2.2 作者人生
2.2 The writer’s life
威廉·莎士比亚于1564年出生在英格兰中部沃里克郡埃文河畔斯特拉福德市。祖父理查德·莎士比亚，斯特拉福德北偏东的斯涅特菲尔德村自耕农，1561年2月已去世。父亲约翰·莎士比亚，生于1530年左右。早年弃农到斯特拉福德学制软皮手套和其他皮饰物的手艺。
1552年起住亨利街，成为生意兴隆的皮手套工匠和商人，兼营谷物、羊毛和麦芽（酿啤酒原料）的买卖。1556年购置了亨利街东屋和格林希尔街另一屋。1557年结婚，并开始参加斯特拉福德市政委员会的活动。1558年起任治安官。1561—1563年担任市财务官。1563—1565年仍实际担任市财务官的职务，足证他能写会算。母亲玛丽·阿登（旧姓特奇尔）是父亲的地主（望族支裔）的幺女，继承了位于斯特拉福德西北3英里处威尔姆科特村的一座房屋和50英亩土地及其他产益权。威廉·莎士比亚的大姐、二姐都死于童年，他为第三胎，也是长子。1569年，莎士比亚5岁时，他父亲任执行官（相当于后来的市长）期间，斯特拉福德市第一次接待了从伦敦来的剧团，在前圣十字架互助会小教堂演出。这大概是莎士比亚最初看戏的机会，而且坐在最佳观众席上。同年，按照市政官员子弟可以免费入学的优待规定，莎士比亚进入本市文法学校。该校是“爱德华六世国王新学校”所属的幼学，由助理教员教英语的读和写，学习内容从字母表开始到教义问答，还有简单的算术。莎士比亚大概7岁时进入本市文法学校成为正式学生。文法学校只收男生，主要学拉丁文的文法、会话、修辞、逻辑、演说、做诗，要攻读由浅入深的拉丁诗文：《伊索寓言》，曼图安纳斯的诗，撒勒斯特、普劳图斯、塞内加、泰伦斯、西塞罗、奥维德、霍拉斯、维吉尔等罗马作家的作品选。其中，普劳图斯和泰伦斯的喜剧、塞内加的悲剧和奥维德的《变形记》长诗对莎士比亚日后的创作有很大影响。星期天和其他宗教节日，幼年的莎士比亚必须跟大人一起到教堂听讲道，诵圣经，唱圣诗，做祈祷。这些在英国教会里已主要用英语进行。孩子必须学会背诵《主教圣经》和《通用祈祷书》的重要段落，还要能进行教义问答。这是他学习英语的主要途径。
William Shakespeare was born in 1564 in Stratford-on-Avon， Warwickshire， central England.
His grandfather Richard Shakespeare， yeoman farmer of Snitterfield， north-east of Stratford， had diedbefore February 1561. His father John Shakespeare was born in 1530 or so. He had left farming to learnhandicraftsmanship in Stratford and had lived at Henely Street since 1552. After finishing apprenticeship hehad become a successful glover and also traded in grain， wool and malt. In 1556 he bought the eastern houseat Henely Street and another in Greenhill Street. In 1557 he married and began to take part in the StratfordCommon Council. From 1558 he was a constable. In 1561-1563 he was one of the two chamberlains keepingthe borough accounts， and in 1563-1565 continued to do the job. This showed that he could read andwrite. His mother Mary Arden， the youngest daughter of a branch of the important Arden family， formerlycalled Turchill， inherited one house， 50 acres of land and other interests at Wilmcote， 3 miles north-westof Stratford. His two elder sisters died in childhood. He was the third child and the eldest son. In 1569，when William was 5， and his father was bailiff， Stratford for the first time received London players， whogave borough-subsidized performances in the Guildhall. These were the earliest opportunities for the boyShakespeare to watch plays. The same year， Shakespeare probably entered， perhaps free， as privileged bycouncilors’ children， the petty school attached to the Stratford Grammar School—King Edward VI School，or the King’s New School—to learn English reading and writing， from the alphabet to catechism， as wellas simple arithmetic， from an usher. Shakespeare， about seven years old， probably entered the King’s NewSchool proper—only boys were accepted. The pupils mainly learnt Latin grammar， conversation， rhetoric，speech making and poetry writing. They read Latin writings， from easier to more difficult， such as Aesop’sfables， Mantuanus’ poems， Sallust， Plautus， Seneca， Terence， Cicero， Ovid， Horace and Virgil. Among themthe comedies of Plautus and Terence， the tragedies of Seneca and Ovid’s long poem Metamorphosis wereto exercise the greatest influence on Shakespeare’s writings. On Sundays and other holy days， the youngShakespeare went to church with the grown-ups to listen to sermons， read from the Bible， sing psalms andsay prayers. These were already done in English in Anglican churches. Children were required to commit tomemory important passages from the Bishops’ Bible and the Common Prayer Book and answer questions ofcatechism. That was the main way Shakespeare improved his English.
