William Shakespeare Biography
English Dramatist and Poet, Famous for Hamlet and Othello
English playwright, poet and actor William Shakespeare is considered the greatest writer of the English language. Known for his imagery and characters, he is famous for plays including Romeo and Juliet, Merchant of Venice, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Measure for Measure, The Merry Wives of Windsor and As You Like It.
Early plays he wrote were the comedies The comedy of Errors, The Taming of the Shrew, and The Two Gentlemen of Verona; the three parts of Henry VI; and Richard III, and the tragedy Titus Andronicus .
Early Years of William Shakespeare
Born in Stratford-on-Avon baptized April 26, William Shakespeare, (1564-1616), was the son of a wool dealer who also became a town mayor. His mother was a local landowner's daughter. He was educated at the grammar school, and married Anne Hathaway in 1582. The couple had three children, a daughter Susanna and twins.
Shakespeare the Poet, Dramatist, Actor
Shakespeare established himself as an actor and a dramatist in London. In 1593, he came under the patronage of the Earl of Southampton, to whom he dedicated his long poems Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece. He also wrote for him the comedy Love's Labour's Lost.
Shakespeare was a member of a theatre group called The Chamberlain's Men (later 'The King's Men'). He wrote many plays for the group and had no rival writing as a dramatist, for example, the lyric plays Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Richard II 1594-97, and The Merchant of Venice 1596-97. Their group became so successful that they were able to build a new theatre called "The Globe."
The Falstaff plays (1596-99): Henry IV (parts I and II), Henry V, The Merry Wives of Windsor (said to have been requested by Elizabeth I), and Julius Caesar (1599) was the height of his fame. The period ended with the lyrically witty Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It, and Twelfth Night. (1598-1601) With Hamlet begins the period of the great tragedies (1601-08), including Othello, Macbeth, King Lear, Antony and Cleopatra, and Coriolanus. This 'darker' period is also reflected in the comedies (around 1601-04): Troilus and Cressida, All's Well that Ends Well, and Measure for Measure.
Shakespeare's plays are broadly divided into lyric, comedies, historical and tragedies.
Shakespeare's Lyric Plays:
- Romeo and Juliet
- Midsummer Night's Dream
- Richard II
- The Merchant of Venice
Shakespeare's Comedy Plays:
- As You Like It
- The Comedy of Errors
- The Taming of the Shrew
- The Two Gentlemen of Verona
- Love's Labour's Lost
- The Twelfth Night
- Troilus and Cressida
- All's Well that Ends Well
- Much Ado About Nothing
- Measure for Measure
Shakespeare's Historical Plays:
- Richard III
- Henry IV
- Henry V
- Henry VI
- The Merry Wives of Windsor
- Julius Caesar
Shakespeare's Tragedy Plays:
- The Winter's Tale
- Titus Andronicus
- Hamlet
- Othello
- Macbeth
- King Lear
- Antony and Cleopatra
- Coriolanus
Last Years of Shakespeare
A collection of 154 sonnets were written by Shakespeare, including some of the finest poems ever written. It was thought that Shakespeare collaborated with John Fletcher on Henry VIII and Two Noble Kinsmen during 1613. He retired to Stratford about 1610 to be with his family, where he died April 23, 1616.
Shakespeare's Legacy
For the first 200 years after his death, Shakespeare's plays were frequently performed in revised or cut form. It was not until the 19th century, with the critical assessment of Samuel Coleridge and William Hazlitt, that the original texts were restored.
William Shakespeare created characters from all walks of life with his gift of insight into human nature. Almost all of his plays are still performed in current times.
William Shakespeare, English Playwright and Poet
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Shakespeare's Hamlet, actor E. Booth
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Shakespeare's Measure for Measure
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