Shakespeare

Who's William Shakespeare?

William Shakespeare was a poet, actor and playwright during the English Renaissance. His works are still produced today and well-known despite the fact that he died over 400 years ago. Many praise his work for being timeless.

What Did Shakespeare Write?

Shakespeare's plays are typically divided into three different genres: history plays, tragedies and comedies. There are some plays that don't fit into any of these genres, but these are the most common categories.

Histories: History plays deal with the rise of the Tudors to power. The Tudors were the rulers during Shakespeare's time. These plays follow issues of politics, but tragic and comedic events can occur in them. The goal of these plays can be read as propaganda for the ruling family, but they shouldn't be written off because of this.

King John, Richard II, Henry IV Part One, Henry IV Part Two, Henry V, Henry VI Part One, Henry VI Part Two, Henry IV Part Three, Richard III, Henry VIII

Tragedies: Tragedies include any play that ends in misfortune that doesn't feature the Tudor's rise to power. Shakespeare is well know for his use of the tragic hero, though not present in Romeo and Juliet, it includes characters like Hamlet and Antony and Cleopatra.

Antony and Cleopatra, Coriolanus, Hamlet, Julius Caesar, King Lear, Macbeth, Othello, Romeo and Juliet, Timon of Athens, Titus Andronicus, Troilus and Cressida

Comedies: Comedies can include the genres "problem plays" and "romance." A comedy is any play that doesn't have to do with the rise of the Tudors and ends happily. How happily these plays end varies. There can be music or a return to nature or some defiance of social norms.

All's Well That Ends Well, As You Like It, The Comedy of Errors, Cymbeline, Love's Labour's Lost, Measure for Measure, The Merchant of Venice, The Merry Wives of Windsor, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, The Taming of the Shrew, The Tempest, Twelfth Night, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Winter's Tale

Biographical Information

William Shakespeare was born April 1564, the exact day is unknown, but his birthday is commonly celebrated on April 23.
He had seven siblings- two older sisters who died within a year of being born and five younger siblings. He outlived all but one of his siblings.
- - His youngest brother Edmund, who was 16 years younger than Shakespeare, became an actor in London. He died at the age of 26 or 27.
Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway at 18 years old. At the time Anne was 26 and pregnant with their first child. Together they had three children: Susanna, Judith and Hamnet.
- - Shakespeare's grandchildren died without heirs.
  - It is possible to claim lineage to Shakespeare through his sister Joan, who has many heirs still alive today.
Due to marrying Anne at 18, Shakespeare was unable to finish his apprenticeship.
The period of Shakespeare's life between the baptism of the twins, Judith and Hamnet, in 1585 and his arrival in London in 1592 are referred to as the "lost years" because nobody really knows what went on during that time.
By 1592 Shakespeare had already made a name for himself and written some of his earlier plays.
After the plague subsided, Shakespeare joined the Lord Chamberlain's Men and became the lead dramatist there producing about two plays a year for almost 20 years.
In 1596, John Shakespeare was awarded a coat of arms.
Shakespeare died on April 23 in 1616 at the age of 52. Nobody knows his cause of death. He had made a will almost a month before he passed.

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