William Shakespeare By Natale Finn

About William William was the son of an alderman. Was born in 1564 in Stratford-on-Avon near Birmingham.

His father became Mayor of Stratford. Young William benefited from an education. He went to Stratford Grammar School.

At eighteen he married Anne Hathaway She was the daughter of a wealthy local landlord. They had three children. Their names were Susanna, Hamnet and Judith.

He moved to London in 1592 to become an actor He became member of the Lord Chamberlin’s Company of Players He soon stopped acting in stories and plays an started writing them The theatre associated with Shakespeare's plays was the Globe

The globe was in circular shape. Wealthy people watched from the galleries under a thatched roof The poor people stood below in the open air and watched the stage above them.

The globe was destroyed a few years before his death It was when a cannon fired during one of his performances which accidentally set the roof on fire Because the rest of it was made from timber it was all burned within an hour An American film director spent years reconstructing the Globe

Most of his plays were based stories he had heard or read Because of the Renaissance he was interested in ancient Greek and Rome He looked at the works of the ancient Roman historian Plutarch and got ideas such as : i. Julius Caesar ii. Anthony and Cleopatra

Some other plays were based on English history like : i. Henry 3 ii. Richard 3 Many ideas for his plays came from Renaissance Italy such as : i. Romeo and Juliet ii. The Merchant of Venice

His greatest plays were his tragedies His greatest tragedies were based on stories from ancient Greece The four greatest were i. Hamlet ii. Othello iii. King Lear iv. Macbeth

The tragedies were based on men who were destroyed by i. Their own weakness ii. Bad luck iii. And the actions of others

He also wrote poetry but mostly sonnets His 154 sonnets were 14 line poems dealing with the issues a) Love b) Poetry c) death

Shakespeare died in 1616 but he became one of the most remembered and famous writers of the Renaissance

SHOKING NEWS! SHAKESPEARE... DEAD!