The influence of family on Shakespeares life and work - Research Paper Example

? 29 November The influence of family on Shakespeare’s life and work William Shakespeare is amongst the world’s most famous playwrights particularly those who belong to the Renaissance era. Writers, artists, musicians, and other celebrities that have made a big name and earned a lot of fame in this world all have had certain factors in their life that had influenced their work. One such factor in Shakespeare’s life was his family. Shakespeare’s family influenced his life and work in numerous ways right from his childhood till his death. Although Shakespeare spent the most famous years of his life in London, yet his family continued to influence his life and work. Not much has been documented about Shakespeare’s life. The scanty records suggest that Shakespeare’s family was complicated and that Shakespeare remain too busy in his city life. This paper discusses the influence of family on Shakespeare’s life. Shakespeare was born on 23 April, 1564. Some of his siblings could not survive infancy or died in adolescence. Joan Shakespeare was his oldest brother who lived from 1558 to little time before 1569. Margaret Shakespeare was one his sisters who died at the age of five months only. Another sister Anne passed away when she was only eight years old. Some brothers and sisters survived and died after Shakespeare. Mary Arden was Shakespeare’s mother and the daughter of a wealthy landowner, The Forest of Arden that Shakespeare had included in his play As You Like It derived its name from the family. Although Shakespeare’s mother was rich, yet his father John Shakespeare was not. He did farming and made gloves early in his life and later, became the Alderman or the council-member for Stratford-upon-Avon town. In his early career, Shakespeare’s father kept several village offices but somehow lost his money in the 1560s. John Shakespeare became so poor that he even hesitated to go to the church in an attempt to not get caught for the unpaid debts. The family of Shakespeare included professed Protestants, though in the 18th century, a letter with the signatures of John Shakespeare on it was found that showed his belongingness to the Catholic religion. This would mean that Shakespeare was also provided with some Catholic education secretly in addition to the Protestant learning he had had. One can find conflicting views about Shakespeare’s faith in his plays that have been expressed by the historians in the past. Although many plays of Shakespeare were fundamentally influenced by religion, yet Shakespeare’s true faith and its influence on his life and work may always remain unknown. The practices evident in Shakespeare’s plays indicate that he had a Catholic faith. For example, in one of his plays Hamlet, the main character wears black dress to mourn over the death of his father that is a practice common amongst the Catholics. The audience can get a very strong Catholic appeal in Hamlet since Hamlet is in immense pain but suicide is still out of question for him to commit because although suicide would provide Hamlet with a relief from this world, yet it would lead him to eternal suffering as he would rot in hell. This is exactly the Christian faith with respect to the concept of suicide. From the customs and thinking projected in Hamlet, the audience can judge that Shakespeare had a Catholic faith that reflected in Hamlet’s character. Shakespeare got married to Anne Hathaway in November 1582. At that time, Shakespeare was only 18 years old. Anne Hathaway was a farm girl that was already pregnant with Shakespeare’s child at the time when she got married to him. She gave birth to Shakespeare’s daughter in early 1583. Many critics argue that the fundamental reason that Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway was that she was pregnant with his child, though there is counterargument about this belief as well since betrothal at that time had the legal status of marriage. At that time, many couples would delay the marriage till the time the woman was pregnant. Shakespeare’s family was complete by the year 1585 as he had had two twin children Hamnet and Judith, of which Hamnet who was the boy died in 1596 when he was only 11 years old whereas the two daughters namely Susanna, the elder and Judith, the younger survived through the childhood. It is commonly believed that Shakespeare was very grieved by the loss of his only son and might be a potential reason why Shakespeare decided to write the tragedy Hamlet after the death of his son. In Hamlet, Hamlet is also the only son of his father and the plot is based on the strength of bond between the son and the father who has departed from this world. The plays provided Shakespeare with a way to reflect his internal feelings and states of mind in his work. Many critics commonly argue that Shakespeare remained too busy in his work for the most time in his life and could not draw a balance between work and life since he was in London for most of his adult life. Nevertheless, when Shakespeare retired from the stage in the year 1613m he abruptly switched over to his family home that was located in Stratford, leaving his popular life behind. Anne Hathaway had expressed her wish to be buried at a side of Shakespeare’s grave. “Scholarship may never fully understand the influence of Shakespeare’s family upon his work, yet it is clear he retained affection for them throughout his career, and left a glittering life in London to be die in his family’s peaceful Stratford home” (Ellis). In many plays of Shakespeare, the female characters outlive the male characters for one reason or another, be it Lady Macbeth from the play Macbeth or Gertrude from the play Hamlet. This can be understood as the influence of Shakespeare’s own family on his work since many women in the family of Shakespeare had outlived their husbands. Phyllis Rackin explains it in these words, “Because most of the women in Shakespeare's family outlived their brothers and husbands, the family in which he grew up was actually predominantly female. In addition to numerous sisters and female cousins, Shakespeare had eight aunts, including one who outlived her husband” (Rackin 33). In addition to that, the legal records of the 16th century reflect that women in the family of Shakespeare had control over land and money matters. Shakespeare has captured this concept in several plays including King Lear’s elder daughters from the play King Lear that are interested in their father’s property, or the heriress Portia from the play The Merchant of Venice who is a wealthy heiress. Concluding, Shakespeare’s family life was complicated particularly with the death of many siblings and the only son Shakespeare had. The depth witnessed by the audiences in the Shakespeare’s plays can, in part, be attributed to the complicated experiences that Shakespeare had had in his life at different points in time. Shakespeare understood the dynamics of relationships among people very deeply and tried to capture them in his plays which is one of the factors that lent his plays a unique identity and flavor. Most of Shakespeare’s plays are unpredictable till the end which basically reflects the complication and unpredictability of life. The tough experiences Shakespeare went through in his life led him to developing a unique philosophy of life that he projected into his plays like artists do in their art. His plays have entertained the audiences at all periods of time since they have been written because they highlight many realities of life that do not change over time. Works Cited: Ellis, Jessica. “Who was in Shakespeare's Family?” 2012. Web. 29 Nov. 2012. . Rackin, Phyllis. Shakespeare and Women. ?New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. Print. Read More