Today we got a very true feel for Birmingham weather. The Weather App forecasted a cold and rainy day. This morning I forfeited breakfast for an extra twenty minutes of sleep, I am still not sure if it was worth it. I was determined not to be freezing or soaked during our walk, so I layered leggings (borrowed from Jordan) under my dress pants and wore a long sleeve shirt and sweatshirt under my raincoat. We then met in the lobby and made the 30 minute walk to the train station through the rain. It was not exactly an ideal start to the day, but we arrived at the train station with plenty of time to spare. I got on the train with a couple of girls, and we took a Harry Potter house quiz together. I got Ravenclaw and the three other girls got each of the three other houses. It kind of worked out perfectly. After a few minutes, I then moved to an empty isle and curled up to sleep for the rest of the ride because the train was fairly empty. Eventually, after passing through countryside and sheep farms, we arrived in Stratford on Avon
Stratford on Avon, or Stratford upon Avon, is said to be the birthplace of William Shakespeare. William Shakespeare was born April 23, 1564. His father, John Shakespeare, was a glover and his mother, Mary Arden, was a member of a wealthy family. As a result, his family was prominent in the community. His family was able to afford education, so William Shakespeare received a classical education in Stratford. I was surprised to learn that at the age of 18, Shakespeare got married. In all of the times that I learned about Shakespeare in class, I don’t remember there ever being a mention of his wife. Even more surprising: his wife was eight years older than him and named Anne Hathaway. The reason they got married was because she was pregnant. They ended up having three children together: Susanna and twins named Judith and Hamnet. After Shakespear’s career, it seemed that he planned to live a long retirement in Stratford since he bought one of the largest homes there. Unfortunately, he soon died at the age of 52 in 1616 on the same day that he was born.
Shakespeare is a world famous playwriter, even to this day. Throughout his career, he wrote 37 plays. Many of them were beloved by the public. Even in my high school, I spent a unit every year studying a Shakespear play. In my freshman year I studied Romeo and Juliet, sophomore year I studied The Merchant of Venice, junior year was The Tempest, and in my senior year we studied Othello for our AP Literature class. If I remember correctly, I think I even wrote one of my AP Lit exam essays on Othello. In addition to studying Shakespeare often, I was a member of my high school’s Shakespeare Troupe. Though it was more for the fun of it than out of a passion for Shakespeare. While I was a member of the Shakespeare Troupe, we took a trip to see Macbeth. I really enjoyed watching that performance. Although, I was a bit sad that there were no women in the play, I guess they just wanted to be historically accurate.
Not only are Shakespeare’s original works very popular to this day, there have been many different modern recreations of his work. One example is Gnomeo and Juliet, a retelling of Romeo and Juliet if they were garden gnomes. The Lion King is based on Hamnet with the murder and revenge. One of my favorite movies, 10 Things I Hate About You, is a retelling of Taming of the Shrew, one of my dad’s favorite Shakespeare plays.
We took a tour of Stratford on Avon with Tim, the same lovely man who gave us a tour of Blenheim Palace and Oxford on Sunday. During our tour, we saw the Royal Shakespeare Theatre where there are many productions of Shakespeare plays. Tim told us that he worked for the company for a couple of years and performed in the theatre. After that, we walked along the river to see a lovely church. This is the church where William Shakespeare and his family are buried. Then, we went through part of the town to another church. In the second church was a catholic church, when England changed sects, the catholic imagery was covered. But, overtime, the images were uncovered and perfectly preserved. After our tour we had time to get lunch, I got a delicious brie and cranberry toastie. Finally, we ended our tour with the house of John and Mary Shakespeare, the place where William Shakespeare was born.