William Shakespeare

Biography

The world’s greatest playwright, William Shakespeare wrote some of the most beloved plays, sonnets and poems ever published, and he remains the most translated author in history. Although one of the most famous authors in history, little is known about the life of William Shakespeare. The son of John Shakespeare, a glove-maker, and Mary Arden, daughter of a land-owning family, he was baptised on the 26th April, 1564. The third of 8 children, he attended school in Stratford and upon turning 18, he hastily married Anne Hathaway (their daughter was born 6 months later). Twins Hamnet and Judith were born 2 years later; Hamnet’s death in 1596, aged 11, is thought by scholars to have greatly influenced his tragedies in later life, including Hamlet, Othello and Macbeth. Richard III is the first recorded work by Shakespeare, written in the early 1590s. All other works are more difficult to date, although scholars generally use their genre to create a timeline of his work: his early plays were comedies and histories, his middle period tragedies, and in later life he wrote romances. By 1592, he was sufficiently well-known enough to have several plays performed on the London stage. As well as writing plays, Shakespeare also acted on stage in both his own as well as others plays, although the outbreak of bubonic plague in 1609 slowly brought his acting career to an end as theatres were forced to close. Shakespeare died on 23rd April, 1616, a successful writer and actor but far from being the revered playwright he is today. Exploring timeless themes of love, death, jealousy and revenge, and featuring complex, flawed characters that audiences can relate to, the works of William Shakeaspeare are as relevant now as they were when they were written over 400 years ago.