However, we do not know what he died from. Some say it was from a cold or 'flu while according to John Ward, the Vicar of Stratford-upon-Avon (1662-1681), "Shakespeare, [Michael] Drayton and Ben Jonson had a merry meeting, and it seems drank too hard, for Shakespeare died of a fever there contracted." But remember, this was written some seventy years after Shakespeare's death.
We also know that he left six signatures, but none of them are to be found on any of his plays, poems or sonnets. The only written proof we have of him as a playwright appears on a list compiled by Edmund Tilney, the Queen's Master of the Revels in 1604/5 who wrote that 'Shaxberd' wrote Measure For Measure and The Comedy of Errors. Another playwright, Robert Greene also refers to him but see below for this.
This last point also tells us that we don't even know how he really spelled his name! In his fascinating book, Who Wrote Shakespeare? John Michell lists '57 Varieties of Shakespeare's Family Name.' These range from 'Chacspere' to 'Shaxpere' via 'Shaxkespere' and 'Saxpere.'
Another mystery is that we don't even know what the man looked like. The iconic engraving by Dooeshout which appears at the front of the First Folio was made in 1623, seven years after the Bard's death, and by a man who didn't even know him. The other portraits we have such as the 'Flower' and the 'Chesterfield' portraits were also painted after Shakespeare's death by artists who obviously had never met him.
In addition to all of these mysteries, one of the most intriguing is called the "Lost Years." Although we know, more or less, what Shakespeare was doing for most of his life, we do not know what he was doing or where he was between 1585, when his twins, Hamnet (no, not Hamlet) and Judith were born, and 1592, when Robert Greene, a fellow-playwright, wrote about him in a contemporary pamphlet.
The questions raised about these Lost Years include: Where was he during this period and what was he doing there? Was he helping daddy in his glove shop or was he working as a private teacher somewhere? Did he work in a lawyer's office or as Duff Cooper suggests in his book, Sergeant Shakespeare, was our hero a soldier fighting in the Low Countries (hence his knowledge of the army etc)? Why did this married man with three small children leave Stratford? Had he broken the law? Had his Catholic background caused him problems in Protestant England? Had he been offered a writing job in London? We just don't know. And until someone finds a missing document which will solve this mystery, it looks like that the 'Lost Years' will always remain just that, a mystery.
But ah! there is some light on the horizon. If you read my novel, Welcome to London, Mr. Shakespeare (published by GMTA/Ravenswood Publishing, NC, USA and available on Amazon.co/co.uk) you will read that I have solved the 'Lost Years' mystery. There you will read how he became a personal tutor in the north of England; had a brief acting role in Stratford and then came to London where he worked for James Burbage, the owner of the "Theatre." He also met the alluring Dark Lady of the Sonnets, but I'm not going to tell you any more about her here. You'll have to buy the book (print or Kindle version) to learn the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth!
I hope you enjoyed this, and for comments, please write to: dlwhy08@gmail.com
Thank you.
No comments:
Post a Comment