8-2LostYears

The Lost Years in Shakespeare’s Life //Answered by Lexi M.// Another mystery in Shakespeare's life is known as the Lost Years. The Lost Years in Shakespeare’s life are in 1585- 1592 during the time period where his twins were born until Robert Greene’s complaint on Shakespeare being an “upstart crow.” His twins were born and then he stayed out of the public eye because there was no recorded information of that time. There isn’t even much information about him from the years of 1564- 1592. He was born in 1564; he was married in 1582, had Susanna in 1583, and had his twins in 1585. It’s sometimes a mystery on how Shakespeare went from Stratford and being a husband and father to London and being a man in the entertainment business. No one quite knows how he actually got there but there are some theories that are largely rumors and not necessarily true. There are a few different theories about what went on during this time but of course not all of them could be true according to the Shakespeare Research Center, __“Shakespeare’s Lost Years”__ by J.M. Pressley.

One of the most common theories is that Shakespeare had to leave to escape prosecution for poaching a deer on the property of Sir Thomas Lucy. Shakespeare later got his pay back on Lucy in The Merry Wives of Windsor. He portrayed Lucy as Sir Lucy. Sir Lucy was often whipped and imprisoned in the story. Another theory of his Lost Years is that he was employed in an office of some kind of attorney while he was still in Stratford. Scholars were impressed with Shakespeare’s knowledge of the law. Another theory was found when a scholar found there was a William Shakespeare listed as a conscript in the Low Countries and since Shakespeare had a good grasp of military minutia, people thought that this could have been the same William Shakespeare that was enlisted in the army. Shakespeare was well educated in the area of military so it was possible that he could have been in the army during that time since there was someone under the name of William Shakespeare listed in the in the Low Countries during the time of his Lost Years.

An early period of his life was also known as the Lost Years. That was in 1578- 1582 when his father had a major downfall economically speaking. He had a bad deal with his taxes and then his money problems just kept spiraling out of control. Anne Shakespeare, William’s sister, died when she was 8 years old which was also hard for the family. In 1579, John Shakespeare had to mortgage his wife’s property. Between the money problems and Anne dying, the Shakespeare family was going through a rough time period. Shakespeare’s father went from being a wealthy businessman and important for Stratford to a poor man according to __Shakespeare__ by Terry Gray. (Gray, Terry A.. "Lost Years." __Shakespeare__. 05 FEB 2009. 8 Mar 2009 .) The early and late Lost Years were obviously a mystery to everyone, there is no real answer to the question what is the Lost Years but there are tons of speculations on what could have gone on during that time period. Some say he joined an acting troupe, traveled to Italy, took a break to focus on his family, and some other ideas. There is no certainty to whether any of these are true, but people are still wondering.

Works Cited

Gray, Terry A.. "Lost Years." __Shakespeare__. 05 FEB 2009. 8 Mar 2009 . Pressley, J.M.. "Shakespeare's Lost Years." __Shakespeare__ __Resource Center__. 18 FEB 2009. Shakespeare Resource Center. 8 Mar 2009 . Unknown, Author. "William Shakespeare The First Lost Years 1578-1582." __William Shakespeare Site- Map__. 2005. William Shakespeare Info. 8 Mar 2009 .