WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

• HE WAS A POET, PLAYWRIGHT AND ACTOR OF THE

RENAISSANCE ERA.
• A IMPORTANT MEMBER OF KING’S MEN COMPANY.
• HE’S WRITING CAPTURE THE RANGE OF HUMAN EMOTION AND
CONFLICT AND HAVE BEEN CELEBRATED FOR MORE THAN 400
YEARS.
• HE IS OFTEN CALLED ENGLAND'S NATIONAL POET AND THE
"BARD OF AVON“.
• HIS MOTHER IS MARY ARDEN SHAKESPEARE, WHILE HIS
FATHER IS JOHN SHAKESPEARE.
 MARY ARDEN
SHAKESPEARE
• THE MOTHER OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE.
• HE WAS THE DAUGHTER OF WILMCOTE GENTLEMAN
FARMER ROBERT ARDEN, A CADET OF THE ARDEN
FAMILY PROMINENT IN WARWICKSHIRE SINCE
BEFORE THE NORMAN CONQUEST.
• SHE WAS THE YOUNGEST OF EIGHT DAUGHTERS.
JOHN SHAKESPEARE
• JOHN SHAKESPEARE WAS AN ENGLISH
BUSINESSMAN IN STRATFORD-UPON-
AVON AND THE FATHER OF WILLIAM
SHAKESPEARE.
• HE WAS A GLOVER AND WHITTAWER
BY TRADE.
 TWO PRIMARY SOURCES
OF HIS LIFE
1.HIS WORK – THE PLAYS, POEMS AND
SONNETS.
2.THE OTHER IS OFFICIAL
DOCUMENTATION SUCH AS CHURCH
AND COURT RECORDS.
 WHERE AND WHEN WAS WILLIAM
SHAKESPEARE BORN ?
•HE WAS BORN IN APRIL 23 OR 26, 1564 IN STRATFORD - UPON -
AVON, WARWICKSHIRE, ENGLAND AND DIED APRIL 26, 1616.
•HE WAS BAPTIZED AT HOLY TRINITY CHURCH IN STRATFORD –
UPON – AVON ALSO.
 MARRIAGE LIFE
•HE WAS MARRIED TO ANNE HATHAWAY AT
THE AGE OF 18 IN 1582.
•HE HAD 3 CHILDREN SUSANNA, HAMNET
AND JUDITH.
 WILLIAM
SHAKESPEARE
AND ANNE
HATHAWAY
ANNE HATHAWAY
• SHE WAS MARRIED IN WILLIAM
SHAKESPEARE AT THE AGE OF 26. SHE
OUTLIVED HER HUSBAND BY SEVEN
YEARS.
 SUSSANA HALL
• THE OLDEST CHILD OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
AND ANNE HATHAWAY.
• THE OLDER SISTER OF TWINS JUDITH
QUINEY AND HAMNET SHAKESPEARE.
• SHE MARRIED JOHN HALL, A LOCAL
PHYSICIAN, IN 1607. THEY HAD ONE DAUGHTER,
NAMED ELIZABETH, IN 1608.
HAMNET SHAKESPEARE
• THE ONLY SON OF WILLIAM
SHAKESPEARE AND ANNE HATHAWAY,
AND THE FRATERNAL TWIN OF JUDITH
SHAKESPEARE.
• HE DIED AT THE AGE OF 11 (POSSIBLY
FROM THE BUBONIC PLAGUE).
JUDITH SHAKESPEARE
• SHE WAS THE YOUNGER SISTER OF SUSANNA AND
THE TWIN SISTER OF HAMNET.
• HER BAPTISM ON 2 FEBRUARY 1585 WAS RECORDED AS
"JUDETH SHAKESPEARE" BY THE VICAR, RICHARD BARTON OF
COVENTRY, IN THE PARISH REGISTER FOR HOLY TRINITY
CHURCH, STRATFORD-UPON-AVON.
• THE TWINS WERE NAMED AFTER A HUSBAND AND WIFE,
HAMNET AND JUDITH SADLER, WHO WERE FRIENDS OF THE
PARENTS.
CHILDREN FAMILY PICTURE
 ABOUT PLAYS OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
• SHAKESPEARE PRODUCED MOST OF HIS KNOWN WORK BETWEEN 1589 AND 1613.
• HIS EARLY PLAYS WERE MAINLY COMEDIES AND HISTORIES, THESE WORKS REMAIN
REGARDED AS SOME OF THE BEST WORK PRODUCED IN THESE GENRES EVEN TODAY. HE
THEN WROTE MAINLY TRAGEDIES UNTIL ABOUT 1608, INCLUDING HAMLET, KING LEAR,
OTHELLO AND MACBETH WHICH ARE CONSIDERED SOME OF FINEST WORKS IN THE
ENGLISH LANGUAGE.
• IN HIS LAST PHASE, HE WROTE TRAGICOMEDIES, ALSO KNOWN AS ROMANCES, AND
COLLABORATED WITH OTHER PLAYWRIGHTS.
SOME PLAYS OF
WILLIAM
SHAKESPEARE
 HAMLET
• THE PROTAGONIST OF HAMLET IS
PRINCE HAMLET OF DENMARK, SON OF THE
RECENTLY DECEASED KING HAMLET, AND NEPHEW
OF KING CLAUDIUS, HIS FATHER'S BROTHER AND
SUCCESSOR. CLAUDIUS HASTILY MARRIED
KING HAMLET'S WIDOW,
GERTRUDE, HAMLET'S MOTHER, AND TOOK THE
THRONE FOR HIMSELF.
 KING LEAR
• KING LEAR IS A TRAGEDY WRITTEN BY
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE. IT TELLS THE TALE
OF A KING WHO BEQUEATHS HIS POWER
AND LAND TO TWO OF HIS THREE
DAUGHTERS, AFTER THEY DECLARE THEIR
LOVE FOR HIM IN AN EXTREMELY FAWNING
AND OBSEQUIOUS MANNER.
 OTHELLO
• OTHELLO IS A TRAGEDY BY WILLIAM
SHAKESPEARE, BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN
WRITTEN IN 1603. IT IS BASED ON THE
STORY UN CAPITANO MORO BY CINTHIO, A
DISCIPLE OF BOCCACCIO, FIRST PUBLISHED
IN 1565.
 MACBETH
• MACBETH IS A TRAGEDY BY WILLIAM
SHAKESPEARE; IT IS THOUGHT TO HAVE
BEEN FIRST PERFORMED IN 1606. IT
DRAMATISES THE DAMAGING PHYSICAL
AND PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF
POLITICAL AMBITION ON THOSE WHO SEEK
POWER FOR ITS OWN SAKE.
 ABOUT SHAKESPEARE’S
SONNETS
•HE WROTE 154 SONNETS MOSTLY IN 1590’S.
•DEALS WITH ISSUES SUCH AS LOST LOVE.
•HIS SONNETS HAVE AN ENDURING APPEAL DUE TO HIS
FORMIDABLE SKILL WITH LANGUAGE AND WORDS.
SOME SONNETS OF
WILLIAM
SHAKESPEARE
 • WHEN IN THE CHRONICLE OF WASTED TIME
I SEE DESCRIPTIONS OF THE FAIREST WIGHTS,
AND BEAUTY MAKING BEAUTIFUL OLD RHYME
IN PRAISE OF LADIES DEAD, AND LOVELY KNIGHTS,

