16 Dec Reading with Biography

New criticism proposed that there is no need to bring in extraneous features such as author biography or history to understand a text. But sometimes, a biography is needed to better understand a text. It not only gives us clues about a person’s beliefs or disbelief; personal affairs but also focuses on society, it’s norms, and; the political and economic condition of a particular period. For example, Elizabethan England rewarded those people who gained their accomplishments in writing prose and poetry. This fertile ground may be responsible for becoming Shakespeare as an artist and writer.

To establish himself, everyone has to struggle; sometimes against society, sometimes against a political or economic condition, or sometimes there is a conflict between society’s needs and a person’s demands; we come to know how successfully he has overcome the crisis. Elizabethan England imposed people to learn Latin for international relations and upward mobility, which became a positive outcome for Shakespeare, as he got an opportunity to come close to classical literature. That is why most of his writings are encouraged by classical texts. His art of characterization portrayed the existing class system.

However, It isn’t easy to interpret without looking at the time he lived in why he used supernatural elements in his plays. In Elizabethan England, though the cloth industry grew fast and the economy grew at speed, most of the pleasant were still under miserable conditions; they were homeless, and many people starved to death. In this situation, they tend to believe some good energy may come and rescue them. In that patriarchal society, his female characters are presented as dependent on their fathers or husband. Our reading would be more proper if we looked forward to his biography.