He had more influence upon the English language than any other individual – perhaps even more than the Biblical translator William Tyndale. Shakespeare’s plays are still read and performed today, more than three centuries after their author’s death. Even literary ignoramuses like me can recognize lines like “Brevity is the soul of wit,” or “To be or not to be” – an oft-parodied line, even in comic strips like “Calvin and Hobbes.” Relatively few of us have ever bothered to read a Shakespeare play when it’s not assigned, partly because the original language can seem rather inaccessible to us today. Yet he left an influence upon the way that we speak, which is still felt right down to the present day.
William Shakespeare
The best way to learn about Shakespeare is probably to read his sonnets and plays, or watch some of his plays performed on stage – or in certain good film adaptations. But this documentary approach will still tell you much about his life. It is a biography of the man – a man whose life has long been shrouded in mystery. In the documentary world, this may be the most in-depth biography of Shakespeare that you’re likely to find. To find something more in-depth, you’d probably have to turn to the world of books. I freely admit that I’m no expert on Shakespeare, since I never even bothered to read one of his plays in the original. The closest that I came was to watch the 1953 film adaptation of his play “Julius Caesar,” starring James Mason as Brutus. This, at least, is closer to him than watching “West Side Story” in my youth – an adaptation of his famous play “Romeo and Juliet.” Incidentally, I turned on the Spanish subtitles for that DVD of Julius Caesar. I had an easier time understanding the Spanish than the Shakespearean English, and I’m a native speaker of English (but not of Spanish).
Garlanded statue of William Shakespeare in Lincoln Park, Chicago
Episode 1: “A Time of Revolution”
The first episode starts with a great introduction by Michael Wood, the host of this program. It discusses some things before William Shakespeare was born. For example, they talk about his parents, and where they came from. They talk about the religious turmoil of the era, with three changes of the state religion in twelve years. Specifically, Henry the Eighth had moved England to the new Protestant faith, then his daughter Bloody Mary had moved it back to Catholicism, and then her half-sister Queen Elizabeth had moved it back to Protestantism again. Shakespeare was born during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and his name has since become associated with that of his queen. “Shakespearean English” has just become another way of saying “Elizabethan English.” Shakespeare may be the most prominent name of what we now call the “English Renaissance.” They talk about how there was then a state-granted monopoly on wool, which William’s father sold illegally on the black market. They talk about Shakespeare’s grade-school education, and his childhood reading of the Roman poet Ovid. He probably read Ovid in the original Latin, as well as in English translation. They mention that he got married to Anne Hathaway, a woman eight or nine years older than himself. They mention the government taking action against his mother’s family for suspected treason, and the prosecution of his father for his illegal selling of wool. And they mention how this denied William the opportunity to go to university, or become an apprentice. His first child with Anne Hathaway was born only five months after their marriage ceremony, which may suggest that the wedding was a little late – or, alternatively, that it unofficially happened earlier than it was officially recorded. But we can only guess that William was the father, since we don’t really know this for certain.
John Shakespeare's house, believed to be Shakespeare's birthplace, in Stratford-upon-Avon
Episode 2: “The Lost Years”
In the second episode, the host goes into Shakespeare’s “lost years” – so-called, because we know so little about this particular period of his life. The host traces Shakespeare’s movements, going into the towns where Shakespeare was likely to have gone. They talk about the network of the queen’s spies at that time, when the Protestant Queen Elizabeth tried her best to spy on her Catholic enemies. They talk about Shakespeare’s going to London, and show you the various parts of London where Shakespeare had once gone. Some of these parts of London were destroyed by the Great Fire of 1666. Others of them were destroyed by the later bombings of World War II. But there are some Victorian-era photographs of the lost buildings, which are shown here. Thus, we see the remnants of the theatre where Shakespeare was first introduced to the world of the stage. There had been theatre in Ancient Greece and Rome, but it was still relatively new in England at that time. Specifically, it had been in England for less than fifty years at that time.
Title page of the First Folio, 1623 – Copper engraving of Shakespeare
Shakespeare was familiar with great storytelling through his reading, but he did some acting that was likely his introduction to the world of the stage. Although plays can be written out on the printed page, the theatre is a somewhat different world from that of the written word. Thus, his introduction to the stage helped in the writing of his own plays. Shakespeare had as much experience with living life, as he did with writing about it. They talk about his competitor Christopher Marlowe, who was the most provocative (yet popular) playwright of the time. But Marlowe was also a spy, which may have led to his still-mysterious death in a London backroom. When Marlowe died in this way, it was Shakespeare’s first opportunity to hit “the big time.” Shakespeare began at this time to write his own plays, and experienced some real success in London – the first real success of his life. Shakespeare may have been the first middle-class man to experience success as a playwright. Before this time, that had been the exclusive realm of university graduates. Shakespeare was well-educated from his own readings, but he was a self-taught man, who thus felt his lack of formal education. But this didn’t stop him from being one of the greatest commentators on human nature who has ever lived, and one of the best writers.
