William Shakespeare. You’ve heard the name a thousand times. Maybe you had to suffer through a dry reading of Julius Caesar in the ninth grade, or perhaps you’re one of those people who actually enjoys a four-hour production of Hamlet. Either way, Shakespeare the Bard of Avon remains the undisputed heavyweight champion of the English language. It’s wild when you think about it. We are talking about a man who died in 1616, yet his face is still on tea towels and his plots are the backbone of everything from The Lion King to Succession.
He wasn't some untouchable elite, though. Honestly, he was a bit of a hustler.
Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, a market town that wasn't exactly a global cultural hub. His dad, John, made gloves. His mother, Mary Arden, came from a farming family. There is no record of him going to university. He just showed up in London and started writing plays that worked for both the toothless guys in the "groundling" pits and the Queen herself. He understood what people wanted: sex, violence, puns, and enough existential dread to keep them thinking on the walk home.
The Reality of Shakespeare the Bard of Avon
Let’s get one thing straight: the "Bard" wasn't a title he used for himself. It’s a late 18th-century branding move. During his life, he was a playwright, an actor, and a shareholder in the Lord Chamberlain’s Men (later the King's Men). He was a businessman who knew how to make a buck. He didn't just write masterpieces; he owned the theater where they were performed.
People love a good conspiracy theory. You’ve probably heard someone claim that Shakespeare didn't actually write his plays. Some point to Francis Bacon, others to Christopher Marlowe or the Earl of Oxford. The logic is usually that a "commoner" from Stratford couldn't possibly know enough about law, court life, or Italy to write these scripts.
That’s basically elitism.
The evidence for Shakespeare’s authorship is actually pretty solid. His name is on the title pages of his plays. His fellow actors, John Heminge and Henry Condell, published the First Folio in 1623—seven years after he died—specifically to preserve his work. Ben Jonson, a rival playwright who wasn't exactly known for being nice, wrote a glowing tribute to him. If it was a massive cover-up, it was the most successful and unnecessary secret in history.
Why the Language Doesn't Actually Suck
If you struggle to read Shakespeare, it’s not because you’re "not smart enough." It’s because the English language has shifted. But here’s the kicker: he literally invented the way we talk.
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He didn't just use words; he birthed them. "Eyeball." "Swagger." "Manager." "Fashionable." "Uncomfortable." All of these were either popularized or straight-up invented by Shakespeare. When you say you’re in a "pickle" or you've "vanished into thin air," you're quoting a guy from the 16th century.
He wrote in iambic pentameter, which sounds fancy but is basically just the rhythm of a heartbeat: da-DUM, da-DUM, da-DUM, da-DUM, da-DUM. It's the most natural rhythm in English speech.
The Play That Changed Everything
Take Hamlet. It’s long. Really long. If you perform the full text, you’re looking at nearly five hours of theater. But look at what’s actually happening. It’s a psychological thriller about a guy who can’t make up his mind. It broke the "revenge tragedy" mold by making the hero think too much.
Before Shakespeare the Bard of Avon, characters in plays were often just "The Villain" or "The Hero." Shakespeare gave them interiors. He gave them neuroses.
The Mystery of the "Lost Years"
There’s a huge gap in the record. Between 1585 and 1592, we have almost zero idea what Shakespeare was doing. He vanished from Stratford and popped up in London as a "Johannes Factotum"—a "Jack of all trades"—who was already annoying established writers like Robert Greene. Greene famously called him an "upstart crow," which is the 1592 version of a Twitter diss.
What happened in those seven years?
- Some say he was a schoolmaster in the country.
- Others think he was a soldier in the Low Countries.
- A popular (though unproven) legend says he had to flee Stratford because he got caught poaching deer from Sir Thomas Lucy’s estate.
- He might have just been traveling with a troupe of actors, learning the craft from the ground up.
The truth is, we don't know. And that’s part of the magic. He’s a ghost in the machine. We have his taxes, his property deeds, and his will—where he famously left his wife his "second-best bed"—but we don't have his private letters or a diary. We only have the work.
