William Shakespeare: Biography and Writing Style | Albert Resources (2024)

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About the Author of Hamlet

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Even though William Shakespeare is regarded around the world as one of the greatest playwrights of all time, there is little information on his personal life outside of court and church records and Shakespeare’s writings themselves.

William Shakespeare’s Childhood and Adulthood

A local church recorded William’s baptism as an infant, so historians have adopted April 23, 1564, as his birthdate (“William Shakespeare”). William was one of six children born to John Shakespeare and Mary Arden, and he grew up in Stratford-upon-Avon (a busy town along the Avon River, about 100 miles from London) (“William Shakespeare”).

In 1582, Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway and had three children. In 1590, Shakespeare and his family had moved to London where he worked for an acting company known first as the Lord Chamberlain’s Men and later the King’s Men (in 1603 when King James 1 was crowned) (“William Shakespeare”). His career within this company was highly successful as he had the support to write, produce, and publish several of his own works as well as perform on stage.

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Following his success, Shakespeare was able to afford to not only purchase a massive home for his family outside of London, but he also built his own theater, called the Globe Theater, a version of which still sits on the edge of the Thames River right in the heart of London. While the original theater burned down when the thatched roof caught fire during a performance in 1613, a new theater was built and opened by the following year (Carafano). Shakespeare did not build his own theater out of pride; rather, out of necessity. Blackfriars’, the only other theater in town, was prevented from hosting plays by the rich and judgemental residents of the same town (“Globe Theater”).

Many of Shakespeare’s greatest works were performed for large audiences within the Globe Theater. Even though Puritans tore the theater down in 1644, in 1970, the actor Sam Wanamaker had a replica theater built near the original location (“Globe Theater”). To this day, people come from around the world to visit Shakespeare’s theater in London to see these lasting works performed over 400 years later.

William Shakespeare’s Greatest Influences

A major literary influence in Shakespeare’s life was Christopher Marlowe. Both Marlowe and Shakespeare used blank verse as their primary form of writing, and both authors portrayed tragic heroes in their plays (“Hamlet: Influences”). Another key influence was a French essayist, Michel de Montaigne. Both Shakespeare and Montaigne show sympathy for those normally ostracized by others. Shakespeare pays tribute to Montaigne’s ideas about the relationship between a father and his children inKing Lear(“Hamlet: Influences”). Shakespeare was also influenced by many poets but primarily Petrarch, an Italian poet who mastered the sonnet form (“Hamlet: Influences”).

William Shakespeare’s Writing Style in Hamlet

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Shakespeare is a literary genius for many reasons. One such reason is how every decision he makes is intentional. Whether through his choice of metaphors for a particular situation, infusing layers of meaning into individual words to reveal hidden truth or to take a stab at someone, or by choosing which writing style to use based on the topic and situation, his writing is unparalleled.

Figurative Language and Imagery

Shakespeare loves to play with language; after all, in a drama to be performed on stage with limited props and action, the words spoken by the actors hold significant responsibility for conveying the play’s message. Everything is intentional in a Shakespearean drama; nothing is filler. Several examples of Hamlet’s biting wit carry heavier meaning than a simple response to another character. One example is Hamlet’s response to Claudius when he dares to call Hamlet his son. Hamlet quickly retorts with “a little more than kin, and less than kind!” (Shakespeare 12).

By saying that Claudius is only a little more than kin, he recognizes him as his uncle,nothis father. Additionally, the word “kind” has a dual meaning; one, Hamlet wants to express that he is nothing like his uncle. Secondly, he emphasizes the cruelty of his uncle in asking Hamlet to get over his father’s death already and stop mourning.

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Another example immediately follows this exchange: Claudius asks Hamlet, “How is it that the clouds still hang on you?” and Hamlet replies, “Not so, my lord. I am too much i’ the sun” (Shakespeare 13). Here, Claudius speaks metaphorically about Hamlet’s sorrow, probably in an attempt to be gentle and appear as if he cares about Hamlet’s well-being. Hamlet quickly turns the metaphor on its head, saying he is not in the clouds but rather in the sun, but he also takes a jab at Claudius by reminding him that he will not so quickly forget his father.

Sentence Structure

While most of Hamlet is written in verse, there are still large sections of the play written in prose (“Hamlet: Style”). Shakespeare intentionally reserved verse style for Hamlet’s long, philosophical soliloquies about more serious matters, especially his “To Be or Not to Be” monologue. However, when the situation is intended to be comedic, Shakespeare changes the language to prose (“Hamlet: Style”). The gravediggers’ scene is one such example.

Verse and prose are also indicators of the class-level of different characters; common people in the play would always speak in prose, while royalty would only speak in verse. Hamlet intentionally talks down to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two friends ranking closely to him, as a means of insulting them for betraying him and conspiring behind his back (“Hamlet: Style”).

Conclusion

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William Shakespeare was an ingenious playwright and poet, and it is no surprise that students across the globe study Shakespeare at some point during their high school or college career. There is much to be learned from Shakespeare’s multilayered, multidimensional use of language. So much so that many readers return to Shakespeare’s works, such asHamlet, to read them multiple times over, often noticing things that had never caught their eyes before.

Works Cited

Carafano, Meghan. “Shakespeare’s Theater.” Folger Shakespeare Library, 25 Feb. 2020, www.folger.edu/shakespeares-theater.

“Hamlet: Influences.” SparkNotes, www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/life-and-times/historical-context/literary/influences/.

“Hamlet: Style.” SparkNotes, www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/life-and-times/historical-context/literary/influences/.

“Globe Theatre.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., www.britannica.com/topic/Globe-Theatre.

“William Shakespeare.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 10 Dec. 2020, www.biography.com/writer/william-shakespeare.

William Shakespeare: Biography and Writing Style | Albert Resources (2024)

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