1579年，莎士比亚15岁，大概已经辍学，跟父亲学手艺和干活，以贴补家用。因他父亲生意失利和家庭开销增大，现金短缺，不得不举债。另一方面，他父亲可能变得倾向天主教，因此停止到英国国教教堂做礼拜，并将财产分散隐匿以防没收，同时退出清教徒势力日益增大的斯特拉福德市政委员会的活动。从这年秋季起，莎士比亚可能做了两年教员。他没上过大学，不能做正式教员，但可以做助理教员或家庭教师。他可能由文法学校老师考特姆（兰开斯特人）介绍到英格兰西北部的兰开夏郡信天主教的亚历山大·霍格顿家做家庭教师并参与演戏，因霍格顿与兰开夏郡的剧团保护人达比伯爵和他儿子斯特兰奇勋爵有交情。在1582年11月27日，一个职员在武斯特教区的登记簿里记录了一份由威廉·莎士比亚（18岁）和安妮·哈撒韦（26岁）提出的特别结婚申请。他们需要提出特别结婚申请的理由有很多：新郎尚未成年（按法律19岁为成人）；婚礼的5天之后就是不能举行结婚仪式的基督降临节，在此期间人们要向神忏悔认罪；安妮的父亲（同莎士比亚父亲是老相识）已经去世而且她自己已有3个月身孕。这些情况中最不同寻常的是威廉·莎士比亚的年纪：他当时还未满19岁。6个月之后的1583年5月26日，莎士比亚的第一个孩子苏珊娜受洗礼。1585年2月2日，他的双胞胎孩子哈姆尼特和朱迪思也同时受洗礼。至此，莎士比亚家祖孙三代有11口人：父亲、母亲、莎士比亚、妻（29岁）、大弟（19）、大妹（16岁）、二弟（11岁）、三弟（5岁）、长女（2岁）、长子和次女（刚出生），此时开销大，生活更困难。莎士比亚自然有意再外出谋发展，同时避免再生孩子。在1586年，已经10年没有参加市政会议的约翰·莎士比亚的名字从高级市政官的名单上被删去了。1587年夏天，女王供奉剧团、莱斯特伯爵剧团、埃塞克斯伯爵剧团、斯塔福德勋爵剧团和另一个未记名的剧团到斯特拉福德演出。其中有些剧团缺人。莎士比亚可能作为临时演员随某剧团到伦敦，开始他的戏剧生涯。尼古拉斯·罗于1709年记载，据演员托马斯·贝特顿（1635—1710）叙述，莎士比亚在结婚后的一段时间，“不幸交了一些不好的朋友，其中有些人经常偷鹿，拉他不止一次到斯特拉福德附近属于查尔科特的托马斯·卢西爵士的园子里偷盗。为此他被爵士追究法律责任，在他看来太严厉了些；为了报复这种虐待，他写了一首歌谣讽刺爵士。这篇大概是他最初试写的诗作已经失传，据说它很尖刻，以致引起对他加倍的法律追究，使他不得不离开他在沃里克郡的职业和家庭，到伦敦躲避一段时期……他被接受进当时存在的一个剧团，起初地位很低微，但他令人惊奇的机智，及在舞台上的自如运用，很快使他出了名，成为杰出的作家，即使不是非凡的演员。”
In 1579 Shakespeare， only 15， probably left school in order to help father with his trade and businessand contribute towards family economy， for his father， because of his business deteriorated and burdened withthe expenses of a growing family， had to raise cash and even incur debts. On the other hand， his father mighthave Catholic sympathies and stopped going to Anglican church， dispersed and disguised his properties toavoid confiscation， and withdrew from public affairs in a town that was increasingly Puritan. From autumnthis year， Shakespeare was probably a teacher for two years. He had no university education and was notqualified as a schoolmaster， but he could be an usher or a private teacher. He was probably recommendedby his Grammar School teacher Cottom (a native of Lancaster) to be assistant teacher and player attachedto the wealthy Lancashire Catholic family of Alexander Hoghton， who was a close friend of Earl of Derbyand his son Lord Strange， both of whom patrons of Lancashire players. On 27 November 1582， the clerknoted in the Episcopal Register of the Diocese of Worcester the application made by William Shakespeare(18 years old) and Anne Hathwey (26 years old) for a special marriage licence. The special licence wasrequired for a number of reasons： the groom was a minor (not a major)， the