William Shakespeare’s Early Inspiration

William Shakespeare is played by Joseph Fiennes in the film, Shakespeare in Love, which was directed by John Madden and written by Marc Norman in 1998. The film takes place in 1593 London, when Shakespeare was writing the new comedy, Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate’s Daughter, when he falls in love with Viola de Lesseps. In the movie, we are able to see his thought process of him writing different plays, as well as the process of him finding actors to preform his plays in theater. The film portrays him as a struggling writer who is in search for his deeper voice. He is suffering from a writers’ block, even though his hands are always covered in ink. When he meets Viola, someone as passionate as he when it comes to poetry and theater, secretly spend time together where their love for one another deepens. Throughout the film Shakespeare in Love, Will’s life is very visibly written into his plays, as he writes about people falling in love, loosing and finding each other again and so on. Watching the film, while studying Will Shakespeare, connections are more easy to make when viewing his life story as well as his public stories side by side. As a writer, he goes through many loves, tragedies and more which as they are emotionally draining, it enhances his writings and plays because his life is reflected into his works of art.