Lex

Browse

GenresShelvesPremiumBlog

Company

AboutJobsPartnersSell on LexAffiliates

Audio

Lex StudioVoicesFirst chapter freeAudiobook pricingAudiobook samplesAudiobook guidesAudio blog

Resources

DocsInvite FriendsFAQ

Legal

Terms of ServicePrivacy Policygeneral@lex-books.com+1 951-551-2243WhatsApp (international)

© 2026 LexBooks, Inc. All rights reserved.

Shakespeare: His Life, Art, and Characters, Volume I.: With an Historical Sketch of the Origin and Growth of the Drama in England

1590

Henry Norman Hudson

Read

Shakespeare: His Life, Art, and Characters, Volume I.: With an Historical Sketch of the Origin and Growth of the Drama in England

Henry Norman Hudson

1590

Biographies, British Literature

Two centuries after his death, Victorians still struggled to separate Shakespeare the man from the mythology that had already accumulated around him. Henry Norman Hudson undertook the ambitious project in this volume: to trace the documentary evidence of Shakespeare's life from his birth in Stratford-upon-Avon through his emergence as the preeminent dramatist of the English stage. Hudson reconstructs the world that shaped him, from his parents' modest circumstances and uncertain fortunes to the vibrant theatrical milieu of Elizabethan London. Crucially, he situates Shakespeare's genius within the broader evolution of English drama, examining the cultural and artistic currents that enabled his rise. This is not hagiography but rather a careful, Victorian attempt to understand the historical figure behind the plays, using every available record and contemporary account. The volume lays essential groundwork for understanding Shakespeare's artistic journey by charting the socioeconomic and theatrical landscape of his era.

Project Gutenberg

A biographical work written in the late 19th century. The book delves into the life, artistic contributions, and dramati...

Goodreads

Among Shakespeare's plays, "Hamlet" is considered by many his masterpiece. Among actors, the role of Hamlet, Prince of D...

4.0(1.0M)

Editions

Ebooks1
Shakespeare: His Life, Art, and Characters, Volume I.: With an Historical Sketch of the Origin and Growth of the Drama in England
Shakespeare: His Life, Art, and Characters, Volume I.: With an Historical Sketch of the Origin and Growth of the Drama in EnglandCurrent
Project Gutenberg · 547 pages
EPUB

X-Ray

“Doubt thou the stars are fire;Doubt that the sun doth move;Doubt truth to be a liar;But never doubt I love.””

— Henry Norman Hudson

“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.””

— Henry Norman Hudson

“This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.””

— Henry Norman Hudson

“To be, or not to be: that is the question:Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to sufferThe slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;No more; and by a sleep to say we endThe heart-ache and the thousand natural shocksThat flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummationDevoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;For in that sleep of death what dreams may comeWhen we have shuffled off this mortal coil,Must give us pause: there's the respectThat makes calamity of so long life;For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,The insolence of office and the spurnsThat patient merit of the unworthy takes,When he himself might his quietus makeWith a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,To grunt and sweat under a weary life,But that the dread of something after death,The undiscover'd country from whose bournNo traveller returns, puzzles the willAnd makes us rather bear those ills we haveThan fly to others that we know not of?Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;And thus the native hue of resolutionIs sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,And enterprises of great pith and momentWith this regard their currents turn awry,And lose the name of action.--Soft you now!The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisonsBe all my sins remember'd!””

— Henry Norman Hudson

“There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.””

— Henry Norman Hudson

“To die, - To sleep, - To sleep!Perchance to dream: - ay, there's the rub;For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,Must give us pause: there's the respectThat makes calamity of so long life;””

— Henry Norman Hudson

“Though this be madness, yet there is method in't.””

— Henry Norman Hudson

“Listen to many, speak to a few.””

— Henry Norman Hudson

“Brevity is the soul of wit.””

— Henry Norman Hudson

Link to this book

Add a free, dofollow link to Lex on your blog, forum, syllabus, or reading list.

