Life and works by William Shakespeare

2. William Shakespeare
(1564-1616)
His life

3. The beginnings
• 1594: born in Stratford-uponAvon.
•His father was a glove trader, his
mother was of a prominent family.
•Beacause of his father’s financial
problems, he stopped his
education.

4. The marriage
• He married when he was 18 with
Anne Hathaway (26).
•They had 3 children, Susanna
and the twins.

5. The ‘lost years’
(1585-1592)
• He left the family because
accused of poaching.
•He went to London.
• He
worked as an actor,
playwright and poet.
•Robert Greene’s attack (1592).

6. Shakespeare’s poetry
• 1593-1594: closure of theatre
(plague).
• Shakespeare’s patron: the Earl of
Southampton.
• Shakespeare wrote the sonnets.

7. Success and prosperity
(1595-1616)
• He became a shareholder of the
Lord Chamberlain’s Men (later
the King’s’Men) Company.
• He wrote his best plays and
became famous at Court, too.
• 1612: retirement in Stratfordupon-Avon
• 1616: death

8. William Shakespeare
(1564-1616)
His works

9. His sources
• The classical Greek and Latin
writings (Plautus and Plutarch)
• The works of some Italian writers
(Bandello, Cinzio, Fiorentino)
• Holinshed’s Chronicles of England,
Scotland and Ireland

10. The ‘Bad Quartos’
• Shakespeare did not publish his works.
• Quarto: a publication made up of
sheets folded to form 8 pages.
• ‘Bad Quartos’: his works put together
from notes or actors’ memories.
• Full of gaps and mistakes.

11. The First Folio
• Folio: a publication made up of
sheets folded to form 4 pages.
• 1623: Heminge and Condell
published the so-called First
Folio.
• It included 36 plays.