Why is Shakespeare So Famous?

    William Shakespeare is hailed as the greatest writer in the English language and often as England's national poet and greatest dramatist. But he certainly did not compose his plays or poems in a vacuum. Around him in Elizabethan and Jacobean England, other playwrights and poets flourished, so why is William Shakespeare the most famous? Below are a few brief philosophical points (certainly not an exhaustive list) to help contextualize Shakespeare's fame.

A Brief Biography

Who was William Shakespeare?

    William Shakespeare, the "Bard of Avon," was born in 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon in England. He was the oldest child of John Shakespeare and Mary Arden, and was likely sent to school as a child. When he was eighteen years old, William Shakespeare married the twenty-six year-old Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children. Shakespeare move to London and established a reputable reputation there by 1592. In London, Shakespeare's first printed works, the epics "Venus and Adonis" (1593) and "The Rape of Lucrece" (1594), were published. Shakespeare helped to found a company of actors in London called The Lord Chamberlain's Men, for whom he would produce about two plays a year for twenty years. In 1603 under the reign of King James I, the company evolved into The King's Men. Shakespeare's works were very successful in London theaters, and in 1597, Shakespeare purchased a house in Stratford-upon-Avon. Shakespeare died in Stratford-upon-Avon on April 23 (the date believed to be his birthday), 1616.

Variety in Plays and Poems

What is Shakespeare's signature style?

    Shakespeare's signature style was being witty with his words. Beyond that, there are few generalizations you can make about all of his works because he wrote in many different styles and tones. He is known for his use of blank verse (unrhymed iambic pentameter), but he often deviated from that style within one play and from play to play. Within any given Shakespeare play, you will probably find a mix of verse and prose. But his plays are also metrically different from one another. To take two extreme examples, Love's Labor's Lost is full of rhyming verse, while The Merry Wives of Windsor is largely written in prose. Stepping back from language, the tone of Shakespeare's works varies often. He wrote love poems and satirical ones, comedies, tragedies, histories, and romances. His characters find themselves in both the most serious and the silliest of situations.So how does this variety help make Shakespeare famous? Well, if readers or audience members do not like one Shakespeare play or poem, that does not necessarily mean that they will dislike the others. Perhaps they find a play about love too cheesy, but would enjoy one about jealousy. Perhaps they hate sword-fighting, but would like to watch a character be turned into a donkey.

Plays that Deal with Universal Themes and Emotions

What does Shakespeare write about?

    The shortest answer to the question of what Shakespeare wrote about is human nature. He wrote about the everyday questions of being human: how people love, how people hate, how people can live together, who should have power, and what it means to be good or bad. He wrote about a broad range of emotions, from love to jealousy to hate to arrogance. So how does that make Shakespeare famous? In short, the underlying emotions and themes in his plays and poems are easy to relate to. They are universal because people today are still searching for answers to the same questions people posed in 1600, all across the world.

Works that Spread throughout the World

How and why did Shakespeare's works become globally famous?

    As mentioned in the biography, Shakespeare's plays and poems were popular in London, with both the people of London and the kings and queens. His works grew in popularity after the publication of the First Folio after Shakespeare's death. In Shakespeare's day, the British Empire was expanding to include overseas colonies across the globe. When the British Empire expanded their rule, they brought their culture (including their love of Shakespeare) with them. Because of the British Empire, Shakespeare reached new continents faster than English writers, poets, and playwrights before him ever could. In addition, London was known in Shakespeare's time as the international capital of the theater world. Critics, dramatists, and linguists throughout Europe––notably Thomas Platter from Switzerland and Arnet van Gorkul from Holland––traveled briefly to London for the sole purpose of seeing theater, and brought those dramatic works back to their own European countries (many of which were also imperial powers). Shakespeare's works grew in popularity almost everywhere they went because of Shakespeare's universal themes. Shakespeare's works were not reserved for the highest rungs of society: they were simultaneously high arts and grassroots arts, accessible to and accepted into most of society. As Shakespeare's works traveled throughout the world, they were adopted into other cultures and translated into others languages, which allowed them to spread even faster throughout the world.