Read Shakespeare: His Life, Art, and Characters, Volume I.: With an Historical Sketch of the Origin and Growth of the Drama in England by Henry Norman Hudson free on Lex
HTML
<a href="https://lex-books.com/book/shakespeare-his-life-art-and-characters-volume-i-with-an-historical-sketch-of-th-7bcaebf7-fbd1-4acc-953f-7818c8e5d0a1"><img src="https://lex-books.com/badges/read-on-lex.svg" alt="Read Shakespeare: His Life, Art, and Characters, Volume I.: With an Historical Sketch of the Origin and Growth of the Drama in England by Henry Norman Hudson free on Lex" width="160" height="40"></a>
Markdown
[![Read Shakespeare: His Life, Art, and Characters, Volume I.: With an Historical Sketch of the Origin and Growth of the Drama in England by Henry Norman Hudson free on Lex](https://lex-books.com/badges/read-on-lex.svg)](https://lex-books.com/book/shakespeare-his-life-art-and-characters-volume-i-with-an-historical-sketch-of-th-7bcaebf7-fbd1-4acc-953f-7818c8e5d0a1)
BBCode
[url=https://lex-books.com/book/shakespeare-his-life-art-and-characters-volume-i-with-an-historical-sketch-of-th-7bcaebf7-fbd1-4acc-953f-7818c8e5d0a1][img]https://lex-books.com/badges/read-on-lex.svg[/img][/url]
Plain link
Read Shakespeare: His Life, Art, and Characters, Volume I.: With an Historical Sketch of the Origin and Growth of the Drama in England by Henry Norman Hudson free on Lex: https://lex-books.com/book/shakespeare-his-life-art-and-characters-volume-i-with-an-historical-sketch-of-th-7bcaebf7-fbd1-4acc-953f-7818c8e5d0a1

Cite this book

Reading this edition for a paper or guide? Copy a citation.

MLA
Hudson, Henry Norman. Shakespeare: His Life, Art, and Characters, Volume I.: With an Historical Sketch of the Origin and Growth of the Drama in England. Lex, lex-books.com/book/shakespeare-his-life-art-and-characters-volume-i-with-an-historical-sketch-of-th-7bcaebf7-fbd1-4acc-953f-7818c8e5d0a1.
APA
Hudson, H. N. (1590). Shakespeare: His Life, Art, and Characters, Volume I.: With an Historical Sketch of the Origin and Growth of the Drama in England. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/shakespeare-his-life-art-and-characters-volume-i-with-an-historical-sketch-of-th-7bcaebf7-fbd1-4acc-953f-7818c8e5d0a1
Chicago
Hudson, Henry Norman. Shakespeare: His Life, Art, and Characters, Volume I.: With an Historical Sketch of the Origin and Growth of the Drama in England. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/shakespeare-his-life-art-and-characters-volume-i-with-an-historical-sketch-of-th-7bcaebf7-fbd1-4acc-953f-7818c8e5d0a1.

Across the web

aggregate ratings
Goodreads4.031M ratings↗

More books from this author

right arrow

Text-book ofpoetry; fromWordsworth,Coleridge...

Henry Norman Hudson

PDF

A Chaplain'sCampaignwith Gen.Butler

Henry Norman Hudson

PDF

History ofthe Drama:Index toCharacter...

Henry Norman Hudson

PDF

Shakespeare: His Life,Art, andCharacter...

Henry Norman Hudson

PDF

WebsterCentennial:A DiscourseDelivered...

Henry Norman Hudson

PDF

More books like this

right arrow

Plutarch:Lives of theNobleGrecians ...

Plutarch

The PromisedLand

1912

Mary Antin

A New Medleyof Memories

1919

David Oswald, Sir Hunter Blair

The GreaterLove

George T. McCarthy

Lewis andClarkmeriw...Lewis andWilliam...

William R. Lighton

Life andDeath ofJohn ofBarneveld...

John Lothrop Motley

The PastonLetters,A.d.1422-1509...

Unknown

The Paston Letters, A.d. 1422-1509. Volume 4 (of 6)new Complete Library Edition

Handel: TheStory of aLittle BoyWho...

Thomas Tapper

Handel: The Story of a Little Boy Who Practiced in an Attic

BiographyforBeginners:Being a...

Unknown

Biography for Beginners: Being a Collection of Miscellaneous Examples for the Use of Upper Forms

FatherHenson'sStory of HisOwn...

Josiah Henson

Father Henson's Story of His Own Lifetruth Stranger Than Fiction

The Memoirsof JacquesCasanova DeSeingalt,...

Giacomo Casanova

Notes of anItinerantPoliceman

Josiah Flynt

Merely thePatient

1930

Henry Howard Harper

Merely the Patient

QueenVictoria,Her Girlhoodand...

Grace Greenwood

Recollecti...of Thomas D.Duncan, aConfedera...

Thomas D. Duncan

Recollections of Thomas D. Duncan, a Confederate Soldier

Reminiscen...ofConfederateService,...

Francis Warrington Dawson

Reminiscences of Confederate Service, 1861-1865