Hamlet Teacher's Guide - California Shakespeare Theater

William Shakespeare:A Mysterious Life“The play’s the thing”—Hamlet, Act 2, scene 2Sure, he’s one of the most highly regarded writers of all time. But the really interesting thing isthat we don’t actually know if the man known as William Shakespeare—of Stratford-on-Avon,son of a glove-maker—was really the author of all the plays written under his name. A commonargument is that a lower middle-class man such as Shakespeare could not have had sufficienteducation or knowledge of court matters to write so insightfully and profoundly of the humancondition and of kings, much less use language so skillfully. Who could have written the plays?Frequently suggested are:• Queen Elizabeth• The Earl of Oxford• Sir Francis Bacon• A bunch of playwrights writing under one name.Even his real birthday is unsure. (Birth records of the time are rare and unreliable.) Shakespearewas born on April 23, or maybe the 20th, or the 21st, or maybe even May 3. It’s pretty certainthat it was in 1564, and that he was baptized on April 26. To add to the confusion, back inShakespeare’s day there wasn’t actually such a thing as standard spelling—people spelled wordsas they sounded. Common spellings of “Shakespeare” include “Shakespere,” “Shackspeare,” and“Shakspeare.” Furthermore, only a few samples of handwriting are thought actually to be his—plays were copied out by actors and others in the theater company to carry for rehearsals.There are a few things about Shakespeare, however, that we do know for sure. A man known asWilliam Shakespeare definitely was involved in the theater: His name is listed among the actingcompany known as the Lord Chamberlain’s Men in London, which was very popular with thepeople and with Queen Elizabeth. The company also built the famous Globe Theatre in London,which premiered most of Shakespeare’s plays.. Elizabethan Culture Overview- 25 -