English 9William

ShakespeareErin Potter

The Man

• Born to John Shakespeare & Mary Arden in late April 1564 is Stratford.

• Married Anne Hathaway in 1582.

• Next year she gave birth to their daughter, Susanna and then 2 years later had twins, Judith and Hamnet.

• 7 years later he was recognized as a poet, actor, and playwright.

• Died on his 52nd birthday in 1616.

The Playwright & Actor

• 7 years after Shakespeare’s wife Anne gave birth to their twins, he was finally recognized as a poet, actor, and a playwright.

• A rival playwright, Robert Greene, called him “an upstart crow” in “A Groatsworth of Wits.”

• After a few years he joined up with one of the most successful acting troupes in London.

• When the troupe lost the lease to their theatre where they performed they decided to build their own. They called it “The Globe”.

• The new theatre opened in July of 1599. • He entertained the king and the people for many years until

June 19, 1613 when the theatre burned to the ground. • Amazingly there were no casualties.

The Lost Years

• We know very little about Shakespeare’s life during two major spans of time, referred to as the “lost years.”

• The first period covers the time after he left grammar school until his marriage to Anne Hathaway.

• The second period covers the seven years of his life in which he must have been perfecting his dramatic skills and collecting sources for the plots of his plays.

Most Famous Works

• Hamlet

• Julius Caesar

• King John

• King Lear

• Macbeth

• Othello

• Romeo And Juliet

• The Tempest

• The Taming of the Shrew

• Twelfth Night

• The Two Gentleman of Verona

• The Winter’s Tale

William Shakespeare