penitential season of Advent whenmarriages might not be solemnized was only five days away， Ann’s father (who had been an old acquaintanceof Shakespeare’s father) was dead， and she was already three months pregnant at the time. Of all thesecircumstances the most unusual is William’s age： he was not yet 19. Six months later the Shakespeare’sfirst child， Susanna， was baptized， on 26 May 1583. On 2 February 1585 his twins were christened Hamnetand Judith. Now there were 11 members in the Shakespeare family of three generations： father， mother，Shakespeare， his wife (29)， younger brother (19)， younger sister (16)， second brother (11)， third brother (5)，elder daughter (2)， son and second daughter (just born). It was now more difficult to meet the family expenses.
Shakespeare naturally wanted to try again his fortune away from home and also to avoid the arrival of morechildren. In 1586， after ten years of absence from council meetings， John Shakespeare’s name was finallystruck off the list of aldermen. In the summer of 1587， the Queen’s Men， the Earl of Leicester’s Men， theEarl of Essex’s Men， Lord Stafford’s Men and another unknown troupe performed at Stratford. Some of thetroupes lacked personnel. Probably Shakespeare joined one of the companies as a temporary player andthen followed them to London， thus starting his career as a dramatist. Nicholas Rowe recorded (1709) thataccording to tradition recounted by Thomas Betterton (actor 1635—1710)， Shakespeare， some time afterhe married，“had， by a Misfortune common enough to young Fellows， fallen into ill Company； and amongstthem， some that made a frequent practice of Deer-stealing， engag’d him with them more than once in robbinga Park that belong’d to Sir Thomas Lucy of Charlecot， near Stratford. For this he was prosecuted by thatGentleman， as he thought， somewhat too severely； and in order to revenge that ill Usage， he made a Balladupon him. And tho’ this， probably the first Essay of his Poetry， be lost， yet it is said to have been so very bitter，that it redoubled the Prosecution against him to that degree， that he was oblig’d to leave his Business andFamily in Warwickshire， for some time， and shelter himself in London... He was receiv’d into the Companythen in being， at first in a very mean Rank； but his admirable Wit， and the natural Turn of it to the Stage， soondistinguish’d him， if not as an extraordinary Actor， yet as an excellent Writer.”
