Born in Strarford-upon-

avon.
Known as the greatest
playwright of the English
language.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

BIOGRAPHY
 SHAKESPEARE
Who was he?
 Date of Birth? (1564)
 We know this from the earliest record we
have of his life; his baptistm which
happened on Wednesday, April the 26th,
1564.
 We don`t actually know his birthday but
from this record we assume he was born in
1564. Similary by knowing the famous
Bard`s baptism date, we can guess that he
was born three day earlier on St. George`s
day, though we have no conclusive proof
of this.
 Biography
William was the son of John and Mary
Shakespeare. From baptism records
we know William’s father was John
Shakespeare, said to be a town
official of Stratford and a local
businessman who dabbled in tanning,
leatherwork and withetawering which
is working with white leather to make
items like purses and gloves. John
also dealt in grain and sometimes
was described as a glover by trade.
John was also a prominent man in
Stratford. By 1560, he was one of the
towns burgesses which formed the
town’s council. Interestingly, William
himself is often described as a town
businessman so we can assume he
got his business acumen from his
father.
William’s mother was Mary Arden who
married John Shakespeare in 1557.
The youngest daughter in her family,
she inherited much of her father’s
landowning and farming estate when
he died.
Since we know Stratford’s famous Bard
lived with his father, J. Shakespeare,
we can presume that he grew up in
Henley Street, some one hundred
miles northwest of London.
Very little is known about literature’s
most famous playwright. We know
that the King’s New Grammar School
taught basic reading and writing. We
assume William attended this school
since it existed to educate the sons
of Stratford but we have no definite
proof.
Likewise a lack of evidence suggests
that William, whose works are
studied at Universities, never
attended one himself.
A bond certificate dated November the
28th, 1582, reveals that an eighteen
year old William married the twenty-
six and pregnant Anne Hathaway.
Barely seven months later, they had
his first daughter, Susanna. Anne
never left Stratford, living there her
entire life.
His daughter Susanna was baptized in
Stratford sometime in May, 1583. His
twins Hamnet and Judith were born in
February 1592. Hamnet, William’s only
son died in 1596, just eleven years old.
The ten historical plays of Shakespeare
cover a period in English history of 320
years. Thanks to the great dramatist, this
period is more familiar to the average man
or woman than any similar reach of years
in all England history. The weaknesses of
Henry VI, the baseness of king John, the
murderous evil of Richard of Gloucester,
the strength of Henry , the blind
assumption of Richard II are all common
knowledge to the man who knows nothing
of the characters of Charles I, of George II,
or even of Victoria.
One reads Shakespeare when one does not reads
history, and the genius of the playwright has
delineated ably the times, the character, the
personality, the intrigues, the strength and the
weakness of his leading characters.
Shakespeare's inspired pen has limned indelibly
the features of the more prominent personages
who lived between the years 1215 and 1533;
each character in his plays is a living human
being, moving in reality, full sized and clear; and
from the time when the curtain rises on King John
receiving Chatillon, the French Ambassador, to
the moment when that same curtain rings down
on Cranmer’s prophecy of Elizabeth’s greatness,
the pageant of English history is unfolded for us
in a manner which has never yet been equalled.
It is the genius of Shakespeare that
has caused the events of his period
to impress themselves so indelibly on
the minds of those who read his
plays.
There is no doubt that Shakespeare
wrote all of his plays for his
immediate present, and it is possible
that the Bard himself would be most
surprised of all to discover that the
world revered his name as it does
three hundred years after his death.
 W.Shakespeare
THE GLOBE THEATRE
 The Globe was
built during
Shakespeare’s
early period in
1599 by one of his
long-standing
associates.
 The theatre had a
total capacity of
betwen 2,000 and
3,000 spectators.
 W.Shakespeare

WORKS

PLAYS SONNETS
 PLAYS
Comedy History

3. All’s Well That Ends Well 3. Henry IV, part 1

4. As You Like It
4. Henry IV, part 2
5. The Comedy of Errors
5. Henry V
6. Cymbeline
7. Love’s Labors Lost 6. Henry VI, part 1
8. Measure for Measure 7. Henry VI, part 2
9. The Merry Wives of 8. Henry VI, part 3
Windsor 9. Henry VIII
10. Midsummer Night’s 10. King John
Dream
11. Richard II
11. Much Ado About Nothing
12. Pericles, Prince of Tyre 12. Richard III
13. Taming of the Shrew
14. The Tempest
15. Troulist and Cressida
16. Twelfth Night
17. Two Gentlemen of
Verona
18. Winter’s Tale
 MORE PLAYS
TRAGEDY
2. Anthony and Cleopatra
3. Coriolanus
4. Hamlet
5. Julius Caesar
6. King Lear
7. Macbeth
8. Othello
9. Romeo and Juliet
10. Timon of Athens
11. Titus Andronicus
Richard III
 Sonnets - Shakespeare
 Sonnet 2 When forty winters shall besiege thy
brow
 Sonnet 18 Shall I compare thee to a summers day
 Sonnet 29 When in disgrace with fortune and
men’s eyes
 Sonnet 55 Not marble nor the gilded monuments
 Sonnet 109 O never say that I was false of heart
 Sonnet 116 Let me to the marriage of true minds
 Sonnet 126 O thou my lovely boy
 Sonnet 130 My Mistress eyes
 Sonnet 133 Beshrew that heart
 Sonnet 147 My love is
PHOTOS OF THE COMEDIES & MOVIES

TAMING OF THE SHREW

 MORE PHOTOS

TITUS ANDRONICUS JULIUS CAESAR

 PHOTOS

THE TEMPEST ROMEO AND JULIET