“All the world's a stage, and all the men
and women merely players: they have their
exits and their entrances; and one man in
his time plays many parts.”
William Shakespeare was the greatest writer
of all time.
He has had the biggest impact on literature
for all of human history.
Some historians believe that he may have even
written the first English translation of the
King James Bible.
During his lifetime, he published 38 plays,
154 sonnets, and several poems.
His writing has been translated into every
single language in the world, making him one
of the only writers who is universally popular
with everyone.
So, who was this man?
And how did his life experience shape him
into someone so profound, that his words have
lasted for hundreds of years?
Life in Stratford-upon-Avon
Most historians believe that William Shakespeare
was born approximately April 23, 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon
in Warwickshire, England.
His father, John Shakespeare, was the son
of successful farmers, and a glove-maker.
John was very popular in town, and made a
lot of friends.
One year, he was given the hilarious position
of Stratford’s “official ale taster”,
and in 1568, he was appointed as the High
Bailiff, which is like a modern-day mayor.
Aside from his glove business, John also had
a side hustle trading wool, which was actually
illegal to do without a proper license.
During this time, John bought several properties
in Stratford, and was moving up in both financial
and social status.
However, this upward mobility would come to
a halt when John was finally caught for illegally
trading wool.
He was forced to go to court and pay substantial
fines.
William Shakespeare only attended primary
school until age 13, because his father could
no longer pay for the tuition after his legal
scandal.
No one is sure what young William did between
the ages of 13 to 18, but he most likely worked
with his father to help keep the family business
afloat.
According to the records kept by the Shakespeare
Birthplace Trust, William was just 18 years
old when he got a 26 year old woman named
Anne Hathaway pregnant.
In Elizabethan England, the age of consent
was 21.
So William had to get Anne’s father’s
permission for the two of them to get married.
This would have been very shameful in the
eyes of Elizabethan society.
Normally, parents helped to arrange marriages
with their young daughters and eligible suitors.
Women never had a choice in who they married,
and this courtship process often started in
their teenage years.
Girls could get married as young as 12, if
their parents gave consent, but the majority
began searching for their daughter’s husbands
at age 14 to 15.
With young men, however, most parents allowed
their sons to choose their own wife after
the age of consent at 21.
By age 26, women were considered to be an
“old maid”, because they would have gone
through over 10 years of courtship and no
proposals of marriage.
If a woman went too long without finding a
husband, she was considered to have something
seriously wrong with her, and would be labeled
as a “witch”.
Anne Hathaway was already 26, and had failed
to find a husband.
Many historians speculate that Anne must have
seduced the young and naive William Shakespeare,
knowing that it would force them to get married.
This held young Shakespeare back from pursuing
his dream for years.
Back then, if a young man was a father, he
was no longer eligible to become an apprentice
in a skilled trade.
So getting a woman pregnant as a teenager
would essentially sentence a man to a life
of poverty, and he would be doomed to work
in the lowest paying jobs for the rest of
his life.
They were married in November of 1582.
Six months later, Anne gave birth to their
daughter, Susanna.
As a teenage parent, Shakespeare did not have
the money to care for a child, so he and Anne
had to live with William’s parents.
He had 5 younger siblings who were just 2
to 13 years old when his daughter Susanna
was born.
There are no records that give us any insight
into how William felt about Anne, but the
lack of evidence speaks volumes, as well.
Most writers can’t help but gush with words
of admiration about the people they love.
Considering that he would later create some
of the most romantic stories of all time,
we know that he must have fallen in love at
some point in his life.
But most historians believe that his inspiration
came from affairs he had later in life.
William and Anne went on to have twins- a
boy and girl named Hamnet and Judith.
Between the years that his twins were born
in 1585, leading up to the point where he
moved to London to become a writer in 1592
have been called “the lost years”.
Back then, it was totally normal for people
not to keep records of their own lives, especially
when he was just your average laborer.
But this period of time has become legendary
among Shakespeare nerds, who like to imagine
what sort of life would have lead to him to
ultimately decide to move to London to become
an actor.
Since there are no records, everything that
has been written about the lost years is basically
fan fiction.
The only real clue is a poem from his play
As You Like It, which has been called “The
seven ages of man.”
This has people speculating that he may have
become a soldier, or a legal clerk.
However, this was written in a work of fiction,
so it really may have nothing to do with his
personal life.
For now, much of his young life will simply
remain a mystery.
Self-Made Success
During the Elizabethan Era, there was an economic
expansion in England.
With more money comes more time for leisure,
so citizens were indulging in the arts more
than ever before.
