William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in April 1564, and
his birth is traditionally celebrated on April 23. The facts of his
life, known from surviving documents, are sparse. He was one of eight
children born to John Shakespeare, a merchant of some standing in his
community. William probably went to the King’s New School in Stratford,
but he had no university education. In November 1582, at the age of
eighteen, he married Anne Hathaway, eight years his senior, who was
pregnant with their first child, Susanna. She was born on May 26, 1583.
Twins, a boy, Hamnet ( who would die at age eleven), and a girl, Judith,
were born in 1585. By 1592 Shakespeare had gone to London working as an
actor and already known as a playwright. A rival dramatist, Robert
Greene, referred to him as “an upstart crow, beautified with our
feathers.” Shakespeare became a principal shareholder and playwright of
the successful acting troupe, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men (later under
James I, called the King’s Men). In 1599 the Lord Chamberlain’s Men
built and occupied the Globe Theater in Southwark near the Thames River.
Here many of Shakespeare’s plays were performed by the most famous
actors of his time, including Richard Burbage, Will Kempe, and Robert
Armin. In addition to his 37 plays, Shakespeare had a hand in others,
including Sir Thomas More and The Two Noble Kinsmen, and he wrote poems,
including Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece. His 154 sonnets were
published, probably without his authorization, in 1609. In 1611 or 1612
he gave up his lodgings in London and devoted more and more time to
retirement in Stratford, though he continued writing such plays as The
Tempest and Henry VII until about 1613. He died on April 23 1616, and
was buried in Holy Trinity Church, Stratford. No collected edition of
his plays was published during his life-time, but in 1623 two members of
his acting company, John Heminges and Henry Condell, put together the
great collection now called the First Folio. |
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