Introduction
"Although ober a hundred historical records survive documenting William Shakespeare's birth, marriage, children, business transactions, and death, his personal life remains a bit of a mystery. What inspired the son ofht the Stratford mayour, a young man with a wife and three children, to go to London and join a company of players? How did a man with a grammar-school education write plays that have prompted four centuries of admiration and controversy? What happened to the manuscripts of these immortal plays? Why did Shakespeare say nothing about his plays, poems, or books in his last will and testament? Such questions as these have led som readers and scholars to bouct that the man from Stratford was actually the author of the famous plays attricuted to him, and speculations avout who may have written the plays and used the pseudonym Shakespeare have arisen periodically during the last two centuries. Other readers and scholars find the historical record satisfactory evidence of Shakespeare's authorship. Another group finds discussion of Shakespeare's personal life irrelecant to the lagacy he left behind, the plays and poems. Still others enjoy the opportunity that the authorship controversy affords and respond to it by playing creatively with plausible motications for the mysterious Mr. William Shakespeare.
Recently Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard imagined Shakespeare's life early life in London in their Academy Award-winning film Shakespeare in Love. Although this creative envisioning of Shakespeare's character does not solve the mystery, if deftly interweaves two central themes that frame the controversy: that art of writing and the necessity of making money. Set against a backdrop of financial crisis in the theaters, the interwoven themes are epitomized in a wager" If Will Shakespeare is able to convince Queen Elizabeth that a play can "show us the very truth of nature and of love," then he will recieve from the fictional Lord Wessex 50 British pounds, which wll buy him a partnership in the Chamberlain's Men. In the film, Shakespeare creates Romeo and Juliet as both a reflection of his love for the fictional Viola de Lesseps and a mirror of his desires for and fears about the relationship. The film concenterates on the way Will and Viola's developing relationship influences the play that Will is writing and how the play influences thier relationship. Like Romeo and Juliet, Will and Viola consummate their love, then lose one another. Unlike Romeo and Juliet, Will and Viola do not die. In Fact, they each realize thier professional desire before they are parted. Viola performs on stage, as Juliet; Will plays Romeo and wins the wager. At the close of the film, Viola travels to the New World as Lord Wessex's wife, and we understand taht Will will become a partner in the Chamerlain's Men and will honor Queen Elizabeth's request for a new paly by Twelfth Night.
The creation of art that holds a mirror up to nature and the use of art to make a living not only help clarify what scholars know about the man Shakespeare but also point to central themes in the body of his plays. Shakespeare is both a creatice artist and an astute businessman."
Recently Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard imagined Shakespeare's life early life in London in their Academy Award-winning film Shakespeare in Love. Although this creative envisioning of Shakespeare's character does not solve the mystery, if deftly interweaves two central themes that frame the controversy: that art of writing and the necessity of making money. Set against a backdrop of financial crisis in the theaters, the interwoven themes are epitomized in a wager" If Will Shakespeare is able to convince Queen Elizabeth that a play can "show us the very truth of nature and of love," then he will recieve from the fictional Lord Wessex 50 British pounds, which wll buy him a partnership in the Chamberlain's Men. In the film, Shakespeare creates Romeo and Juliet as both a reflection of his love for the fictional Viola de Lesseps and a mirror of his desires for and fears about the relationship. The film concenterates on the way Will and Viola's developing relationship influences the play that Will is writing and how the play influences thier relationship. Like Romeo and Juliet, Will and Viola consummate their love, then lose one another. Unlike Romeo and Juliet, Will and Viola do not die. In Fact, they each realize thier professional desire before they are parted. Viola performs on stage, as Juliet; Will plays Romeo and wins the wager. At the close of the film, Viola travels to the New World as Lord Wessex's wife, and we understand taht Will will become a partner in the Chamerlain's Men and will honor Queen Elizabeth's request for a new paly by Twelfth Night.
The creation of art that holds a mirror up to nature and the use of art to make a living not only help clarify what scholars know about the man Shakespeare but also point to central themes in the body of his plays. Shakespeare is both a creatice artist and an astute businessman."