William Shakespeare

"There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so" Hamlet quote (Act II, Sc. II).

Summary
1. Mysterious Origins 2. Early Life 3. Married Life 4. Theatrical Beginnings 5. Establishing Himself 6. Writing Style 7. Early Works: Histories and Comedies 8. Later Works: Tragedies and Tragicomedies 9. Death

1. Mysterious Origins

2. Early Life
No birth records Baptized at Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon on April, 26 1564 Possibly born on April, 23 1564 The third child of John Shakespeare and Mary Arden Had two older sisters, Joan and Judith, and three younger brothers, Gilbert, Richard and Edmund Most likely attended the Kings New School, in Stratford

William Shakespeares birth place

Holy Trinity Church

Kings New School

3. Married Life
Married Anne Hathaway on November, 28 1582, in Worcester, in Canterbury Province Anne Hathaway was from Shottery Anne was 26 and William was 18 Their first child, a girl named Susanna, was born on May 26 1583 On February 2 1585 , twins Hamnet and Judith were born. Hamnet died of unknown causes at age 11.

Anne Hathaway

4. Theatrical Beginnings
There is an upstart Crow, beautified with our feathers, that with his Tigers heart wrapped in a Players hide, supposes he is as well able to bombast out a blank verse as the best of you: and being an absolute Johannes factotum, is in his own conceit the only Shake-scene in a country Robert Green, in the Stationers Register, September 20, 1592 William Shakespeare was by the early 1590s a managing partner of the Lord Chamberlains Men, which changes its name to the Kings Men after King James I coronation in 1603 He attracted the attention of Henry Wriothesley, the Earl of Southampton to whom he dedicated Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece

Henry Wriothesley

5. Establishing Himself
By 1597, William Shakespeare had published 15 of the 37 plays attributed to him He bought the second biggest house in Stratford, New House He was working in London, so he came home once a year on the 40-day Lenten period, when the theaters were closed By 1599 William Shakespeare and his business partners built the Globe

New House

The Globe Theater

6. Writing style
Conventional style of the day Elaborate metaphors and rhetorical phrases Innovative, a freer flow of words Unrhymed iambic pentameter, or blank verse Some use form of poetry or simple prose

7. EARLY WORKS: HISTORIES AND COMEDIES

8. LATER WORKS: TRAGEDIES AND TRAGICOMEDIES

9. Death
Tradition has it that William Shakespeare died on his birthday, April 23, 1616, though many scholars believe this is a myth. He was interred at Trinity Church on April 5, 1616.