William Shakespeare
The greatest man to ever live.
William Shakespeare was born in 1564, in Stratford-upon-Avon.
Located in the centre of England, the town was (and still is) an
important river-crossing settlement and market centre. The register
of Stratford’s Holy Trinity Church records Shakespeare’s baptism
on 26 April. He is traditionally said to have been born on 23 April.
PARENTS/FAMILY
His father, John, trained as a glove-maker and married Mary Arden, the daughter of
Robert Arden, a farmer from the nearby village of Wilmcote. John and Mary set up
home in Henley Street, Stratford, in the house now known as Shakespeare’s
Birthplace .
John Shakespeare was a prominent citizen, serving on the town council for many years
and becoming Bailiff, or Mayor, in 1568. Besides his craft as a glover, he traded as a
wool dealer and was also involved in money-lending.
John and Mary lost two children before William was born. They had five more children,
another of whom died young.
EDUCATION
As the son of a leading townsman, William almost certainly
attended Stratford’s ‘petty’ or junior school before progressing,
perhaps at the age of seven, to the Grammar School, which still
stands. The grammar school’s curriculum was geared to
teaching pupils Latin, both spoken and written. The classical
writers studied in the classroom influenced Shakespeare’s plays
and poetry; for example, some of his ideas for plots and
characters came from Ovid’s tales, the plays of Terence and
Plautus, and Roman history.
MARRIAGE
It is not known what Shakespeare did when he left school,
probably at the age of fourteen, as was usual. In November 1582
he married Anne Hathaway, the daughter of Richard Hathaway,
a local farmer. Her home, now known as Anne Hathaway’s
Cottage, still stands in the village of Shottery, a mile from
Stratford. At the time of their marriage William was eighteen and
Anne was twenty-six. Their first-born child, Susanna, was
baptised on 26 May 1583. Two years later twins followed,
Hamnet and Judith.
THE ‘LOST YEARS’
We do not know when or why Shakespeare left Stratford for London, or what he was
doing before becoming a professional actor and dramatist in the capital. There are
various traditions and stories about the so-called ‘lost years’ between 1585 and 1592, a
period for which there is virtually no evidence concerning his life. One tale tells how he
was caught poaching deer in Charlecote Park, near Stratford, and went off to London to
avoid prosecution. A plausible early tradition claims Shakespeare was a schoolmaster
for some years. When he was growing up, drama was a significant part of Stratford’s
social life. Not only did local people put on amateur shows, but the town was visited
regularly by London-based companies of actors and Shakespeare may have joined one
of them. He probably arrived in London around 1586/7.
EARLY CAREER
Shakespeare’s reputation was established in London by 1592; in
that year another dramatist, Robert Greene, was envious of his
success and called him ‘an upstart crow’. Shakespeare’s earliest
plays included the three parts of Henry VI, The Two Gentlemen
of Verona, and Titus Andronicus.
Shakespeare’s first printed works were two long poems, Venus
and Adonis (1593) and The Rape of Lucrece (1594). These
were both dedicated to the Earl of Southampton, a young courtier
and favourite of Queen Elizabeth I, who had become
Shakespeare’s patron. Most of the Sonnets were probably
written about this time, too, although they were not published until
1609.
1n 1594, Shakespeare joined others in forming a new theatre company, under the
patronage of the Lord Chamberlain, with Richard Burbage as its leading actor. For
almost twenty years Shakespeare was its regular dramatist, producing on average two
plays a year. Burbage played roles such as Richard III, Hamlet, Othello and Lear.
GROWING SUCCESS: MAN OF PROPERTY
In 1596 Shakespeare’s father was granted a coat-of-arms, and it is likely that in this
matter the dramatist took the initiative with the College of Arms in London. On his
father’s death in 1601, he inherited the arms and the right to style himself a gentleman,
even though, at the time, actors were generally regarded as rogues and vagabonds.
Shakespeare’s success in the London theatres made him wealthy and in 1597 he bought
New Place, one of the largest houses in Stratford. Although his professional career was
spent in London, he maintained close links with his native town. Further property
investments in Stratford followed, including the purchase of 107 acres of land in 1602.
