Shakespeare: His Life and Times

Shakespeare: His Life and Times

• Born April 23 or 26 1564- died April 26, 1616
• Stratford-upon-Avon
• 3rd of 8 children
• Parents: John and Mary Arden Shakespeare
• Mary—daughter of wealthy landowner
• John—glove maker, local politician

Shakespeare’s Birthplace

Education

• Probably attended King’s New School in Stratford
• Educated in:
• Rhetoric
• Logic
• History
• Latin

But was he actually
educated????

King’s New School

Married Life

• Married in 1582 to Anne Hathaway, who was pregnant at the time with their first daughter
• Had twins in 1585
• Sometime between 1585-1592, he moved to London and began working in theatre.
• Poet
• Playwright
• Actor

Anne Hathaway’s Cottage

From: http://perso.wanadoo.fr/danielle.esposito/

The Playwrights...

• Christopher Marlowe
• Thomas Kyd
• And William Shakespeare was the original “New Kid on the Block”

The Theatres...

• The Theatre, built in 1576
• The Rose, built in 1587 (London’s first “Bankside” theatre)
• The Swan, 1595
• The Globe (Shakespeare helped construct in 1598-1599)

Theatre Career

• Member and later part-owner of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men under Queen Elizabeth I
• Globe Theater built in 1599 by L.C.M. with Shakespeare as primary investor
• Later called the King’s Men under King James I
• Burned down in 1613 during one of Shakespeare’s plays
• What happened between 1593-1594 to theater companies?

The Rebuilt Globe Theater, London

The Plays

• 38 plays firmly attributed to Shakespeare
• 14 comedies
• Ex. Alls Well That Ends Well, As You Like It, The Taming of the Shrew
• 10 histories
• Henry IV, Henry V
• 10 tragedies
• Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet
• 4 romances
• The Tempest, The Winter’s Tale

The Poetry

• 154 Sonnets
• Numerous other poems
• Got his ideas from all over!