William Shakespeare

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This article is about the poet and playwright. For other persons of the same name, see William
Shakespeare (disambiguation). For other uses of "Shakespeare", seeShakespeare
(disambiguation).

William Shakespeare

The Chandos portrait, artist and authenticity unconfirmed. National

Portrait Gallery, London.

Born

Baptised 26 April 1564 (birth date unknown)

Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England

Died

23 April 1616 (aged 52)

Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England

Occupation

Playwright, poet, actor

Period

English Renaissance

Spouse(s)

Anne Hathaway (m. 15821616)

Children

Susanna Hall
Hamnet Shakespeare
Judith Quiney

Relative(s)

John Shakespeare (father)

Mary Shakespeare (mother)

Signature

William Shakespeare (/ekspr/;[1] 26 April 1564 (baptised) 23 April 1616)[nb 1] was an

English poet, playwright and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English
language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist.[2] He is often called England'snational poet and the
"Bard of Avon".[3][nb 2] His extant works, including some collaborations, consist of about 38 plays,[nb
3]
154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses, the authorship of some of which is
uncertain. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more
often than those of any other playwright.[4]
Shakespeare was born and brought up in Stratford-upon-Avon. At the age of 18, he married Anne
Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Between 1585
and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part-owner of a playing
company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men. He appears to have
retired to Stratford around 1613 at age 49, where he died three years later. Few records of
Shakespeare's private life survive, and there has been considerable speculation about such matters
as his physical appearance, sexuality, religious beliefs, and whether the works attributed to him
were written by others.[5]
Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1589 and 1613. [6][nb 4] His early plays were
mainly comedies and historiesand these works remain regarded as some the best work produced in
these genres even today. He then wrote mainly tragedies until about 1608, including Hamlet, King
Lear, Othello, and Macbeth, considered some of the finest works in the English language. In his last
phase, he wrote tragicomedies, also known as romances, and collaborated with other playwrights.
Many of his plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime. In
1623, John Heminges and Henry Condell, two friends and fellow actors of Shakespeare, published
the First Folio, a collected edition of his dramatic works that included all but two of the plays now
recognised as Shakespeare's. It was prefaced with a poem by Ben Jonson, in which Shakespeare is
hailed, presciently, as "not of an age, but for all time."[7]
Shakespeare was a respected poet and playwright in his own day, but his reputation did not rise to
its present heights until the 19th century. The Romantics, in particular, acclaimed Shakespeare's
genius, and the Victorians worshipped Shakespeare with a reverence that George Bernard
Shaw called "bardolatry".[8] In the 20th century, his work was repeatedly adopted and rediscovered
by new movements in scholarship and performance. His plays remain highly popular today and are
constantly studied, performed, and reinterpreted in diverse cultural and political contexts throughout
the world.

Study Guides

William Shakespeare

Hamlet
Julius Caesar
King Henry IV
King Lear
Macbeth
Merchant of Venice
Othello
Romeo and Juliet
The Tempest
Twelfth Night

Trivia
Shakespeare is renowned as the English playwright and poet whose
body of works is considered the greatest in history of English literature. Authorship
Bard Facts

Surprisingly for the world's greatest playwright, we actually know very little
about Shakespeare's life. What few details we have come from church
records, land titles and the written opinions of others. Very little is known
about young Shakespeare.
We know that Shakespeare was baptized on April 26, 1564 and it is assumed
that he was born on April 23, 1564. We also know that in 1582 at age
eighteen, Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway, an older women who was
twenty six at the time. Shakespeare left Stratford for London to make his
fortune roughly fours years later.

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Shakespeare headed to London sometime in 1586, there already was an established community
of playwrights.By 1595, Shakespeare was suffiently successful to be named as one of the more
senior members of the Lord Chamberlain's men, an acting company that performed frequently
before court. This was no small honor; this prominent theatre company later became the royal
company called the King's Men, making Shakespeare an official playwright to the King of
England.
By 1596, Shakespeare was so successful as a playwright that his family was finally granted a
Coat of Arms which amongst other things allowed Shakespeare to call himself a "gentleman".
Shakespeare's fortunes were also improving during this time; in 1597 he purchased the second
largest house in Stratford which he called New Place and began buying up land around Stratford.
One year later, Shakespeare became a ten percent owner of the new purpose built theatre in
London, the famous Globe Theatre were so many of his plays would later be performed. By
1611, Shakespeare retired, returning to Stratford and in 1616 Shakespeare died, famously
bequething his second-best bed to his wife, often seen as a sign that his marriage may not have
been happy.
Shakespeare's works are often divided into four periods beginning with what is referred to as an
experimental period starting around 1591 and ending around 1593 which includes Titus
Andronicus, Love's Labour's Lost, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Comedy of Errors and The
Taming of the Shrew.
The second period ending around 1601, marks the establishment of Shakespeare and includes the
tragedy Romeo and Juliet, the comedies, The Merchant of Venice, A Midsummer-Night's Dream,
Much Ado about Nothing, The Merry Wives of Windsor and the history plays, Henry IV, Parts
I and II, Henry V, Richard II, King John and Julius Caesar.