Records of William Shakespeare living in London
as an actor began when he was 28 years old.
His wife, Anne, and his children remained
living in his father’s home in Stratford-upon-Avon,
and he would send money to support them.
Before he wrote plays, he had been publishing
poetry and sonnets with the help of wealthy
patrons.
At the time, becoming an actor was not the
dream career that it is today.
In fact, actors were considered to be untrustworthy
vagabonds who came from the lowest class of
society.
In this way, his struggles in his earlier
life may have been a blessing in disguise,
because if he had a better job, he may have
never stooped so low as to run away and join
the theater.
He began working for an acting company called
Lord Chamberlain’s Men.
For years, Shakespeare mainly worked as an
actor, and would only occasionally submit
a script of a play or a sonnet for the company
to perform.
After performing some of his plays, co-workers
realized that Shakespeare’s scripts were
the most popular, by far, and they drew the
biggest crowds.
It made the most financial sense for the troupe
to continue performing Shakespeare’s work
above anyone else’s.
The troupe would rent the stage from the owner
of The Globe Theater.
At the time, there were several popular theaters
in London called The Rose, The Hope, and The
Swan.
So they were far from being the only company
who was trying to capture an audience’s
attention.
The performances at The Globe became so popular,
the entire city would come to see Shakespeare’s
work.
The theater was set up to incorporate special
effects into their performances like trap
doors and overhead rigging.
At one point, performances at The Globe were
so popular, even members of the royal family
would come to see them on a regular basis.
When King James I came into power, he decided
to sponsor Lord Chamberlain’s Men, so they
changed the company name to “The King’s
Men”.
In the beginning of his playwriting career,
Shakespeare wrote biographies about the lives
of King Henry VI and Richard III.
Shakespeare’s plays were considered to be
historically accurate for a long time.
However, after discovering the remains of
Richard III, scientists realized that while
Shakespeare’s exaggerated his physical appearance,
so it is likely that he exaggerated his personality,
too.
By the time he was 32 years old, he came out
with his first play that was a complete work
of fiction, called “The Comedy of Errors.”
That same year, in 1596, William’s father
John Shakespeare was able to secure a family
coat of arms, which was a sign that their
family was now accepted into the upper echelons
of society.
In 1597, William Shakespeare was 33 years
old, and his writing career was finally successful
enough so that he could afford to buy his
own house for his wife and children in Stratford-upon-Avon.
He called the house “New Place”.
At the time, it would have taken two to three
days of travel on horseback to get to London,
so he always kept an apartment in the city.
The stereotype that actors were vagabonds
wasn’t too far from the truth.
At the very least, you could say that they
were incredibly crafty.
In 1597, the owner of The Globe Theater, Giles
Allen, wanted to tear it down so that he could
sell the land.
He abruptly ended the lease with the Lord
Chamberlain’s Men.
This would have ruined their careers, since
most other theaters in London were full with
their competitors.
But someone came up with a genius solution.
They offered to give Giles Allen free labor
to dismantle the theater themselves, in exchange
for them “putting the materials to better
use”.
Allen planned to just burn the wood, anyway,
so he didn’t see the problem with that.
The theater troupe all got together in the
middle of the night to carefully tear down
the theater, and they went to a property across
the Thames river.
Then, they used all of these free materials
to rebuild the Globe Theater exactly as it
had been, only now, it was across the river.
They had the exact same performance space
without having to pay their rent.
This stunt became the talk of the town, and
only made their company even more popular,
but the landlord was furious.
Giles Allen tried to take them to court to
sue them for the value of the theater.
After reading the contract he signed, the
judge found The Lord Chamberlain’s Men not
guilty of any crime, and they had every right
to do whatever they wanted with the materials.
For the rest of his life, William Shakespeare’s
reputation would continue to grow, and he
was nothing short of a celebrity.
Now just before we get into the rest of Shakespeare's
life, let me tell you a bit about Brilliant.
Brilliant are a science learning platform
that allow you to learn through "active learning".
Which, summed up is basically the opposite
of that feeling of reading a complex paragraph
about some principle, and just having absolutely
no clue what on earth it was going on about...
Even on the 10th read through...
And it's not just the basics (although they
cover that), it goes all the way through to
things like complex statistics.
Now, you've heard me talk a bunch about Brilliant
if you're a regular viewer, and I think there
a perfect fit for this channel, because hey,
you're watching a 20 minute educational video
on YouTube...
You're probably into learning, and perhaps,
if I might be so bold, smarter content than
a lot of YouTube.
