Renaissance Theatre Timeline

Since William Shakespeare's death, many people wonder if he actually wrote all of his plays, he went to a small grammar school and his name was spelled two different ways. However many scholars believe that Shakespeare wrote his plays despite going to a smaller school with less education, the school offered a curriculum of Latin and the classics which could have built Shakespeare's foundation of literacy.

• "The Life of William Shakespeare (1564–1616)." The Life of William Shakespeare (1564–1616). National Endowment for the Arts, n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2015.
• "William Shakespeare." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2015.
• "William Shakespeare." Poets.org. Academy of American Poets, n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2015.

Elizabethan Theatre Timeline

EARLY LIFE

MIDLIFE

LATER LIFE

Married Life

Childhood

Establishing Himself

Early Works

Later Works

Death

Poems

First plays (exception of Romeo and Juliette) were mostly histories written in the early 1590's Ex. Richard II, Henry VI (parts 1, 2 and 3) and Henry V demonstrate the consequences of rulers Romances like: A Midsummer Night's Dream, Merchant of Venice, Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It, and Twelfth Night. His other plays, which were written before the year 1600, include: Titus Andronicus, The Comedy of Errors, The Taming of the Shrew, and The Two Gentlemen of Verona.

By the year of 1592 William had been living in London as an actor and a playwriter. He was a managing partner of the Lord Chamberlains acting troupe. In 1603 the Lord Chamberlains acting troupe changed its name to The Kings Men to honor the coronation of King James I. By the year of 1597, 15 out of his 37 plays had been written. He bought a house called New House for his family. New House was a four day ride from London, so it is assumed he only lived there when the theatre was on hiatus. By 1559, Shakespeare and his business partners built another theatre on the south bank of the Thames River. This theatre was called the Globe theatre, which burnt down, but has since been rebuilt in England.

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Legacy

After 1600,Shakespeare wrote some of his tragedies such as Hamlet, King Lear, Othello and Macbeth. Possibly the best known of his tragedies is Hamlet.

He also wrote several tragicomedies such as Cymbeline, The Winter's Tale and The Tempest. Tragicomedies are graver in tone than the comedies, but they are not as dark as King Lear or Macbeth because they end with reconciliation and forgiveness.

William Shakespeare is thought to have died on his birthday, April 23, 1616. He left a third of his estate to his eldest daughter Susanna in his will. Not much else is known about William Shakespeare, but what we do know is that he was a gifted writer whose words touched the lives of many different people.

Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway on November 28, 1582. William was 18 years old, Anne was 26 and pregnant. Their first child Susanna was born May 26, 1583. They then had twins named Hamnet and Judith, who were born on February 2, 1585. Shakespeare's son Hamnet died at age 11 of unknown causes. The next seven years of William Shakespeare's life have no records of him.

Origins

Thank you for listening to my presentation on the life and works of William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare is also very well known for some of his poetry. He wrote several well known sonnets. He wrote 154 sonnets that dealt with themes such as time passing, love, beauty, life, and death. Sonnet 1 is one of his best well known, which also goes by a famous line of it "Shall I compare thee to a summers day?

Shakespeare was baptized at Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-Upon-Avon on April 26, 1564. From the date he was baptized it is assumed that his birthday was either on or around April 23, 1564. Stratford-Upon-Avon was a small market town divided by a country road and the river Avon which is located about 103 miles west of London. He was the third child of John Shakespeare and Mary Auden. William had two older sisters named Joan and Judith and 3 younger brothers named Gilbert, Richard, and Edmund. There are no official records available of his education, but it is assumed that he attended King's new school in Stratford.

William Shakespeare's life is a bit a mystery. There are only two main sources of which we can gather information about him, official church and court records, and his plays, poems, and literary works. However these records only show the facts of his life, not the man who lived it.

Sources