WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

LifeHe was born on April 23, 1564 in

Stratford-upon-Avon, England. He was the oldest of the five surviving

children of John Shakespeare and Mary Arden.

The young Shakespeare began his education at the age of five.

He primarily studied Latin along with languages such as French and Italian.

Three years after leaving school, Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway.

Shakespeare was eighteen when he married, whereas Hathaway was twenty-six.

They had three children: Susanna, Hamnet and Judith.

He was a playwright and he also wrote sonnets.

He became a member of The Lord Chamberlain's Men, a company of actors that performed in The Theatre and later The Globe.

The company was Queen Elizabeth's favourite theatre group.

In 1594, Shakespeare became a founder, actor, chief playwright, and shareholder of The Lord Chamberlain's Men, a company of actors that performed in The Theatre and later The Globe. The company was Queen Elizabeth's favourite theatre group.

The Globe Theatre

The Lord Chamberlain's Men performed in two different theatres: "The Theatre" and the world famous "Globe Theatre."

Both theatres were in the round with the audience seated on three levels: the upper class sat on the highest level,the middle class sat on the lower levels, and the groundlings stood in the pit around

the stage.

The audience did not have to be quiet and often criticized the plays loudly if they didn't like the acting or the plot.

The groundlings would throw things at the actors if they were displeased with the play.

All of the characters in Shakespeare's plays were played by men.

Shakespeare's women are strong, often stronger than the men.

Whereas Shakespeare's women are strong in character, Shakespeare's men are the opposite.

William Shakespeare died on April 23, 1616 on his fifty-fourth birthday.

PlaysTragedies

HamletJulius CaesarKing LearMacbethOthelloRomeo and Juliet

ComediesAll’s Well That Ends WellAs You Like ItThe Comedy of ErrorsThe Merry Wives of WindsorA Midsummer Night’s DreamMuch Ado About NothingThe Taming of The Shrew

He also wrote some Histories about kings and other famous historical people

SonnetsHe wrote 154 sonnets.A sonnet is a poem with 14 lines.The Shakespearean sonnet’s rhyme

scheme:a-b-a-b, c-d-c-d, e-f-e-f, g-g

Sonnet 18Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate:Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,And summer's lease hath all too short a date: Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,And often is his gold complexion dimm'd; And every fair from fair sometime declines,By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;But thy eternal summer shall not fadeNor lose possession of that fair thou owest;Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,When in eternal lines to time thou growest: So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,So long lives this and this gives life to thee.