Life
William Shakespeare's Life
William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon roughly 100 miles (160km) northwest of London with around 1,500 residents. The town was a centre for the slaughter, marketing, and distribution of sheep, as well as hide tanning and wool trading. His date of birth is not known but he was bapitized on April 26th 1564. He was the first born child and first surviving child in his family as his two other siblings, Joan and Margaret died early. William Shakespeare's father was called John Shakespeare and his mother was called Mary Shakespeare. John was a successful glover and he lived on Henley Street, where Shakespeare was born in a house now known as "Shakespeare's Birthplace". John had eight children: Joan, Maragaret (who both died early), William, Gilbert, Joan, Anne, Richard and Edmund.
On November 28th 1582 at Temple Frafton near Stratford, William Shakespeare, at age 18 years old, married Anne Hathaway who was 26 years old. Their first daughter was born on May 26th 1583, six months after their wedding. They named her Susanna. They then had twins, a son named Hamnet, and a daughter named Judith. They were batptised on February 2nd 1585. Hamnet, unfortunately, died in 1596. His older sister, Susanna, died in 1649 and Hamnet's twin, Judith, died in 1662. This was a traumatic experience for William Shakespeare and he took these emotions and translated them into plays and sonnets that are still one of the most popular pieces of work today.
Before William Shakespeare began writing and producing plays and sonnets he attended to King's New School, a local grammar school, where he was taught Greek Mythology, Roman Comedy, Ancient History, Rhetoric, Grammar, Latin, and possible Greek. Throughout William's early life his father struggled with financial debt so, unlike his fellow playwright Christopher Marlowe, he did not attend university. He later began writing his first plays and in between 1590 and 1592 his series, "Henry VI", "Richard III" and "The Comedy of Errors" were preformed. Afterwards the theatres were closed in 1593 because of the plague. During this period he probably began writing his emotional sonnets. 154 of his sonnets have survived to this day ensuring his reputation as a gifted poet.
In 1594 William Shakespeare became a shareholder in the Lord Chamberlain's Men, one of the most popular acting companies in London at the time. He often played before the court of Queen Elizabeth I. Around 1595 William had a creative peak and this is where he wrote some his most famous plays, such as: Richard III, Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream and many others. The Globe Theatre was built two years later on the outskirts of London. When King James I came to the throne in 1603 William Shakespeare had another peak of creativeness and wrote some of his best plays during that time as well such as as: King Lear, Macbeth and many others. In 1616 William Shakespeare had a decline in health and then revised his will. As his only son Hamnet had died in 1596 he left the bulk of his estate to his two duaghters. One month later, on April 23rd 1616, he died leaving the world with his lasting legacy in the form of 37 plays, 154 sonnets and two narrative poems.
