William Shakespeare, the World’s Greatest Writer

The name of William Shakespeare is known very well. He was one of the world’s greatest writers.

He was born in 1564 in Statford-on-Avon, a small English town.

His parents did not guess that their son was going to be such an important figure in English poetry and drama and that his plays would still be acted four hundred years later – not only in England, but all over the world.

William received his early education at the local grammar school.

In 1587 when William was twenty-one, he went to work in London.  He soon began to act and to write plays.  He was an important member of a well-known acting company.

In 1599 the famous Globe Theatre was built on the south bank of the river Thames. It was in this theatre that most of his plays were performed.

In 1613 Shakespeare finally stopped writing and went to live in Stratford where he died in 1616.  He is buried in Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-on-Avon.

Shakespeare’ plays are “Romeo and Juliet”, “The Comedy of Errors”, “Much Ado About Nothing”, “Twelfth Night”, “Hamlet”, “Othello”, “Hamlet”, “King Lear”, “The Taming of the Shrew”, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, “Antony and Cleopatra”, “The Winter’s Tale” and others.  He produced 37 plays.

Life itself is shown in his plays. Shakespeare’s heroes are still on the stage.  We go to the theatre or cinema to meet them again and again.  Shakespeare’s works are truly immortal.  His popularity all over the world grows from year to year.

‘Hamlet’

I want to say a few words about my favourite play by Shakespeare.  It is “Hamlet”.  It was written in 1600.  “Hamlet” is one of Shakespeare’s greatest creations.  It is also considered the hardest of his works to understand.  Some critics call it obscure and even mysterious.

Many different interpretations of this play exist.  The source of the plot can be found in a Danish chronicle written about 1200.  When we first see Hamlet he is grieved by the death of his father and shocked for Claudius.  Hamlet sincerely wants to kill Claudius.  This is a natural course of action for a tragic hero.  But Hamlet delays.  He slew Claudius only when he was poisoned himself.

The name of Hamlet is often used to describe contradictory and indecisive people.

Many actors played the part of Hamlet.  Among them are John Gielgud, Michael Redgrave, Innokenty Smoktunovsky, Vladimir Visotsky and others.

William Shakespeare wrote a lot of poetry.  His poems have been published in many languages.  They are well-known among people.

We don’t know a lot of facts of Shakespeare’s life.  We can only guess  what kind of man he was, that’s why there are many legends about his life.