Shakespeare's birthplace. Shakespeare: was or was not? That is the question

Stratford. Departure for London

Born in the family of a merchant and a respectable citizen of John Shakespeare. Shakespeare's ancestors had been farming in the vicinity of Stratford for several centuries. 1568-69 - the years of the greatest prosperity of the family, followed by a slow ruin. Around 1580, William had to leave school, which was excellent in Stratford, and start working. It is believed that, after leaving school, Shakespeare helped his father as an apprentice for some time. In November 1582 he married Anne Hathaway. Perhaps the marriage was forced: in May of the following year, their first child, daughter Susan, was born. In February 1585, twins were born - the son of Hamnet and the daughter of Judith. In the second half of the 1580s. Shakespeare leaves Stratford. The so-called "lost" or "dark years" are coming, about which nothing is known.

At the turn of the 1590s. Shakespeare comes to London. During these years, his first play was created - the chronicle "Henry VI". Having become a fairly prominent figure, Shakespeare immediately received a jealous attack from one of the playwrights of the “university minds” group that reigned on the stage at that time, Robert Greene, who called him a “stage shaker” (a pun on Shakespeare’s surname: Shake-speare, that is, “spear shaker”). ”) and a crow that “dresses itself in our feathers” (an altered quote from “Henry VI”). This was the first surviving review.

The emergence of a new playwright

In 1592-94 the London theaters were closed due to the plague. During an involuntary pause, Shakespeare creates several plays: the chronicle "Richard III", "The Comedy of Errors" and "The Taming of the Shrew", his first tragedy (still sustained in the common style of "bloody tragedy") "Titus Andronicus", and also publishes for the first time under his name of the poem "Venus and Adonis" and "Lucretia". In 1594, after the opening of theaters, Shakespeare joined the new composition of the troupe of the Lord Chamberlain, named after the position of her patron Hunsdon. The “university minds” left the stage (died or stopped writing for the theatre). The age of Shakespeare begins. Here is what one of his contemporaries F. Merez wrote in 1597: “Just as Plautus and Seneca were considered by the Romans to be the best in comedy and tragedy, so Shakespeare among the English is the most excellent in both types of plays intended for the stage”.

Creative takeoff. "Globe"

In the 1590s (the period that is considered to be the first in Shakespeare's work) Shakespeare creates all of his main chronicles, as well as most of the comedies. In 1595-96, the tragedy "Romeo and Juliet" was written, followed by "The Merchant of Venice" - the first comedy, which would later be called "serious".

In the autumn of 1599, the Globe Theater opens. Above the entrance - winged words: "The whole world is a theater" ("Totus mundis agit histrionem"). Shakespeare is one of its co-owners, an actor in the troupe and principal playwright. In the year of the opening of the Globe, he writes the Roman tragedy Julius Caesar and the comedy As You Like It, which, by developing melancholy characters, open the way to the Hamlet created a year later. With his appearance, the period of "great tragedies" (1601-1606) begins. These include Othello (1604), King Lear (1605), Macbeth (1606). The tone of the comedies is now more serious, and sometimes becomes completely gloomy in such works as Troilus and Cressida (1601-1602), All's Well That Ends Well (1603-1603), Measure for Measure (1604).

Unexpected departure to Stratford

March 28, 1603 Queen Elizabeth dies. The English throne passes to James I, the son of the executed Mary Stuart, who inherited the crown of Scotland. The new king signs a patent, according to which he takes under his highest patronage the troupe of actors of the Lord Chamberlain. From now on, they will be called "servants of his majesty the king." After 1606, the last period of Shakespeare's work begins, ending in 1613 with his departure to his native Stratford. At this time, tragedies based on ancient subjects were created (Antony and Cleopatra, Coriolanus, Timon of Athens, 1607-08). Later "romantic" plays followed, including The Winter's Tale and The Tempest (1610-12).

The reason for the unexpected termination of such a successful career as a playwright and the departure from the capital was, apparently, an illness. In March 1616, Shakespeare draws up and signs a will, which later will cause so much confusion about his personality, authorship and will become an occasion for what will be called the "Shakespearean question." It is generally accepted that Shakespeare died on the same day that he was born - April 23. Two days later there followed a burial in the altar of the Church of the Holy Trinity on the outskirts of Stratford, in whose register of birth this entry was made.

Shakespeare's works were not collected during his lifetime. Separately printed poems, a collection of sonnets. The plays originally appeared in the so-called "pirated editions" with corrupted text, followed, as a rule, in the form of a refutation by an edition prepared by the author. According to the format, these publications are called quarto (quarto). After Shakespeare's death, the efforts of his actor friends Heming and Condell prepared the first complete edition of his works, including 36 plays, the so-called The First Folio. Eighteen of them had not previously been published at all.

"Shakespeare Question"

A source of grief and doubt for Shakespeare's biographers was his will. It talks about houses and property, about rings for the memory of friends, but not a word about books, about manuscripts. As if not a great writer died, but an ordinary man in the street. The will was the first reason to ask the so-called "Shakespearean question": was William Shakespeare of Stratford the author of all those works that we know under his name?

For a hundred years now, there have been many supporters of a negative answer: I was not, could not be, because I was uneducated, did not travel, did not study at the university. Stratfordians (supporters of the traditional version) and anti-Stratfordians were given a lot of witty arguments. More than two dozen Shakespeare candidates were proposed. Among the most popular contenders are the philosopher Francis Bacon and Shakespeare's forerunner in transforming the dramatic art, Christopher Marlowe, the greatest of university minds. However, they mainly searched among titled persons: the earls of Derby, Oxford, Rutland were called - the rights of the latter were also supported in Russia. It was believed that only their inherent education, position in society and at court, the ability to travel, opened up a broad overview of life, which is in the plays. They could have reasons to hide their real name, which, according to the ideas of the time, would supposedly be a stain of shame on the craft of a playwright.

However, the main argument testifies in favor of Shakespeare: during his lifetime, his name appeared on dozens of editions of individual plays, poems, and on a collection of sonnets. Shakespeare was spoken of as the author of these works. Immediately after Shakespeare's death, two of his actor friends published his works, and four poets, including the greatest of Shakespeare's contemporaries, his friend Ben Jonson, glorified him. And not once did any denials or revelations follow. None of his contemporaries and descendants, until the end of the 18th century. no doubt about Shakespeare's authorship. Is it possible to assume that the secret, into which dozens of people were supposed to be privy, was kept so zealously?

And how to explain that the next generation playwright William Davenant, who was well versed in theatrical affairs and gossip, invented a legend according to which it turned out that his mother was the "Swarthy Lady" of the sonnets, and he himself was Shakespeare's own son from Stratford-on-Avon? What was there to be proud of?

