Ethics of William Shakespeare - Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet

Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet

William Shakespeare, a 16th-century British author, poet, and playwright, focused on human nature throughout his works. The biggest aspect of his works are mainly tragedy and love because they are the two strongest themes to incorporate into an intense novel or play during the Renaissance, for the reason that this era was known for “learning and social life” (Grendler 177). He used emotion that any person would be able to relate to because of life experience. Shakespeare’s focus on character development, dramatic setting, and human qualities as literary devices to create the heartbreaking tragedy Romeo and Juliet.

William Shakespeare, a poet and playwright, was born on April 23, 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon (Andrews). Although researchers could not find his actual date of birth, this was a strong estimate from the records of his baptism. He was the eldest of five and his family was religious, as he would often allude to religious verses in his sonnets or be inspired by the format of biblical verses. His father had several jobs in which Shakespeare would help with; in fact, his family struggled with money. Being poor did not stop him from writing and wanting to be a playwright. He began receiving his education at a grammar school in Stratford; however, no records show his attendance. It is positive that he has attended school because of his strong background in writing, and also because he is “thoroughly grounded in Latin, [and] acquired some background in Greek” (Andrews). Shakespeare used foreign languages in his works that he has previously learned to emphasize a point or to create structure.

With his background knowledge of language and allusion to religion, Shakespeare wrote about what happened around him. Human nature is used in every part of his writing based on those in his community and family. This was an important to his writing because it included the way of human thinking and was the influence of culture. Scholars say: “Some great dissatisfaction with his life at the time must have been at the root of Shakespeare’s dramatic—and ultimately successful—change of scene” (Christenbury 159). Family life was also an influence, like his wife Anne Hathaway and his daughter Susanna. His twins Hamnet and Judith have also played a significant role in his creations, especially because Hamnet soon died. After the death of his son, he wrote one of his most popular plays, Hamlet. Since Shakespeare’s life is known to be reserved, Hamlet shows insight to his life and the loss he suffered (“William Shakespeare”). Being in isolation Shakespeare became a famous actor and writer in London, which resulted in him not being able to spend much time with his family. He moved away from his family to London and spent years as an actor (Christenbury 159). This was known as the lost years because he was not known to the public or publishing works.

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