Shakespeare's coat of arms
Episode 3: “The Duty of Poets”
In the third episode, they discuss how the English theatres were shut down by government censorship – ostensibly to crack down on “sedition.” This forced William to do something else for a time. He instead wrote poetry, including some of his famous sonnets. Many of them are written to a man. Various theories have been proposed to explain this. One is considered here, which is that Shakespeare was either gay or bisexual. Another is not considered here, which is that the real author of the Shakespeare play was a woman. Since the filmmaker is a liberal, I’m sure that he would be covering these theories enthusiastically, if he indeed believed them to be true. But Michael Wood instead presents a different theory, which is that some of the sonnets were instead about Shakespeare’s lost son. Shakespeare’s only son and heir had died while Shakespeare was away in London, and Shakespeare must have been devastated by this loss. I acknowledge the possibility that these other (more modern) theories could be true, but Michael Wood’s alternative seems to me to be just as convincing. He acknowledges the minority of scholars who believe in alternative authorship theories, but nonetheless rejects these theories.
The reconstructed Globe Theatre on the south bank of the River Thames in London
Regardless, they cover the opening of the Globe Theatre in London, possibly the most famous theater in history. Many other playwrights of the time believed that good plays had to be religious or political in their orientation, and many movies today operate on a similar theory – often losing money as a result. But William Shakespeare believed that the purpose of plays was to make money, so he strived to entertain his audiences with great storytelling. His plays are often considered to be “high culture,” albeit with some occasional earthy humor. But in their time, they were major blockbusters – popular because they were entertaining, not because of their intellectualism (although the intellectualism was nonetheless quite real). Regardless, he did sometimes cover political themes by delving into English history – albeit with a dose of Hollywood embellishment at times. And he presented a mostly-sympathetic Black character in “Othello,” at a time when England considered expelling its Black population. The timing of that play is important, helping to show his sympathy with African Britons.
Shakespeare's funerary monument in Stratford-upon-Avon
Episode 4: “For All Time”
In the fourth and final episode, they begin with the death of Protestant Queen Elizabeth. She died childless, so the throne passed to the son of her hated Catholic rival. The rival was the long-dead “Mary, Queen of Scots,” and their mutual successor was her Protestant son – James the Sixth of Scotland. He now became “James the First of England” as well. One of the king’s first acts was to hire Shakespeare to perform plays for the royal court in London. On the one hand, this was a lucrative gig, which allowed Shakespeare to have a good standard of living. But, on the other hand, it put him in close contact with the strongly Protestant king. Early episodes offer evidence that Shakespeare was probably a closet Catholic – and I find it likely that this is true. Thus, he spent his life trying to hide his religious feelings. Nonetheless, he sometimes got away with messages to the king in his plays, which would seldom be tolerated in anyone else (but were tolerated in Shakespeare’s plays). He did a few plays attacking the “papists,” but he did another play about Henry the Eighth’s infamous divorce. In that play, he presented the now-rejected “Catherine of Aragon” in a more positive light – which must have been uncomfortable for many of that time. Shakespeare is today associated with the Globe Theatre, but he soon opened the “Blackfriars Theatre” elsewhere in London. At times, it actually made more money than the more famous Globe Theatre. After one of the theatres burned down, he sold his share in it, feeling that it was time to leave the theatre business. He went into a sort of retirement in his native countryside, but eventually did some more great work with his writing. He died having spent little of his time with his wife and children, since he’d spent much of his life away in London. He wrote for his own time, but much of his work applies to all time.
Conclusion: A great introduction to the life of a truly great writer
He left behind a massive legacy, with plays that are known outside of the English-speaking world. In the English-speaking countries, many of his words are very familiar, even when the speakers do not recognize that their words come from him. The “Early Modern English” of the time is often known as “Shakespearean English,” identified as much with him as with Queen Elizabeth. And he left great insight into human beings. He shows people at their best, and he shows people at their worst. Most often, he shows us a mix of good and bad, often in the same character – a master of the “complex character” in that way. I continue to have a positive opinion of those few parts of his work that I know anything about, and I continue to enjoy the various parodies of them (like this one by “Calvin and Hobbes”). And, in terms of linguistic and literary influence, it’s hard to find someone with more influence than Shakespeare. This is a great introduction to a colorful and dramatic life, showing how much human interest can come from the life of a writer. This film speaks even to people like me, which is evidence of what great filmmaking this film really is.
Footnote to this blog post:
Getting this program in the United States can be a little difficult. Thus, I also link to the “Michael Wood Collection” which includes this program and several others in a British DVD format. In North America, one may need a special DVD player to play it. However, it can still sometimes be cheaper than buying the North American version. Thus, I link to both versions, so that viewers may be presented with multiple options. Viewers may do as they please.
Also available as part of the “Michael Wood Collection”
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