william shakespere

• Shakespeare

  Born 1564, died 1616
• Shakespeare's birthplace

  • Stratford-upon-Avon
  • Parents: John and Mary Arden
  • Mary - daughter of wealthy landowner
  • John - glovemaker, local politician
• Location of Stratford-upon-Avon


  • As reproduced in William Rolfe, Shakespeare the Boy (1896)
  • Stratford-on-Avon in Shakespeare's Time
  • Stratford-upon-Avon Today
  • Shakespeare's Birthplace

  
• Shakespeare's education

  • Probably attended King's New School in Stratford
  • Long and rigorous school day
  • Educated in rhetoric, logic, history, Latin
  • Dropped out of 'middle school' when his father lost his fortune
• Married life


  • Married in 1582 to Anne Hathaway, who was pregnant at the time with their first daughter
  • Had twins in 1585 - Hamnet & Judith
  • Hamnet died from the plague at age 11
  • Sometime between 1583-1592, he moved to London and began working in theatre
  • The years 1583-1592 are know as 'The Lost Years'
• Shakespeare's theatre career


  • Member and later part-owner of the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later called the King's Men
  • Globe Theater built in 1599 with Shakespeare as primary investor
  • Burned down in 1613 during one of Shakespeare's plays
• Shakespeare's plays


  • 14 comedies
  • 10 histories
  • 10 tragedies
  • 4 romances
  • Possibly wrote three others
  • Collaborated on several others
• Shakespeare's poetry


  • Two major poems: Venus and Adonis, Rape of Lucrece
  • 154 Sonnets
  • Numerous other poems
• Shakespeare's death


  • Died on April 23rd, 1616
  • Not exactly sure what he died from
  • In his will, Shakespeare left money, horses, stables, etc. to his two sons-in-law
  • But only left his wife one thing- the "second-best bed"
• Shakespeare is buried in Holy Trinity Church in his birth village of Stratford
• Shakespeare's grave is covered by a flat stone that bears an epitaph warning of a curse to come upon anyone who moves his bones
• Shakespeare's language


  • He did NOT write in "Old English" or "Middle English"
  • He wrote in "Early Modern English" which was not very different from "Modern English"
  • He coined many words and phrases we still use today
• Elizabethan theatrical conventions


  • No electricity
  • Women forbidden to act on stage
  • Minimal, contemporary costumes
  • Minimal scenery
  • Soliloquy
  • Aside
  • Blood and gore
  • Use of supernatural
  • Use of disguises/mistaken identity
  • Multiple marriages (in comedies)
  • Multiple murders (in tragedies)
  • Last speaker—highest in rank (in tragedies)