About Clare Washbrook Expertise I can answer questions related to the texts, sonnets or to Shakespeare's life. I can help with historical context and language difficulties. I am a secondary school English and Drama teacher in England and can therefore help current students with the texts which they are studying.
DO NOT ASK ME WHERE HE GOT HIS IDEAS FROM! I know that it is a dreadful question to be posed as homework but I have recieved it dozens of times. The answer can be found in past questions.
Experience I fell in love with Shakespeare at a young age and continue to be enthralled. I have studied Shakespeare to undergraduate level and teach Shakespeare to A-level (age 18). I have performed three of his plays. As an amateur etymologist I am familiar with many misconceptions about the meanings, intent and usage of words in the plays which other people are often unaware of.
Educated to post-graduate level.
Published and performance poet.
Former Journalist, former Editor, occassional Private Tutor. Included in OED as the first writer to use a particular word.
Organizations The Poetry Society
Publications The Radio Times, Books by Dogma, "SO" Magazine, NUS publications, Other Poetry, OED, Publications by PTS others
Education/Credentials BA (HONS) Literature (Theatre minor), MA (current accreditation)
Awards and Honors Bronze Award - International Poetry Awards 2004
Question Hi my name is Nicole and I am a student at Yucaipa Highschool. I was assigned to do an interview on Shakespeare. I have to write an answer to my own question as if I was him. Do you have any ideas on how I can sound like him? Because I am struggling on his to capture his personality in my writing of his answer.
Answer Nicole,
I think you might have gotten the wrong end of the stick. Your teacher doesn't want to test whether you can work out Shakspeare's personality, there is so little information on that anyway. All we truly have is his plays.
There are three main focuses to what you need to show:
1) Consistency of character - make sure you write complete sentences, as one would speak and that you use the correct personal pronouns - I thought, I said to him. Imagine yourself as Shakespeare. Your own imagining of him will be fine. If it helps: he was a well read, well educated man who liked to be rude. He was an actor (a very direputable profession at the time) and is believed to have spent a lot of time in pubs (english bars). He hardly ever saw his family who he set up nicely in Stratford (owned most of the town) whilst he lived in London. He lost a child, Hamnet (that's spelt correctly) - so he knew loss and lived with it. He had a wicked sense of humour.
2) Shakespearean language. You need to write as Shakespeare wrote. You can actually play around with language quite a lot. He did!
3) England. He was from England and spent most of his time in London. You have to imagine what that was like. It was dirty, smelly, the theatres shut down for the summer so that everyone would be safer from the plague, the Queen banned theatres from advertising because they increased the crime rates in the areas around them. There were rats and merchants and trade came by river (The Thames) - his theatres were all near the river and the docks.
