Shakespeare: The Lost Years :: European History Research

Shakespeare The Lost daysOn February 2, 1585, William Shakespeares twins Hamnet and Judith were baptized in Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-Upon-Avon. In 1592 the poet Robert Greene alluded to Shakespeare in his pamphlet A Groatsworth of Wit Bought With a zillion of Repentance. The period between these two dates is known as the Lost Years or The Dark Years because of the total lack of hard licence as to what William Shakespeare was doing during this time. Sometime during this period he left home, wife, and three children in Stratford and began his stage biography in capital of the United Kingdom. Scholars withdraw long attempted to congeal how and why this decision was made, and unlimited theories commence been proposed. It is my hypothesis that Shakespeare, like countless other Englishmen, was caught up in the national crisis caused by the threat of the Spanish Armada during the summer of 1587 and was either drafted into the militia or volunteered for duty to protect h is native land from the threat of foreign invasion. In short, he became a soldier, was posted to the London area, and was discharged when the threat was ended. Once the boy had seen the big city, it is hard to glow him back to the farm.Before supporting the hypothesis of Shakespeares possible military activity, it would be useful to briefly look at some of the other theories which have been advanced to account for the lost years. One such is that he had been a schoolmaster during slice of this time. The main raise is based on a statement by a theatrical manager named William Beeston who was unquestionably associated with Shakespeare during his career in London. It is a reasonable and possible hypothesis which could account for part of the seven missing years.A less probable tradition has him as a runaway apprentice, but there is no solid, believable evidence to support this legend. Another widely believed tradition which is almost certainly out of true is that he left Str atford to avoid prosecution for deer poaching. This theory was in the main based on a rumor involving the Lucy familys deer park. The entire theme falls apart because of the simple fact that the Lucys did not have a deer park during the time Shakespeare was in Stratford and indeed did not have one until late in the seventeenth century.