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We know much less about Shakespeare's life than we would like. We know who his parents were, who his siblings were, more or less when he was born and where, more or less when he married and who, how many children he had, when they were born and died and if they married and had children. We know something about his friends from his Will. Some of the important friends mentioned in the will are three of his buddies who acted with him: we know this from lists of actors who played in certain plays (not by him), lists of actors who received royal favours, names of people who collected the moneys after plays were performed and also the names of the people who were listed on the Globe Theatre lease. We have a certain number of plays and poems which are generally agreed to be written by him at various times in his life. We know about his coat of arms which appears on his tomb and was given to Shakespeare the "player". We know about some of the places he lived in in London, as well as some other property he bought, and we know what house in Stratford he bought for his family. In other words we know quite a bit about the public man. But about the private man? Nothing. We do not know his views on religion or politics--he was too clever to ever reveal them, which might be dangerous if they were in any way different from the standard. We do not know what he liked to do to amuse himself, what he liked to eat and drink, whether he ever kept a pet or anything at all about his private life.

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Michale Haley

Lvl 10
3y ago

What else can I help you with?