8-1PrimaryArtifacts

WHAT PRIMARY ARTIFACTS OR DOCUMENTS FROM SHAKESPEARE’S LIFE EXIST TODAY? WHAT DO THEY TELL US ABOUT SHAKESPEARE’S LIFE? Prepared by Daniel .T There are three different kinds of primary sources my answer explains. They are the likenesses, documents, and objects such as tools. The likenesses that are thought to be the most accurate are the Chandos, the Droeshout engraving, the bust in Holy Trinity Church and The Cobbe portrait. The Chandos was thought to be the most realistic and accurate and what the engraving and bust were based off of until recently. In the Chandos painting a lot is told about Shakespeare. We can tell what time period the portrait was from, what his social status was, and how he was doing financially. By looking at what he's wearing we find all of that information. According to a quote from Bill Bryson's __//Shakespeare//__ by Dr, Tarnya Cooper on page three, the collar he was wearing indicates that the portrait was from 1590-1610, which are also the years Shakespeare has the most success. That makes sense because that would give him the time and money to have a portrait made. We can also tell he was doing well because he wore black cloths which required a lot of dye and were only seen on wealthy people. The earring on Shakespeare in the Chandos tells us that Shakespeare was a bohemian which means an artist or actor. Now the Cobbe portrait has been confirmed as an authentic likeness, and its considered to be the most accurate likeness. Its also thought to be what the engraving and bust are based off of according to Professor Wells a Shakespeare scholar. The Droeshout engraving is found on one of the folios it seemed it was based off the Chandos portrait but is actually based off of the Cobbe portrait. The Droeshout is considered to be poorly done and has the most flaws of all the likenesses its just completely out of proportion, as far as Peter W.M. Blayney the leading authority on the First Folio on page five from Bill Bryson's //__Shakespeare__// is concerned. The bust found in holy trinity church where Shakespeare is buried was dedicated by his family to him as a reminder of his life. Many tools and odds and ends remain from Shakespeare's time. His fathers mace remains; it was a weapon given to him by the Standford council when he was promoted to bailiff; the mace represented power. The room Shakespeare was born in remains and has been refurnished for visitors to understand what it may have been like in that room. There is a highchair which was fancy and ornate to impress company that they could afford such an expensive chair for their child their plates were pewter which was nice, but the house was cramped and beds called trundles concealed smaller beds underneath them and were wheeled out when used and put back to save space. Leather working tools, work spaces and gloves suggest that John Shakespeare sold small homemade garments while his wife made them (info from //__The Eye Witness Shakespeare Encyclopedia__//) Documents of Shakespeare's also provide incite, and proof that he was alive, which is important because some radical conspericy theorists belive that he didnt actually exsist. On [] you can see that His will is left; his coat of arms can be found in the collage of arms in London; Standford council records show his fathers promotion in the council to bailiff and fall from grace, his batisimal register at Stratford Parish Church remains, and burial record remain and show that he had to burry his son. On [] the Black Friars deed reamains which was property in the blackfriar district near to the blackfriar theater. In Bill Bryson's //Shakespeare// on page 13 a litigation from court of requests in london also exsists in which Shakespeare went to court to help settle a marrige dispute,there is also a marriage certificate allowing him to marry Anna Whately which is strange considering his wife was Anna Hathaway, and there are many more documents. Primary Sources are a great incite into the life of Shakespeare but not his mind because very little is left that depicts his thoughts.

Work Cited:

Books: "Shakespeare's Birth Place."//Eye Witness Shakespeare Encyclopedia//. 1. 2000. Print. Bryson, Bill. //Shakespeare//. 2. London: HarperCollins Publisher, 2008.

Web: Mackey, Robert. "Portrait of Shakespeare Unveiled 399 Years Late." //New York Times// March,9Th,2009 1. 8 Apr 2009.

Love, Mark. "The Evidence." //Searching Shakespeare//. 2003. PBS. 16 Apr 2009 __.__