莎士比亚初到伦敦，在剧场外面牵马，伺候看戏的绅士，或在剧场里做给演员提示台词的侍从。然后他成了演员，后来开始写剧本。起初与其他剧作家合作或参加改编旧戏。在1588年，莎士比亚可能写了《情女怨》（1609年附在十四行诗集之后发表），并开始在伦敦某剧团协助改编剧本。1589年，莎士比亚可能参加编写了两部历史剧。一部是《战争使大家成为朋友》，手抄本（无署名）现存不列颠图书馆。此剧描写11世纪初争夺英国王位的斗争，其中一个角色是拥护丹麦人卡努特为王的特奇尔，他是莎士比亚母系第十八代祖先。另一部剧是《爱德华三世》，此剧于1596年和1599年出版（无署名）。当时，通常每个演员的台词都被单独地写出来，并附有提示，而舞台监督则通过一块写有台词和进出场标志的提示板来指挥调度舞台表演。出版商很少会得到一部完整的剧本；另外，剧团也将这些戏剧脚本视为他们的重要资产。许多的戏剧作品根本没有出版，还有许多则是匿名出版。很少的戏剧会写明是某一个作家所写，除非这些作家非常有名，而且就算署了名这些戏剧也与他们没有任何关系。同年，莎士比亚写成《错误的喜剧》，该剧系模仿罗马喜剧作家普劳图斯（前254？—前184）的《孪生兄弟》，由沃纳·威廉所译，1595年出版。在莎剧中它最短，仅1777行。也是同年，莎士比亚可能参加了斯特兰奇勋爵剧团和海军大将剧团合并组成的剧团。1590年，莎士比亚开始创作和修改两个历史剧：《约克和兰开斯特两望族的争斗第一部分》（相应于1623年收入第一对折本剧作全集的《亨利六世第二部分》）和《约克公爵理查的真实悲剧》（相应于1623年收入第一对折本的《亨利六世第三部分》）。1591年，莎士比亚写了《亨利六世第一部分》。此剧开始演出时是独立的壮丽行列剧，后来增加一些场景和结尾，以与《亨利六世第二、第三部分》相衔接。这一年，莎士比亚还模仿罗马悲剧作家塞内加（前4—65）编写了血腥悲剧《泰特斯·安德洛尼克斯》。同年冬季，莎士比亚结识了年方18岁的南安普敦伯爵，其原名是亨利·里兹利（1573—1624），他8岁丧父，继承为第三世伯爵，受财政大臣伯利勋爵监护。16岁从剑桥大学毕业，随后又进修法律。他年轻英俊，喜爱文艺，后又追随埃塞克斯寻求军功。1591年伯利勋爵要把孙女嫁给他，其母也劝他攀亲以巩固家族地位，但南安普敦推托不允。南安普敦成为莎士比亚的庇护人以后，莎士比亚可能应其母之请，开始写第一批十四行诗（1—17首）赠南安普敦，劝他结婚。1592年6月23日，由于伦敦瘟疫流行，政府下令关闭所有剧院，直至当年12月29日。这半年伦敦因疫病死者有15，000人。莎士比亚可能有一段时间随潘布洛克剧团下乡，但该剧团不久因经济困难解散。莎士比亚可能回到斯特拉福德，写作《驯悍记》。在这个剧本中他第一次写到故乡的风土人情。莎士比亚继续写十四行诗，其中有些赠给南安普敦，并为友人传抄。1593年4月28日，莎士比亚的长诗《维纳斯与阿多尼斯》经过坎特伯雷大主教审查批准，由莎士比亚的印剧商友人菲尔德在伦敦“书业公所”进行登记，不久以四开本出版，并在圣保罗教堂院内以灰白猎犬为记的书店出售。这是署名出版的第一部莎士比亚着作。书名页上引用了罗马诗人奥维德（前43—18）的《恋歌》中两行拉丁诗，卷首有“献给南安普敦伯爵兼蒂奇菲尔德男爵亨利·里兹利阁下”的献辞。同时，莎士比亚继续写十四行诗，送给他感情日深的南安普敦。其中如第26首写献诗，27—28首写旅途失眠时的思念，29—30首写命运的困顿，79首写于南安普敦成年时（1593年10月），都可能是当年所作。此外，莎士比亚写《维洛那二绅士》，是关于一个男子抢夺朋友情人的故事，相仿于十四行诗第40、第133、第144等首所写的情况。莎士比亚还写了《理查三世》，这是他第一部艺术成熟的严肃剧本，水平已超过当年5月30日死去的马洛。在马洛死后，本·琼森崛起（1599年）之前，莎士比亚已成为英国戏剧界无与匹敌的作家。
Shortly after Shakespeare’s arrival in London， he got employment either in or near a playhouse， takingcare of gentlemen’s horses or serving a prompter’s attendant. Then he became an actor and later startedto write plays， at first possibly in collaboration with other playwrights or engaged in revising old plays. In1588， Shakespeare probably wrote A Lover’s Complaint (published as appendix to the Sonnets in 1609) andbegan to help revise plays for a London company. In 1589， Shakespeare probably took part in the writingof two historical plays. One was War Hath Made All Friends， the manu of which， without authorship，is in the British library. It deals with a struggle for the English throne in the early 11th century. One of thecharacters is Turchill， an 18th generation forefather of Shakespeare on the maternal side， who favored theDane Canute as the King of England. The other was The Reign of King Edward the Third. It was publishedanonymously in 1596 and 1599. It was then that the actors’ parts were usually written out with their cues，while the stage-manager worked from a“platt”listing cue lines and exits and entrances. There can seldomhave been an entire copy to spare for a publisher， and besides， the players’ companies reckoned their play-books among their chief assets. Many plays were never published， and many were published anonymously.
