William Shakespeare — An Enigma
Shakespeare is considered the father of theatre. His plays have entertained generations of audiences and are considered the pinnacle of drama and performances. They show humans fallings, achievements and their interplay. He has enriched our art and understanding of life in a way no other creative artist of the past. Yet little is known about the persona behind the enigma called William Shakespeare.
Birthday and Education Unknown: His birthday remains unknown to this day. April 23rd is officially celebrated as his birthday; it is speculation at best. Most scholars depend on the records of the Holy Trinity Church, which state that he was baptized on April 26, 1564, in Stratford-upon-Avon.
But his real date of birth is not known. You might also think that the literary giant, who produced such masterpieces as, Hamlet, Romeo & Juliet and Macbeth, must have been an accomplished scholar with many degrees and academic achievements to his name. But the fact of the matter is that the only thing we know for sure is that he attended King’s New School in Stratford-upon-Avon, other than that nothing is known about his education.
Queens and Presidents become Translators: You might think that the Presidents and heads of state are super-busy people. And that they have little time if at all to do anything else except governance, inaugurations and speeches. That is true, unless, of course, it is the lure of Shakespeare — that turns the rulers into humble translators. Part of the charm is bringing Shakespeare’s timeless creation to a new audience, and part charm is an association as a half-creator with Shakespeare.
Julius Nyererem, the first President of Tanzania translated Shakespeare plays into his native Swahili. Queen Catherine the Great was so impressed by the Bard that she not only translated his plays but levelled the spectacular winter palace of his husband, Peter the Great in St. Petersburg to make way for a theatre, where the Russian version of Shakespeare plays translated by Catherine was played. Wonder, how Peter felt at this and how he would have treated Shakespeare if he could have laid his hands on him?
Cursed Grave: After his death, every man is entitled to have an existence of peace and rest in his grave. All but the famous and notorious, you might say. Perhaps Shakespeare too foresaw this, at any rate, he went to great lengths to ensure that he is not disturbed after his death. Under 17 feet lays the deceased poet and on the grave is engraved, “Blessed be the man that spares these stones, and cursed be he that moves my bones.”
Maybe because there is no gold or treasure in the grave, as is in the case of tombs of Kings of Egypt or maybe grave diggers take this threat seriously. At any rate, no one to date has bothered to disturb the great man from his eternal sleep.
7 lost years: Surprising as it may sound, no one has any idea what the Bard did between the years 1585 and 1592. Was he out of England? Doing something entirely unrelated to writing poems and plays? Though there is a lot of speculation there are hardly concrete facts to go by. It is these lost years, that with other things add up to the mystery about Shakespeare and his true identity that we discuss later. For now, let us know that the lost years are shrouded in darkness, which no one can fathom.
No ‘excitement’ without Bard: He has not only enriched the world of art and play, but also the language. Though he is better known for his theatrics and long winding poems, he was also a creator of many words that have become part and parcel of the English language. The words like torture, excitement and eyeball were introduced by Shakespeare. There are no less than 1700 words that he added to English.
Writer turned Actor: You may know of William as the ace playwright; if you have been reading about him, you may also know that he was a poet. But do you also know that he was an actor? Surprised you, didn’t we? He was not an actor of choice but compulsion. When there was no actor to suit the role and when his special fans like the King (James I) and the Queen (Elizabeth I) come to watch the plays, William became an actor. And of course, who better knows the emotions and thoughts that go through a character’s mind than the playwright himself?
Bard, the property dealer: You think writing pays? No sir, it does not. And Shakespeare, who told the lives of so many characters, who created their life; he was practical enough to know about real life, outside the realm of art and drama. He was an astute businessman, who dabbled in property and made good investments in and around his hometown with his earnings, to retire in comfort.
If he was alive today, by virtue of his landholdings he would have been a millionaire many times over. Of course, it helped that his father was a moneylender, who charged anywhere between 15–25% interest rate!
No Women Actors Allowed: Can you think of a man playing Nicole Kidman’s character Alice in the movie Eyes wide shut? Or as the young Lolita? Good thing is that these movies were not the plays Shakespeare wrote in his time, or he would have had to find a ‘good looking’ man to play the part. In his time and age, women actors were not allowed to participate in stage productions, so an all man cast played the roles, including the female roles.
The height of this comedy of errors was when a woman actor, who pretended she was a man, player several characters on stage without anyone suspecting her true gender. One such character she played was that of a man, who pretended to be a woman. We will leave you to figure that out; as for us, for the life of us, we cannot picture a man playing the role of oh-so-beautiful Juliet standing on a balcony.
Never Published his Plays: A fact that defies logic. The most successful playwright ever did not publish any of his plays. Though printing press and publishing of books was common in his time, he had no interest in getting his masterpieces published. We need to thank his actors John Hemminges and Henry Condell, who painstakingly recorded and preserved for prosperity his plays that were published after his death. It is thought that 20 of his plays are lost forever, the most famous of which is Cardenio.
Man or woman?: The real Shakespeare was not the man you see in the famous pictures all over the internet. Many experts allege that is the picture of a woman, dressed as a man; or the face of a man has been superimposed on the face of a woman and you can see a double chin if you look closely. The more serious logic is that the real man who was called either Shakp or Shaxber (he never used the name Shakespeare) and who lived in Stratford-upon-Avon, was a commoner, who never went to college and who hailed from a family of illiterates.
Even the earliest of Shakespearian plays show the mental calibre of a person, who is well versed in international affairs and the workings of the imperial courts all over Europe that was beyond the capability of the man we have described above. Maybe Shakespeare was only a pen name of such a person, perhaps a woman of royalty who wished to conceal her identity.
Though we may know of his birthday, his true identity and while he may hold more secrets and revelations, Shakespeare remains a titan in the world of art. The countless adaptations of his work show their timeless quality and their universal appeal. Perhaps the part of the reason is that he understood the human psyche and emotions better than most. And those human emotions, achievements and fallings remain unchanged
