Four Hundred Years Since Shakespeare's Death

Four hundred years ago on this day, William Shakespeare, the English poet, actor, and playwright, unexpectedly passed away in his hometown of Stratford-upon-Avon. On Saturday, April 23, 2016 (4th of Ordibehesht), exactly four hundred years have passed since Shakespeare's death; he lived for 52 years, and it is believed that the date of his death coincides exactly with his birth date. In 1613, after several years of success in his literary and theatrical works, Shakespeare finally laid down his pen and left the bustling London for his rural hometown. It is believed that illness prompted this decision. There is no definitive information about his illness, but what we know is that Shakespeare prepared his will a few months before his death. Shakespeare wrote 37 plays and hundreds of new phrases and terms that he used in his writings later became common in the English language and added to the vocabulary of this language. The settings of his plays encompass various countries and lands such as Italy, Greece, and the desert island of Troy, but it is likely that during Shakespeare's time, these plays were not performed anywhere outside of England. Today, his plays are performed in almost every country in the world, and according to the Associated Press, since 2014, the 'Shakespeare's Globe Theatre' has staged the famous play Hamlet in 197 countries, including Afghanistan and Somalia. In some of these countries, it was the first time that both men and women were allowed to perform simultaneously. The translation of Shakespeare's works and the performance of his plays in Iran also has a relatively long history, with the first complete translation of one of his works into Persian dating back to the Qajar era. In the late Qajar period, Abolqasem Qara-gozlu Nasir al-Mulk translated 'Othello,' and Hossein Qoli Salour Imad al-Saltaneh translated 'The Taming of the Shrew,' which later became known as 'The Taming of the Shrew' in subsequent translations.