Few were ascribed to single authors， unless the authors were particularly well known， in which case theirnames appeared on plays they had nothing to do with. In the same year， Shakespeare wrote The Comedy ofErrors in imitation of the Roman comedian Plautus (254？-184B.C.)， a translation of whose Menaechmi byWarner William was published in 1595. This play is Shakespeare’s shortest， with only 1，777 lines. It wasalso in the same year that Shakespeare probably joined a company combined by Lord Strange’s Men and theAdmiral’s Men. In 1590， Shakespeare began to write or rewrite two historical plays. The First Part of theContention of the Two Famous Houses of York and Lancaster (It corresponds to The Second Part of KingHenry the Sixth in the First Folio of 1623.) and The True Tragedy of Richard Duke of York (It correspondsto The Third Part of King Henry the Sixth in the First Folio of 1623.). In 1591， Shakespeare wrote The FirstPart of King Henry the Sixth. It started as an independent pageant， and later some links and the final scenewere added to join it with Parts 2 and 3 of Henry the Sixth. This year， Shakespeare also wrote or compiledthe bloody tragedy Titus Andronicus in imitation of the Roman tragedian Seneca (4B.C.-A.D.65). In thewinter of the same year， Shakespeare came into acquaintance with the 18 year old Earl of Southampton whosename was Henry Wriothesley (1573-1624). When he was 8， his father died and he became the third Earl.
Under the guardianship of Lord Burghley， the Lord Treasurer， he went on to study at Cambridge， graduatedwhen 16 and continued to read law. Young and handsome， he loved the letters and later followed Earl ofEssex to see military fame. In 1591 Lord Burghley wanted him to marry his grand-daughter， and Henry’smother also advised him to build a good marital relationship so as to strengthen the position of the family. ButHenry kept putting off these suggestions. After Henry became Shakespeare’s patron， Shakespeare probablywrote the first group of his Sonnets (sonnets 1-17) at the request of Henry’s mother to encourage the youngpeer to marry. On June 23， 1592， all the theatres in London were ordered to close down on account of theplague till December 29 of the same year. 15，000 persons in London died of plague during that half year.
Shakespeare probably went to the country with Pembroke’s Men for some time. But soon the company brokeup due to financial difficulties. Shakespeare probably returned to Stratford to write The Taming of the Shrew，in which for the first time he described the scenery and social manners of his native district. Shakespearecontinued to write Sonnets， some of which he presented to Southampton and were copied and circulatedamong friends. On April 28， 1593， Shakespeare’s long narrative poem Venus and Adonis， being censored andapproved by the Archbishop of Canterbury， was entered in the Stationers’ Register by Shakespeare’s printerfriend Richard Field， and was soon published in quarto form and sold at the sign of the white greyhound inPaul’s churchyard. This was the first Shakespearian work to be published with his authorship. On the titlepage are quoted tow lines from Amores of Ovid (43 B.C.-A.D.18) and at the beginning of the volume is thededication“To the Right Honorable Henry Wriothesley， Earle of Southampton， and Baron of Titchfield”. Inthe same year， Shakespeare continued to write sonnets， which he presented to Southampton. Sonnet 26 aboutthe dedication of a work， Sonnets 27-28 about longing thoughts during sleeplessness on a trip， Sonnets 29-30about ill fortune， and Sonnet 70 about Southampton’s coming of age (October 1593) were probably written inthis year. Furthermore， Shakespeare wrote The Two Gentlemen of Verona， about a man snatching his friend’ssweetheart， a story similar to that described in Sonnets 40，133，144， etc. Shakespeare also wrote Richard IIIwhich was his first serious play of a mature art surpassing that of Marlowe who died on May 30， this year.
