William Shakespeare is still one of the best playwrights in the world and the amazing fact remains that a provincial man who has never attended college has become one of the most prolific, worldly, and eloquent writers in history.
1. Shakespeare was born into a wealthy, large family. He had three brothers and four sisters.
2. When William Shakespeare turned eighteen, he married a farmer’s daughter eight years older than him. At the time of the wedding, his wife, Anne Hathaway, was three months pregnant.
3. According to research, Shakespeare’s children and his wife have been illiterate, which was very common in those days, William, on the other hand, attended a local grammar school in Stratford, where he mastered writing, reading and Latin.
4. William Shakespeare greatly influenced the formation of modern English. Thanks to his work, such words and expressions as “fashionable”, “lackluster”, “in a pickle”, “one fell swoop” have become popular in everyday English.
5. Shakespeare is the most quoted writer in the history of the English-speaking world after the various writers of the Bible.
6. In one of the most famous depictions, known as the Chandos portrait, there is a gold earring in Shakespeare’s left ear. At the time, earrings on men were trendy hallmarks of a bohemian lifestyle.
Shakespeare’s Chandos Portrait with Gold Earring.
8. During the time of Shakespeare, women were not allowed to act in the theater, and all-female roles were performed by young boys. Today, it is hard to imagine that in the “Romeo and Juliet” play, the main female role was played by a man, but at that time it was very common.
9. Shakespeare is credited with inventing the given names Olivia, Miranda, Jessica, and Cordelia, which have become common in many countries over the years. Olivia and Jessica, first featured in his plays, have since become timeless classics in the English language and regularly top baby name charts.
10. William had only one granddaughter Elizabeth. However, she died childless in 1670 and therefore he has no descendants.
11. Between 1585 and 1592, Shakespeare disappeared from public records — a period known as his “lost years.” Historians have speculated that he might have worked as a teacher, travelled across Europe, joined a theatre troupe, or even served in the military.
12. Shakespeare never published any of his plays. We know about them thanks to John Haminges and Henry Condell, who recorded and released 36 plays in The First Folio.
13. In his entire life, Shakespeare has written 37 plays and 154 sonnets. In total, there are more than 884 thousand words in his plays.
14. His Family Had a Punny Coat of Arms. After gaining wealth, Shakespeare’s family was granted a coat of arms featuring a spear. A clever play on his name: “Shake-spear”. The colors on the shield also hint at the family’s noble heritage, showing they had crusader knights in their lineage.
Shakespeare family coat of arms featuring a spear, symbolizing the playwright's name.
16. Believe it or not, none of the surviving six signatures of Shakespeare are spelled the same way. From “Willm Shaksp” to “William Shakspeare,” it seems even the Bard wasn’t quite sure how to write his name consistently!
17. Shakespeare’s influence reaches far beyond Earth. A copy of Hamlet was taken aboard the Apollo 11 mission to the Moon, and all of Uranus’s major moons are named after characters from his plays — making him a true literary star in the cosmos.
18. An interesting fact is that to this day not a single lifetime portrait of Shakespeare has been survived. It is still not known exactly what the playwright actually looked like.
19. Shakespeare’s date of birth is not known exactly, but historians believe that he was born on April 23 and died on the same day 51 years later.
20. Legend has it that Shakespeare's grave is cursed, with a warning on his tombstone: “Good friend, for Jesus' sake forbear, To dig the dust enclosed here. Blessed be the man that spares these stones, And cursed be he that moves my bones.” This has led many to avoid disturbing his grave, and the tombstone remains largely untouched.