The Shakespearean mystery certainly exists, but it is not a biographical mystery, but the mystery of a genius accompanied by what the Romantic poet John Keats would call Shakespeare's "negative ability," his poetic vision of seeing everything and not revealing his presence in anything. A unique Shakespearean mystery that belongs to the individual and time, when the personal for the first time cuts through the impersonality of being, and the great playwright, who created a portrait gallery of a new era for centuries to come, hides only one face - his own.

Shakespeare completes the process of creating a national culture and the English language; his work sums up the tragic end of the entire era of the European Renaissance. In the perception of subsequent generations, an image of Shakespeare is formed as a comprehensive genius who, at the beginning of the New Age, created a gallery of his human types and life situations. Shakespeare's plays to this day form the basis of the world theatrical repertoire. Most of them have been repeatedly filmed for film and television.

© World literature from antiquity to the Renaissance / [ed. text by N. V. Khatkin]. - M .: World of Books, 2008. - P. 191

Bio note:

The paucity of biographical information gave reason to nominate F. Bacon, the Earls of Rutland, Oxford, the playwright K. Marlowe, and others as the author of his works. However, a careful study of the cultural life of the era and Shakespeare's work reveals the scientific groundlessness of these hypotheses. Shakespeare's poetic fame was brought by the poems "Venus and Adonis" (1593) and "Lucretia" (1594), which developed the traditions of the philosophical lyrics of the Renaissance. Between 1592 and 1600, 154 sonnets were created (published in 1609). Their plot outline - the relationship of the lyrical hero with a friend (1-126) and a lover (127-152) - is apparently autobiographical, the themes and motifs are typical of Renaissance poetry, but a more complex perception of life and a person in the Sonnets already promises Shakespeare's dramaturgy.

The Shakespeare canon includes 37 plays; 18 appeared during Shakespeare's lifetime, 36 were printed in the first collected works of Shakespeare (1623, "Pericles" was not included). Attempts to establish the chronology of Shakespeare's work began in the second half of the 18th century. Below is a list of Shakespeare's plays with the dates they were written, with periodization of creativity and genre definitions accepted in Shakespeare's criticism.

First period (1590-1594). Early chronicles: "Henry VI", part 2 (1590); "Henry VI", part 3 (1591); "Henry VI", part 1 (1592); "Richard III" (1593). Early comedies: The Comedy of Errors (1592), The Taming of the Shrew (1593). Early tragedy: "Titus Andronicus" (1594).

Second period (1595-1600). Chronicles close to tragedy: "Richard II" (1595); "King John" (1596). Romantic comedies: "Two Veronians" (1594); Love's Labour's Lost (1594); "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (1596); "The Merchant of Venice" (1596). The first mature tragedy: "Romeo and Juliet" (1595). Chronicles close to comedy: "Henry IV", part 1 (1597); "Henry IV", part 2 (1598); "Henry V" (1598). Shakespeare's pinnacle creations as a comedian: Much Ado About Nothing (1598); "The Merry Wives of Windsor" (1598); "As You Like It" (1599); "Twelfth Night" (1600).

Third period (1600-1608). Tragedies that marked a turning point in Shakespeare's work: "Julius Caesar" (1599); "Hamlet" (1601). "Dark Comedies" (or "problem plays"): "Troilus and Cressida" (1602); "The end is the crown of business" (1603); "Measure for measure" (1604). The pinnacle of Shakespeare's tragedy: "Othello" (1604); "King Lear" (1605); "Macbeth" (1606). Ancient tragedies: "Antony and Cleopatra" (1607); "Coriolanus" (1607); "Timon of Athens" (1608).

Fourth period (1609-1613). Romantic tragicomedies: "Pericles" (1609); "Cymbeline" (1610); "Winter's Tale" (1611); "Storm" (1612). Late chronicle: "Henry VIII" (1613; possibly with the participation of J. Fletcher).

Outside the canon: "Edward III" (1594-1595; authorship doubtful); "Thomas More" (1594-1595; one scene); "Two noble relatives" (1613, together with Fletcher). Some Shakespeare scholars (including Soviet ones - A. A. Smirnov) divide Shakespeare's work into three periods, combining the 1st and 2nd (1590-1600) into one.

Shakespeare's work absorbed all the most important radiations of the Renaissance - aesthetic (synthesizing the traditions and motifs of popular romantic genres, Renaissance poetry and prose, folklore, humanistic and folk dramas) and ideological (demonstrating the entire ideological complex of time: traditional ideas about the world order, views of the defenders of feudal -patriarchal way of life and political centralization, motives of Christian ethics, Renaissance Neoplatonism and Stoicism, ideas of sensationalism and Machiavellianism, etc.). This synthesis, combined with a comprehensive coverage of life phenomena and characters, determined the vitality of Shakespeare's works. But at different stages of Shakespeare's career, reality in his works appeared in different facets and in different light. The ideology of humanism, combined with the ideals and aspirations of the people, has always remained the basis of Shakespeare's plays. However, it is no coincidence that Shakespeare's genius was most fully expressed in dramaturgy, by its very essence, more than other forms of art, capable of conveying the drama of life. The socio-economic processes that caused the cultural upheaval, called the Renaissance, in England began later and went faster than on the continent. The contradictions and contrasts of the era were revealed here more sharply and more rapidly, and milestones in the development of humanistic thought (confidence in the near triumph of humanistic ideals - and rejection of it, a time of hopes - and disappointments), separated, for example, in Italy, for centuries, in England fit in the minds of one generation . Shakespeare was better than others at capturing and revealing the inconsistency of his time - hence the dynamics and drama of his works, the saturation of struggle, clashes, conflicts. A deep comprehension of the trends of the time also determined the dynamism of his attitude to reality, which, along with the growth of skill, determines the evolution of his work.

Best of the day

Already the works of the 1st period testify to the fact that Shakespeare keenly feels the comic and tragic incongruities of life, but draws them in many ways traditionally: tragic as terrible, comic as farcical and in isolation from each other. Shakespeare is still learning, assimilating both the national tradition ("the bloody tragedy" by K. Marlo), and the pan-European one (focusing on ancient samples - Plautus in the "Comedy of Errors", Seneca in "Titus Andronicus" - and on the Italian humanistic comedy in "The Taming of the Shrew" ). The humanistic position of Shakespeare has not yet fully taken shape: the positive heroes of the chronicles gravitate towards antiquity, the influence of patriarchal morality is noticeable in comedies.

In the 2nd period, the drama of life is still the basis of Shakespeare's work, but the general tone and finals of the plays speak of Shakespeare's belief in the harmonious resolution of life's contradictions. The atmosphere of the works is determined by those who affirm harmony in the state, in public and personal relations (Romeo and Juliet, Viola, Henry V). The bearers of evil (Tybalt, Shylock, Malvolio) are alone. The organic fusion of the comic and the tragic in the plays of this period, the unconditional triumph of the principles of humanism, the ability to dissolve ideas in situations and complex images, the desire to embody ideals in full-fledged characters testify to the maturity and independence of Shakespeare's skill.

