1. William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was born on 23rd April
1564. John Shakespeare
and Mary Shakespeare were William’s parents. His father was a successful glover,
and town alderman while his mother was coming from Alderman wealthy family.
They married in 1557 and had eight children. Only five children survived to
adulthood. William was the third children. William was born into a well-to-do
middle class family. They were not rich, but successful in business and
respected in the community. His parents had a Catholic background which was not
safe, because on that particular time, Queen Elizabeth I enforced
Protestantism. She had spies who looked for people like the Shakespeare’s who
still held onto the “old” beliefs. He
grew up in the little country town of Stratford-on-Avon where he went to the
local Grammar School and learned the 'small Latin and less Greek' which Ben
Jonson attributed to him. Others lesson taught were, dictated
primarily by the beliefs of the reigning monarch, debate, social responsibilities, and he had to participate in Drama. Shakespeare
was removed from school around age thirteen because of his father's financial
and social difficulties. William’s daily activities after he left school and
before he re-emerged as a professional actor in the late 1580s are impossible
to trace. There were suggestions that he might have worked as a schoolmaster or lawyer or
glover with his father and brother. Some arguments also state
that Shakespeare studied intensely to become a master at his literary craft,
and honed his acting skills while travelling and visiting playhouses outside of
Stratford. But, it is from this period known as the "lost years” that we
obtain one vital piece of information about Shakespeare which was, he married a
pregnant orphan named Anne Hathaway. He had three children.
Susanna, Hamnet, and Judith Shakespeare
In the 16th Century, he became a great entrepreneur. He managed 'The Globe' and
companies of actors, and that’s where he made the good living for his family. This
time was referred as the golden age of English drama. That’s because theater
was very popular during that time. His plays were not only being performed in
the theater but also at court, not only for Queen Elizabeth but also for her
successor, King James 1. He also seems to have been interested in writing poems
and he started work on the sonnets. Several works by him :
- The Histories- Henry IV Part 1, 2 and 3, Pericles & King John
- The Comedies – Winter’s Tale, Midsummer Night Dream & As You Like It
- Romance – Romeo & Juliet, The Tempest, & Cymbeline
- The Tragedies- Othello, Hamlet & Macbeth
Shakespeare
was very talented in being able to summarize the span of people and emotions.
People say he is the most remarkable storyteller. Shakespeare's stories
transcend time and culture. Shakespeare created brilliant characters,
especially his tragic heroes. in addition, Shakespeare is deeply admired by actors, playing
his characters is considered the most difficult and most greatly outstanding
achievement an actor can do. Shakespeare’s expressions are the most commonly
used expressions and you may not even know you’re using them. Shakespeare is
truly an outstanding human being and has most definitely changed history.
REFERENCES
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2. Susan Glaspell
Susan
Glaspell was born on 1st July 1882 in Davenport, lowa, United
States. Elmer Glaspell and Alice Keating were Susan’s parents. Her father was a
farmer, while her mother was a teacher. Susan lived as the middle class family
that was not very-well-off. She attended Davenport public school and graduated
from Drake University. She worked as a journalist. Later, after finding that
her stories were published in Harper's and the Ladies' Home Journal, Susan Glaspell
quit her job as a journalist for the Des Moines Daily News.
In 1915, Susan Glaspell met George
Cook, a stage director, and the two moved in together in Provincetown,
Massachusetts. The couple decided to join a group of left-wing writers.
Basically, left-wing writers are writers who express what society is today and
through their writing they show how things should be transformed so that
happiness can be achieved by many instead of so few. They believe that property
should not be privately owned, but instead should be socially controlled, that
this is the solution to unemployment and war. This is the way that writers
revolt in society and try to get their point across of a revolution of change. The
two, along with several of the left-wring writers, discovered the Provincetown
Players in Cape Cod Massechusetts, a group formed of actors, directors, and
writers that wanted to perform new and experimental plays.
Proviencetown Playhouse
Much of Glaspell's writing is
strongly feminist, dealing with the roles that women play, or are forced to
play, in society and the relationships between men and women. In addition, Glaspell's
plays argued social and political issues as well as the role women held in
society compared to men. Glaspell was passionate about standing up for what she
believed was just. Susan wrote over ten plays for the group some including:
- Women's Honour
- Bernice
- Inheritors
- The Verge
- A Jury of Her Peer
- The People
- The Outside
As well as writing plays for the
Provincetown Players, Susan Glaspell acted in several of them. Eventually, Susan Glaspell and George Cook finally got
married in 1922. They had a strong marriage even through Susan's miscarriages. After
having so many troubles with the Provincetown Players, Susan Glaspell and
George Cook left to live in Greece. George Cook suffered from typhus and passed
away 14th January, 1924.She wrote Brooke Ecans in 1928 and The Fugitive’s
Return in 1929. Susan won the Pulitzer Prize for her book, Allison’s House in
1931.
In the 1930s, Susan become addicted to alcohol and stopped
writing altogehter. She lost so much money through her obsessive that she turned
to get her life straightened back out. She became director of the Federal
Theater Project, part of the New Deal. She died on 17th July, 1948. The last
book Susan Glaspell wrote :
-The Morning is Near Us
-Norma Ashe
-Judd Rankin’s Daughter
REFERENCES
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