Shakespeare's Tragedy: Romeo and Juliet

William Shakespeare is commonly considered the world's ultimate author, and there is no reason to argue with that. To this day, people are continuing to see his plays even hundreds of years after they were written. William Shakespeare was born in the month of April, 1564 in Stratford-upon Avon, a city a little under one hundred miles northwest of London to John Shakespeare and Mary Arden (Ackroyd 24). John was an expert in leather working and he was gifted in handling fine leather to make gloves and bags for the upper class women, in doing this, he earned a decent living for himself (Speaight). Mary Arden was born into a wealthy family of the Ardens of Park Hall. In fact, her family's decedents were awarded land by William the Conqueror (The). William Shakespeare's grandfather was a tenant farmer who worked on farms, some owned by Mary's father (The). As a matter of fact, before William Shakespeare's father became a retailer, he assisted his father in working on farms, giving him plenty of opportunities to meet with Mary before their courtship (The). However, the different political and social status of the two families proposed a few problems for the couple (The). In the Arden family, no marriage could take place until a year after death was mourned so it was no surprise that the two wed a year after Mary's father passed away (The). The whole situation astonished people in the town. They were confused as to why the two ignored their huge differences and got married. Pretty much the only thing that the two had in common was that their families both came from a strong Catholic religious background (The). This was a huge deal in England back then because of the fact that Protestants and Catholics were looked at with genuine distrust and pure hatred (The).

John and Mary started having children shortly after their marriage. They were delighted with the arrival of their first child, whom they named Joan but their happiness was soon cut short after the baby died of plague, which was going around England at alarming and terrifying rates (The). Mary had another child, this one she named Margaret but Margaret did not defy the odds either, as she died a year after her birth (The). Then, everything changed for the Shakespeare family, and even people today. William Shakespeare was believed to have been born on April 23, 1564 (Hylton). However, because at that time birth certificates and other birth records did not exist, the real birth date of William Shakespeare still holds a big question mark next to it. There is, though, an accurate date reported by the church which William was baptized in. The date he was baptized is recorded to be on the 26th of April. His birth date was estimated to be a few days before that because it was common during that era that parents baptize their children exactly three days after birth. But even still, his estimated birth date cannot be taken for certain. Besides the baptize date, the

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