In the 1590s, Shakespeare's work was dominated by chronicles and comedies. 8 chronicles form 2 cycles covering the history of England 1397-1485. The early cycle (3 parts of "Henry VI" and "Richard II") depicts the war of the Scarlet and White Roses and the fall of the Lancaster dynasty, shows the collapse of the state due to feudal predation. The second ("Richard II", 2 parts of "Henry IV" and "Henry V") are devoted to the previous period - the rise of the Lancasters and the success of England in the Hundred Years War - and points the way from anarchy to state unity. Standing separately, "King John" and "Henry VIII" draw conflicts within the country in connection with the struggle of the English monarchy against the Roman Catholic Church. The main plot of the chronicles is the fate of the state, taken in a historical perspective; the main conflict is built on the clash of state and personal interests and is revealed in the struggle of entire social groups, which are represented by individual characters, outlined more schematically in early chronicles and as living individuals in mature ones (Hotspur, Prince Harry, Falstaff). The main idea of ​​the chronicles - the legitimacy of the victory of centralized power (absolutism) over anarchist self-will - reflects the ideology of the humanists. Humanistic views, combined with popular notions of bad and good rulers, are also reflected in the way the ideal king Henry V and his antipode Richard III are depicted. However, the personalities of almost all the monarchs in the chronicles show that Shakespeare was aware of how far the real holders of power were from the ideal, and the illusory nature of the ideal of an absolutist monarchy as a whole.

If the sphere of the chronicles is man and the state, then the sphere of Shakespeare's comedies in the 1590s is man and nature in the universal and optimistic meaning that the humanists attached to nature, seeing in it an all-good and omnipotent force and considering man and society as part of it. Shakespeare's comedies are dominated by the ideal, which is identical with the natural. Hence the affinity of Shakespeare's comedies with romantic literature: the plot is full of folklore, adventurous and pastoral motifs, the main theme is love and friendship, the main group of characters is lyrical and romantic heroes and heroines. The movement of life as the movement of uninhibited nature in all its fullness and abundance is a unique source of the comic in Shakespeare, which explains why his comedy, unlike all subsequent European comedy, does not have a pronounced satirical character. The fights in wit, the tricks of the jesters and the amusingness of simpletons (the second main group of comic characters), elements of festivity dating back to ancient rites and carnival - all this play of free nature determines the atmosphere of fun and optimism in Shakespeare's comedies. The world appears harmonious and holistic, life is a joyful holiday, people are essentially kind and noble. There are also dramatic complications in comedies (the betrayals of Proteus in The Two Veronians, the intrigues of Shylock in The Merchant of Venice), but everything hostile to true humanity is easily overcome and, as a rule, is not associated with social causes. Shakespeare's comedy of the 1590s is not interested in concrete social relations; a different picture is in the comedies of the 1600s. Significant social and moral issues are raised here (problems of social inequality - "The end is the crown of business", law and morality - "Measure for measure"); the elements of satire and grotesque are more noticeable, the action is close to tragic, the successful outcomes are formal, the cheerful tone disappears.

The gloomy coloring of "problem comedies" reflects the mentality that prevailed in Shakespeare in the 3rd period and made tragedy the dominant genre in these years. The contradictions of bourgeois progress and the entire transitional, at the junction of feudalism and capitalism, stages of social development are now perceived as tragically insoluble contradictions of life as a whole, as a discrepancy between the humanistic ideals of the entire past, present and immediate future of mankind. The social basis in Shakespeare is rarely as exposed as in Timon of Athens (the essence of money) or in Coriolanus (contradictions between the people and the ruling elite). Social conflict usually acts as a moral conflict, family (Hamlet, King Lear), personal (Othello), as a struggle of ambitions (Macbeth, Antony and Cleopatra). The main theme of Shakespeare's tragedies - man and society - is revealed primarily in the clash of individuals. But at the same time, the conflict covers the entire chain of being: acquiring a global, even cosmic character, it is simultaneously projected into the consciousness of the hero. In "King Lear", "Coriolanus" and "Timon of Athens" the emphasis is on the first, in "Othello", "Macbeth" and "Antony and Cleopatra" - on the second, in "Hamlet" the accents are equivalent. Regardless of this, the essence of Shakespeare's tragic humanism is most fully revealed in the image of the protagonist. The heroes of tragedies are titanic both in the power of their characters and in their ability to see public and world troubles in personal troubles. Having endowed heroes with the ability for spiritual growth, Shakespeare was the first in world literature to give a deep image of character in development, which occurs in the process of the hero's gradual awareness of the nature of society - and his own nature. At the same time, some heroes retain the integrity of nature (Richard III, Romeo, Juliet, Coriolanus), others comprehend the duality of themselves and human nature in general (Brutus, Hamlet, Macbeth, Anthony); but the knowledge of reality and self-knowledge for all serves as a source of tragic suffering (often aggravated by the realization of one's own fatal mistakes - Anthony, Macbeth, especially Othello, Lear) and leads to a spiritual change, sometimes to a complete transformation of the personality (Lear). The very grandeur of virtues - reason (Brutus, Hamlet), feelings (Romeo, Othello), strength of character (Macbeth) - leads the hero to death. Inevitably following from the incompatibility of the hero and the world (although the considerable role of accidents leading to a tragic denouement gives the manifestation of the tragic a smack of mystery), the death of the hero, like all action, affirms the greatness of the human personality and does not leave a hopeless feeling. At the end of tragedies there is always a return to a certain balance that existed at the beginning. This compositional feature of tragedies reflects the confidence of Shakespeare the humanist in the existence of a certain norm, without which life is impossible.

Associated with the deepening crisis of humanism, a new, more complex vision of the world was expressed by Shakespeare in the 4th period in the romantic tragicomedy genre characteristic of Mannerism and Baroque. The still acute perception of the tragic side of life is embodied here in tragic conflicts and ups and downs, and faith in humanistic ideals is mainly in a happy ending, however, undisguisedly utopian. The abundance of folklore and fantastic elements, the implausibility and intricacy of plots, the simplification of characters, the emphasized (especially in the finale) conventionality of the depicted - all this creates an unrealistic, romantic flavor of Shakespeare's last plays.

