A Moment Of Shakespeare

When we were all deciding on what blogs to present this Christmas Shakespeare came to mind. I hear a lot of talk around Hollywood about Keanu not being an actor "He is a movie star" is the phrase around here. Yes he is a movie star but after all the glamor and lights I like to think that indeed Keanu is an actor  who became a movie star.  I have to admit when I hear how celebrities do things for publicity I sometimes would think why not Keanu? What I have noticed is that Keanu does not go out of his comfort zone. Even if it's for charity.

 Obviously  I can only guess.  The only ones that truly know the answer are Keanu and maybe his publicist. What opened my eyes and made me think again was last April 14th when Keanu volunteered to read for the Shakespeare Center. That was so out of the blue. The program's monies are donated to the Shakespeare Center for at risk youth.  I  have taught the Bard to many at risk youth. When I saw that Keanu actually read for the program. Wow! I can actually say I was impressed. Those kiddos get so much out of Shakespeare. It has made a very big difference in the lives of many teens and preteens that I have worked with in the past.

I thought why not present a blog and share a little with fans about Shakespeare. Keanu appreciates Shakespeare. I love talking Shakespeare.  Keanu grab a beer and let me tell you a little bit of what I know about the Bard. =)

William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, allegedly on April 23, 1564. Church records from Holy Trinity Church indicate that he was baptized there on April 26, 1564. In those days new borns were baptized within 3 or 4 day of their birth. The birthdate is a guess. 

Young William was born to John Shakespeare, a glover and leather merchant, and Mary Arden, a landed local heiress. William, according to the church register, was the third of eight children in the Shakespeare household—three of whom died in childhood. John Shakespeare had a remarkable run of success as a merchant, alderman, and high bailiff of Stratford, during William's early childhood.

The next documented event in Shakespeare's life is his marriage to Anne Hathaway on November 28, 1582. William was 18 at the time, and Anne was 26—and pregnant. Their first daughter, Susanna, was born on May 26, 1583. The couple later had twins, Hamnet and Judith, born February 2, 1585 and christened at Holy Trinity. Hamnet died in childhood at the age of 11, on August 11, 1596.

One of the most interesting unproven facts about William Shakespeare is that he may not be the true author of all of his writings.  A lot of Shakespeareans believe that perhaps his roommate at one time,  Christopher Marlowe was the real author of all of Shakespeare's written work. One of the things they have pointed out is in looking at signatures by William Shakespeare, it seems as if  he struggled signing his own name. Then again some scholars believe that Marlowe is in fact Shakespeare. Below I added a couple of links but there are many online in regards to this subject.
http://kirjasto.sci.fi/marlowe.htm
http://incompetech.com/authors/kitmarlowe/

 In 1593, after pointing out what he considered to be inconsistencies in the Bible, Marlowe fell under suspicion of heresy.  One of the Marlovian theories is that he faked his own death in May of 1593 to avoid persecution. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/34312/the_marlovian_theory_was_christopher.html


Shakespeare was interred at Holy Trinity in Stratford on April 25. In 1623, two working companions of Shakespeare from the Lord Chamberlain's Men, John Heminges and Henry Condell, printed the First Folio edition of his collected plays, of which half were previously unpublished.

Even in death, he leaves a final piece of verse as his epitaph:

Good friend, for Jesus' sake forbeare
To dig the dust enclosed here.
Blessed be the man that spares these stones,
And cursed be he that moves my bones.