Sie sind auf Seite 1von 3

William Shakespeare

(1564-1616)

Shakespeare was born 23rd of April 1564, the same day as the
day of his death, 52 years later - at Stratford on Avon, a small town
in Warwickshire, in the heart of England.
His father, John Shakespeare, was a glover, a wooddealer and
perhaps a butcher.
About 1565 John Shakespeare was elected to various public
offices.
His mother, Mary Arden, was born into a farmers family
residing in Warwickshire as well. Her people were better off than her
husbands.
William Shakespeare led the life of an ordinary country boy.
He attended the free Latin grammar school of his native town
until the age of 14. There, as he was customary at that time, he
was tough the classical languages and became familiar with the
great Latin writers. Shakespeares first poems Venus and Adonis
and The Rape of Lucrece evince his classical learning.
At the age of 18 (in 1582) William Shakespeare married Anne
Hathaway, 8 years his senior. His wife was the daughter of a farmer
in a village near by. They had 3 children: Susanna, the eldest and
the twins Hamnet and Judith.
We find Shakespeare in London 1586. He went to the Capital
to try his fortune there.
The story goes that in London he started earning his living by
tending the horses of the gentlemen who came riding to the
playhouse.
a horse keeper
a stage boy
a prompter
a play mender
an actor
a playwright
By the turn of the century Shakespeare was a prosperous man
so that he had money to spare to pay his father debts and to buy a
coat of arms for him. In 1600 Shakespeare bought the largest house
in Stratford known as New place.
He died on the 23 rd of April 1616 and was buried in the
chancel of his parish church at Stratford. No name was engrave on
tombstone butfor the lines which as the tradition goes he himself
had prepared before his death. They warn the passers-by not to dig
his bones. By 1623, a monument was setup on the wall above the
grave.
Shakespeares heritage consists of 2 long poems, a sequence
of 154 sonnets and 37 plays. His activities as a poet and playwright
covers over 24 years.
William Shakespeare
The first creative period
1590 - 1600-1601
Venus and Adonis
The Rape of Lucrece
Sonnets
The plays:
Henry VI in 3 parts (1590-1591)
Richard III
The Taming of the Shrew (1592)
The Comedy of Errors
The Two Gentleman of Verona
Loves Labours Lost
Romeo and Juliet
A Midsummer Nights Dream
Richard II
King John
The Merchant of Venice
Henry IV in 2 parts
Much Ado about Nothing
Henry V
The Merry Wives of Windsor
As You Like It
Julius Caesar (a roman play)
Twelfth Night

The second creative period


1600-1601 - 1608
Shakespeares great tragedies
Hamlet
Othello
King Lear
Macbeth
Timon of Athens
The Roman plays:
Antony and Cleopatra
Coriolanus
Comedies:
Alls Well That Ends Well
Troilus and Cressida
Measure for Measure

The third creative period


1608-1612
Cymbeline (1609)
The Winters Tale
The Tempest
To this period also belongs:
Pericles, Prince of Tyre
Henry VII
William Shakespeare
but their authorship is doubtful.

William Shakespeare

Das könnte Ihnen auch gefallen