Shakespeare Becomes a Playwright

Sometime during the period between 1585 and 1592, William Shakespeare began a career in the theatre. During his youth, records indicate that the Earl of Leicester’s Men played in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1573, while the Earl of Warwick’s and the Earl of Worcester’s Men visited in 1575. Shakespeare potentially joined one of the five theatrical companies that toured through his hometown, but no concrete evidence indicates this. Some speculation exists that the Queen’s Men were in Stratford in 1587 and may have been shorthanded due to the June 1587 death of one of their actors, William Knell. They might have hired young Shakespeare to help fill in the cast. This theory might explain how William Shakespeare left Stratford for London.

An Upstart Crow

Shakespeare as a writer first appears in print in a pamphlet published under the name Robert Greene as , published in 1592, shortly after Greene’s death. Although published under Greene’s name, scholars believe it was more likely written after Greene’s death by either Henry Chettle, Greene’s publisher, or the playwright Thomas Nashe, or both. Chettle and Nashe both published denials of their involvement. The Greene pamphlet advises fellow playwright-scholars to quit writing for the stage because the actors were ungrateful; specifically, it attacks a young actor-playwright who had apparently just arrived on the scene. Greene complains that: There is an upstart Crow, beautified with our feathers, that with his Tygers hart wrapt in a Players hyde, supposes he is as well able to bombast out a blanke verse as the best of you: and beeing an absolute Iohannes fac totum is in his owne conceit the onely Shake-scene in a countrey.

In modern spelling: There is an upstart crow beautified with our feathers, that with his tiger’s heart wrapped in a player’s hide supposes he is as well able to bombast out inflate a blank verse as the best of you; and, being an absolute Johannes Factotum jack-of-all-trades is in his own conceit belief the only Shake-scene in a country.Greene F1v

Greene clearly refers to Shakespeare, as his pun on Shake-scene indicates. Also, Greene parodies a line from one of Shakespeare’s first plays, : O tiger’s heart wrapped in a woman’s hide! (1.4.137). The upstart crow insult refers to one of Aesop’s fables in which a crow thinks himself beautiful when adorned with peacock feathers. Greene may be accusing Shakespeare of plagiarism to his own benefit.

Motivations for Greene’s Attack

Because Shakespeare was an actor and a playwright, Greene (or whoever wrote the attack) likely objected to a mere player thinking he could write real verse. University-educated poets and playwrights of the time may have believed that an unlearned writer such as Shakespeare lacked the qualifications to write verse drama. Envy of Shakespeare’s financial success may also have motivated the attack. Shakespeare had probably achieved some financial success by 1592 (the final year when his father’s financial problems are documented). Scholars gather good information from Greene’s pamphlet, whatever the author’s intentions. It confirms that Shakespeare had a reputation as a writer by 1592, enough that he was seen as a threat by other writers.