# 400th Anniversary of Shakespeare's Death **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 24, 2016, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/400th-anniversary-of-shakespeares-death/753012 "2016-04-24T19:54:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/400th-anniversary-of-shakespeares-death/753012/1 "2016-04-24T19:54:21Z")
> [@](#): > > Shakespeare, > Playwright and > Poet, Is Dead at 52 > > By LOUIS BAYARD > > On this date — April 23, 1616 — the creator > of “Hamlet,” “Macbeth” and “Romeo and Juliet” > left the beauty of this world. To us, he bequeathed > his tragedies and comedies, his sonnets > and verse, which would survive 400 years. > **[William Shakespeare, Playwright and Poet, Is Dead at 52 (Published 2016)](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/04/23/arts/shakespeare-obituary.html)** > > On this date — April 23, 1616 — the creator of “Hamlet,” “Macbeth” and “Romeo and Juliet” left the beauty of this world. To us, he bequeathed his tragedies and comedies, his sonnets and verse, which would survive 400 years. I find it a bit odd that no one bothered to mention the 400th anniversary of the death of Shakespeare yesterday. Or is every here like myself–the last time I read him was in school? ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/400th-anniversary-of-shakespeares-death/753012/2 "2016-04-24T20:08:03Z")
I noticed it when the Google doodle mentioned it yesterday. I would like to have done a thread on it, but I could not think of anything profound to say. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/400th-anniversary-of-shakespeares-death/753012/3 "2016-04-24T20:18:32Z")
I thought people didn’t even know for sure who really wrote that stuff so how could you know when the guy who did died? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/400th-anniversary-of-shakespeares-death/753012/4 "2016-04-24T20:25:53Z")
Records, chumley. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/400th-anniversary-of-shakespeares-death/753012/5 "2016-04-24T23:09:10Z")
Even the proponents of Bacon, the Earl of Oxford, Marlowe, etc, don’t aver that the ‘Stratford man’ did not exist. Rather that someone else deserves the credit. The anniversary is reasonably big here at the moment. ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/400th-anniversary-of-shakespeares-death/753012/6 "2016-04-24T23:19:32Z")
I briefly ran a Shakespeare theatre company, and I didn’t even know. I guess I have other things on my mind these days. Saying Shakespeare was awesome is a little bit like saying water is wet. Not everyone will like it but no one will really disagree. If you haven’t read his work since you were in school, don’t bother picking it up. He would prefer you go see it staged, it wasn’t meant to be read. Now that I am no longer a young punk I’ll even say that a good movie version will do, but nothing beats live. I would suggest finding a performance of Macbeth, or King Lear if you like tragedies. Much Ado About Nothing or Twelfth Night if you like Comedy. The Tempest if you are having trouble deciding. Unless you are talking about his sonnets. Those you should go ahead and read. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/400th-anniversary-of-shakespeares-death/753012/7 "2016-04-24T23:28:46Z")
The only people who don’t know for sure who wrote Shakespeare’s works are those who have very diligently and carefully expended a lot of effort on preventing themselves from accidentally finding out.