With all the differences in the individual stages of Shakespeare's creative path, in all his plays one can feel the unity of the artistic method. Goethe noted that "... the great basis of his (i.e. Shakespeare - Ed.) works is truth and life itself." However, the nature of life's truthfulness in Shakespeare is different than in later realism, and is determined by the poetic vision of the world, which is obvious already in the choice of subjects. Only for three plays by Shakespeare no plot sources were found ("Love's Labour's Lost", "A Midsummer Night's Dream", "The Merry Wives of Windsor"). In other cases, Shakespeare took ready-made plots from history (for example, from R. Holinshed's "Chronicles"), legends, poems, short stories. The traditional nature of the plots, firstly, made the action epic and made it possible to reflect the main moments of the state and political history of mankind, to cover the most essential aspects of life; secondly, it gave credibility to the life situations depicted in the plots, freeing from the need to observe the plausibility of details and substantiate events and actions (for example, explain Lear's refusal from power); thirdly, it introduced features of folk poetic thinking into Shakespeare's plays, along with fairy tale motifs. The abundance of anachronisms (the duke in ancient Athens, billiards in ancient Egypt, etc.), the conventionality of the scene (sometimes indicated exactly, sometimes not indicated at all) and time (different, for example, for different characters - the so-called double time) and others Shakespeare's "inaccuracies" (which are also explained by the theatrical conditions, an orientation towards the perception of the play from the stage), elements of fantasy and the supernatural, a combination of the conventional and the naturalistic (and in general the convergence of contrasts) - all these are manifestations of a poetically figurative approach to reality. Shakespeare's poetic vision of the world is also evidenced by the presence of two or more storylines in one play: comparable stories (Lear and Gloucester, Hamlet and Laertes) create a figurative representation of some patterns of life; incomparable (relations between Britain and Rome in "Cymbeline") together turn the play into a poetic model of the world. Shakespeare's poetic method is also reflected in the way he portrays history in chronicles and tragedies. He boldly transforms historical material, making it the basis of the overall picture of life and combining the signs of the past with a contemporary understanding of human relations. Dramatizing history, Shakespeare paints it through the clashes of individuals. Man is the focus of all Shakespeare's drama, and the depiction of the human personality in all its versatility, significance and grandeur, complexity and dynamics of spiritual development is Shakespeare's most important artistic achievement. The image of the variability and versatility of personality in Shakespeare is dramatic in essence, because the change in personality is primarily associated with a change in the real position of the hero - his place in life, his environment - and occurs in jerks; showing the versatility of character, Shakespeare often sacrifices his logic for the sake of exacerbating drama. At the same time, the characters clothe their feelings and thoughts in a metaphorically poetic form. Many speeches are independent poems. Shakespeare uses all the richness of poetic imagery. The figurative rows correspond to the character of the hero and his evolution (the sublime, ideal structure of images in Othello’s speech at the beginning of the play is later layered with base images close to Iago’s speech, and with Othello’s “purification” his language is also cleared), figurative leitmotifs correspond to the overall color of the play. The expressiveness and variety of poetic and dramatic means made Shakespeare's work one of the pinnacles of world art.

Shakespeare was already highly valued by his contemporaries (F. Mirz, B. Johnson). In the era of classicism and the Enlightenment, Shakespeare was recognized for his ability to follow "nature", but was condemned for not knowing the "rules": Voltaire called him a "brilliant barbarian". English Enlightenment criticism appreciated Shakespeare's life-like truthfulness. In Germany, Shakespeare was raised to an unattainable height by I. Herder and Goethe (Goethe's sketch "Shakespeare and Unending," 1813-1816). In the period of romanticism, the understanding of Shakespeare's work was deepened by A. V. Schlegel, G. Hegel, S. T. Coleridge, Stendhal, V. Hugo. In the middle of the 19th century in Germany, for the first time, the question of the evolution of Shakespeare's work was raised (G. Gervinus). The contribution of the cultural-historical school to Shakespeare studies is represented by the works of I. Ten, E. Dowden, M. Koch, G. Brandes. The "canonization" of Shakespeare the artist was opposed by positivist criticism (G. Ryumelin, partly B. Shaw). In the study of factual data related to Shakespeare and his work, the works of E. K. Chambers are of great importance in the 20th century.

In Russia, Shakespeare was first mentioned in 1748 by A.P. Sumarokov, however, even in the 2nd half of the 18th century, Shakespeare was still little known in Russia. Shakespeare became a fact of Russian culture in the first half of the 19th century: writers associated with the Decembrist movement turned to him (V. K. Kuchelbeker, K. F. Ryleev, A. S. Griboyedov, A. A. Bestuzhev, etc.) , A. S. Pushkin, who saw the main advantages of Shakespeare in his objectivity, the truth of characters and the "correct depiction of time" and developed Shakespeare's traditions in the tragedy "Boris Godunov". In the struggle for the realism of Russian literature, V. G. Belinsky also relies on Shakespeare. The importance of Shakespeare especially increased in the 30-50s of the 19th century. Projecting Shakespearean images onto the present, A. I. Herzen, I. A. Goncharov and others helped to comprehend the tragedy of time more deeply. A notable event was the production of "Hamlet" translated by N. A. Polevoy (1837) with P. S. Mochalov (Moscow) and V. A. Karatygin (Petersburg) in the title role. In the tragedy of Hamlet, V. G. Belinsky and other progressive people of the era saw the tragedy of their generation. The image of Hamlet attracts the attention of I. S. Turgenev, who saw in him the features of "superfluous people" (Art. "Hamlet and Don Quixote", 1860), F. M. Dostoevsky. In the 1860s, in an atmosphere of acute social struggle, the attitude towards Shakespeare became, on the one hand, more academic (the works of the founder of Russian scientific Shakespeare studies N.I. Storozhenko), and on the other hand, more critical ("On Shakespeare and Drama" L. N. Tolstoy, 1903-1904, published 1906).

In parallel with the comprehension of Shakespeare's work in Russia, acquaintance with the works of Shakespeare itself deepened and expanded. In the 18th and early 19th centuries, mainly French adaptations of Shakespeare were translated. Translations of the 1st half of the 19th century sinned either with literalism ("Hamlet" in the translation by M. Vronchenko, 1828), or with excessive liberty ("Hamlet" in Polevoy's translation). In 1840-1860, translations by A. V. Druzhinin, A. A. Grigoriev, P. I. Weinberg and others discovered attempts at a scientific approach to solving problems of literary translation (the principle of linguistic adequacy, etc.). In 1865-1868, under the editorship of N.V. Gerbel, the first "Complete collection of dramatic works of Shakespeare translated by Russian writers" was published. In 1902-1904, under the editorship of S. A. Vengerov, the second pre-revolutionary Complete Works of Shakespeare was published.