The third period ending around 1610 marks perhaps the apex of Shakespeare's work with the
tragedies, Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, King Lear but also comedies such as Twelfth Night, All's
Well that Ends Welland the epic history play, Antony and Cleopatra.
The final period ends around 1611 with the plays, Cymbeline, Henry VIII and romances such
as The Tempest and The Winter's Tale.
The Shakespeare we read today comes from The First Folio of 1623 written by fellow actors
John Heminge and Henry Condell to preserve Shakespeare's legacy. Amazingly, no original
manuscripts survive reflecting the fact that many of these manuscripts were written purely for
performance and were not regarded as pieces of literary work. There is also no general consensus
on when all the plays were first performed. It might surprise readers to know that many of
Shakespeare's plays, especially in the experimental period were hardly original, borrowing plot
features from earlier plays. Likewise with his history plays, Shakespeare compresses events and
does not follow history too closely to add to the drama. However borrowing plots and taking
liberties with historical facts was not uncommon in Shakespeare's time and his skill for language,
imagery, pun and his creative adaption of myth and history have set Shakespeare apart as
arguably the greatest playwright of all time.
For more information:

The Life of William Shakespeare (15641616)

Within the class system of Elizabethan England, William Shakespeare did not seem
destined for greatness. He was not born into a family of nobility or significant wealth.
He did not continue his formal education at university, nor did he come under the
mentorship of a senior artist, nor did he marry into wealth or prestige. His talent as an
actor seems to have been modest, since he is not known for starring roles. His success
as a playwright depended in part upon royal patronage. Yet in spite of these limitations,
Shakespeare is now the most performed and read playwright in the world.
Born to John Shakespeare, a glovemaker and tradesman, and Mary Arden, the daughter
of an affluent farmer, William Shakespeare was baptized on April 26, 1564, in Stratfordupon-Avon. At that time, infants were baptized three days after their birth, thus
scholars believe that Shakespeare was born on April 23, the same day on which he died
at age 52. As the third of eight children, young William grew up in this small town 100
miles northwest of London, far from the cultural and courtly center of England.
Shakespeare attended the local grammar school, King's New School, where the
curriculum would have stressed a classical education of Greek mythology, Roman
comedy, ancient history, rhetoric, grammar, Latin, and possibly Greek. Throughout his
childhood, Shakespeare's father struggled with serious financial debt. Therefore, unlike
his fellow playwright Christopher Marlowe, he did not attend university. Rather, in 1582

at age 18, he married Anne Hathaway, a woman eight years his senior and three
months pregnant. Their first child, Susanna, was born in 1583, and twins, Hamnet and
Judith, came in 1585. In the seven years following their birth, the historical record
concerning Shakespeare is incomplete, contradictory, and unreliable; scholars refer to
this period as his lost years.
In a 1592 pamphlet by Robert Greene, Shakespeare reappears as an upstart crow
flapping his poetic wings in London. Evidently, it did not take him long to land on the
stage. Between 1590 and 1592, Shakespeare's Henry VI series, Richard III, andThe
Comedy of Errors were performed. When the theaters were closed in 1593 because of
the plague, the playwright wrote two narrative poems, Venus and Adonisand The Rape
of Lucrece, and probably began writing his richly textured sonnets. One hundred and
fiftyfour of his sonnets have survived, ensuring his reputation as a gifted poet. By 1594,
he had also written, The Taming of the Shrew, The Two Gentlemen of
Verona and Love's Labor's Lost.
Having established himself as an actor and playwright, in 1594 Shakespeare became a
shareholder in the Lord Chamberlain's Men, one of the most popular acting companies
in London. He remained a member of this company for the rest of his career, often
playing before the court of Queen Elizabeth I. Shakespeare entered one of his most
prolific periods around 1595, writing Richard II, Romeo and Juliet,A Midsummer Night's
Dream, and The Merchant of Venice. With his newfound success, Shakespeare
purchased the second largest home in Stratford in 1597, though he continued to live in
London. Two years later, he joined others from the Lord Chamberlain's Men in
establishing the polygonal Globe Theatre on the outskirts of London. When King James
came to the throne in 1603, he issued a royal license to Shakespeare and his fellow
players, organizing them as the King's Men. During King James's reign, Shakespeare
wrote many of his most accomplished plays about courtly power, including King
Lear, Macbeth, and Antony and Cleopatra. In 1609 or 1611, Shakespeare's sonnets
were published, though he did not live to see the First Folio of his plays published in
1623.
In 1616, with his health declining, Shakespeare revised his will. Since his only son
Hamnet had died in 1596, Shakespeare left the bulk of his estate to his two daughters,
with monetary gifts set aside for his sister, theater partners, friends, and the poor of
Stratford. A fascinating detail of his will is that he bequeathed the family's second best
bed to his wife Anne. He died one month later, on April 23, 1616. To the world, he left
a lasting legacy in the form of 38 plays, 154 sonnets, and two narrative poems.
When William Shakespeare died in his birthplace of Stratford-upon- Avon, he was
recognized as one of the greatest English playwrights of his era. In the four centuries

since, he has come to be seen as not only a great English playwright, but the greatest
playwright in the English language. Reflecting upon the achievement of his peer and
sometimes rival, Ben Jonson wrote of Shakespeare, He was not of an age, but for all
time.