2. Who is William Shakespeare?
• William Shakespeare was an English playwright, a poet,
and a theater actor from the Elizabethan era.
• Shakespeare was born in the town of Stratford-upon-
Avon in England.
• There is no definite recording of Shakespeare’s date of
birth, but it is taken that he was born on April 23.
3. Who is William Shakespeare
continued
• William Shakespeare widely renown to
be the best playwright who has ever
lived
• Shakespeare was often referred to as
The Bard of Avon.
4. Who is William Shakespeare
continued
William Shakespeare was the son of John and Mary Shakespeare.
William was the third of eight children and was the oldest surviving son.
He was brought up in a Christian family and was baptized on April 26. The
recording of his baptism is how historians guess his date of birth.
5. Early Life
Little about the childhood of Shakespeare is a set in stone fact.
Most can agree that Shakespeare attended the King’s New School in Stratford-
upon-Avon.
It is also assumed that he would have attended grammar school in Stratford.
Though grammar schools varied in quality, Shakespeare would have been
introduced to classic writings. Much of that emphases would be set upon Latin
grammar and literature.
6. Early life
continued
In 1582 William Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway, who was eight years
older than him. Six months after the date of their marriage license, Anne
gave birth to Williams first child named Susanna.
In 1585 William and Anne had twins names Hamnet and Judith.
There are no records of William Shakespeare after the birth of the twins intel
1592.
There are many assumptions on what he could have done in this time
including: being a schoolteacher, running away form Stratford to avoid
prosecution for stealing a deer, and that he had joined a group of traveling
players.
7. Thesis
William Shakespeare is credited for writing hundreds of books, poems, and
songs. He also is to thank for many words that are used in the English
language today. William Shakespeare is the best playwright that has ever
lived.
8. Achievements of William Shakespeare
Shakespeare is credited with writing five
narrative poems: “The Rape of Lucrece”, “The
Passionate Pilgrim”, “Venus and Adonis”, “The
Phoenix and the Turtle”, and “A Lover’s
Complaint”.
Shakespeare also had written 154 sonnets and 37
plays.
9. Achievements Continued
In 1596 Shakespeare’s family was granted a coat of arms by
the College of Heralds.
In 1597 Shakespeare had been successful enough to
purchase the New Place mansion in Stratford. This home
was the second largest in the town.
10. Achievements Continued
In the year of 1599 Shakespeare got partial ownership of
the Globe theater.
Then in the year of 1608 Shakespeare part owner of the
Blackfriars theater.
Without question Shakespeare , though was not ever a rich
man, had a enjoyable retirement in Stratford after 1613.
11. Shakespeare’s career start
The time after the birth of his twins is called “the lost years” because there
are no written records of what he was doing.
In 1594 the lost years come to an end. Shakespeare joined a group called the
Lord Chamberlain’s Men. William Shakespeare had become an actor and a
playwright.
Shakespeare stayed a member of this group for the duration of his career.
12. Shakespeare as an actor
As an actor, many believe that Shakespeare had many roles as old men. Roles
that were like Old Adam in “As You Like It” and the ghost in Hamlet.
Records show that in his own plays, Shakespeare would break off from the Old
man and would play a multitude of roles.
Some historians believe Shakespeare played the lead role in “Edward I”, a
play written by Edward Peele.
13. The Plays of Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was responsible for writing 37 plays and had helped
write many more.
The plays of Shakespeare can be broken down into four categories that
include: comedies, tragedies, and romances, and historical plays.
The order in which his plays are written in uncertain. However an educated
guess can be made by looking at the dates of publication, references,
thematic relationships, and relation to contemporary events.
14. Plays Continued
Geographers would say that Shakespeare wasn’t as intelligent as people
thought. In one of Shakespeare’s earliest recorded plays, The Two Gentleman
of Verona, one of his characters sails from Verona to Milan. These cities are
both land locked.
Again in The Winter’s Tale, two of his characters arrive on the seacoast of
Bohemia. There is no seacoast in Bohemia.
15. Plays Continued
Shakespeare experts came up with a couple explanations for these errors.
The first explanation is that Shakespeare was aware of what he was doing.
This was the time of modern historic writing and a formation of a new time, it
was a age of ‘print and New learning. Elizabethan maps of Italy reveal a
compilation of rivers and canals that this character could have sailed to
Milan.
