illustrated portrait of English playwright and poet William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

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Student Question

Considering your personal interpretation and not historical records, what type of person do you think William Shakespeare was?

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I have no idea what kind of man Shakespeare was.  I am not sure I believe what I do read about him.  However, we can tell from his plays that he had a good sense of humor and was clever with words, and he knew how to weave a good tale.

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He was a very astute and successful businessman, as well. He understood the logistics of staging a drama in his time and worked with the limitations he had to deal with by incorporating them into his plays. No way to show a dagger floating in the air and turning bloody? No problem. Macbeth will simply describe what he sees. Big, violent battle? No problem. A soldier will just run onto the stage and talk about where he has been and what happened. No way to create darkness during the day when he plays were staged? No problem. Actors will carry torches and talk about how dark it is and where the moon happens to be.

Also, Shakespeare understood his audiences and gave them what they enjoyed (and still enjoy, for that matter): ghosts, witches, supernatural events, and lots of blood. He was the hottest ticket in town!

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One of the keywords to never let you get fooled about Shakespeare is that he might have been the "anti-poet"- Far from being the starving, drunken, Lord Byron-ish, sullen, dramatic poet, he was a staunch businessman, with his head well placed on finances as well as in the arts. He was wise, and quick and, admirably, a very fast learner.

From the point of view of the modern man, he was indeed the Renaissance Man, with the ability to put his finger on something and make it work, with the ability to dabble on the rivers of arts, philosophy, and the less artistic world of banking and real-estate. He did not die crazy, he did not die broke, he did not die kicked out of society (like plenty other dramatists and artists were in Victorian times, for instance), and instead he died a rich and famous man, whose name has outlived time.

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