The traditions of advanced Russian thought were continued and developed by Soviet Shakespeare studies on the basis of deep generalizations made by K. Marx and F. Engels. In the early 1920s, A. V. Lunacharsky read lectures on Shakespeare. The art criticism aspect of the study of Shakespeare's heritage is brought to the fore (V. K. Muller, I. A. Aksyonov). Historical and literary monographs (A. A. Smirnov) and individual problematic works (M. M. Morozov) appeared. A significant contribution to the modern science of Shakespeare is the work of A. A. Anikst, N. Ya. Berkovsky, the monograph of L. E. Pinsky. Film directors G. M. Kozintsev, S. I. Yutkevich comprehend the nature of Shakespeare's work in a peculiar way.

In the USSR, Shakespeare's works were published in 28 languages. In addition to many separate editions of plays and selected works, in 1936-1950 and 1957-1960 complete works of Shakespeare were published in Russian. In Soviet times, a school of translators developed - thoughtful interpreters of Shakespeare's works (M. L. Lozinsky, B. L. Pasternak, V. V. Levik, T. G. Gnedich, S. Ya. Marshak, etc.).

Since the mid-30s of the 19th century, Shakespeare has occupied a large place in the repertoire of the Russian theater. P. S. Mochalov (Richard III, Othello, Lear, Hamlet), V. A. Karatygin (Hamlet, Lear) are famous performers of Shakespeare's roles. In the second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries, the Moscow Maly Theater created its own school of their theatrical embodiment - a combination of stage realism with elements of romance, which put forward such outstanding interpreters of Shakespeare as G. Fedotova, A. Lensky, A. Yuzhin, M. Yermolova . At the beginning of the 20th century, the Moscow Art Theater turned to the Shakespearean repertoire (Julius Caesar, 1903, staged by Vl. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko with the participation of K. S. Stanislavsky; Hamlet, 1911, staged by G. Craig; Caesar and Hamlet - V. I. Kachalov).

The first productions of Shakespeare's plays in Soviet times were experimental, sometimes formalistic in nature (for example, "Romeo and Juliet", Chamber Theater, director A. Tairov, 1921), although among them was such a significant performance as "Hamlet" at the Moscow Art Theater 2- m (1924) with M. Chekhov in the title role. The desire to convey the socio-historical and philosophical scale of Shakespeare's tragedies through heroic images in 1935 was approved on the stage by such milestone performances as Othello (Moscow's Maly Theater, director S. Radlov, Othello - A. Ostuzhev), King Lear (Moscow Jewish theater, director Radlov, Lear - S. Mikhoels), "Romeo and Juliet" (Theater of the Revolution, director A. D. Popov, Romeo - M. Astangov, Juliet - M. Babanova), followed by a number of successful incarnations of Shakespeare's images throughout the country - in national languages ​​(A. Khorava, A. Vasadze, V. Vagarshyan, V. Tkhapsaev and others). The combination of colorful theatricality and festivity with high humanism and subtle psychologism determined the success of the performances "Twelfth Night" (1933, Moscow Art Theater 2nd, director S. Giatsintova), "Much Ado About Nothing" (1936, Theater named after E. Vakhtangov, director S. . Rapoport), "The Taming of the Shrew" (1937, TsTKA, director A. D. Popov) and others. Pushkin (directed by G. Kozintsev) and at the Moscow Theater. Mayakovsky (dir. N. Okhlopkov), who opened a new stage of Soviet theatrical Shakespearianism, characterized by a deepening of tragic motives, a refusal to romanticize Shakespeare (especially in performances of the 1960s and 70s), often the primacy of directorial design decisions over acting and an expansion of the range of staged plays Shakespeare. Each Shakespeare production is invariably an event in the theatrical life of the country.

Since 1929 ("The Taming of the Shrew", starring M. Pickford, D. Fairbanks), the stream of adaptations of Shakespeare's plays has not stopped.

William Shakespeare was born on April 23, 1564 in the small town of Stratford-upon-Avon (English Stratford-upon-Avon). His father, John Shakespeare, was a glove maker, and in 1568 he was elected mayor of the city. His mother, Mary Shakespeare of the Arden family, belonged to one of the oldest English families. It is believed that Shakespeare studied at the Stratford "grammar school", where he studied the Latin language, the basics of Greek and received knowledge of ancient mythology, history and literature, reflected in his work. At the age of 18, Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway, from whom a daughter Susanna and twins Hamnet and Judith were born. Between 1579 and 1588 commonly called "lost years", because. there is no exact information about what Shakespeare did. Around 1587, Shakespeare left his family and moved to London, where he took up theatrical activities.

We find the first mention of Shakespeare as a writer in 1592 in the dying pamphlet of the playwright Robert Greene "For a penny of a mind bought for a million remorse", where Greene spoke of him as a dangerous competitor ("upstart", "crow flaunting in our feathers). In 1594, Shakespeare was listed as one of the shareholders of Richard Burbage's troupe "Servants of the Lord Chamberlain" (Chamberlain's Men), and in 1599 Shakespeare became one of the co-owners of the new Globe Theatre. By this time, Shakespeare had become quite a wealthy man, buys the second largest house in Stratford, receives the right to a family coat of arms and the title of nobility - a gentleman.For many years, Shakespeare was engaged in usury, and in 1605 he became a church tithe farmer.In 1612, Shakespeare leaves London and returns to his native Stratford. On March 25, 1616, a will was drawn up by a notary and on April 23, 1616, on his birthday, Shakespeare dies.

The entire career of Shakespeare - the period from 1590 to 1612. usually divided into three or four periods.

I (optimistic) period (1590-1600)

The general character of the works of the first period can be defined as optimistic, colored by a joyful perception of life in all its diversity, a belief in the triumph of the smart and the good. During this period, Shakespeare mostly writes comedies:

The theme of almost all of Shakespeare's comedies is love, its emergence and development, the resistance and intrigues of others, and the victory of a bright young feeling. The action of the works takes place against the backdrop of beautiful landscapes bathed in moonlight or sunlight. This is how the magical world of Shakespeare's comedies appears before us, seemingly far from fun. Shakespeare has a great ability, talent to combine the comic (the duels in wit between Benedict and Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing, Petruchio and Catharina from The Taming of the Shrew) with the lyrical and even tragic (the betrayals of Proteus in The Two Veronians, the machinations of Shylock in Merchant of Venice). Shakespeare's characters are amazingly multifaceted, their images embody the features characteristic of people of the Renaissance: will, desire for independence, and love of life. Of particular interest are the female images of these comedies - equal to men, free, energetic, active and infinitely charming. Shakespeare's comedies are varied. Shakespeare uses various genres of comedies - a romantic comedy ("A Midsummer Night's Dream"), a comedy of characters ("The Taming of the Shrew"), a sitcom ("Comedy of Errors").

During the same period (1590-1600) Shakespeare wrote a number of historical chronicles. Each of which covers one of the periods of English history.