In 1598, the author of a book on the arts, Francis Meres, described Shakespeare as the
best contemporary dramatist and mentioned twelve of his plays, including
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Merchant of Venice,
Richard II and Henry IV, all of which date from the mid- to
late-1590s.
THE THEATRES
Drama was a nation-wide activity in Shakespeare’s time but
only in London were there buildings designed specifically for
performing plays. Most public theatres were tall, roughly
circular structures, open to the sky, with a cover over part of the
stage and a roof running round the edge to protect the galleries.
Performances took place in the afternoons, with the actors
playing on a raised stage which projected halfway into the
theatre. All the women’s roles were performed by boys. The
audience, which either stood in the yard around the stage or sat in the galleries,
represented a wide social mix of people.
THE GLOBE THEATRE
In 1599 the acting company with which Shakespeare was involved, the Lord
Chamberlain’s Men, built a new theatre, the Globe. Situated on the south bank of the
Thames, in the suburb of Southwark, it is the theatre most closely associated with
Shakespeare’s plays, and he was one of the shareholders in the enterprise. Two of his
plays, Henry V and Julius Caesar, were almost certainly written during the year in
which the Globe opened. In 1613, during a performance of Henry VIII, a fire broke out
and destroyed the Globe, but it was rebuilt the following year.
JAMES I AND SHAKESPEARE’S LATE CAREER
When James I (James VI of Scotland) came to the English throne in 1603 he granted
royal patronage to Shakespeare’s acting company, which thus became the ‘King’s
Men.’ As had happened in the 1590s in Elizabeth I’s last years, Shakespeare’s plays
were presented before the court in the royal palaces, as well as to audiences in the
public theatres. In 1609 the King’s Men acquired an indoor theatre, the Blackfriars, to
use in addition to the Globe.
Some of Shakespeare’s most famous tragedies were written in the early 1600s,
including Hamlet and, after James I’s accession, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth. His
late plays, often known as the Romances, date from c. 1608 to 1612 and include
Cymbeline, The Winter’s Tale and The Tempest.
In 1623, seven years after his death, the First Folio, the first collected edition of his
plays, was published. It contains thirty-six plays, about half of which had been published
individually in his lifetime. Pericles, not included in the First Folio, has been accepted as
his, and he is known to have collaborated with John Fletcher on The Two Noble
Kinsmen and a lost work, Cardenio, as well as on Henry VIII which was included in
the Folio.
LAST YEARS IN STRATFORD
Shakespeare’s elder daughter, Susanna, married John Hall a Stratford physician, in
1607, and gave birth to a daughter, Elizabeth, the following year. Shakespeare’s other
daughter, Judith, married Thomas Quiney, a Stratford vintner, in 1616. (Shakespeare’s
son Hamnet, twin brother to Judith, had died in 1596, aged eleven.)
From around 1611 Shakespeare seems largely to have disengaged himself from the
London theatre world and to have spent his time at his Stratford house, New Place. In
March 1616 he signed his will, in which he left substantial property and other bequests
to his family and friends, including theatre colleagues in the King’s Men.
Shakespeare died in Stratford, aged fifty-two, on 23 April 1616, and was buried in Holy
Trinity Church two days later. Within a short time a monument to him was put up,
probably by his family, on the wall close to his grave.
His widow, Anne, died in 1623 and was buried beside him. Shakespeare’s family line
came to an end with the death of his grand-daughter Elizabeth in 1670.
Shakespeare Links
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The UCLA Shakespeare Reading and Performance Group A group of which I am a member and have been for three years. It's an incredible amount of fun.
The Shakespeare Mystery
The Folger Library Which I have actually visited in Washington, D.C.
The Elizabethan Review A periodical journal about Shakespeare, with articles, upcoming events and information.
The Shakespearean Homework Helper
Shakespeare Literary Links
The Collected Works of Shakespeare A place where you can read all of his works yourself.
Shakespeare: Life and Times
The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.
© 1997 wendyt@ucla.edu
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