Shakespeare

Biography
There is no record of Shakespeare’s birth, but his christening is recorded. It was usual for
christenings to take place on the third day after birth.
He was born during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, who had recently converted England to
Protestantism. Shakespeare’s parents had been Catholics, and the tension between the new and old
religions can be seen in much of his work. William’s father, John Shakespeare, was a member of
the borough council of Stratford-upon-Avon. William was the third of eight children, though his
two elder siblings did not survive childhood.
Details of Shakespeare’s schooling are unknown. It is likely that he began his education at the age
of six or seven.
As his father was now a bailiff, young William probably attended the local grammar school. Its
curriculum emphasised Greek classics and pupils also learned plays in Latin. Religious education
was also important, and Shakespeare drew on these sources in his later work with classical and
religious allusions. Shakespeare probably attended school until about age 15. There is no record of
him going to university.
Shakespeare married the 26-year-old Anne Hathaway, in 1582 when he was 18. She was already
three months pregnant with their first child.
The baptisms of his three children are the last record of him for seven years, known as his lost
years. At some point Shakespeare went to London, leaving his family in Stratford, and established
himself as a playwright and actor. Some claim he worked as a teacher, an apprentice butcher or a
lawyer’s clerk. A century later his first biographer suggested he fled to London to escape
punishment for deer poaching. However, no records have been found of his activities in these
years.
The next known record of Shakespeare appears after he was already a playwright in London. It's a
review – and not a positive one.
Playwright Robert Greene called Shakespeare an "upstart crow”, accusing him of reaching above
his rank compared with university-educated writers such as Christopher Marlowe and Greene
himself. Drama in Elizabethan theatre shifted from the religious to the secular and companies of
players formed to entertain the public under the patronage of noblemen. Shakespeare belonged to
the Lord Chamberlain’s Men. He is thought to have written the three parts of Henry VI and
Richard III by this point.
William is thought to have revived his father’s lapsed application for a family coat of arms in 1596.
Scholars suggest the application showed he was now a successful businessman as much as a
talented playwright. In 1602 he had to defend his title against accusations that “Shakespeare ye
player” did not merit the honour of a coat of arms. By this time Shakespeare's company had
performed Romeo and Juliet, Richard II and a Midsummer Night’s Dream.
In 1598, Love's Labour's Lost was Shakespeare's first work published with his name on the title
page, suggesting it was now a selling point.
That year the author Francis Meres singled him out from a group of English writers as "the most
excellent" in both comedy and tragedy. His work attracted royal attention; he acted in several
performances before Queen Elizabeth I. Some academics suggest that his history plays were
supportive of Elizabeth’s claim to the throne. Others suggest Richard II criticized her as it describes
the overthrowing of a monarch.
Shakespeare’s plays made him both famous and wealthy. By now he was a shareholder in the Lord
Chamberlain’s Men.
The group built their own theatre called the Globe, and Shakespeare owned a 12.5% stake. This
made him even wealthier. He invested in property in Stratford and London, and records of his
purchases survive. In 1597 he bought the second biggest house in Stratford for his family, as well as
107 acres of farmland and a cottage. Later, he bought property to let in London, showing his
business acumen.
After Elizabeth I died, Shakespeare’s company was awarded a royal patent by King James I (VI of
Scotland), and became the King’s Men.
King Lear, probably composed in this year, took divided kingdoms as its theme mirroring James I's
new domain of England, Scotland and Wales. Meanwhile Macbeth, also written early in James's
reign, gives a kind portrayal of James’s ancestor Banquo and was probably intended to honour the
new king’s Scottish ancestry.
Shakespeare published 154 sonnets which explored themes of love, sex and beauty. He probably
started them in 1592 when plague closed the theatres.
The sonnets include a dedication to one "Mr. W.H.". The identity of this person remains a mystery
and has provoked a great deal of speculation. Sonnets were a traditional and popular form during
the Elizabethan period. Several of them, including Sonnet 18 (Shall I compare thee to a summer's
day?), and Sonnet 116 (Let me not to the marriage of true minds) have become some of the most
familiar poems in all of English literature.
The Two Noble Kinsmen was possibly the last play Shakespeare worked on. He wrote it with a
collaborator, John Fletcher.
In the previous decade he had written his late romances - Cymbeline, The Winter's Tale and The
Tempest. These plays are graver in tone than the comedies of the 1590s but less so than the
tragedies, as they end with reconciliation and forgiveness for potentially tragic actions. This change
of mood may simply reflect the theatrical fashion of the day, but it could also be evidence
Shakespeare had developed a more temperate view of life as he aged.
There are no contemporary accounts of Shakespeare’s death, though he made his will a month
before he died, in which he says he is in “perfect health”.
Fifty years later the vicar of Stratford-upon-Avon wrote that Shakespeare died of a fever contracted
after a “merry meeting” where he “drank too hard.” His will contains some insight into his
property. For unknown reasons, he left his wife his “second best bed”. He was buried in Stratford
and his grave featured a stone-carved bag of grain to represent his family’s traditional occupation.
Seven years after he died, a collection of Shakespeare’s writing was published. This was by far the
most complete version of his work.
It was compiled by his friends John Heminge and Henry Condell. It contained 36 plays, including
18 never before printed. A few are missing, including Cardenio. Many of them had appeared as
quartos: flimsy books made from folded paper, which the First Folio described as "stol'n and
surreptitious copies." This was possibly to encourage purchase of the collected volume. Around 750
copies were printed of which 233 are known to have survived. In 2006 a copy of the First Folio sold
for £2.8m.
The Puritans – a powerful group of protestant Christians who had gained power - outlawed plays
and theatres in 1642.
Two years later, the Globe was demolished. Anyone caught performing a play was seized and
whipped and anyone caught attending a play was fined. The work of Shakespeare – and his
contemporaries – was no longer performed in public. It wasn’t until the Restoration of Charles II in
1660 that plays were legalised again.
Comedy History Tragedy Poetry

All’s Well That Ends Well Henry IV, part 1 Antony and Cleopatra The Sonnets

As You Like It Henry IV, part 2 Coriolanus A Lover’s Complaint

The Comedy of Errors Henry V Hamlet The Rape of Lucrece

Cymbeline Henry VI, part 1 Julius Caesar Venus and Adonis

Love’s Labour’s Lost Henry VI, part 2 King Lear, Funeral Elegy by W.S

Measure for measure Henry VI, part 3 Macbeth

The Merry Wives of

Henry VIII Othello
Windsor

The Merchant of Venice King John Romeo and Juliet

A Midsummer Night’s
Richard II Timon of Atenas
Dream

Much Ado About Nothing Richard III Titus Andronicus

Pericles, Prince of Tyre

Taming of the Shrew

The Tempest

Troilus and Cressida

Twelfth Night

Two Gentlemen of Verona

Winter’s Tale