Life and history of william shakespeare

The ambitious son of a tenant farmer, John boosted his social status by marrying Mary Arden, the daughter of an aristocratic landowner. Like John, she may have been a practicing Catholic at a time when those who rejected the newly established Church of England faced persecution. Did you know? William was the third of eight Shakespeare children, of whom three died in childhood.

Though no records of his education survive, it is likely that he attended the well-regarded local grammar school, where he would have studied Latin grammar and classics. It is unknown whether he completed his studies or abandoned them as an adolescent to apprentice with his father. At 18 Shakespeare married Anne Hathawaya woman eight years his senior, in a ceremony thought to have been hastily arranged due to her pregnancy.

This is the latest accepted revisionreviewed on 9 January The Chandos portraitbelieved to be Shakespeare, held in the National Portrait Gallery, London William Shakespeare was an actorplaywrightpoet, and theatre entrepreneur in London during the late Elizabethan and early Jacobean eras. Family origins [ edit ]. Boyhood and education [ edit ].

Marriage [ edit ]. Lost years [ edit ]. Shakespeare myths [ edit ]. Later speculation [ edit ]. London and theatrical career [ edit ]. Business affairs [ edit ]. Later years and death [ edit ].

Life and history of william shakespeare

See also: Shakespeare's will. William Shakespeare 's family tree. Direct ascendants and descendants of William Shakespeare are shown with a blue background. Shakespeare's siblings are shown with a red background. Anne Hathaway and ascendants are shown with a yellow background. People related to Shakespeare only through marriage are shown with a green background.

Relations whose identity is not known are shown with a dashed border. Years given are usually approximate and typically reflect baptismal and burial years, rather than birth and death. For remarriages, the number in parentheses after the name indicates the order of the marriages. Sources Chambers, E. Oxford: Clarendon Press. I 11—12, 18, Vol.

II 8—9. OCLC Schoenbaum, S. ISBN See also [ edit ]. Notes and references [ edit ]. Notes [ edit ]. Under the Gregorian calendaradopted in Catholic countries inShakespeare died on 3 May See Spelling of Shakespeare's name. The extent of observation and knowledge in the plays is, indeed, remarkable but it is not accompanied by any indication of thorough scholarship, or a detailed connection with any profession outside of the theater References [ edit ].

I, pp. Shakspere's Five-Act Structure. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. II, p. II, pp. Nicholas Shakespeare's Hidden Life: Shakespeare at the Law, Summer Nicholas Knight". Shakespeare Quarterly. JSTOR Bibliography [ edit ]. Ackroyd, Peter Shakespeare: The Biography. Vintage Books. ISBN X. Baldwin, T. Archived from the original on 3 March Bate, Jonathan The Genius of Shakespeare.

Oxford University Press. Bentley, Gerald Eades The Profession of Player in Shakespeare's Time, — Princeton University Press. Boehrer, Bruce Environmental Degradation in Jacobean Drama. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Bryson, Bill Shakespeare: The World as Stage. Eminent Lives. Chambers, E. OL M. Cressy, David Education in Tudor and Stuart England.

New York: St Martin's Press. Ellis, David The Truth about William Shakespeare. Edinburgh University Press. Greenblatt, Stephen Character in OthelloKing Learand Macbeth present vivid impressions of human temperament that are timeless and universal. Possibly the best known of these plays is Hamletwhich explores betrayal, retribution, incest, and moral failure.

Shakespeare wrote comedies throughout his career, including his first play The Taming of the Shrew. Some of his comedies might be better described as tragicomedies. Although graver in tone than the comedies, they are not the dark tragedies of King Lear or Macbeth because they end with reconciliation and forgiveness. Additional Shakespeare comedies include:.

Shakespeare is known to have created plays with other writers, such as John Fletcher. They also collaborated on Cardenioa play which was not preserved. When including these works, Shakespeare has 41 plays to his name. Around the turn of the 17 th century, Shakespeare became a more extensive life and history of william shakespeare owner in Stratford.

When his father, John, died inhe inherited the family home. Then, inhe purchased about acres for pounds. InShakespeare purchased leases of real estate near Stratford for 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 uninterrupted time to write his plays.

He likely spent the last three years of his life in Stratford. Tradition holds that Shakespeare died on his 52 nd birthday, April 23,but some scholars believe this is a myth. Church records show he was interred at Holy Trinity Church on April 25, In his will, he left the bulk of his possessions to his eldest daughter, Susanna, who by then was married.

However, there is very little evidence the two had a difficult marriage. He is credited with inventing or introducing more than 1, words to the English language, often as a result of combining words, changing usages, or blending in foreign root words. It was published with the title Mr. In addition to its literary importance, the First Folio contains an original portrait of Shakespeare on the title page.

The other is a memorial bust at Holy Trinity Church in Stratford. Today, there are surviving copies of the First Folio that date back tobut experts estimate roughly First Folios were printed. Scholars and literary critics began to float names like Christopher Marlowe, Edward de Vere, and Francis Bacon —men of more known backgrounds, literary accreditation, or inspiration—as the true authors of the plays.

Anne was 26 at the time, and very, very shortly after the wedding, their daughter Susanna was born. Two years later Anne gave birth to twins, Hammet and Judith. Many believe that in these early years of marriage, William may well have supported his new family by becoming a schoolteacher. Why William came to leave Stratford and his young family is again unclear; perhaps to seek his fortune in London.

He appears to have arrived in the capital sometime around Although generally considered to be happy and prosperous years for William, his personal life was dealt a severe blow by the sudden death of his son Hammet aged 11 in Perhaps in part due to this blow, William re-established his ties with the town of his birth by buying and renovating a large and imposing mansion in Stratford called New Place.

Despite buying his house in Stratford, William continued to spend most of his time in London.