ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -Hoarder, moneylender, tax dodger-it’s not how we usually think of William Shakespeare. But we should, according to a group of academic researchers. They contend that the Bard of Avon was a ruthless businessman who got rich dealing in grain during a famine.

Detailed explanation-2: -Shakespeare was a grain merchant and property owner and for over 15 years he bought and stored grain, malt, and barley and then sold it on to his neighbors at inflated prices.

Detailed explanation-3: -Shakespeare, however, had the wit and wisdom to steal plots and ideas from a lot of the plays of that era and top them with better poetry. He also had more insight into characters’ feelings and motives, and cleverer handling of light and dark, change of pace, and the weighing up of right and wrong.

Detailed explanation-4: -He was a hard-working man for most of his life. We may learn more about him too by thinking about how he got on with his colleagues, observing for instance that they stuck together over long periods of time and that he both received and made bequests to some of them.