Shakespeare
one of the greatest writers of all time
The Man Himself
There are no records of Shakespeare's birth date though church records say that he was baptised on the 26th of April 1564. It has been mentioned that he was born on or near the 23rd of April 1564. William Shakespeare was the third child out of six. He had two older sisters; Joan and Judith and three younger brothers; Gilbert, Richard and Edmund. William Shakespeare's father, John Shakespeare was a leather merchant (sex shop owner) and his mother, Mary Arden was a local heiress (wealthy from inheritance.)
William found his first lover, Anne Hathaway at the age of 18 in 1582 marrying her that same year on November 28. Anne Hathaway carried their first child at 26 years old. Their first child was a girl named Susanna born on the 26th of May, 1583. William and Anne later had twins Hamnet and Judith, born February 2nd, 1585. Sadly Hamnet died at the age of 11, August 11, 1566.
There are no records of Shakespeare's life From 1573 (seven years after the twins were born) to 1592 where he reappears in Lovon. These are known as the "lost years." It was guessed that Shakespeare arrived in London around 1588 and began to discover himself as an actor and playwright.
William wrote his will in 1611, giving his daughter Susanna (married in 1607 to Dr. John Hall) the properties and for Judith, he left 300 pounds, and to his wife Anne left “my second best bed”. William unfortunatly died on his birthday, April 23rd, 1616.
Still to this day, 400 years later, he is the biggest play writer ever!
His Works
The comedy plays had a happy ending with funny scenes but were always based on a serious story line.
A tragedy always ended unhappily such as the characters killing themselves or getting killed. The main issues in a tragedy were over love, revenge or jealousy.
Shakespeare’s historical plays were based in the period of 1199 to 1547. From the time of King John ( 1199 - 1216) to the time of King Henry the 8th. These plays were made to suck up to the royalty.
The romances that Shakespeare wrote started tragically but ended happily. there were lots of adventures with families being torn apart and re-united at the end of the play. These plays were considered “tragi-comedies.”
Comedies
A midsummer nights dream
The comedy of errors
Love’s labour’s lost
The taming of the shrew
The two gentlemen of Verona
The merchant of Venice
Much ado about nothing
As you like it
Twelfth night
All’s well that ends well
Measure for Measure
The merry wives of Windsor
Tragedies
Troilus and Cressida
Timon of Athens
Coriolanus
Julius Ceasar
Antony and Cleopatra
Titus Adronicus
King Lear
Hamlet
Macbeth
Romeo and Juliet
Othello
Histories
King John
Richard 2
Henry 4, part one
Henry 4, part two
Henry 5
Henry 6, part one
Henry 6, part two
Henry 6, part three
Richard 3
Henry 8
Romances
Pericles
Cymbeline
The winter’s tale
The tempest
Elizabethan Era
When something bad happened and they couldn’t figure out who had done it they automatically blamed it on the “Witches”. Women were normally thought of being witches. According to historical evidence 270 witches were killed and 247 of them were women and only 23 of them were men. It was believed that women were framed as witches more than men because the population was mostly men dominated, also women didn’t have many rights so when a man would accuse a woman of being a witch everyone agreed and they were either; burnt at the stake or hung. When the prospect of witches and witchcraft entered the Elizabethan era everyone became more and more superstitious and had the feeling that they couldn’t trust anyone!
The Elizabethan Period is also known for its peak in music, english poetry and literature. Which was what Shakespeare achievements were for.
Summary
William Shakespeare wrote 37 plays, only printing 18 of them. He wrote in four categories comedy, tragedy, history and romance. Three of his most famous plays are Macbeth, Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet.
William Shakespeare lived during the Elizabethan era. During this time they were into supernatural activity blaming anything unusual on "witches." Elizabethan era is well known for it music and literature.