Recently Brilliant made an important update
to their mobile app so that courses can now
be accessed offline, so you don't have to
worry about having a solid internet connection
to learn things through their platform.
Maybe that means you can spend your commute
learning something, or indeed just wherever
or whenever you want.
Brilliant makes even complex concepts easy
to understand.
They give you something super short to read,
it's easy, and then you immediately apply
it to a problem.
Rinse and repeat and suddenly you are understanding
all sort of stuff you didn't think you would
be!
All courses are totally ineractive, so you
can learn probablility by playing a game of
blackjack, or learn the physics of motion
using interactive models of pendulum clocks!
So if you want to support Biographics and
get unlimited access to all of Brilliants
in-depth math and science courses, you can
head over to brilliant.org/biographics to
get 20% off their annual Premium subscription.
And let's get back to Shakespear.
Love & Family
Now that William Shakespeare was living on
his own and succeeding in his career, he was
able to enjoy the freedoms of being a bachelor.
There is some speculation that he may have
actually been bisexual.
After all, plays during the Elizabethan Era
were always performed with an all-male cast.
Men with fair features would cross-dress to
play the female roles, and they would often
kiss on stage.
This was one of the many reasons why actors
were considered to be so low-class, as well.
So for a man to choose to leave his wife and
kids to run away to the theater, it’s not
so hard to imagine that his sexuality may
have had something to do with it.
One of the biggest pieces of evidence is his
sonnet, “Fair Youth”, which holds the
famous line; “Shall I compare thee to a
summer’s day?”
It is very romantic, but few people realize
that it was actually a love poem written about
a young man.
He kept that poem hidden for years, until
it was recovered after his death.
It was later edited to remove all of the male
pronouns.
But there was one line where he describes
the fair youth as having “a woman’s face”.
The most popular theory as to the identity
of the “fair youth” is one of his first
patrons, Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton.
He began to financially supporting Shakespeare’s
work in the beginning of his writing career,
and they remained loyal friends long after
he became a famous playwright.
Looking at the portrait of a young Henry Wriothesley,
he truly does look androgynous, and he seems
to be the most likely candidate.
For the historians who feel threatened by
the idea that Shakespeare was not straight,
they try to claim that they were just really
good friends.
Because, y’know, it’s totally normal for
dudes to write love poems about each other,
right?
Yet another poem may have revealed details
of one of Shakespeare’s lovers.
This time, in a sonnet called “The Dark
Lady”, he describes a woman with black hair
and eyes, with brown skin.
Historians have tried to figure out who this
woman was.
There are several theories, including one
that he was writing about a famous London
sex worker nicknamed “Black Luce”.
We do not know how much time he spent in Stratford-upon-Avon
with his family, but considering how busy
he was working in London, most speculate that
he only saw them on holidays.
When William Shakespeare was in his 40’s,
his son Hamnet died at just 11 years old.
At the time, the bubonic plague was killing
people across England, and one third of the
children died by the age of 10.
Hamnet had been his only son, so his death
affected him very deeply.
Most people speculate that the death of his
son is what inspired him to write his play
“Hamlet”.
Did He Work Alone?
For years, some historians have speculated
that William Shakespeare may not have worked
alone, because they have a hard time believing
that someone who stopped his education by
age 13 could not possibly grow up to be the
greatest writer of all time.
We do know that a fellow playwright named
Thomas Middleton either collaborated, or edited
Shakespeare’s work.
It’s perfectly normal for writers to collaborate
on projects together, and he probably got
plenty of feedback from his co-workers in
the acting troupe.
However, most modern-day readers will never
even see just how impressive his writing truly
was, and a trained eye can see the progression
in his style.
The way we pronounce words in the English
language has dramatically changed.
In his original scripts, there is even more
rhyming and clever puns hidden in the dialogue
that a modern-day reader would never pick
up on.
And yet, it’s still incredible, even if
we miss half of the jokes.
At the very beginning of this video, we mentioned
that he may have had a hand in collaborating
with The King James Bible.
In 1610, King James set out to translate the
Bible from Latin to English, but for those
who have studied theology, you already know
that the translation is not exact.
William Shakespeare was one of the most respected
writers in England at the time, and King James
would have surely gone to see his plays.
So it would only make sense that he may have
been at least one of the collaborators on
writing the Bible.
William Shakespeare was 46 years old at the
time, and the project began soon after his
birthday.
Historians with way too much time on their
hands figured out that in Psalm 46, if you
count out 46 words from the beginning of the
verse, you’ll find the word “shake”,
and then if you count 46 words backwards from
the end, you’ll find the word “spear”.
