Widely regarded as the greatest writer in English Literature

William Shakespeare

1563-1616Stratford-upon- Avon,Englandwrote 37 playsabout 154 sonnetsstarted out as an actor

Shakespeare

Parents: John Shakespeare and Mary Arden

1564 Attended the Stratford Grammar School

Childhood

Young Adulthood1582 Married Anne Hathaway

– She was 8 years olderThree children

– Susanna– Twins

• Judith • Hamnet

William Shakespeare's

Hometown Stratford Upon-Avon

The house Shakespeare once lived in.

CareerActor

– Lord Chamberlain’s Men

– The King’s MenPlaywright

– 38 playsPoet

– 154 Sonnets

ComediesHistoriesTragedies

Shakespeare wrote:

• All’s Well That Ends Well

• As You Like It

• The Comedy of Errors

• Cymbeline

• Love’s Labor’s Lost

• Measure for Measure

The ComediesThe Comedies

The ComediesThe Comedies

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The Merchant of Venice

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Henry IV, Part I Henry IV, Part II Henry V Henry VI, Part I Henry VI, Part II Henry VI, Part III Henry VIII King John Richard II Richard III

The Histories

The Globe Built 1599 The Globe was London’s first theater built by and for actors. As

one of seven shareholders in the company that commissioned it .

Shakespeare probably had some say in the theater’s design. He wrote many of his plays, from Julius Caesar on, with this venue in mind.

It was burned during a performance of HenryVII. Rebuilt and open to the public.

The Globe

The Globe

Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy  written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare  about two young "star- cross'd lovers“ whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families.

It was among Shakespeare's most popular  archetypal  stories of young, teenage lovers.

Romeo and Juliet belongs to a tradition of tragic romances  .

Its plot is based on an Italian tale, translated into verse as The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet by  Arthur Brooke  in 1562 and retold in prose in Palace of Pleasure  by William Painter  in 1582. 

ROMEO AND JULIET

Shakespeare became ill after a bout of hard drinking with his fellow playwrights Ben Jonson and Michael Drayton.The cause of Shakespeare's death is unknown - he died April 23rd 1616 at the age of 52 (William Shakespeare's birth date

Shakespeare retired as a playwright in 1612 or 1613, two or three years before his death.

William Shakespeare is buried in Holy TrinityChurch, Stratford-upon-Avon.

The Death of William Shakespeare

Holy Trinity Church