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Was He Really That Successful?
Actually, yes. Unlike many artists who die penniless, Shakespeare was doing great. He bought New Place, the second-largest house in Stratford, in 1597. He invested in real estate and tithes. By the time he retired, he was a wealthy gentleman.
He lived through plagues that shut down the theaters for months at a time. Imagine that. You’re the hottest writer in London, and suddenly a pandemic hits, everyone is quarantined, and you have to go back to your hometown and wait it out. That’s likely when he wrote his sonnets.
The Globe: Not Just a Building
The original Globe Theatre was built in 1599. It was basically a giant wooden "O." If you were rich, you sat in the galleries with a cushion. If you were poor, you stood in the yard, exposed to the rain, smelling the person next to you. It was loud. People threw food. They talked back to the actors.
It burned down in 1613 because someone fired a real cannon during a performance of Henry VIII and the thatch roof caught fire. Everyone got out alive, though one guy’s pants allegedly caught fire and had to be put out with a bottle of ale.
That’s the environment Shakespeare wrote for. Not a quiet library. A riotous, smelly, high-energy arena.
Misconceptions That Need to Die
Most people think Shakespearean actors spoke with a posh, modern British accent (Received Pronunciation). They didn't.
Linguists like David Crystal have reconstructed "Original Pronunciation" (OP). It sounds more like a mix of Irish, West Country, and even a bit of American Appalachian. It’s rougher. It’s faster. And it makes the puns work. When you hear it in OP, you realize how many dirty jokes we miss because the vowels have changed over 400 years.
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Another one: "He wrote for the elite."
Nope. He wrote for everyone. His plays are full of "low" comedy—fart jokes, slapstick, and puns—right alongside the high-brow philosophy. He was a populist.
Shakespeare the Bard of Avon in the 21st Century
Why does he still matter? Because humans haven't changed.
We still deal with jealous bosses (Othello), overbearing parents (Romeo and Juliet), and the fear that life is "a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing" (Macbeth). He mapped the human psyche before we had a name for it.
How to Actually Get Into Shakespeare
If you want to appreciate Shakespeare the Bard of Avon, stop reading him. At least at first.
Plays are scripts. They are blueprints for a performance. Watching a bad production of Shakespeare is like watching a bad movie—it’s painful. But watching a great one? It’s life-changing.
- Watch a film version first. Look for Justin Kurzel’s Macbeth (2015) for raw grit, or Kenneth Branagh’s Much Ado About Nothing (1993) for pure joy.
- Don’t worry about every word. Even experts miss some of the archaic slang. Follow the emotion. The actors’ jobs are to make the meaning clear through their bodies and tone.
- Read the "No Fear" versions if you have to. There is zero shame in using a modern translation alongside the original text to get the gist of the plot.
- Listen to the rhythm. If you read it aloud, follow the iambic beat. It’s meant to be spoken, not sat on a shelf.
Shakespeare wasn't a god. He was a guy who worked hard, observed people closely, and happened to be a genius with a quill. He survived the plague, handled critics, and left behind a body of work that defines what it means to be human.
The next time you see a reference to Shakespeare the Bard of Avon, don't roll your eyes. Think of the glove-maker's son who took over the world by just... writing.
Next Steps for Exploration:
- Visit a local Shakespeare festival. Many cities have "Shakespeare in the Park" during the summer. These are often free and capture the original "groundling" vibe perfectly.
- Listen to a performance in Original Pronunciation (OP). You can find clips on YouTube by the British Library or David Crystal. It will completely change how you "hear" the plays.
- Check out "The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust" website. They have incredible digital archives of real artifacts from his life in Stratford, which helps ground the myth in reality.
- Watch 'Shakespeare in Love'—with a grain of salt. It’s mostly fiction, but it captures the chaotic, competitive energy of the Elizabethan theater scene better than any textbook.