Most believe that this is enough evidence
to prove that he really did write the book,
and this was the only way he could slip his
authorship into the text.
Even though we see his hidden signature, we
still do not know if he wrote the entirety
of the King James Bible by himself, or if
there were other collaborators.
However, you can take a quotation quiz online
called “Bible or Shakespeare?” and you’ll
quickly realize that the writing styles between
Shakespeare’s plays and the Bible are so
similar, even fans have trouble knowing the
difference.
There is a common saying that Shakespeare
was so profound, every single story that has
been written since then cannot help but be
influenced by him, or the Bible...And, since
he wrote both, it’s all just him.
The End of A Life.
Beginning of A Legacy
In 1613, The Globe Theater burned to the ground
during a performance of “Henry VIII”.
They were shooting off cannons to create a
realistic effect of a battle, but they accidently
set fire to the theater.
After the fire, he stopped writing, because
there was nowhere for his plays to be performed.
The troupe began to rebuild the theater almost
immediately, but for William Shakespeare,
this situation was so traumatic, he needed
a break from writing.
He moved back to live with Anne Hathaway in
Stratford-up-Avon, and died just 3 years later.
In 2018, a movie called All is True speculated
what life must have been like for him during
his short retirement.
Historians have noted that in these last three
years, William Shakespeare’s handwriting
was very shaky from hand tremors.
This could have indicated that he contracted
syphilis from one of his lovers, and was now
in the later stages of the disease.
Some believe that he was also suffering from
mercury poisoning, and this may explain some
of his more dark and tragic work.
In 1616, William Shakespeare was just 52 years
old, and on the verge of death.
He wrote his last will and testament, which
is where we find the only time he had ever
written about his wife; “Item I give unto
my wife are the second-best bed, and the furniture.”
Many husbands made their wives executors of
their will, and wrote some romantic words
about how they trusted them with their estates.
But, nope.
That’s all he had to say.
After he died, the men who worked together
with William Shakespeare in The King’s Men
gathered together his scripts to preserve
them for future generations.
This is known as the “First Folio”.
Later, the poetry that was attributed to him
was added to the “Second Folio”, and whatever
they could find was considered his “Complete
Works”.
But, of course, there is always a chance that
he had written other pieces that the world
never knew about.
Even though these plays were kept by a ragtag
group of actors, his words resonated with
people so much, that it became a world-wide
phenomenon.
So, what makes Shakespeare’s writing so
good?
How has it lasted for hundreds of years, and
people are still reading and becoming inspired
by it?
The answer is that Shakespeare took the time
to study human beings.
No matter who we are, all people share common
emotions and life experiences.
In fiction, characters often get placed in
scenarios where it’s easy to find solutions.
The knight slays the dragon.
The princess is rescued by a prince.
Most legendary stories and fairy tales are
black-and-white.
But Shakespeare’s characters are truly complex,
just like real people.
In real life, we are sometimes put in a situation
that is so difficult, there is no absolute
“right thing” to do.
We simply have to follow our intuition and
make a choice, and deal with negative consequences
either way.
By tapping into the human condition, his tragedies
were heart-wrenching, and his romances were
epic.
But through it all, he tries to insert comedy
to help people laugh at even the hardest things
in life.
His characters have helped people to have
more empathy for the plight of others, instead
of casting judgement far too quickly.
And every new generation of aspiring writers
since then has tried to accomplish the same.
We do not have any journals to help us figure
out what went through William Shakespeare’s
mind at the end of his life when he was struggling
with a terminal illness.
But we do have some very powerful insights
into his mind from one of his last plays called
The Tempest.
He probably knew that he would die soon.
So, within the text of this play, he just
may have tried to tell the world some of the
most valuable advice he learned throughout
his lifetime.
The main character is a man named Prospero
who was trapped on an island with his daughter.
He becomes a sorcerer, and he communes with
spirits who give him control over the weather.
At certain points in the story, Prospero seems
to be on the brink of madness as he uses his
power to go after his revenge.
But throughout the course of the play, he
learns how to forgive his enemies, not judge
people based on their appearances, and embrace
love as being one of the most powerful things
in the world.
In the end, Prospero asks the audience for
forgiveness for the terrible things he had
done, too, and it was met with thunderous
applause.
With this in mind, we’ll leave you with
some of the last lines William Shakespeare
wrote in The Tempest;
“Our revels now are ended.
These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits and
Are melted into air.
We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.”
