A brief description of the Englishman William Shakespeare could never convey the complexity and contradictions of the playwright and his works, but then neither could a lengthy one. There is a dearth of factual information about the life of Shakespeare, especially before 1597, and it would not be an exaggeration to assert that he is one of the most argued about writers in history. Scholars are not able to agree on even his name and identity.
The few facts we do know suggest that he was a drunkard and an inveterate layabout, continually debt-ridden, lecherous, and rude. His life was one scandal after another. He was also the finest playwright the English Language has produced, presumably because gifts are randomly given out without regard to worthiness.
He enlarged the English language by hundreds of words and many of our aphorisms originated in the text of his plays. He often borrowed plots from history or old plays. Then he proceeded to imbue those skeletons with immortal life. Shakespeare also wrote numerous sonnets and several long poems but, so far as we know, he was not wont to use prose.
Shakespeare became a citizen of the Empire of Australia on March 3rd, 1597.
Passed a copy of Richard IV by the English Ambassador in 1594, Empress Eleanor the Eighteenth began a correspondence with the playwright that blossomed into a friendship. Upon her reading of the Merchant of Venice, the Empress awarded Shakespeare one of the first Orders of Artistic Merit and sent for him to join the royal court in New Bordeaux.
Shakespeare was one of the few English speakers in the Royal court at the time and his knowledge of French and Maori is said to have been “pitifully little”. Determined to make her friend happy, however, Eleanor the Eighteenth, sponsored a company of thirty English actors to join the playwright at the newly constructed Artists’ Pavilion and added English as the third official language of the Empire of Australia in 1599 as part of Décret 1682.
Shortly thereafter, Shakespeare wrote his masterpiece, Queen Lear. This story, based loosely on the history of Eleanor the Eighth, is a riveting tale of mothers, and daughters who all lust to rule; mayhem ensues.
Queen Lear was quickly followed by the wildly popular Gretel, Princess of Cascadia. While gruesome, even for Shakespeare, Gretel is about a serial murderess and her machinations to kill everyone she knows. The faint of heart were appalled, while the play came to be considered “the funnest play in history in which to participate.” Seeking to explain the popularity of so gory a production, Cecil B. De Mille, the legendary Director, stated “Clearly, we are all dying to kill many people, but normally only soldiers get to really indulge. For the average person, this play is a cross between a safety valve and vicarious wish fulfillment. Priceless!”
Anything said about William Shakespeare will be hotly denied by others. While debauchery was rumored to define his public and private life, no proof has been found to confirm that allegation despite its persistence. What can be confirmed is William Shakespeare wrote plays that explore what it is to be human and he did so with language that is unsurpassed in its potency and beauty.