William Shakespeare was born in 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. Very little is known about his personal life due to a lack of documentation. He had a wife and three children but lost one of his sons. Shakespeare had a successful career as a playwright, poet, and actor in London beginning in the 1590s. He wrote 37 plays and 154 sonnets that have had enormous influence on English literature. Shakespeare died in 1616 and was one of the most famous playwrights of the English Renaissance.

1. William Shakespeare - Class Notes
PERSONAL LIFE:
§ Born April 23, 1564 in Stratford-on-Avon, NW of London
o Very little documentation of his life exists
o Church documented his baptism as April 26th
, and since it was customary to baptize 3
days after birth, we can speculate that he was born on the 23rd
.
§ Mystery surrounding life; the “lost years” (1585-1592)
§ Parents – John and Mary Shakespeare
§ Education ended at 14-15; $$$ obligations to family
§ Married Anne Hathaway in 1582 (he was 18; she was 26)
§ Children – Susanna, Hamnet and Judith (twins); Hamnet died (age 11)
§ Died April 23, 1616 (on his 52nd
birthday) in Stratford-on-Avon
CAREER:
§ Regarded as the greatest writer in the English language
§ Actor, playwright, and poet
§ Left family in mid-1580s; moved to London (“lost years”)
§ By 1594, part owner and principal playwright of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, one of the
most successful theatre companies in London
§ 1592-1594–Plague closed theatres; forced to write poetry
§ 1594 – 1608 most productive years
§ 1599 - The Globe Theatre was built
§ 1599 - Wrote The Tragedy of Julius Caesar
§ 1603 – King James I became king after death of Queen Elizabeth I; theatre company
renamed The King’s Men; Shakespeare continued to write and act
§ Drama - Wrote tragedies, histories, and comedies
§ Plays - 37 plays (avg. 1-3 plays per year)
§ Poems - 154 sonnets, 2 narrative poems
§ 1610 – returned to family a wealthy man
SIDE NOTES:
§ Writers freely borrowed from one another and often adapted classical works into their
own.
§ Romeo and Juliet was closely adapted from an earlier version of what is believed a
true story of 2 actual families in Verona, Italy. Shakespeare discovered this tragic love
story in Arthur Brooke's 1562 poem entitled "The Tragical Historye of Romeus and
Juliet.”
§ Some scholars suggest that Shakespeare is not the sole author; however it is pure
speculation without proof.

2. § Conspiracy? Three Elizabethan writers who were writing at the same time have been
considered by some to be potential “ghost writers”.
• Christopher Marlowe – Died in a tavern brawl in 1594? Rumors circulated that
he may have survived and wrote some of the works.
• Francis Bacon – Scientist, philosopher, writer thought to have been
embarrassed to admit to writing frivolous material as plays and arranged to
credit them to Shakespeare to protect his academic reputation.
• Lord Oxford – Nobleman in Queen Elizabeth I’s court thought to have deemed
playwriting beneath his dignity and sought out a lower-born person to take
credit such as Shakespeare.
RENAISSANCE ENGLAND:
§ Queen Elizabeth I – ruled for 45 years
o Hence the term “Elizabethan Era”
§ Elizabeth = great supporter of the theatre
§ “Renaissance” = Rebirth - growth in art, literature, science, language, etc.
§ Elizabethans were fanatical about maintaining hierarchy and order. Animals, planets,
social classes, religion, education, and politics all organized according to rigid rules of rank
and classification
• Any break in the natural, social, religious, or political order was unthinkable
• A break in order was believed to set off violent disturbances in the
heavens/nature. Storms and unusual events were perceived as omens/signs
from the gods that the people had done something wrong!
• Elizabethans were highly superstitious.
• Soothsayers (fortune tellers/prophets) were taken very seriously.
§ Entertainment – Falconry, archery, bear-bating, etc.
• Crowds loved bloody violence/ executions
§ The plague –Bubonic Plague or “black death”
• Approx. 1/4th
of Europe’s pop. died
• In 1592, 15,000 people in London alone died
• In 1625, 1/5th
of England’s pop. died
• Pain, boils, white coating on tongue, bleeding
• Remedies – Very drastic; snake venom, leeches
• 1666 – Great Fire of London ended plague
THE GLOBE THEATRE:
§ 1599–Built W. of London with The Theatre’s materials
§ Audience: Capacity of up to 3,000
§ “Wooden O”; 20-sided octagon; 3 stories; open air
§ Audiences were rude and noisy if not entertained
§ “Groundlings” –stood in the open pit; paid 1¢
§ Wealthy theatre-goers sat in the gallery sections – 2¢
§ No curtains; little scenery/props; no electricity (of course!)

3. § Elaborate clothing and carefully-crafted dialogue were relied upon to establish setting,
tone, etc.
§ Daytime performances only (needed natural light!)
§ Flags: Black=tragedy; red=history; white=comedy
§ Actors not well respected; low social status for actors
§ Boys played female roles (until late 17th
century)
§ 10% of London attended one or more plays per week
§ 1613 – Globe burned from cannon during Henry VIII
§ 1614 – Globe rebuilt
§ 1644 – Globe dismantled (Puritanical entertainment ban)
§ For over 300 years, the theatre of one of the most influential playwrights of all time
existed only in historical documents and memory
§ 1988 – (on what would have been Shakespeare’s 424th
bday) Reconstruction began using
traditional 16th
century carpentry and materials to replicate original
§ 1996 – Reconstruction completed; Queen Elizabeth II attended dedication event; Henry
V performed first
§ It stands today in its original location and hosts several of Shakespeare’s plays each year