After Marlowe’s death and before the rise of Ben Jonson in 1599， Shakespeare was the unrivalled playwrightin England.
1594年5月1日南安普敦伯爵的寡母和副宫内大臣托马斯·赫尼奇爵士结婚的前夜，在南安普敦宅邸演出了莎士比亚的喜剧《仲夏夜之梦》。八天之后，即5月9日，莎士比亚的长诗《鲁克丽丝遭强暴记》在书业公所登记，随即印刷为四开本出版。书首以“献给南安普敦伯爵兼蒂奇菲尔德男爵亨利·里兹利阁下”开头。在同月，宫内大臣剧团成立，莎士比亚从一开始就是它的重要演员、股东和剧作家。该剧团的前身为斯特兰奇勋爵剧团，1593年随其庇护人的晋爵改称达比伯爵剧团；1594年4月16日达比伯爵逝世，不久原班子即改由宫内大臣亨利·凯里，即亨斯敦一世（他是伊丽莎白女王的近亲和亲信）庇护。莎士比亚则是新加入者之一，他把过去写的剧本带来归这个剧团所有。剧团开办股本700镑，由威廉·肯普主要喜剧演员）、莎士比亚、理查德·伯比奇（1619年逝世，主要悲剧演员）等8位股东集资（8人都是演员；约翰·海明后来是经理，并是1623年莎剧全集，即第一对开本两主编之一）。1594年4月下旬，莎士比亚的喜剧《爱的徒劳》可能在此首次演出。此剧和莎士比亚当时还在写的十四行诗有不少呼应处：剧中有几首十四行诗；俾隆的情人也是个浓眉黑眼的女人（三幕一场206—207行）；而查普曼很可能就是十四行诗里提到的“诗敌”（第78—83，85，特别是86首）。同年8月，莎士比亚的《威尼斯喜剧》（即《威尼斯商人》的第一稿）在瑟热克的“玫瑰剧院”上演。理查德·伯比奇因演夏洛克成功，确立了他作为悲剧演员的声誉，也开始了莎士比亚创作和伯比奇演出的伟大合作。1595年3月15日，女王宫内司库账目记载，在冬天戏剧季节结束后，“付给威廉·肯普、威廉·莎士比亚和理查德·伯比奇等宫内大臣仆人”赏金20镑。这是第一次官方文字记载和提到莎士比亚作为演员，并为宫内大臣剧团三个主要成员之一。同年，莎士比亚写作《罗密欧与朱丽叶》，剧情部分反映了过去一年以来南安普敦伯爵的朋友查尔斯和亨利·丹弗斯爵士兄弟与其邻居沃尔特和亨利·朗爵士兄弟之间的反复械斗。同年12月9日，莎士比亚的历史剧《理查二世》在爱德华·霍比爵士家作首次私家演出，被邀观看的主宾是首席大臣罗伯特·塞西尔爵士。1596年8月11日，莎士比亚的独子哈姆奈特11岁夭折入葬。同年夏秋之季，莎士比亚写作《约翰王》，可能以1591年出版的佚名作家的《英格兰约翰王的多事之朝》为故事结构的基础。剧中有一段描写丧子的哀痛，似反映莎氏自身的心情：“主啊！我的孩子、阿瑟、我漂亮的儿子！我的生命、喜悦、食物，我的全世界！”1597年初，莎士比亚写成《亨利四世》上下篇，其中他创造了极受群众喜爱的福斯塔夫一角色。福斯塔夫脱胎于传统道德剧中“罪恶”一角，而被赋予了逗人笑骂的鲜明个性，既代表了没落的骑士，又表现了英格兰民族的幽默感。据传伊丽莎白女王看过《亨利四世》演出后，十分喜爱福斯塔夫一角，遂命莎士比亚再为此角写一戏，表现他陷入爱情之状。莎士比亚在短期内写成《温莎的快乐娘儿们》，于1597年4月23日（？）在温莎宫嘉德勋章获得者宴会后首次演出。同年5月4日，莎士比亚以60镑的价钱，从威廉·恩德希尔手中购得斯特拉福德第二大的房屋（三层楼，有五个人字形屋顶和十间有壁炉的房间）。莎士比亚买入后又花大笔钱加以翻修，命名为“新居”。此举说明莎士比亚这时收入已有不少富余，并且他早有意于晚年退居家乡。据后人尼古拉斯·罗记载，威廉·达文南说：“有一次南安普敦伯爵曾赠给他（莎士比亚）1000镑，以使他能够实现想购置的一宗产业。”1000镑的数目太大，不可靠。但南安普敦资助莎士比亚则是可能的（参看十四行诗第87，117首）。1598年2月4日，斯特拉福德市政当局开列小教堂街区13家大麦囤积户名单，其中包括莎士比亚的名字，说他囤积了10夸特（合2.5吨）大麦。因英国连年夏季淫雨，造成缺粮，居民对囤粮户不满。这一年，莎士比亚一家已迁入位于小教堂街的“新居”，为殷实户。除囤粮外，他家还自酿麦酒。同年夏，莎士比亚可能开始写《无事生非》，于冬天完成。同年10月1日，伦敦主教门区欠缴地方税名单中列有威廉·莎士比亚的名字。同年冬天，莎士比亚开始写《亨利五世》，约于第二年3月写完。1599年，莎士比亚成为寰球剧院的“管家”之一，可以分得1/10的纯利。不久肯普退出宫内大臣剧团（原因之一据说是莎士比亚反对他即兴自编插科打诨的话），他的股份由其余4人分摊。从此莎士比亚从剧院纯收益中可分得1/8。这年夏天，莎士比亚写了《皆大欢喜》。同时，他写了《裘力斯·恺撒》，反映了伊丽莎白王朝末期统治不稳的政治气氛。当时英国历史剧已遭禁演，莎士比亚遂转而用外国历史题材写剧本。同年10月6日，伦敦东北部圣海伦地区欠缴王室附加地方税名单中又有莎士比亚的名字。这一年，纹章院院长威廉·戴罥克爵士和威廉·开姆顿正式批准“约翰·莎士比亚及其子嗣直到永远”使用家徽。
