April 23, 1564 – April 23, 1616

The Bard’s Life

More than 80 name variations

-from “Shappere” to “Shaxberd.”

A few signatures have survived:

-“Willm Shaksp,” “William Shakespe,” “Wm Shakspe,” “William Shakspere,” ”Willm Shakspere,” and “William Shakspeare”--but never “William Shakespeare.”

Birthday is Saint George’s Day! Shakespeare was born under the old Julian

calendar, not the current Gregorian calendar that was created in 1582 and adopted in England in 1751. What was April 23 during Shakespeare's life would be May 3 on today's calendar.

Shakespeare’s Rents

John Shakespeare – glove maker and held many of the towns finances

Mary Arden – inherited farm property

My Wife and Kids

Married Anne Hathaway about November 30, 1582

- She was 3 months pregnant! fathered 3 children – Susanna, Hamnet and

Judith (twins) Anne’s Tombstone?

Shakespeare’s Sonnets

154 Sonnets Sonnets 127-152 talk about the “dark lady”

On May 20, 1609, Thomas Thorpe published Shakespeare's sonnets without the Bard’s permission.

Give Credit Where Credit Is Due

Shakespeare's works contain first-ever recordings of 2,035 English words, including critical, frugal, excellent, barefaced, assassination, and countless.

Shakespeareisms

As You Like It -bag and baggage: Act 3, Scene 2, Line 156 -neither rhyme nor reason: Act 3, Scene 2, Line 376

Hamlet -cruel... to be kind: Act 3, Scene 4, Line 194 -to be or not to be: Act 3, Scene 1, Line 64 -to thine ownself be true: Act 1, scene 3, Line 81

King Henry IV, part 2 -eaten... out of house and home: Act 2, Scene 1, Line 28

Love's Labours Lost -apple of [one's] eye: Act 5, Scene 2, Line 502

Merchant of Venice -All that glitters is not gold: Act 2, Scene 7, Line 66

Othello -wear [one's] heart upon [one's] sleeve: Act 1, Scene 1, Line 65

Romeo and Juliet -star-cross'd lovers: Prologue, Line 6

The Taming of the Shrew -to kill...with kindness: Act 4, Scene 1, Line 196

The Tempest -into thin air: Act 4, Scene 1, Line 165 -[to be] in a pickle: Act 5, Scene 1, Line 320

Troilus and Cressida -good riddance: Act 2, Scene 1, Line 116

Unsorted-all the world's a stage -the green-eyed monster -violent delights have violent ends

On With The Show…

In Shakespeare's time, theaters had no curtain and used little or no scenery. Playwrights described the setting within the text of the performance.

Elizabethan theatergoers could purchase apples and pears to eat during the show. These snacks were often thrown at the actors by dissatisfied members of the audience.

The Globe burned to the ground on June 29, 1613, set fire by a cannon shot during a performance of Shakespeare's Henry VIII.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGs-xam43MY&feature=related

THE DEATH OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

William Shakespeare was buried on April 25th 1616 in Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon

His tomb lies beneath the floor of the church, in the chancel

Shakespeare is said to be buried 17 feet under the stone but his bone have not been moved, as per his wishes on the tombstone

Shakespeare’s Tombstone

Good friend for Jesus sake forbear

To dig the dust enclosed here!

Blest be the man that spares these stones,

And curst be he that moves my bones

Fun Facts

Suicide occurs an unlucky thirteen times in Shakespeare’s plays. It occurs in Romeo and Juliet where both Romeo and Juliet commit suicide, in Julius Caesar where both Cassius and Brutus die by consensual stabbing, as well as Brutus’ wife Portia, in Othello where Othello stabs himself, in Hamlet where Ophelia is said to have "drowned" in suspicious circumstances, in Macbeth when Lady Macbeth dies, and finally in Antony and Cleopatra where suicide occurs an astounding five times (Mark Antony, Cleopatra, Charmian, Iras and Eros).

Fun Facts

Almost four hundred years after Shakespeare's death there are 15 million pages referring to him on Google. There are 132 million for God, 2.7 million for Elvis Presley, and coming up on Shakespeare's heels, George W Bush with 14.7 million.

Fun Facts

Shakespeare's works contain over 600 references to birds of all kinds, including the swan, bunting, cock, dove, robin, sparrow, nightingale, swallow, turkey, wren, starling, falcon, and thrush, just to name a few.

Fun Facts

Macbeth is thought to be one of the most produced plays ever, with a performance beginning somewhere in the world every four hours!