The Life of William Shakespeare

         A complete account of the English playwright and poet  William Shakespeare is lacking. However, we do know that he was baptized on April 26, 1564 in Stratford, England. William was the oldest son of John Shakespeare and Mary Arden. The Shakespeares lived on Henley Street.
           In 1582, Shakespeare married Ann Hathaway. In 1563, they had a daughter, and in 1585 they had twins-- a boy and a girl. The boy did not survive.
            William arrived in London in 1588. By 1592, he had become a successful actor and playwright. Through the use of poetry and drama, Shakespeare's plays communicated his deep understanding of human behavior. However,some of his works were considered to be vulgar by some of his colleagues.
         Shakespeare shared in the profits of his acting company, The King's Men, and its two theaters The Globe and The Black Friars, making him wealthy. Additionally, his plays were frequently presented to the courts of Queen Elizabeth the First and King James the First.
              After 1608, Shakespeare spent less time in London, and more time in Stratford. He lived with his
gfamily in a house called "New Place" .  They made him a leading local citizen.
              -William Shakespeare died in 1616. He is buried in the Stratford Church, but he lives on in much of the world as, "the greatest of all dramatists".

               The works of William Shakespeare
              Shakespeare did three types of plays. He did Comedy, History, and Tragedy. The comedies of William Shakespeare were All's Well that Ends Well, As you like it, The Comedy of Errors, Cymbeline, Wives of Wisdom, The merchant of Venice, A Midsummer's Nights dreams, Much Ado About Nothing, Taming of the Shrew, Pericles, Prince of Tyre, The Tempest, Trolius and Cressiad, Twelfth Night, Two Gentlemen of Verona, and Winters Tail.
             Shakespeare also did history plays.The history plays that he did were Henry 4th Part one, Henry 4th Part two, Henry 6th part one, two, and three, Henry 5th, Henry 8th, King John, and Richard  2nd and third.

              The last category that Shakespeare did was tragedy. The most famous tragedy done by William shakespeare was Romeo and Juliet. Some other of Shakespeare's tragedies are Anthony and Cleopatra, Coriolanus, Hamlet, Julius Caesar, King Ear, Macbeth, Othello, Timon of Athens, and Titus Andronicus.

             Not only did Shakespeare do plays, but he also did poetry as well. Some of the poetry that he did were sonnets, A Lovers Complaint, The Rape of Lucrece, Venus and Antonius, and Funeral Elgy by W.S.

Questions for out Web Page

1. Why do you think that Shakespeare only wrote comedies, tragedies, and histories?
2. Do you think that you would like to live like Shakespeare? Why or why not?

3. Why do you think that Romeo and Juliet was so popular?