king lear written by william shakespeare

There were additional plagues in 1578-15 before he began writing professionally. We also know that this was a time when England was ravaged by plague that closed the theaters in London. Shakespeare was born in 1564, one year after a severely bad plague. Despite films like Anonymousthat propose that Shakespeare's plays were written by someone else, the consensus among scholars is that Shakespeare wrote the plays that are attributed to him.

What's known is that William Shakespeare wrote plays in England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I and King James I.

Plague was the single most powerful force shaping life and those of his contemporaries. As Professor Jonathan Bate writes in his biography of Shakespeare, Soul of the Age: As a result, many of Shakespeare's most famous works may have been written while plagues were shutting down the city of London. During this time, Shakespeare opted to write poetry, as well as plays that would be performed when the theaters re-opened. While there is no evidence of Shakespeare specifically being quarantined, the plagues closed the theaters in London repeatedly. Shakespeare's life, like the lives of many people in England at the turn of the seventeenth-century, was shaped by plague. There is no reason to believe that his productivity was enhanced by plague or quarantine. While this is an impressive feat, Shakespeare typically wrote multiple plays in any given year. Shapiro notes in his book The Year of Lear that, in or around 1606, Shakespeare likely wrote King Lear, along with Macbeth, Antony and Cleopatra, Timon of Athens, and Pericles in quick succession - perhaps even within the same calendar year. Related: Coronavirus: Every Event & Convention Cancelled So Farĭr. It's clear that Shakespeare's plays have influenced and inspired countless writers through the centuries. But did Shakespeare really write King Lear while being quarantined (as said by Roseanne Cash on Twitter)? Did plague affect how he wrote or what he wrote about?

Alongside the coronavirus, conversations on social media, as well as articles in The Atlantic and The New York Times, have considered how the plague affected Shakespeare's life and works.

King lear written by william shakespeare