SONNET
THEN, IN THE BLAZON OF SWEET BEAUTY’S BEST,
OF HAND, OF FOOT, OF LIP, OF EYE, OF BROW,
I SEE THEIR ANTIQUE PEN WOULD HAVE EXPRESS’D

106
EVEN SUCH A BEAUTY AS YOU MASTER NOW.
SO ALL THEIR PRAISES ARE BUT PROPHECIES
OF THIS OUR TIME, ALL YOU PREFIGURING;
AND, FOR THEY LOOK’D BUT WITH DIVINING EYES,
THEY HAD NOT SKILL ENOUGH YOUR WORTH TO SING:
FOR WE, WHICH NOW BEHOLD THESE PRESENT DAYS,
HAD EYES TO WONDER, BUT LACK TONGUES TO PRAISE.
 • LET ME NOT TO THE MARRIAGE OF TRUE MINDS
ADMIT IMPEDIMENTS. LOVE IS NOT LOVE
WHICH ALTERS WHEN IT ALTERATION FINDS,
OR BENDS WITH THE REMOVER TO REMOVE:
O NO; IT IS AN EVER-FIXED MARK,
THAT LOOKS ON TEMPESTS, AND IS NEVER SHAKEN;

SONNET IT IS THE STAR TO EVERY WANDERING BARK,

WHOSE WORTH’S UNKNOWN, ALTHOUGH HIS HEIGHT
BE TAKEN.

116
LOVE’S NOT TIME’S FOOL, THOUGH ROSY LIPS AND
CHEEKS
WITHIN HIS BENDING SICKLE’S COMPASS COME;
LOVE ALTERS NOT WITH HIS BRIEF HOURS AND
WEEKS,
BUT BEARS IT OUT EVEN TO THE EDGE OF DOOM.
IF THIS BE ERROR AND UPON ME PROVED,
I NEVER WRIT, NOR NO MAN EVER LOVED.
 • WHEN MY LOVE SWEARS THAT SHE IS MADE OF TRUTH
I DO BELIEVE HER, THOUGH I KNOW SHE LIES,
THAT SHE MIGHT THINK ME SOME UNTUTOR’D YOUTH,
UNLEARNED IN THE WORLD’S FALSE SUBTLETIES.