About the time of the struggle of the Scarlet and White Roses:

On the preceding period of struggle between the feudal barons and the absolute monarchy:

The genre of dramatic chronicle is peculiar only to the English Renaissance. Most likely, this happened because the favorite theatrical genre of the early English Middle Ages was mysteries with secular motifs. The dramaturgy of the mature Renaissance was formed under their influence; and in the dramatic chronicles, many mystery features are preserved: a wide coverage of events, many characters, a free alternation of episodes. However, unlike the mysteries, the chronicles do not present biblical history, but the history of the state. Here, in essence, he also refers to the ideals of harmony - but the harmony of the state, which he sees in the victory of the monarchy over the medieval feudal civil strife. In the finale of the plays, good triumphs; evil, no matter how terrible and bloody was his way, overthrown. Thus, in the first period of Shakespeare's work at different levels - personal and state - the main Renaissance idea is interpreted: the achievement of harmony and humanistic ideals.

During the same period, Shakespeare wrote two tragedies:

II (tragic) period (1601-1607)

It is considered the tragic period of Shakespeare's work. Dedicated mainly to tragedy. It was during this period that the playwright reaches the pinnacle of his work:

There is no longer a trace of a harmonious sense of the world in them; eternal and insoluble conflicts are revealed here. Here the tragedy lies not only in the clash of the individual and society, but also in the internal contradictions in the soul of the hero. The problem is brought to a general philosophical level, and the characters remain unusually multifaceted and psychologically voluminous. At the same time, it is very important that in the great tragedies of Shakespeare there is a complete absence of a fatalistic attitude towards fate, which predetermines tragedy. The main emphasis, as before, is placed on the personality of the hero, who shapes his own destiny and the fate of those around him.

During the same period, Shakespeare wrote two comedies:

III (romantic) period (1608-1612)

It is considered the romantic period of Shakespeare's work.

Works of the last period of his work:

These are poetic tales leading away from reality into the world of dreams. The complete conscious rejection of realism and retreat into romantic fantasy is naturally interpreted by Shakespeare scholars as the playwright's disappointment in humanistic ideals, the recognition of the impossibility of achieving harmony. This path - from a triumphantly jubilant faith in harmony to tired disappointment - actually went through the entire worldview of the Renaissance.

Shakespeare's Globe Theater

The incomparable world popularity of Shakespeare's plays was facilitated by the playwright's excellent knowledge of the theater "from the inside". Almost all of Shakespeare's London life was somehow connected with the theater, and from 1599 - with the Globe Theater, which was one of the most important centers of cultural life in England. It was here that the troupe of R. Burbage "Servants of the Lord Chamberlain" moved to the newly built building, just at the time when Shakespeare became one of the shareholders of the troupe. Shakespeare played on the stage until about 1603 - in any case, after this time there is no mention of his participation in performances. Apparently, Shakespeare was not very popular as an actor - there is evidence that he played minor and episodic roles. Nevertheless, the stage school was completed - work on the stage undoubtedly helped Shakespeare better understand the mechanisms of interaction between the actor and the audience and the secrets of audience success. Audience success was very important for Shakespeare, both as a theater shareholder and as a playwright - and after 1603 he remained closely associated with the Globe, on the stage of which almost all the plays he wrote were staged. The design of the Globe hall predetermined the combination of spectators of various social and property strata at one performance, while the theater could accommodate at least 1,500 spectators. The playwright and actors faced the most difficult task of keeping the attention of a heterogeneous audience. Shakespeare's plays responded to this task to the maximum extent, enjoying success with audiences of all categories.

The mobile architectonics of Shakespeare's plays was largely determined by the peculiarities of the theatrical technique of the 16th century. - an open stage without a curtain, a minimum of props, an extreme convention of stage design. This forced to focus on the actor and his stage skills. Each role in Shakespeare's plays (often written for a specific actor) is psychologically voluminous and provides great opportunities for its stage interpretation; the lexical structure of speech changes not only from play to play and from character to character, but also transforms depending on internal development and stage circumstances (Hamlet, Othello, Richard III, etc.). No wonder many world-famous actors shone in the roles of Shakespeare's repertoire.

The Language and Stage Means of Shakespeare

In general, the language of Shakespeare's dramatic works is unusually rich: according to the studies of philologists and literary critics, his dictionary contains more than 15,000 words. The speech of the characters is replete with all sorts of tropes - metaphors, allegories, paraphrases, etc. The playwright used many forms of 16th-century lyric poetry in his plays. - sonnet, canzone, alba, epithalamus, etc. White verse, with which his plays are mainly written, is distinguished by flexibility and naturalness. This is the reason for the great attraction of Shakespeare's work for translators. In particular, in Russia, many masters of literary text turned to translations of Shakespeare's plays - from N. Karamzin to A. Radlova, V. Nabokov, B. Pasternak, M. Donskoy and others.

Life of William Shakespeare (briefly)

William Shakespeare

In 1582, an extremely hasty marriage took place between the 18-year-old William Shakespeare and the poor girl Anne Hathaway, who was 8 years older than him. This was probably the result of a careless passion on the part of an ardent young man, in which he later had to repent all his life. Where and how the young people lived at first is also unknown; but when the affairs of his father began to tend almost to complete disorder, the young Shakespeare, about 1586, leaving his family in Stratford (he already had several children), went to London, where he met countrymen who served in the troupe of the Lord Chamberlain. With this troupe, Shakespeare joined, first as an actor, and then as a supplier of plays. Soon he acquired a big name in theater circles, found friends and patrons among the aristocratic London society, took a privileged position in the troupe of the Lord Chamberlain, and when the troupe's business went brilliantly, he increased his funds so much that in 1597 he could buy a house in Stratford with garden. In 1602 and 1605 Shakespeare bought several more plots of land in Stratford for considerable sums and, finally (about 1608), left London to take a break from the excitement of metropolitan and theatrical life in the free environment of a prosperous squire. However, he did not completely break off ties with the theater, traveled to London on business, hosted friends and comrades on the stage and sent his new plays to them in London. William Shakespeare died at the age of 52 on April 23, 1616.

The first period of Shakespeare's work (briefly)

Based on the study of the works of William Shakespeare, it can be reliably stated that during his London life he worked hard on his education. He undoubtedly achieved a thorough knowledge of French and Italian, and in translations was well acquainted with the best works of classical and modern European literature, the strong influence of which was already reflected in the youthful works of Shakespeare. The poem "Venus and Adonis" (1593), written on a plot borrowed from Ovid, and the poem "Lucretia", in which the well-known story from the first book of Titus Livy is processed, although they show the independence of the young poet in relation to the understanding and development of psychological types, however in style, adorned with rhetoric, they belong entirely to the then fashionable Italian school. It also includes those “sweet sonnets” - as their contemporaries called them (published for the first time in 1609), which are so interesting and mysterious in an autobiographical sense, and in which Shakespeare either extols some friend, or depicts his feelings. to some beautiful coquette, then she indulges in sad thoughts about the frailty of everything earthly.

