William Shakespeare

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (1564 -1616)

Unfortunately, very little is known about W. Shakespeare’s life, as nobody collected any facts for his biography during his lifetime. The most important sources for the biography of William Shakespeare are official and documentary records: definite, reliable and dull.

William Shakespeare was born on April,23,1564 in Stratford- on Avon, and was christened in Holy Trinity Church .

Holy Trinity Church

John Shakespeare's house, believed to be

W. Shakespeare’s birthplace

William Shakespeare’s father, John Shakespeare, was one of the wealthiest citizens, and his mother , Mary Arden, belonged to an ancient and distinguished Catholic family.

William was their third child and the eldest son.

He must have attended Stratford Grammar school, where he acquired the knowledge of Latin.

The next record of Shakespeare’s life is his marriage to Anne Hathaway, a daughter of a wealthy yeoman, in 1582.

In 1583 their first child, Susanna was born, and in 1585 the twins, Hamnet and Judith, followed her.

After the birth of the twins we know absolutely nothing about Shakespeare’s life for the next seven years.

It is known that by 1592 Shakespeare had settled in London and had started writing plays.

In 1593 a serious epidemic of the plague broke out, and all the theatres were closed down.

At that time William Shakespeare became a share-holder, the principal playwright and an actor of the Globe theatre on the southern bank of the Thames in London.

Shakespeare wrote and staged comedies, tragedies, historical plays and dramas. Besides, he composed sonnets.

As the time passed, he became rather rich, wrote less and in 1613 after the Globe had been destroyed by fire, Shakespeare retired to Stratford where he died on April, 23, 1616.

He was buried in the same Holy Trinity Church, where he was christened.

This is the place where the house in which Shakespeare died used to be. Unfortunately, the house was destroyed.

In 1623 Shakespeare’s plays were collected by his fellow-actors and published in a single volume known as the First Folio.

William Shakespeare wrote 37 plays and 154 sonnets .

Title page of the First Folio, 1623.

Shakespeare ' s Memorial , Stratford - upon - Avon .

Shakespeare’s figure is high above the ground and on the ground there are the figures of his famous characters.

Another memorial to William Shakespeare is the Royal Shakespeare Theatre

in Stratford - upon - Avon .

The new Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon

GREAT SHAKESPEARE’ S PLAYS

1593 «THE COMEDY OF ERRORS »

1595 «ROMEO AND JULIET»

• «A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM»

• «THE MERCHANT OF VENICE»

• «JULIUS CAESAR»

• «AS YOU LIKE IT»

• «TWELFTH NIGHT»

• « HAMLET»

• «OTHELLO»

• «KING LEAR»

1606 «MACBETH»