William Shakespeare

Thesis ;

William’s happiness in his marriage inspired him in most if not all of his comedies.

How I created my Thesis ;

I learned from two people that Shakespeare’s comedies always end in a wedding/ marriage, Ms.Heer said “ Shakespeare comedies always end in a wedding!” And Jenney Cheever the author of “Characteristics of Shakespearean Comedy” said , “Happy endings: All Shakespearean comedies end happily. Most often, this happy ending involves marriage or pending marriage. Love always wins out in the end.” Which isn’t just true in Shakespeare comedies, but is true in Shakespeare life.

Shakespeare’s Comedies That End in a Wedding ;

• All's Well That Ends Well • As You Like It• The Comedy of Errors,• Cymbeline• Love's Labour Lost• The Merry Wives of Windsor• The Merchant of Venice • A Midsummer Night's Dream• Much Ado About Nothing• Pericles Prince of Tyre • Taming of the Shrew• The Tempest • Troilus and Cressida • Twelfth Night• Two Gentlemen of Verona• A Winter's Tale • Measure for Measure

So that’s all of Shakespeare comedies that end in a wedding!

Shakespeare’s Childhood & Education;

Shakespeare was born on April 23rd 1564 in Stratford-Upon-Avon. He was the third of 8 children. Shakespeare had two older sisters, 2 younger sister’s and 3 younger brothers. He attended grammar school from ages 7-14 , this surprises a lot of people, because Shakespeare has so much knowledge from just 7 years of a grammar school.

Joan Margaret William GilbertJoan Anne Richard Edmund

Lost Years ; The “lost years” of William Shakespeare, probably had

the biggest impact on his life and writing. People thought of some crazy things that William might of been doing like, he spent his time tending to horses, he became a teacher, a sailor, a soldier, but the activity that would be the most realistic , would be that William Shakespeare spent his time traveling the world. Most of Shakespeare’s settings take place in Italy. And Shakespeare didn’t live in Italy, he lived in London, England. So, how could he describe his settings so well if he didn’t have any real-life experience there?

Marriage & Children

Right when Shakespeare got back from doing whatever he was doing , he got married. Shakespeare was married at age 18 to 26 year-old Anne Hathaway. He must have been in love, because Anne was known as the “Old Maid” and boys usually didn’t marry until they were 21, and they defiantly didn’t marry an older women. 6 months after their wedding, they had their first child, Susanna. Two years later Anne and William's twins, Hamnet and Judith were born.

Susanna

Hamnet

Judith

Shakespeare Writing Techniques ;

Shakespeare develops a character right from the beginning. In Act 1 Scene 1 page 1 in “As You Like It” “For my part, he keeps me rustically at home or, to speak more properly, stays me here at home unkept; for call you that “keeping” for a gentleman of my birth that differs not from the stalling of an ox? His horses are bred better, for, besides that they are fair with their feeding, they are taught their manage and, to that end, riders dearly hired. But I, his brother, gain nothing under him but growth, for the which his animals on his dunghills are as much bound to him as I. Besides this nothing that he so plentifully gives me, the something that nature gave me his countenance seems to take from me. He lets me feed with his hinds, bars me the place of a brother, and, as much as in him lies, mines my gentility with my education.“ I got the opinion that Oliver, Orlando’s brother was rude, and not even a true brother. Orlando is treated like a servant, when he should be treated like royalty because he is, because his father is a Duke.

Example of Shakespeare in his plays ;

“Men are April when they woo, December when they wed: maids are May when they are maids, but the sky changes when they are wives.”(As You Like It Act 4. scene1)

Rosalind is talking in this selection to Orlando, her lover, she’s saying, “Men are like April when they’re wooing a girl- young and passionate-but like December once they’re married and their passions cooled. Women are as sweet and temperate once their single, but the climate changes once they’re married.” (No Fear Shakespeare modern text, page 179) Orlando doesn’t care though, he is still madly in love, and wants' to get married. This is like Shakespeare, because he didn’t care what he had to do to marry Anne, he just wanted to love and marry her, and nothing could stop him or Orlando.

Conclusion

From the information that I found, I conclude that Shakespeare’s comedies did not only show the love and happiness of his marriage, but the struggle that you have to go through to get to that happiness. For example, Anne and William struggled with their age difference, but they didn’t care, as long as they had that happiness they wanted. And, Rosalind and Orlando had to search for their love, it wasn’t given, but the struggle and the fight paid off.

Work Cited ;

L.K. , Alchin. “Shakespeare Marriage” William-shakespeare.info.Web.16 May,2011 < http://www.william-shakespeare.info/ >

Cummings, Michael “Fascinating Facts about William Shakespeare” Cummings, Michael “Fascinating Facts about William Shakespeare” Cummingsstudyguides.net.Cummingsstudyguides.net. Web. Web. 18 May, 2011<18 May, 2011<http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/xfacts.html >>

“Shakespeare Comedies, As You Like It” shakespeare.mit.edu Web. 17 May, 2011

< http://shakespeare.mit.edu/asyoulikeit/full.html >

Cheever, Jenny. “Characteristics of Shakespearean Comedy”. Life123.com.IAC Company.Web. 2011. Web. 15 May 2011 <http://www.life123.com/arts-culture/theatre/comedy/shakespearean-comedy.shtml >