In the dramatic works of the early period of the development of his talent (1587-1594), Shakespeare also did not yet leave the literary current of his time. Such plays as Pericles, Henry VI, and especially Titus Andronicus (however, their belonging to Shakespeare is disputed), with all the striking touches that give a foreboding of the great master, suffer greatly from the shortcomings of the pompously bloody tragedies of Kid and Marlowe. And the youthful comedies of William Shakespeare (“Two Veronians”, “Comedy of Errors”, “The Taming of the Shrew”) can, like Plavtov’s and Italian comedies then fashionable on the English stage, deserve a reproach for the intricacy of the intrigue, the appearance of the comic, the naivety of the action, although there is abundant superb scenes and positions are scattered, and the characters vividly depicted. In the comedy Love's Labour's Lost, which can be viewed as a transitional to a more mature period of creativity, Shakespeare is already ridiculing the fashionable, flamboyant style to which he himself paid tribute.

The second period of Shakespeare's work (briefly)

In the next relatively short period (1595-1601), the genius of William Shakespeare develops more and more freely. In the tragedy "Romeo and Juliet" (see full text and summary), he combined an enthusiastic hymn of love with the funeral song of a young feeling, portrayed love in all its depth and tragedy, as a mighty and fatal force, and in almost simultaneously written comedy "Dream in midsummer night" this same love, inserted into the frame of a fragrant night, in the darkness of which playful elves frolic and willfully unite human hearts, is interpreted as a radiant dream and clothed in a graceful haze of fantastic colors. In The Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare proceeds to an analysis of difficult moral problems and shows himself to be a deep connoisseur of the human soul in all the complexity of its intersecting impulses, drawing in Shylock both a cruel usurer, and a tenderly loving son, and an implacable avenger for a humiliated people. In the comedy Twelfth Night, he opposes unsympathetic puritan intolerance; in the play "All's well that ends well" strikes at the pedigree prejudices, and after that bursts into carefree laughter in the comedy "Much Ado About Nothing".

Stills from the feature film "Romeo and Juliet" with immortal music by Nino Rota

The historical dramas or dramatic chronicles from English history belonging to this transitional period for Shakespeare (King John, Richard II, Richard III, Henry IV in 2 parts, Henry V) represent an important step in the development of creativity. William Shakespeare. From fantastic plots with universal types, he now turned to reality, plunged into history with its stubborn struggle of various interests. But, as if weary of prolonged contemplation of the gloomy and often outrageous pictures of English history, in which he met with the demonic image of Richard III, this personified evil, as if wanting to have fun and freshen up a little, Shakespeare writes a sweet, elegant pastoral "As You Like It" and household comedy "The Merry Wives of Windsor" with satirical arrows at the obsolete and decaying chivalry.

The third period of Shakespeare's work (briefly)

In the third, most mature period of creativity, from the pen of William Shakespeare came works as great in breadth of conception, clarity of art, images and psychological depth, as perfect in terms of composition, conciseness and strength of language, flexibility of verse. The human heart has already revealed to Shakespeare all its secrets, and with some elemental, unsurpassed, divinely inspired power, he creates one immortal creation after another and in the grandiose personalities of his heroes embodies all the diversity of human characters, all the fullness of world life in its eternal and immutable manifestations. The delight of love and the anguish of jealousy, ambition and ingratitude, hatred and deceit, pride and contempt, the torments of an oppressed conscience, the beauty and tenderness of a girl's soul, the unquenchable ardor of a mistress, the strength of a mother's feelings, the fidelity of a wife offended by suspicion - all this passes before us in a long line of Shakespearean images, all this lives, worries, trembles and suffers, all this is revealed to us in amazing pictures, either full of blood and horror, or imbued with the aroma and bliss of love, or imprinted with tenderness and quiet sorrow.

William Shakespeare

Born in April 1564, the year of the birth of Galileo and the death of Calvin, in the small provincial town of Stratford-upon-Avon, in the family of a wealthy artisan and merchant.

The house where W. Shakespeare was born before restoration in 1857.

Shakespeare House, Stratford-upon-Avon

Sources call the poet's father, John Shakespeare, a "glove maker" who, not wanting to engage in peasant labor, moved to the city, where he engaged in the manufacture of various kinds of leather goods. He got a house and married Mary Ardenn, the daughter of a wealthy farmer who belonged to one of the oldest families in the county of Workshire.

The Shakespeares had many children - parish books testify to this. The first daughter of John Shakespeare was born, Joan; the second child was Margaret, who died a few months after birth. The birthday of William Shakespeare is not exactly known, but according to tradition, it is celebrated on April 23, the day of St. George, the patron saint of England.

William Shakespeare's generation was more literate than his father's generation. When William grew up a little, John Shakespeare gave him to study "for some time in one of the free schools, where, probably, he acquired his little knowledge of Latin" - in the New Royal School (Stratford-upon-Avon), which was one of the best provincial preparatory schools, where education began at the age of four or five.

As a child, W. Shakespeare watched performances in Coventry, and in the 1580s, several theater troupes gave performances in Stratford.

In 1574 or 1575, W. Shakespeare began to study at the grammar school at the highest level. Rhetoric and logic were taught here; speeches and recitations in prose and verse, as well as children composed essays on a given topic. He was well versed in classical literature and its techniques, having familiarized himself with the work of Virgil, Juvenal, Horace and Ovid at school. Thus, students received quite extensive knowledge. W. Shakespeare was sufficiently prepared, educated no worse than any of his contemporaries. Due to bankruptcy, father John Shakespeare was forced to take his son out of school.

School of W. Shakespeare. Class interior.

After leaving school, W. Shakespeare married Ann Hathaway, the daughter of a wealthy landowner from the village of Shottery. Marriage gave rise to a lot of conjectures. William was underage, he was 18 years old, and his fiancée, who was seven or eight years older, was expecting a child. So two friends of the bride's family went to Worcester to seek court permission to marry. However, the court clerk in the bishop's record book on November 28, 1582, recorded the bride's name as Anne Whetley. A romantic legend was born that W. Shakespeare loved Anne Whetley, but was forced to marry Anne Hathaway, who was seduced by him. This fantastic story formed the basis of the film "Shakespeare in Love" by Anthony Burgess.

Their first child, daughter Susan, was baptized May 26, 1583; twins Hamnet (died at age 11) and Judith - February 2, 1585. According to one of the biographical legends, after the birth of twins, W. Shakespeare was forced to leave both his family and his native city, running away from the persecution of his neighbor, the land lord, in whose lands he poached.

From 1585 to 1592 there comes a period which in Shakespearean studies is called the "lost years", or "dark".