Another explanation for these errors is that didn’t know any better or that he
just didn’t care there were inconstancies.
16. Plays Continued
The Renaissance was broadening the horizons of his audiences. Shakespeare
would carefully rebuild the places and the people of the Mediterranean in
order to accommodate to his audiences needs and wants.
These jokes tend to confuse present day audiences. The idea of these jokes
was the new history that England was integrating into.
17. Plays Continued
It is often observed that the characters in Shakespeare’s plays are never
completely good or evil. What makes his characters memorable is their
inconsistent nature.
The works of Shakespeare get their core strength from the fluid and elaborate
speech, the vast complexity of his characters, and deep stories that his plays
portray.
Shakespeare would get the audience involved emotionally using the
surrounding environment. If the surroundings allowed for refraction of images
or echo of words, Shakespeare would utilize it.
18. Plays Continued
Shakespeare would also utilize the value of texts, specifically Catholic. He
would use both the historic and contemporary meanings as a play on worship
and authority.
It would be hard for one, of the original audience, not to be moved while
watching a statue of a woman being brought to life. This being more moving
being cast in a former priory.
19. Plays Continued
The plays of Shakespeare had and unmatched use of vocabulary. Shakespeare
had a high use of synonyms and alternate meaning to his words. He was also a
master of punning and often would coin new terms.
Shakespeare is responsible for approximately 1700 words used in the modern
day.
20. Plays Continued
Shakespeare’s works are continued to be under examination and critique even
after his death. His works are quoted far more than any other lone author.
Since his death on April 23, 1616 his plays have been continuously preformed.
This is true, not only in countries that primarily speak English, in nations that
do not use English as their language.
21. Wrap Up
William Shakespeare is a world renown playwright . He would not limit
himself by using just one specific philosophy or ideology. Shakespeare was
not afraid to alter characters or geography if it helped his dramatic cause.
To this day Shakespeare’s plays are studied, preformed, and appreciated all
over the globe.
Little is known about what kind of man the Bard of Avon was, but what we do
know is that the Bard shall be remembered forever.
22. How does Shakespeare fit into
civilization of the Elizabethan era?
The Elizabethan era in intertwined in the English Renaissance. This was a time
of great movement in literature, music, and the visual arts.
William Shakespeare was a poet, a playwright, and an actor. Shakespeare
played a vital role in this renaissance movement and earned his place of
history, in this era.
23. What about Shakespeare is unique to
world history?
Something that is unique about Shakespeare is that he invented words.
Shakespeare is responsible for the creation of approximately 1700 common
words.
William Shakespeare would change verbs into adjectives, change nouns into
verbs, add suffixed and prefixes, and use words together that weren’t
normally used together.
24. How would I have felt living in the era?
This Elizabethan era seems to have a very rich and bright culture.
This era was part of the English Renaissance, so there was a vast movement of
literature and music.
With so much living talent and artistic breakthroughs, I feel that I would have
presently enjoyed living in this time; despite poor living conditions and the
plague.
25. What is Shakespeare’s role in society
today?
William Shakespeare wrote 37 plays and 154 sonnets. Many of those are still
widely enjoyed and reenacted to this day. Theaters still do reenactments of
his plays and hard copies of his prints are still manufactured and purchased.
William Shakespeare may have died in 1616, but glory of his works shall never
die.
26. What new information did I learn about
William Shakespeare?
There is much controversy when it comes to information regarding
Shakespeare. Before starting this project, I had no inclination to think that
William Shakespeare shouldn’t be credited with all of the works that he is
indeed credited for. Information I found stated that he genuinely did all his
work. I also found information that claimed there were multiple writers for
some of his works and in some cases clams were made that he hadn’t done
them at all.
27. Works Cited
Green, Dominic. THE BARD Beyond Borders. History Reference Center. Article.
Hogeboom, Willard L.. William Shakespeare went west or at least his plays did
and the bard was a hit on the frontier. Article.
Lyons, Mathew. Inside the theater of Experience. History Today, Nov 2014, Vol 64
issue 11, p36. Article.
No author. William Shakespeare. Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th edition.
Biography.
Ravilious, Kate. The Bard at Home. Archaeology, July/Aug 2016, Vol 69 issue 4,
p44.
