400 years later, Shakespeare’s first folio still hits headlines

Four hundred years ago, William Shakespeare’s first folio (i.e. a collection of Shakespeare’s works) was published posthumously.

Though Shakespeare died on April 23, 1616, the first folio was published in 1623. It’s a collection of 36 comedies, tragedies and histories attributed to Shakespeare. The first folio contains plays like “The Merchant of Venice,” “Romeo and Juliet,” “King Lear,” “The Tempest” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” according to Folger Shakespeare Library.

It’s estimated that without the first folio, half of Shakespeare’s plays, including “Macbeth” and “Twelfth Night,” would have been lost, since the folio was the sole record of the plays, Oxford professor Emma Smith said, per The Guardian.

The 400th anniversary of the first folio has ushered in collectors editions of Shakespeare’s plays and first folio public exhibitions are taking place at several institutions, including the New York Public Library, per The Associated Press. Another exhibit at Yale University’s Sterling Memorial Library assesses the value of the first folio.

The first folio is one of the important ways Shakespeare’s plays were preserved. Here’s a look at who Shakespeare was.

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Shakespeare’s beginning

Sometime in early April 1564, Mary Arden and John Shakespeare welcomed their newborn child into the world. His name was William Shakespeare. The family was comprised of eight children (two who died in infancy) and William was the eldest, according to Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.

Shakespeare was baptized in Stratford-upon-Avon a few days after his birth on April 26, 1564, but the exact date of his birth is not known, per Folger Shakespeare Library. His father rose through the ranks of local offices and it’s very likely that William attended grammar school, learning about classical plays.

In 1582, Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway, and the couple had three children: Judith, Hamnet and Susanna. At some point, Shakespeare moved to London and became an accomplished actor and playwright, per Folger Shakespeare Library. He died at age 52 on April 23, 1616 (the day which some believe he was born).

He accrued some fame and celebrity, but he wasn’t the explosively popular playwright he is today. When the theaters opened up again in 1660 after his death, his plays were still performed, but “there wasn’t at that time, any sense of reverence towards Shakespeare’s plays,” per Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.

Is Shakespeare really Shakespeare?

It’s true that a person named Shakespeare was involved in the London theater scene, but some have asked the question: Did Shakespeare really write the plays and poems attributed to him?

“The Shakespeare authorship controversy is all conspiracy. Not a single reputable scholar I know has the least doubt that William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon wrote the plays and poems ascribed to him,” Pennsylvania State University professor Patrick Cheney told Alexa Stevenson for Penn State News.

The theories Cheney refers to have been the subject of debate since 1920, when J.T. Looney floated the idea that Shakespeare didn’t really write everything attributed to him, according to the History Channel website. Earl of Oxford (Edward de Vere), Francis Bacon and Christopher Marlowe have been floated as possibilities. But the historical record points to Shakespeare being the author of his works.

What did Shakespeare write?

Shakespeare is best known for plays like “Hamlet,” “Romeo and Juliet,” “King Lear, “As You Like It” and “Much Ado About Nothing.”

He wrote 38 plays, according to the Royal Shakespeare Company. He also wrote over 150 poems in his lifetime.

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Shakespeare famous quotes

Here are five famous quotes from Shakespeare from Goodreads.

• “Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them.” (“Twelfth Night.”)

• “Men at some time are masters of their fates. The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings.” (“Julius Caesar.”)

• “Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, and therefore is winged Cupid painted blind. Nor hath Love’s mind of judgment taste; Wings and no eyes figure unheedy haste.” (“A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”)

• “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players; they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.” (“As You Like It.”)

• “That in the course of justice none of us should see salvation. We do pray for mercy, and that same prayer doth teach us all to render the deeds of mercy.” (“The Merchant of Venice.”)