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7 Exciting Facts About The Life Of William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare is a famous English playwright, poet and actor. William is also a dramatist inclusive of Romeo and Juliet and the merchant of Venice. Apart from his achievements in his career, there are several facts surrounding the life of William. Below are some of the facts about the life and the death of the famous William Shakespeare.

Unknown birth date

Nobody has an idea regarding the time that William Shakespeare was born. However, there is a record stating his date of baptism, which was 26 April 1564 in Warwickshire, England. This is the place where he was born. His birthday is celebrated on April 23 due to an error made by a scholar. One of the fun facts about this date is that Shakespeare died on the same date in 1616.

Authorship of his work

Shakespeare was a gifted playwright but there are questions that surround the authorship of his work. It is believed that Shakespeare was not learned in writing. Others are also questioning whether all of the content written under his name are actually his. It was difficult to get answers to these questions because very few records about Shakespeare were found.

Shakespeare’s marriage

With the existence of the facts about Shakespeare, little is known about his personal life. However, about his family life, Shakespeare was married to an older woman. She was 26 years while he was only 18. Interestingly, some people believe that Shakespeare and Anne rushed their marriage to cover up her pregnancy. Anne gave birth six months after the wedding.

Complicated History

Understanding the life of Shakespeare is very tough as very little is known about him and his family. There are times when it is impossible to trace the activities and the life of Shakespeare. Only bits of information can be found and that makes it impossible to make an understandable story about him. For example, no record exists for seven years after birthing his twins.

Skilled actor

Shakespeare was not only a skilled playwright but he had great acting skills too. He used to act on his playwrights and for others too. During his time, women were prohibited from acting on the stage. That made men to take up all the roles in the play. It is believed that Shakespeare might have taken the role of Ophelia in Hamlet. However, there are no facts to back this up.

Cause of Death

Shakespeare died at the age of 52 in the year 1616. The cause of his death is not known. According to the people who were close to him, he still looked healthy before his demise. Interestingly, Shakespeare wrote his will and died not long after that. Records talking about his death suggest that he died after heavy drinking.

Shakespeare’s bloodline

Among the sad William Shakespeare facts is the sudden end of his bloodline. His generation ended with his grandchildren. The two daughters of William got married and they had four grandchildren. Only one of the grandchildren married but none of them managed to have children. His grandchildren became the last of his bloodline.

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