BIOGRAPHY |
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William Shakespeare is generally considered the top dramatist of all time and is often called the English national poet. He was born in 1564 in Stratford-Upon-Avon England, and baptised on Wednesday the 26th of April and passed away on the 23rd of April 1616. He wasn’t born into a family of powerful and important. William didn’t maintain his formal education at university, neither did he marry into wealth or prestige. Yet despite all these restraints, Shakespeare is now the most performed and read playwright in the world.
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EDUCATION |
William attended King’s New School, the local grammar school where the subjects consisted of Greek mythology, Roman comedy, ancient history, rhetoric, grammar, Latin and possibly Greek. Although William’s father struggled with financial debt and so William was withdrawn from education in 1577 at the age of fourteen. William Shakespeare therefore missed the form of higher education. It is amazing that he achieved so much after leaving school, with only seven years of formal education.
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FAMILY |
William was the third child of John and Mary Shakespeare. He had 2 older sisters, Joan and Margaret and him, followed by William’s younger brother Gilbert, then younger sisters also called Joan and Anne and Richard and Edmund Shakespeare who followed.
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MARRIAGE |
William Shakespeare married at the age of eighteen to the twenty-six and pregnant Anne Hathaway and seven months later, their first daughter Susana was born and baptised in Stratford in May, 1583. Records of baptism were also revealed that twins Hamnet and Judith were born in January 1585. William’s only son, Hamnet died at the age of only eleven.
The period between 1585-1592 is known as the ‘Lost Years’ because there were no documentary records of Shakespeare’s actions. |
ACTING CAREER |
In 1591-92, William having gained a reputation as an actor and playwright, he moved to London and reappears as an ‘upstart crow’ in a 1592 pamphlet by Robert Green. Around that time, his plays Henry VI series, Richard III, and Comedy of Errors were performed. He then wrote two narrative poems, Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece as the theatres were closed in 1593 because of the plague. After that, he began writing his sonnets, having 154 in total. By 1594, he had also written The Taming of the Shrew, The Two Gentlemen of Verona and Love’s Labor’s Lost.
Having himself settled as an actor and playwright, in 1594 Shakespeare became a shareholder in one of the most popular acting companies in London, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men. For the rest of his career, he remained a member of this company. Shakespeare then experienced one of his most rich life around 1595, successfully writing Richard II, Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and The Merchant of Venice. This success had him purchase the second largest home in Stratford in 1597 although; he continued to live in London. Two years later, he contributed in establishing the Globe Theatre on the borders of London with the Lord Chamberlain’s Men. In 1603 when King James came to the throne, Shakespeare wrote many of his accomplished plays such as King Lear, Macbeth and Anthony and Cleopatra. His sonnets were then published between 1609-1611. |
Lord Chamberlain's men
DEATH |
William Shakespeare died on April 23, 1616. His will provide for his two daughters, his sister, theatre partners, friends and even the penniless of Stratford and of course his wife. When he passed away in his birthplace of Stratford-upon-Avon, he was known as one of the greatest English playwrights of his time and left a lasting legacy to the world with 38 plays, 154 sonnets, and two narrative poems.
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