It is assumed that W. Shakespeare went to London (1592) following one of the many acting troupes that toured in Stratford. Becoming an actor, he played in the plays of Ben Jonson "Everyone in his own way", "The Sejanus" and other productions, including his own. However, he did not reach the heights of the profession, judging by the fact that even in his own plays he did not play the first roles, but it was the stage experience that gave W. Shakespeare knowledge of the possibilities of the theater, the characteristics of each actor of the troupe and the tastes of the Elizabethan audience. Researchers believe that as a playwright, W. Shakespeare began performing in the late 1580s. In 1587 businessman Philip Henslow built the Rose Theatre. In it, W. Shakespeare probably performed on stage at the beginning of his acting career, and, in any case, it is documented that one of his plays was performed here in 1592.

Rose Theater.

For five years (1592-1596) W. Shakespeare created 12 plays and 2 poems. In 1593, he published his first poem, Venus and Adonis, dedicating it to the Earl of Southampton, his friend and patron in literature. The play enjoyed great success from 1583 to 1640 and went through sixteen editions.

By the end of the century, the legacy of the 36-year-old playwright consisted of 22 plays. For eight years from 1601 to 1608 he created 10 more literary masterpieces, including Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear and other plays.

The Gray's Inn presented The Comedy of Errors on December 28; in March 1595, W. Shakespeare, W. Kemp and R. Burbage received a reward for two plays presented at the court by the troupe of the Lord Chamberlain on Christmas holidays. After several years of financial difficulties, theatrical activities under the auspices of the Lord Chamberlain brought him prosperity.

In 1596, John Shakespeare, received in the Heraldic Chamber the right to coat of arms, the famous Shakespearean shield, for which William paid. The granted title gave W. Shakespeare the right to sign "William Shakespeare, gentleman." In the same year, the wealthy W. Shakespeare first appeared in his native city after an 11-year absence. In 1597 he bought for himself and his family an excellent house with a garden (New Place), which was the second largest in Stratford.

For about three years (1594-1597) W. Shakespeare worked at Burbage's Theatre. In 1598, the Burbage brothers dismantled the old "Theater" - a building on the northern outskirts of London. After the closure of this theater, W. Shakespeare, together with the troupe, played for some time in the Curtain (1598-1599), and also, possibly, in Newington Butts.

The capital's theater "Globe", ("Globe" - the translation of the name is inaccurate, more correct - "Globe", implying that the life of the whole world would be shown in the plays) was built from the logs of the "Theatre" on the south bank of the Thames. W. Shakespeare became one of the shareholders of the new theatre.

First Globe Theater

The year 1601 became fatal for W. Shakespeare - a terrible change took place in his life. There are a number of versions, conjectures, events that changed life and influenced his work: condemnation of high friends and patrons of Essex and Southampton; unfortunate passion for the "dark lady" sung in sonnets; death of W. Shakespeare's father.

In 1603, King James I took W. Shakespeare's troupe under direct patronage. It became known as "Servants of His Majesty the King". The troupe often performed at court and for good remuneration. The playwright's affairs took off sharply, and in 1605 he became a major landowner.

In 1607-1608, William Shakespeare made long-distance sea expeditions, accompanied by another ship, the Hector, which was led by Captain William Hawkins.

In 1608, when the troupe got the even more profitable Blackfriars Theater, Shakespeare becomes one of its shareholders.

In 1611 he wrote his last play, The Tempest. At the age of 48 (1612), William Shakespeare finally moved from London to Stratford, leaving the theater and moving away from composing plays, engaged in commercial activities and lived with his family.

In March 1616, W. Shakespeare made a will, and a month later, on April 23, when he was 52 years old, he died. The great playwright was buried in the parish church, his native Stratford.

MAIN DATES OF SHAKESPEARE'S LIFE AND WORKS

1564, 23 April. William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon. In this city he lived his childhood and youth.
1582. November 28. Shakespeare receives permission to marry Anne Hathaway.
1583. May 26. Baptism of Shakespeare's daughter Susan.
1585, February 2. Baptism of son Hamnet and daughter Judith.
1590-1592. Staging of the historical trilogy "Henry VI".
1592. "The Comedy of Errors"
1593. "Richard III". "The Taming of the Shrew".
1593. The poem "Venus and Adonis" is printed.
1594. The poem "Lucretia" is printed. "Titus Andronicus" staged. "Two Verona". "Love's Labour's Lost" Shakespeare joins the troupe of the Lord Chamberlain.
1595. "A Midsummer Night's Dream". "Richard II". "Romeo and Juliet".
1595. Shakespeare's son Hamnet dies. "King John", "The Merchant of Venice" were staged.
1597. "Much Ado About Nothing". "Henry IV" (1st part).
1598. "Henry IV" (2nd part). "The Merry Wives of Windsor"
1599. Construction of the Globe Theatre. "As You Like It", "Julius Caesar" were staged.
1600. "Twelfth Night".
1601. "Hamlet".
8 September. Funeral of Shakespeare's father.
1602. "Troilus and Cressida".
1603. Death of Queen Elizabeth. James I ascends the throne. The troupe of the Lord Chamberlain is renamed the troupe of the king. The performance "The end is the crown of business."
1604. "Othello". "Measure for measure".
1605. "King Lear".
1606. "Macbeth".
1607 Shakespeare's daughter Susan marries Dr. John Hall.
Performance of "Antony and Cleopatra".
1608. Along with performances at the Globe Theater, the King's troupe begins to give performances in a closed room of the former Blackfriars monastery. The tragedy "Timon of Athens" was written.
1609. "Pericles". Published "Sonnets".
1610. "Cymbeline".
1611. "Winter's Tale".
1612. "Storm". Shakespeare returns to Stratford.
1613. "Henry VIII". Fire at the Globe Theatre.
1616, February 10. Marriage of Judith Shakespeare and Thomas Quiney.
March 25. Shakespeare signs the will.
23 April. Death of Shakespeare.
25th of April. Shakespeare's funeral.

When compiling this material, we used:

1. History of foreign literature. Shapovalova M.S., Rubanova G.L., Motorny V.A. - Lviv: Vishcha school. Publishing house at Lvov.un-those. 1982.- 440 p.
2. Kochemirovskaya E.A. "10 Geniuses of Literature" / Artistic designer L.D. Kirkach-Osipova. - Kharkov: Folio, 2006. - 381 p.
3. Shenbaum S. Shakespeare. Brief documentary biography. Translation from English. A.A. Anikst and A. L. Velichansky. Publishing house "Progress". M.: 1985. - 432 p.
4. Anikst A.A. Life of wonderful people. "Shakespeare": The Young Guard; M.: 1964.
5. Shakespeare. Encyclopedia / Comp., entry. article, name index V.D. Nikolaev. – M.: Algorithm, Eksmo; Kharkov: Oko, 2007. - 448 p.: ill.