How Did Greenblatt's Will In The World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare?

London: where it all began for Shakespeare, one of the greatest writers in the english language. This paper will be about a section in the book Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare by Stephen Greenblatt. In this book Greenblatt talks about London back in the 16th century and how the city influenced Shakespeare’s work. Greenblatt discusses the different opportunities and dangers that took place in the city at the time. This paper will include the opportunities the city had to offer, the dangers the city had to offer and share my ideas on what the city had to offer that helped influenced Shakespeare to become what he turned out to be. Let’s begin with, the opportunities one could find in the city of London in the 16th century. In the 16th Century, the city of London was growing rapidly. This growth offered many opportunities for Londoners or future newcomers. People …show more content…
From being someone who was born and raised by a not so wealthy and uneducated family, moving to the city has definitely changed the way he viewed the world. London offered many opportunities along with many dangers, however Shakespeare managed to educate himself and let his imagination grow throughout different aspects. Greenblatt stated “but some such lessons may have caused Shakespeare to reach a decision that has since made it difficult to understand who he was”. (pg. 173 Greenblatt) With this being said I found it interesting that one could not really know all the views Shakespeare had. Shakespeare’s imagination was unlimited and he found things most people would not find appealing or attractive. Shakespeare viewed the world differently which influenced his playwrights to be unique, some things that attracted him were; gory, dangerous, ugly, torture, punishment, whippings and the list can go