Five things you may not have known about Shakespeare

William Shakespeare is often regarded as one of the greatest playwrights in history. He lived during the late 16th and early 17th centuries in England. It is estimated that if William Shakespeare were alive these days, he would earn $15 million for his work, earning him the title “one of the greatest writers of all time.” Impressive, Correct?

In this blog, we tell you five more things about William Shakespeare that you may not have known about him.

1. William Shakespeare’s contributions to the English language are substantial; to give you an idea, the writer added 3,000 words to the Anglo-Saxon dictionary. Well, his vocabulary was four times larger than that of the average well-educated man.

Still, the writer made strategic grammatical errors to capture the attention of his readers before breaking down key points from his work. This technique is called functional change, and its purpose is to “wake up” the brain.

Shakespeare’s handwriting was so unaesthetic that scholars have found it difficult to decipher some of it.

2. Those of us who love letters recognize how valuable this author’s legacy is, but Tolstoy was never impressed by his work. Rather, he did not understand why there was so much fuss about him since he considered him “a mediocre author.”
3. Academic circles have questioned Shakespeare’s sexuality, considering that the author may have been bisexual. These presumptions gain strength when, out of 154 love sonnets, 126 were dedicated to a young man he called “Fair Youth”.

Scholars discuss his alleged “bisexuality” rather than “homosexuality,” since William Shakespeare married 27-year-old Anne Hathaway, yes, like the actress in 1582, at the age of 18.

At 18, he married Anne Hathaway, and no, she wasn’t the famous actress of today; rather, she was a woman eight years older than him. She was in a hurry to arrange her wedding because he had gotten her pregnant. One of the few things that is known about that relationship is that they used to live apart.

4. The last residence that William Shakespeare inhabited was demolished in 1759 by the Rev. Gastrell, who bought the residence after his death. The man could not bear the hundreds of visits that his new home received. Tourists and admirers of the playwright besieged the place daily, so he, in desperation, ordered it reduced to rubble. For this action, he was expelled from the city.
5. On the causes of his death on May 3, 1616, according to the Gregorian calendar, and on April 23, according to the Justinian calendar, there is no clear evidence; however, we can be sure of something: William Shakespeare was concerned about grave robbers, so, to scare them away, he ordered that his epitaph be carved.

Apart from this, honor the heights! Did you know that 27 of Uranus’s moons are named after characters in Shakespeare’s plays?

All in all, William Shakespeare, the very popular playwright, left an indelible mark on literature and language. His plays and sonnets remain celebrated for their timeless themes and profound insights.