William Shakespeare Autobiography
1.
William Shakespeare:
Who was he, and why do we study
him?
2.
Shakespeare's biography
3.
Shakespeare's plays
William Shakespeare: Who was he, and why do we study him?
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) is widely acknowledged as the world's
greatest English- language playwright. He and his works have been loved and
admired by scholars, actors, and everyday people for hundreds of years.
Why? Well, because he wrote exciting stories that are still relevant
today. Because he tells stories about kings and queens and princes, and makes
us cry. Because he tells stories about tricks and mistaken identities and
falling in and out of love, and makes us laugh. Because he gets inside our
heads and hearts and has us all saying, "Yes, that's exactly how I feel! I
know what you mean."
And because he has written some of the most beautiful lines of poetry
that ever filled a hall or a page or a heart. Shakespeare moves us with the
courage of heroes, the foolishness of downs, the aching of lovers. He seems to
know about everything. He writes with music, with a soaring imagination, with
tenderness, with passion and with humour. He is inside us all.
And so it is really not a
marvel that almost 400 years after he wrote his pays, we are still reading them
and watching them on stage and screen. We strive to learn his language and to
understand his writing because he is worth it. When we read and watch
Shakespeare we gain a deeper understanding of the complexities of the human
condition.
William Shakespeare was born in Stratford- upon-Avon, a small town in
south western England, possibly on April 23, 1564. He was the third of eight
children (four boys and four girls), six of whom survived. Their father, John
Shakespeare, worked on leather and wool.
Young William grew up in a house with a thatched roof, and went to a
public school where he learned Latin and Scriptures and Logic. One story has it
that he went to see a pageant at nearby Warwick Castle when Queen Elizabeth I
was visiting, and was entranced, influenced forever by the excitement and drama
around him.
In 1582, when he was just 18, he married
Anne Hathaway. Their first child, Susannah, was born shortly after that. They
had two more children, twins, Judith and Hamnet, born in 1585. Hamnet
contracted the Black Plague and died at age 11, in 1596.
There are various theories about what Shakespeare did as a young man:
one holds that he ran away to London, where he looked after the horses of theatregoers;
one that he was a teacher in a school nearby; one that he went to Italy. He is
first mentioned in London in 1592, by the playwright Robert Greene, who
describes him as "a young upstart Crow".
Shakespeare's plays were so popular that his company became the
official theatre company of the Lord Chamberlain, and performed often for Queen
Elizabeth I. After her death in 1603, the new king, James I, asked
Shakespeare's company to be his official theatre company, to be known as the
King's Men. Shakespeare took small roles himself in his pays, and he and some
friends built and opened their own theatre, The Globe.
He found his stories wherever he could in busy, bustling London, and
often referred to the history written by Raphael Holinshed, The Chronicles of England,
Scotland, and Ireland (first published in 1577).
Over the years he wrote 37 pays, some long poems, and 154 renowned
love sonnets. He wrote with the sweeping vision of a storyteller and the
intimacy of a poet.
Shakespeare retired to Stratford. By then he had applied for and
received a coat of arms and been recognized as a "gentleman" in
class-conscious Britain; he had bought New Place, a much grander home.
He died in 1616, at age 52. Again, there are various theories about
why and how he died, including a theory that he was poisoned; we will never
know for sure—but what is certain about Shakespeare is that he poured his huge
heart and talent and work ethic and imagination into wondrous stories that have
been acclaimed, enjoyed and discussed ever since.
Listed in
probabe order of performance.
1.
Titus Andronicus first performed in 1594
(printed in 1594)
2.
Romeo and Juliet 1594-95 (1597)
3.
Hamlet 1600 - 01 (1603)
4.
Julius Caesar
1600- 01 (1623)
5.
Othello 1604- 05 (1622)
6.
Antony and Cleopatra 1606- 07 (1623)
7.
King Lear 1606 (1608)
8.
Coriolanus 1607-08 (1623)
9.
Timon of Athens 1607-08 (1623)
10.
Macbeth 1611-12 (1623)
1.
King Henry VI, Part 1 1592 (printed in 1594)
2.
King Henry VI Part 2 1592-93 (1594)
3.
King Henry VI Part 3 1592-93 (1623)
4.
King John 1596-97 (1623)
5.
King Henry IV Part 1 1597-98 (1598)
6.
King Henry IV Part 2 1597-98 (1600)
7.
King Henry V 1598-99 (1600)
8.
Richard II 1600-01 (1597)
9.
Richard III 1601 (1597)
10.
King Henry VIII 1612-13 (1623)
1.
The Taming of the Shrew first performed 1593-94
(printed in 1623)
2.
The Comedy of Errors 1594 (1623)
3.
Two Gentlemen of Verona 1594-95 (1623)
4.
Love's Labour's Lost 1594-95 (1598)
5.
A Midsummer Night's Dream 1595-96 (1600)
6.
The Merchant of Venice 1596-97 (1600)
7.
Much Ado About Nothing 1598-99 (1600)
8.
As You Like It 1599-1600 (1623)
9.
The Merry Wives of Windsor 1600-01 (1602)
10.
Troilus and Cressida 1602 (1609)
11.
Twelfth Night 1602 (1623)
12.
All's Well That Ends Well 1602-03 (1623)
13.
Measure for Measure 1604 (1623)
14 Pericles,
Prince of Tyre 1608-09 (1609)
15. The Tempest (1611)
16 Cymbeline 1611-12 (1623)
17. The Winter's Tale, 1611-12 (1623
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