William Shakespeare was baptized April 26 1564, though his
birth date is unknown. His birthplace was Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire,
England and he died 23 April 1616, also in Stratford-upon-Avon.
Shakespeare was
an English poet, dramatist and actor. He is often considered as the greatest
dramatist of all time and is known as the English national poet. No writers
living reputation can compare to that of Shakespeare. His plays were written in
the late 16th and early 17th centuries for a small
repertory theatre and they are now performed and read more often and in more
countries.
After 1599 Shakespeare’s plays were performed in the Globe theatre.
Shakespeare had been performing with the Lord Chamberlain’s Men since 1594 and
in early 1599 he paid 12.5% of the Globe theatres building cost. He did so as a
lead share holder in the company. The investment meant that Shakespeare and the
other leading actors a share of the company’s profit and a share of their
playhouse.
At age 18, in 1582, he married Anne Hathaway, a woman who was eight years older than he. Their first child, Susanna, was born on May 26, 1583, about six months after the marriage ceremony. Anne gave birth some 21 months after the arrival of Susanna to twins, named Hamnet and Judith, who were christened on February 2, 1585. Thereafter William and Anne had no more children. They remained married until his death in 1616.
Facts-
-Shakespeare had seven siblings. They were: Joan (1558); Margaret (1562); Gilbert (1566); Joan II (1569); Anne (1571); Richard (1574) and Edmund (1580).
-Shakespeare and Anne Hathawy had three children together – a son, Hamnet, who died in 1596, and two daughters, Susanna and Judith. His only granddaughter Elizabeth – daughter of Susanna – died childless in 1670. Shakespeare therefore has no descendants.
-Shakespeare died a rich man. He made several gifts to various people but left his property to his daughter, Susanna. The only mention of his wife in Shakespeare’s own will is: “I gyve unto my wief my second best bed with the furniture”. The “furniture” was the bedclothes for the bed.
-Shakespeare was buried in the Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon. He put a curse on anyone daring to move his body from that final resting place. His epitaph was:
Good friend for Jesus’ sake forbear,
To dig the dust enclosed here:
Blest be the man that spares these stones,
And curst be he that moves my bones. Though it was customary to dig up the bones from previous graves to make room for others, Shakespeare’s remains are still undisturbed.
-One of Shakespeare’s relatives on his mother’s side, William Arden, was arrested for plotting against Queen Elizabeth I, imprisoned in the Tower of London and executed.
-During his life, Shakespeare wrote 37 plays and 154 sonnets.His last play The Two Noble Kinsmen is reckoned to have been written in 1613 when he was 49 years old. While he was writing the plays at such a pace he was also conducting a family life, a social life and a full business life, running an acting company and a theatre.
-Shakespeare is the second most quoted writer in the English language – after the various writers of the Bible.
-Shakespeare's Globe Theatre burnt down on 29th June 1613 after a cannon shot set fire to it during a performance of Henry VIII.
Bibliography-
-http://moodle.deyeshigh.co.uk/mod/page/view.php?id=519
-http://www.nosweatshakespeare.com/resources/shakespeare-facts/
Lightning