1. William Shakespeare By: Linda Nguyen, Kristina O’Sullivan, Josiah Eustace, Steven Sebzda, and Raj Choksi
2. Life Born in 1564 (Birth date not exact) Born in Statford-upon-Avon market town Father is John Shakespeare and Mother is Mary Adler William had two sisters who died before him in childbirth Other siblings include, Gilbert, Richard, Edmund, Joan, and Ann who died at age 7
3. Life continued… Met wife, Anne Hathaway, and got married at age 18 when she was 26 Died on April 23, 1616 Buried inside Holy Trinity Church Considered holy to be buried inside a church rather than in a graveyard
4. Schooling Never finished school Dropped out at age 14 Only got 7 years of education Attended school for free when father was elected for many civic positions, but dropped out when he had financial problems Learned little Latin and Greek
5. Inspiration to Write His wife and marriage Sexual urges Wanted to prove that he was better than upper classmen First period of writing: Roman and medieval times Second period of writing: style, lives of kings Third period of writing: tragedies Fourth period of writing: romantic tragicomedies
6. Relationships Married Anne Hathaway who was 26 when he was 18 She was 3 months pregnant at the time Shakespeare shows that he regretted his marriage in his writings He had 3 children, Susanna and twins Hamnet and Judith Spent about 40 days a year with them due to the plague
7. Failures and Successes Henry Wriothesley became patron for Shakespeare Plays were not published until years after their creation Wrote 10 plays, mostly comedies and historical, between 1593 and 1598 Wrote about two plays per year until 1611 Shakespeare had a slow start because most writers were published in their 20s, but he wasn’t published until his 30s
8. Failures and Successes continued… A Midsummer Night’s dream was performed for upper class Romeo and Juliet was an instant success among young people Young men wrote down Romeo’s lines to attract young women 1594-1596: gains recognition as leading London playwright 1595: Acting company (Lord Chamberlain’s Men) builds The Globe Theater and Shakespeare receives 10% of profits
9. Failures and Successes Continued… Wrote 38 plays and 154 sonnets 1595: Shakespeare named senior member of Lord Chamberlain’s Men 1603: Lord Chamberlain’s Men performs at court more than any other acting company 1596: Granted a coat of arms and buys 2nd largest house in Stratford
11. Authorship Many critics say that Shakespeare took lines from other plays and put them in his own Borrowing work from other authors was expected at the time Lack of education plays a big part Renaissance, sea life, medicine, and law are shown in plays, considering his village and school, he shouldn’t have learned any of these topics Many writers have also been successful and had a lack of education as well
12. Authorship continued… Footprints that he left behind show that he should have headed toward a literary dead end Out of his 6 signatures, 3 are incomplete and 3 are illegible so he was considered illiterate Even his daughter never learned to write
