Shakespeare Notes:

Shakespeare Surprisingly for the world's greatest playwright, we actually know very little about Shakespeare's life. What few details we have come from church records, land titles and the written opinions of others. Very little is known about young Shakespeare.

Shakespeare was baptized on April 26, 1564 It is assumed that he was born on April 23, 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon We also know that in 1582 at age eighteen, Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway, an older women who was twenty six at the time. Shakespeare and wife had three children-Susanna, Hamnet & Judith (twins) Hamnet died at 11 Shakespeare left Stratford for London to make his fortune roughly fours years later.

By 1595, Shakespeare was sufficiently successful to be named as one of the more senior members of the Lord Chamberlain's men, an acting company that performed frequently before court. This was no small honor; this prominent theatre company later became the royal company called the King's Men, making Shakespeare an official playwright to the King of England.

By 1596, Shakespeare was so successful as a playwright that his family was finally granted a Coat of Arms which amongst other things allowed Shakespeare to call himself a "gentleman". Shakespeare invented the word "assassination“ among many others.

154 sonnets or poems He wrote on average 1.5 plays a year since he first started in 1589. = 37 plays William never published any of his plays. We read his plays today only because his fellow actors John Hemminges and Henry Condell, posthumously recorded his work as a dedication to their fellow actor in 1623, publishing 36 of William’s plays

By 1611, Shakespeare retired, returning to Stratford and in 1616 Shakespeare died The monument of the great playwright is in Stratford's Holy Trinity Church in Stratford.

Shakespeare's works are often divided into four periods beginning with what is referred to as an experimental period starting around 1591 and ending around 1593 which includes Titus Andronicus, Love's Labour's Lost, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Comedy of Errors and The Taming of the Shrew.

The second period ending around 1601, marks the establishment of Shakespeare and includes the tragedy Romeo and Juliet, the comedies, The Merchant of Venice, A Midsummer-Night's Dream, Much Ado about Nothing, The Merry Wives of Windsor and the history plays, Henry IV, Parts I and II, Henry V, Richard II, King John and Julius Caesar.

The third period ending around 1610 marks perhaps the apex of Shakespeare's work with the tragedies, Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, King Lear but also comedies such as Twelfth Night, All's Well that Ends Well and the epic history play, Antony and Cleopatra.

The final period ends around 1611 with the plays, Cymbeline, Henry VIII and romances such as The Tempest and The Winter's Tale. William Shakespeare is one of the most identifiable icons of England.