On May 1，1594， Shakespeare’s comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream was performed at SouthamptonHouse on the eve of the marriage of Earl of Southampton’s widowed mother and Sir Thomas Heneage， Vice-Chamberlain of the Queen’s Household. Eight days later， i.e. May 9， Shakespeare’s long narrative poem TheRape of Lucrece was entered in the Stationers’ Register and soon printed in quarto form. The volume beginswith“To the Right Honourable， Henry Wriothesley， Earle of Southampton， and Baron of Titchfield”.
In the same month， Lord Chamberlain’s Men was founded， and from the very beginning Shakespeare wasits important actor， shareholder and playwright. It was a successor to Lord Strange’s Men which had beenrenamed the Earl of Derby’s Men in 1593 along with the promotion of its patron. Soon after the death of theEarl of Derby on April 16， 1594， his company came under the patronage of Henry Carey， the First Earl ofHunsdon， Lord Chamberlain from 1585 till his death in 1596， a near relative and confident of the Queen.
Shakespeare was a new member and he brought with him the plays he had written to be property of thenew company. The company began with an initial stock of ￡700 contributed by William Kempe (principalcomedian)， Shakespeare， Richard Burbage (principal tragedian till he died in 1619) etc. 8 sharers (eight ofthem were all actors； and Heminge was later the manager and one of the two chief editors of the First Folioof 1623). In the same month， i.e. late May， Shakespeare’s comedy Love’s Labour’s Lost was probably stagedfor the first time. There are also echoes of the Sonnets Shakespeare then continued to write. The play itselfcontains a few sonnets； Berowne’s love is also a dark lady (III i 206-7)； and Chapman is most probablythe rival poet mentioned in the Sonnets (Sonnets 78-83， 85 and particularly 86). August， the same year，Shakespeare’s The Venesyon Comedy (first draft of The Merchant of Venice) was performed at the RoseTheatre in Southwark. Through his success in personifying Shylock， Richard Burbage established his fame asa tragedian. Here started the great cooperation between Shakespeare’s creation and Burbage’ performance.
