Background Notes on William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was

born April 23, 1564, in the town of Stratford upon

Avon.

Trivia...

Galileo, the famous

scientist, was also born in this year.

Parents

John Shakespeare

and Mary Arden

Shakespeare

Siblings

He had 3 brothers and 4 sisters.

He was the third born, but the oldest.

EducationSince dad was an alderman and

property owner, Will received a free

formal education through grade

school where he studied all the

classics of literature.

Roman

ce?

He married Anne Hathaway

in November 1582 at age 18,

because she was pregnant at age 26 with their first child

Susanna.

More Children

They later had twins named Hamnet and Judith in 1585.

Tragedy In August of 1596, at age 11, Hamnet died from

Bubonic Plague, leaving Shakespeare devastated,

and with no heir. In October, the

Shakespeare family became gentry;

Shakespeare's father was granted a coat of arms and William would now

have no one to inherit the honor.

The Lost YearsFrom the years 1585-1592,

little is known about Shakespeare’s life.

Whatever Did He Do?

Because of his later writings, we can

guess that he might have been a farmer, a soldier, a teacher,

a sailor, a glove-maker or an actor during this time.

The Reappearance

In 1594, he was working in London

working as an actor and

playwright.

The Plague...Oh, How it Plagued Him!

Throughout the 1590’s

Bubonic Plague was killing

around 1,000 people a week.

More of the Plague

Between 1593-1594, the theater was closed because of it.This may explain why a

fascination with death appears throughout his plays.

The Plagiarist Romeo and Juliet was written

between 1594-1596 during the “Lyrical Years” of his 30s.

It was based on a 1562 poem by Arthur Brooke called “The Tragical Story of

Romeus and Juliet” which was based on the Greek story of “Pyramus and Thisbee”

written in 400 CE or 5 century.

Where’d it come from again? Brooke's version of the Romeo and Juliet story is

taken from a French poem by Pierre Boaistuau (1559)

That was based on an Italian story by Matteo Bandello (1554),

Which was itself inspired by Luigi da Porto's Giulietta e Romeo (circa 1530).

Although Shakespeare also consulted William Painter's 1562 English translation of Boaistuau's poem titled "Rhomeo and Julietta" (and possibly some of the earlier Italian texts), Brooke's "Romeus and Juliet" was his direct and primary source.

Work

Some of the theaters that Shakespeare

worked in were The Rose, The

Curtain, The Swan, and

The Theatre.

$$$$$He made money in those theaters in

three ways. As an actor, playwright, and

shareholder in the theater.

But his career of choice was acting.

The GlobeIn 1599, The Globe theater was built in the shape of an Octagon on the River

Thames.

The Globe

Shakespeare owned 10% of it, and in 1613 it was destroyed by

fire.

The Globe In the theater, they served such

refreshments as nuts and fruit and ale, and the poor

people who brought their rotten fruits and vegetables to

throw at plays they didn’t like were

called the groundlings or

penny-stinkers.

The TheaterIn

Shakespeare’s times, the higher your seat in the theater, the higher you

social status

In Shakespeare's Times...

Young boys

played the

women’s roles.

Some tragedies Shakespeare wrote Some tragedies Shakespeare wrote were... were...

Some Comedies Shakespeare Wrote Were...

Some Histories Shakespeare Wrote…

Shakespeare also wrote Sonnets, or 14-line poems.

The subjects of these poems were: The Young Man and The Dark Lady.

In 1603, Queen Elizabeth I died and King James I

ascended the throne as the monarch of England.

Shakespeare and his players changed their

name from “Lord Chamberlain’s Men” to

“The King’s Men.”

Shakespeare retired to “New Place” between the years 1609-1614.

Shakespeare died on his birthday, in 1616, and was

buried in Holy Trinity Church in Stratford.

In his will he left his property to Susanna who was married to a prominent doctor,

300 English pounds to his daughter Judith who was scandalously married at age 32 to a winemaker, and his second best bed

to his wife Anne (because it was her favorite).