8-1ProfessionalLife

Shakespeare’s Professional Career

A lot of people have heard about Shakespeare, but most people don’t actually know about what his career was all about. On the BBC website, the section entitled “Historic Figures-William Shakespeare” explains his acting career was spent with the Lord Chamberlain's Company, which was renamed the King's Company in 1603. Shakespeare's poetry was published before his plays, with two poems appearing in 1593 and 1594. According to the Professor of Literature Emeritus at the State University of New York, College at Purchase, author of “William Shakespeare” in The World Book Encyclopedia, “from 1594 to 1608, Shakespeare was fully involved in the London theater world. His career spanned about twenty years. In the 1590s, he wrote plays on English history as well as several comedies and at least two tragedies (Titus Andronicus & Romeo and Juliet”) (256). According to Marchette Chute, author of An Introduction to Shakespeare, “Shakespeare experimented with many different kinds of writing styles, and in the end Shakespeare had brought the whole world into existence on the London stage. One of Shakespeare’s earliest plays that he wrote for his new company was King John” (5). During his career, Shakespeare wrote an average of almost two plays per year! Writing all of those plays must have kept Shakespeare very busy! Shakespeare was also getting lots of popularity at this time. According to Barbara Mowat and Paul Werstine, authors of “Shakespeare’s Life” in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, “around this time period, Shakespeare ranked as London’s most popular playwright, based on the number of times his plays were performed and published. In 1599 Shakespeare, along with six associates, became owners of the Globe (a new outdoor theater in the London suburb of Southwark”) (26). According to a website entitled, “William Shakespeare,” in 1608 Shakespeare is mentioned as one of "the mens' players,” or otherwise known as the King’s Men. In the same year, the King's Men bought the Blackfriars Theatre and Shakespeare became a part owner of the theatre. Shakespeare must have enjoyed owning all of these very important monuments.

Even in the last years of Shakespeare’s life, he still kept himself very busy. According to the Professor of Literature Emeritus at the State University of New York, College at Purchase, author of “William Shakespeare” in The World Book Encyclopedia, “during his last eight years of his life, Shakespeare wrote four plays. Cymbeline, Henry VIII, The Tempest, and The Winter’s Tale. Either The Tempest, written about 1610, or Henry VIII could have been Shakespeare’s last plays” (258). Shakespeare was also diligent by writing sonnets. As mentioned in a website entitled, “William Shakespeare’s Sonnets,” it explains that the Sonnets of the Bard appeared, without his permission, in 1609 and advertised as "never before imprinted". On May 20, 1609, Thomas Thorpe was granted a license to publish "a Booke called Shakespeare's sonnettes.”From income with the acting company’s profits as well as from his own career as an actor, and, along with his shares as an owner of the Globe, Shakespeare became incredibly prosperous. Sometime between 1610 and 1613 Shakespeare returned to live in his hometown of Stratford. Shakespeare definitely had a very amazing life. He acted, he wrote about two plays per year, he wrote comedies, tragedies, and even sonnets. Talk about a busy career.

-Emily Bach