On March 15， 1595， the Accounts of the Treasurer of the Queen’s Chamber recorded the payment of ￡ 20to“William Kempe， William Shakespeare &； Richard Burbage servants to the Lord Chamberleyne”forthe court performances during last Christmas. This was the first official reference to Shakespeare as actorand， moreover， one of the three most important members of his company. This year， Shakespeare wroteRomeo and Juliet， whose story partially reflected the repeated brawls since last year between Southampton’sfriends the Danvers brothers and his neighbours the Long brothers. On December 9 of the same year， firstprivate performance of Shakespeare’s Richard II at the house of Sir Edward Hoby， with Sir Robert Cecil， thesecretary of State， as the chief guest. August 11， 1596， Shakespeare’s only son Hamnet was buried； he diedat the early age of 11. Summer and autumn of the same year， Shakespeare wrote King John， probably basingthe story and structure on the anonymous play called The Troublesome Reign of John King of Englandpublished in 1591. There is a passage about pain at the loss of a son， which seems to reflect Shakespeare’sown feeling：“O Lord！ My boy， my Arthur， my fair son！ / My life， my joy， my food， my all the world！”Early in1597， Shakespeare completed Henry IV in two parts. In this historical play he created the character Falstaffwho is most loved by the English audience. Falstaff had his origin in the character Vice in traditional moralityplays， but is endowed with an unmistakably amusing individuality， representing both declining knighthoodand English sense of humour. There is the tradition that Queen Elizabeth， watching Henry IV， was so wellpleased with the character Falstaff that she commanded Shakespeare to continue it for one more play and toshow him in love. Within a short period Shakespeare completed The Merry Wises of Windsor， which was firstperformed on April 23， 1597(？) after the feast for the Knights of the Garter at Windsor Castle. May 4 of thesame year， for ￡60 Shakespeare bought from William Underhill the second biggest house in Stratford， whichwas three-storied and had five gables and ten rooms with fireplaces in them. Shakespeare spent much moneyon repairs and called it“New Place”. The undertaking shows that Shakespeare was making money and thathe had planned for retirement well in advance. Nicholas Rowe recorded (1709) that Sir William D’Avenanthanded down the story that“my Lord Southampton， at one time， gave him (Shakespeare) a thousand pounds，to enable him to go through with a purchase which he heard he had a mind to.”The number of thousand istoo big to believe， but it was probable that Southampton gave Shakespeare financial support (cf. Sonnets 87and 117). On February 4， 1598， the Stratford civic authorities compiled a list of hoarders in the Chapet Streetward， and Shakespeare’s name is included as one who was hoarding ten quarters (2.5 tons) of malt. Successivevery wet summers had led to a scarcity of grain in England， and the poorer people were bitter about thehoarders. Shakespeare’s family had moved into“New Place”in Chapel Street， and theirs was a well-to-do one. Besides hoarding malt， they also brewed some ale. In the summer of the same year， Shakespeareprobably began to write Much Ado About Nothing， finishing it by winter. October 1， this year， WilliamShakespeare named as a tax defaulter in Bishopsgate Ward， London. Winter， this year， Shakespeare beganto write Henry V， finishing it by March next year. In 1599， Shakespeare as one of the“householders”hadone-tenth interest in the Globe. Not long after Kempe left Chamberlain’s (one of the reasons is said to beShakespeare’s objection to Kempe’s way of making extempore jokes)， and his interest was shared by the otherfour. So Shakespeare’s interest rose to one-eighth. In the summer， this year， Shakespeare wrote As You LikeIt. About the same time， Shakespeare wrote Julius Caesar， a play that reflects the political instability towardsthe end of Elizabeth’s reign. English historical plays having been banned， Shakespeare turned to the historyof foreign countries for his subject matter. October 6， this year， Shakespeare’s name was again included inthe Residuum， or back-tax， accounts of St. Helen’s ward， London.