Finding out what influenced Shakespeare was very hard. There was not much information about the topic. In the end I found out three things. Firstly, I found out that he was deeply inspired by the bible. Secondly I learnt that the Earl of Southampton was his patron. Finally, I discovered that all the other writers of his time inspired him to write is plays.
The Bible:
Did you know that Shakespeare’s plays are chock full of bible references? Some are obvious, but many require very careful reading. The many bible references in Shakespeare's plays inform us that he liked the holy bible and knew a lot about it. His plays have a variety of biblical references to choose from. Shakespeare used the bible references with correctness. Hamlet and Othello each have more than fifty biblical references. In Shakespeare's plays many people believe his references to the bible are noticeable.
Shakespeare’s borrows bits of information from the bible to write his plays. He read the bible and remembered parts of it to use in his plots and to further what was going to happen. When I was studying this topic I saw that one person said that Shakespeare, “never wrote about religion but he sprinkled his work with quotes from the bible and God and religion were notably absent from his work.” I think this means Shakespeare never wrote about God but he just used references that people knew well. I found that Shakespeare went to the Roman Catholic Church a lot and he was baptized there on the 26th of April 1564, where he was born 3 day after in the Holy Trinity Church in Stratford.
The Earl of Southampton:
Henry Wriothesley is the Earl of Southampton. He is well known for looking after Shakespeare’s career in playwriting and acting. In 1593 Shakespeare acquired a patron. A patron is someone who looks after mostly the cost of supplying all the resources that someone needs. For Shakespeare those resources were paper and ink for writing; actors and theatres for the plays. Shakespeare would not be able to perform his plays without the help of the Earl of Southampton. He would not have the money to pay actors and hire the theatre. If Shakespeare didn’t have the opportunity to write his plays we wouldn’t know about him. So I think the Earl of South Hampton