Five Things You May Not Have Known About Shakespeare

Every school child has to learn about William Shakespeare. When I was in school, we read great plays like: Romeo and Juliet, The Merchant of Venice, Julius Caesar, and Hamlet. These stories are ingrained into our brains and we are told of the majesty (a word Shakespeare coined) and the legend of the Bard. But did we learn everything there is to know about this great playwright? Below are five things you might not have known about William Shakespeare.

Shakespeare, The Porn Writer: It is funny how famous people sometimes are not seen for their greatness during their own lifetimes. Possibly the bestselling work of Shakespeare, his lifetime was not a play, but an erotic poem entitled Venus and Adonis. It was written during an epidemic of the bubonic plague in London, when people were staying away from crowded, enclosed areas (like theaters).

The Missing Plays: There are at least two plays that are missing from the published works of Shakespeare. One is a sequel and one is a copy. The first, Love’s Labour’s Won, was supposedly the spin-off from Love’s Labour’s Lost. The truth of the matter, though, is that it could be entirely a printing error and someone misnamed the play. Some feel that this was really, The Taming of the Shrew. The other play, The History of Cardenio, was supposedly performed by a London stage company and attributed to Shakespeare. Cardenio, is possibly based on Don Quixote, the novel by Miguel de Cervantes. The book, written in 1604, was translated into English in 1612 – a year before this play was performed. Some feel that the play was not written by Shakespeare, but by a bookseller, Humphrey Moseley, who had been known to use Shakespeare’s name.

Yer Gonna Marry My Daughter: A cad, even from a young age, Shakespeare was married at the age of 18 to Anne Hathaway (age 26), who was pregnant with their daughter, Susanna. The wedding was hastily put together and approved by the local Bishop and their daughter was born six months later. Incidently, upon his death, Susanna (sometimes spelled Susannah) got the lion's share of Shakespeare's estate.  Anne got the "second-best bed" or their marriage bed.

Everybody is going to start saying ‘Shizzywhiz’: Shakespeare is responsible for introducing many words into the English language, many of which we still use today: Addiction (Henry V/Othello), Employer (Much Ado About Nothing), Freezing (Cymbeline), Manager (Midsummer’s Night Dream), and Uncomfortable (Romeo and Juliet). Actually, Shakespeare is responsible for about 1500 words that we use in the English language today. Additionally, there are hundreds of terms the Bard added to our language, as well. Maybe you’ve heard: “All that glitters is not gold” (Merchant of Venice), “Dead as a Doornail” (2 Henry VI), and “Wear my heart on my sleeve”(Othello).

Just Because He’s Famous Today...: We’ve all read Shakespeare in high school, but was he always that famous? Shakespeare had notoriety as a playwright during his lifetime, but not amongst the high-brow caste. He was a favorite of a younger crowd who enjoyed his bawdiness. Think of him as the Monty Python of his day. Once he grew into his late thirties, the Bard started to be noticed by a higher level of society – most notably, King James I, who became a patron of Shakespeare. When he died at the age of 52, Shakespeare might have become forgotten had it not been for two of his associates, who finally published his works. You see, Shakespeare never published any of his plays.

Even still, Shakespeare most likely would not be known to you today if it had not been for a man named David Garrick (1717-1779), an actor, who made Shakespeare into a legend 150 years after the Bard’s death. Garrick brought Shakespeare back to Stratford. He was a fan of Shakespeare’s and could not believe that he was not honored for his works. So, he staged a huge jubilee in the 1769 and the rest, as they say, is history.

If Shakespeare interests you, then you might want to read more about him. Shakespeare is responsible for so many words and phrases in our language and created many of the stories you are familiar with. Check out these books to find out more about this very interesting historical and literary figure.

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