries of Elizabethen times. Other portraits and statues followed the pattern of this painting.
We are not sure when exactly he started his writing career and in what order he wrote his plays and sonnets.
Though public records, including church and school in his birth place and in London have been thoughly researched, they revealed very little about him. Most of what is known about this great man is based on conjectures, created round a few bare-bones of authenticated facts. He was born in Stratford-upon-Avon on 26th April 1564, died on 23rd April 1616 and is buried there.
His father, John Shakespeare became an alderman in charge of quality and quantities of ale served in taverns and meat and bread by butchers and bakers. The family must have lived well. His mother, Mary Arden was the daughter of a farmer. She bore eight sons and daughters, including William. William spent 7-8 years in school cramming Latin. He never went to college. He married Anne Hathway, eight years old than him. She bore three children.
It is assumed that William’s interest in theatre was kindled watching troupes of players from London performing in towns over the country. One such group lost its principal actor and William was chosen to play his role. He became an actor.
He left his family in Stratford and moved to London. At the time the city comprised different boroughs everyone with its own enclosing walls and gates which were shut against outsiders every evening. It was a dirty city, frequently afflicted by plague and other diseases, which killed more people than were born.
Nevertheless, it continued to grow with an influx of job-seekers and Protestants and refugees from Catholic France. There were quite a few theatrical companies with theatres of their own. Shakespeare’s company performed in the afternoons.
Shakespeare first made his mark as an actor. When theatres were closed for some reason or the other, he took to writing plays and poetry. It is likely that he visited France and Italy because several of this plays are on Italian and French themes. When his sonnets were published, doubts arose about his sexuality.
Although Shakespeare is regarded an Elizabethan, it was during the period of King James, who succeeded Elizabeth – I that he won acclaim. It took no more than a couple of centuries for scholars to conclude that he was the greatest of great poets and playwrights of the world.
Hillary and me
I can claim a tenuous connection with the Everest conqueror Edmund Hillary, the New Zealander who died recently at the age of 88. When he came down to Delhi, with the team leader Colonel John Hunt in the last week of May or early June 1953, I was working in the external services of the AIl India Radio.
I was picked up to interview both men for the internal and external services. The question uppermost in my mind, and that of everyone else, was “who put his foot first on the peak, Hillary or the Sherpa Tenzing Norgay?
Apparently both men had sworn not to tell anyone and simply say “We did it together”. That was accepted by Colonel Hunt as the right line to take. However, I kept badgering both men hoping to get a more positive answer. Colonel Hunt was a man of few words, but Hillary went on and on about details of how close they came to being swept to death by an avalanche and how exhilarating it was to have the whole world under our feet etc.
Q&A
Santa’s answers to questions when he applied to Medical School: Antibody – against everyone; Artery – the study of fine paintings; Bacteria – back door to a cafeteria; Coma – punctuation mark; Diagnosis – person with a slanted nose; Gall bladder – bladder in a girl; Hymen – greeting to several males; Impotent – distinguished, well-known; Labour pain – hurt at work; Liposuction – a French Kiss.
