Shakespeare and Hamlet
By: Sabrina Scherr
Insight on Shakespeare's Life
William Shakespeare is thought to have been born on April 23, 1564. There is no evidence to support this other than record of him being baptized on April 26, 1564. He is the third child of John Shakespeare and Mary Aden. He has 2 older sisters (Joan and Judith) and 3 younger brothers (Gilbert, Richard, and Edmund). Shakespeare married at age 18 to Anne Hathaway who was 26 and PREGNANT. They had a daughter (Susanna) and twins (Hamnet and Judith). After the twins were born, there are SEVEN unaccounted for years of Shakespeare's life. The next thing that we know about him is that, by 1592, William has been earning a living as an actor and playwright in London. He built the Globe in 1599 with other business partners, exemplifying that he was not only an artist, but also an entrepreneur. It is rumored that he died on his birthday in 1616, but this doesn't seem to be true since there is church record that he was buried on April 5th, 1616.
The Real Elsinore
THE RENAISSANCE
Influential Time Period for Shakespeare's Writing
Hamlet
Video SparkNotes: Shakespeare's Hamlet Summary
Characters in Hamlet
The Ghost- specter of Hamlet's recently deceased father
Hamlet the Prince- Prince of Denmark (protagonist)
Claudius- King of Denmark (villain of play) and Hamlet's Uncle
Ophelia- Hamlet's love interest
Horatio- Close friend of Hamlet from the University
Polonius- The Lord Chamberlain of Claudius's court, Father of Ophelia
Laertes- Ophelia's brother and foil of Hamlet
Rosencrantz & Guildenstern- former friends of Hamlet, courtiers summoned to find out the cause of Hamlet's strange behavior