SONNET
THUS VAINLY THINKING THAT SHE THINKS ME YOUNG,
ALTHOUGH SHE KNOWS MY DAYS ARE PAST THE BEST,
SIMPLY I CREDIT HER FALSE SPEAKING TONGUE:
ON BOTH SIDES THUS IS SIMPLE TRUTH SUPPRESS’D.

138
BUT WHEREFORE SAYS SHE NOT SHE IS UNJUST?
AND WHEREFORE SAY NOT I THAT I AM OLD?
O, LOVE’S BEST HABIT IS IN SEEMING TRUST,
AND AGE IN LOVE LOVES NOT TO HAVE YEARS TOLD:
THEREFORE I LIE WITH HER AND SHE WITH ME,
AND IN OUR FAULTS BY LIES WE FLATTER’D BE.
 GLOBE THEATER (1599)
• WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE AND HIS BUSINESS PARTNERS BUILT THEIR OWN THEATER ON
THE SOUTH BANK OF THE THAMES RIVER, WHICH THEY CALLED THE GLOBE THEATER.
• IN 1605, SHAKESPEARE PURCHASED LEASES OF REAL ESTATE NEAR STRATFORD FOR
440 POUNDS, WHICH DOUBLED IN VALUE AND EARNED HIM 60 POUNDS A YEAR. THIS
MADE HIM AN ENTREPRENEUR AS WELL AS AN ARTIST, AND SCHOLARS BELIEVE THESE
INVESTMENTS GAVE HIM THE TIME TO WRITE HIS PLAYS UNINTERRUPTED.
 THINGS PROBABLY WE DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT WILLIAM
SHAKESPEARE
• ALTHOUGH HE HAD THREE CHILDREN, SHAKESPEARE HAS NO DIRECT DESCENDENTS LIVING TODAY. HIS BLOODLINE ENDED WITH THE DEATH OF HIS
GRANDDAUGHTER ELIZABETH IN 1670.
• SHAKESPEARE'S GRAVE, IN THE HOLY TRINITY CHURCH IN STRATFORD-UPON-AVON, CARRIES A CURSE. IT READS: "GOOD FRIEND, FOR JESUS' SAKE FORBEAR, TO
DIG THE DUST ENCLOSED HERE. BLESSED BE THE MAN THAT SPARES THESE STONES, AND CURSED BE HE THAT MOVES MY BONES“
• IT'S ENTIRELY POSSIBLE THAT WE'RE ALL SPELLING HIS NAME COMPLETELY WRONG. RECORDED SPELLINGS OF HIS NAME RANGE FROM SHAKSPERE TO SHAPPERE
TO SHAXBERD. HE NEVER SPELLED HIS OWN NAME SHAKESPEARE.
• SHAKESPEARE WROTE AT LEAST 37 PLAYS OVER THE SPACE OF APPROXIMATELY 24 YEARS. SO HE WAS PRODUCING OVER 1.5 PLAYS PER YEAR.
• SHAKESPEARE IS GENERALLY IDENTIFIED AS AN ELIZABETHAN PLAYWRIGHT, BUT THE MAJORITY OF HIS MOST POPULAR WORKS WERE PRODUCED AFTER THE
DEATH OF ELIZABETH I, MAKING HIM TECHNICALLY MORE A JACOBEAN PLAYWRIGHT.
• SHAKESPEARE'S LONGEST PLAY IS HAMLET, WHICH TAKES AROUND FOUR HOURS TO PERFORM IN FULL. HIS SHORTEST IS A COMEDY OF ERRORS, WHICH TAKES
ABOUT 80 MINUTES.
• SHAKESPEARE WAS VERY SUCCESSFUL IN HIS LIFETIME BUT NOT REVERED UNTIL AFTER HIS DEATH. HIS BESTSELLING WORK WHEN HE WAS ALIVE WAS THE
EROTIC POEM VENUS AND ADONIS.
• IN 2001, A COPY OF THE FIRST FOLIO, COLLATING 36 OF SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS, WAS SOLD AT AUCTION FOR £3.73 MILLION.
• THOUGH RECORDS FOR ANY PART OF SHAKESPEARE'S LIFE ARE MEAGER, THERE IS A POINT IN HIS LIFE BETWEEN 1585 AND 1592 IN WHICH THERE IS ABSOLUTELY
NO RECORD OF WHERE HE WAS OR WHAT HE WAS UP TO. THESE ARE KNOWN AS HIS "LOST YEARS".
PRESENTED BY GROUP 1
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