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Who Was Shakespeare
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[1] Since Shakespeare’s recognition in the late eighteenth century as the pre-eminent English national writer, hundreds of archivists, researchers, and historians have pored over thousands of contemporary manuscripts and published works in an effort to learn something—anything—about Shakespeare the man1. Their efforts have been almost entirely in vain2.

[2] During the twentieth century, only a handful of details emerged1. In 1909 two American researchers, Charles and Hilda Wallace, trawling the Public Record Office, discovered the previously unknown Bellot-Mountjoy lawsuit at which Shakespeare testified2. In 1931 Leslie Hotson, another American, discovered a curious, almost inexplicable, 1596 writ for the arrest of Shakespeare and two others issued by a criminal figure in Southwark3. Potentially, perhaps the most important document uncovered, first noticed in the 1920s by Sir E.K. Chambers, the greatest modern scholar of Shakespeare’s life, was the will of Alexander Hoghton of Lea, Lancashire, made in 1581, which left a small legacy to a ‘William Shake-shafte now dwelling with me’, apparently as a tutor to his children4. Many believe that Shakespeare was ‘Shake-shafte’ and spent several years as a tutor in two wealthy Lancashire Catholic stately homes, those of the Hoghtons of Hoghton Tower and Sir Thomas Hesketh of Rufford5. E.A.J. Honigmann, who has done most to popularise the ‘lost years in Lancashire’ thesis, has discovered that there is a long-standing tradition in the Hoghton family that Shakespeare was employed in their home for two years in his youth6.

[3] The Lancashire thesis has been adopted by many recent biographers1. And some historians have speculated further that the young Shakespeare may have gone from one of the Lancashire households to London as a member of a players’ company2. Others believe that during the ‘lost years’ Shakespeare was already an actor with a troupe of strolling players3. The Earl of Worcester’s Men, for example, are known to have visited Stratford-on-Avon on several occasions between 1568 and 1582, and definitely employed Edward Alleyn (the founder of Dulwich College) 4. Shakespeare may have made his way to London with this acting troupe, eventually settling there as a playwright and theatre-owner5. Alleyn could well have hired Shakespeare as an actor in London6.

[4] Though plausible, these theories have been heavily disputed, not least because there is nothing other than the Hoghton will to connect Shakespeare with Lancashire1. For centuries biographers have been puzzled as to how he acquired such a detailed knowledge of the law of his day, and there has been much speculation that he spent his ‘lost years’ as a law student or clerk2. If Shakespeare was a perambulating actor during the ‘lost years’ he cannot also have readily been a law clerk, or acquired a working knowledge of court life or European politics3.

[from Who Was Shakespeare?, William Rubinstein, History Today, August 2001 ]

1

Shakespeare lived in the 18th century.
A)True
B)False
2

Much is known about Shakespeare’s life story.
A)True
B)False
3

It’s possible that Shakespeare spent several years as a tutor to children in Lancashire.
A)True
B)False
4

During the “lost years” that biographers cannot account for, Shakespeare might have been literally lost.
A)True
B)False
5

Which of the following was not a biographer of Shakespeare?
A)Leslie Hotson
B)E.K. Chambers
C)Edward Alleyn
D)Charles Wallace
6

“Archivists” (sentence 1, paragraph 1) do the following:
A)archery
B)Shakespeare studies
C)the cataloging and research of historical records
D)legal work
7

How might Shakespeare have learned about the law of his day?
A)by acting in a theater troupe
B)by tutoring children
C)by testifying before court
D)by serving as a law clerk
8

What does the author imply about Shakespeare’s biography?
A)It’s most likely that Shakespeare was an actor during the “lost years.”
B)It’s impossible to say with certainty what Shakespeare did during the “lost years.”
C)It’s likely that Shakespeare lived in Lancashire during the “lost years.”
D)It’s most likely that Shakespeare did not exist.





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