By: Casey Davis
My assignment I chose to complete was on William Shakespeare’s birthplace. I am a big fan of Shakespeare, and when I saw we were doing a tour here I was excited to jump at the opportunity to do more. I knew some things before hand, like his birthday, who he married and a few minor details. But getting to stand on the river Avon, go in the church where he is buried and walk through his home was something ill never forget.
In the video we start off seeing our tour guide Vicky, who was extremely interesting and informative. She walked us from place to place, but here we are standing along a path and murals from some of Shakespeare’s most iconic plays. Vicky is telling us how Shakespeare was thought o be apart of the Lord Chamberlin’s men, a group of traveling actors and playwrights.
We then move to the church where Shakespeare was baptized, which is how people guessed when he was born. The church is also where Shakespeare and some of his relatives are buried.
One thing I learned was that a lot of this information, though taught in schools and is published in books, is almost all hypothetical. A lot of this information is really just not known, we don’t even know if he wrote all of the work he is said to have written.
Stratford upon Avon is a really beautiful town now and holds a lot of history. This is also the town where Shakespeare died, accordingly after a night of drinking. Before his death though Shakespeare came back home and bought the second most expensive house there. With all of his money he made, he was a very affluent person.
The house is said to be where Shakespeare was born. It is made up on the inside to look exactly how it would in the 15th and 16th century. His father was a glove maker and he would have sold his merchandise right out of the front of his house. This house was then lived in by William and Anne and their children until his sister moved into it.
The gardens and actors there gave the home a whimsical charm and made it feel really special. There is a lot of information about the house and its history, but as I said before it is almost all hypothetical.
whether or not you believe the story of William Shakespeare this was an interesting place to see. You got to experience how they lived in the 15th century and learn about the every day lives of people back then. Personally, I believe that Shakespeare was the author of all these amazing works, and that the house was where he was born.