Download The Life and Times of William Shakespeare

The Life and Times of
William Shakespeare
1564-1616
• Shakespeare was born in 1564 in a
town called Stratford-upon-Avon. It
was north of London.
• His father, John Shakespeare, owned a
shop as a glove maker and also held
several government positions,
including Mayor of Stratford.
William Shakespeare’s house
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As a child William was sent to the local
grammar school that he had attended
for six years. He studied Latin and
Greek and read widely the books
current in his day.
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King’s New School
In 1582 at the age of 18, he married
Anne Hathaway who was 26.
He had a daughter Susanna and twins
named Hamnet and Judith.
William Shakespeare’s family
William Shakespeare’s wife
Anne Hathaway
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Little is known of his life between
when he left Stratford and arrived in
London to advance his literary career
and become an actor.
Shakespeare
arrived in London
in the year 1586
or 1587. At that
time drama was
rapidly gaining
popularity
among the
people.
He became a shareholder in an
acting company called “The Lord
Chamberlain’s Men”.
• After the accession of
James I in 1603, the
company was granted
permission to change its
name to "the King’s
Men”
• He wrote during the
reigns of Queen
Elizabeth (Elizabethan
period) and King James
I (Jacobean period)
Shakespeare and his partners in the Lord
Chamberlain’s Men theater company
built the Globe Theater in London in
1599.
The original theater was burned to the
ground in 1613, during a performance
of Henry VIII.
The Globe Theater 1599
Burned in 1613
The Rebuilt Globe Theater, London
The Globe Theater
His first play performed at the Globe
Theater was Julius Caesar.
The cost of attending a show
• 1 shilling to stand
• 2 shillings to sit in
the balcony
During the years of the plague, he
would write poetry since the
theaters were often closed.
Shakespeare’s Language
Shakespeare wrote in “Early
Modern English.”
•A mix of old and very new
• Rural and urban words/images
• Understandable by the lowest
peasant and the highest noble
EME was not very different from
“Modern English,”
William Shakespeare’s works
Shakespeare produced 38 plays, 2
narrative poems and 154 sonnets.
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His plays can be divided into four
types: historical plays, comedies,
tragedies and romantic tragicomedies.
The Plays
14 comedies
10 histories
10 tragedies
4 romances
The Poetry
Two major poems
Venus and Adonis
Rape of Lucrece
154 Sonnets
His major dramas may
fall into three periods
The first period (1590 ～ 1600)
•
Henry VI (1590 ～ 91)
•
Richard III (1592 ～ 93)
•
The Comedy of Errors (1592)
•
Titus Andronicus (1593)
•
The Taming of the Shrew (1593 ～ 94)
The second period (1601 ～ 1608)
•
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (1600 ～ 01)
•
Troilus and Cressida (1602)
•
All's Well That Ends Well (1604)
•
Measure for Measure (1604 ～ 05)
•
Othello, the Moore of Venice (1604 ～ 05)
The third period (1609 ～ 1612)
•
Cymbeline (1609 ～ 10)
•
The Winter's Tale (1610 ～ 11)
•
The Tempest (1611 ～ 12)
•
Henry VIII (1613)
Tragedies
• Hamlet
• Romeo and Juliet
• Othello
• King Lear
• Macbeth
Comedies
• The Taming of the Shrew
• Much Ado About Nothing
• As You Like I
• Twelfth Night
• Midsummer Night’s Dream
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At the end of his life, he returned to
Stratford-upon-Avon to retire. He died
on April 23,1616 , the 52nd
anniversary of his birthday.
He is considered the greatest
dramatist in the world and the
greatest English poet.