In his essay Traces of Shakespeare’s Life, Stephen Greenblatt attempts to make a compelling case that the identity of William Shakespeare must not be limited to what is known of him as a literary icon. From the onset of the play, Greenblatt attempts to distinguish Shakespeare the person from Shakespeare the mythical playwright. This is the conflict in the story, and it is well placed throughout the essay.
Greenblatt believes that this conflict happens posthumously since much of the interest in him beyond his writing career heightened in the period after his death (Greenblatt, 2015, p.132). Greenblatt acts on this conflict by focusing mainly on aspects of Shakespeare’s life that had little connection to his writing career. This is meant to assist the reader in gaining a deeper understanding of the real Shakespeare that is not based on his works. For instance, he implies that Shakespeare’s works stood out even before they were credited to him. He gives different varieties of the name Shakespeare – Shaxberd, Shakspeare, Skakespear,e among others - perhaps to downplay the significance given to the identity of Shakespeare the literary icon (Greenblatt, 2015, p 132).
As Greenblatt delves into Shakespeare’s family history, his attempted business deals, and marital life, hoping to reveal more of the person, he comes up with frustratingly scanty information (Greenblatt, 2015, p 145). Ironically, every time Greenblatt attempts to use a scenario to unravel the myth that is William Shakespeare, he is distracted by the colorful lives and ways of the characters surrounding Shakespeare, such that the reader knows much more about them than Shakespeare himself. This appears to be a conflict within a conflict.
From this essay,y it appears that the literary icon was deliberately disciplined in leaving no traces of his real persona. As such, he comes out as an obscure and ambiguous person who cannot be understood outside of his literary work.
References
Greenblatt, S. (2015) *Traces of Shakespeare’s Life*. On Biography
