By Adam Bochon Sam Vale Tyler VanGorder Matt Monteleone

Shakespeare’s Life Basics Born in Stratford-Upon-Avon in April 1564 Died in Stratford-Upon-Avon in April 23, 1616 Married to Anne Hathaway Had 3 children- Susanna, Judith, and Hamnet Retired between Part Owner of Globe Theater Shakespeare was untraceable for seven years of his career

Success in London In 1593, Shakespeare came on the scene with his narrative poem Venus and Adonis He wrote The Rape of Lucrece in 1594 Both poems were dedicated to the Earl of Southampton In the 1590’s, he mainly wrote plays of English history In 1599, Shakespeare’s company built a theater naming it The Globe

Shakespeare's Story Until the late eighteenth century, William Shakespeare was believed to be a man created by legend and tradition. Some people since the mid-nineteenth century have argued that William Shakespeare could not have written the plays that bear his name, suggesting such authors as Queen Elizabeth or Sir Francis Bacon. “Unfortunately for their claims, the documents that exist that provide evidence for the facts of William Shakespeare's life tie him inextricably to the body of plays and poems that bear his name.”

Shakespeare’s Story Continued It was this legendary Shakespeare who reached the top of his acting career in the roles of the Ghost in Hamlet and old Adam in As You Like “This legendary Shakespeare is a rambunctious, undisciplined man, as attractively “wild" as his plays were seen by earlier generations to be.” How Shakespeare produced the works that dominate the world’s cultures almost four hundred years after his death is one of life's many mysteries.

An Expansive Age “The years in which Shakespeare wrote were among the most exciting in English history” London, rapidly expanded and changed during the years that Shakespeare lived there. “London, the center of England's government, its economy, its royal court, its overseas trade—was, during these years, becoming an exciting metropolis, drawing to it thousands of new citizens every year.”

An Expansive Age Continued “Troubled by overcrowding, by poverty, by recurring epidemics of the plague, London was also a Mecca for the wealthy and the aristocratic,” “One hears in Shakespeare’s plays the voices of London—the struggles for power, the fear of venereal disease, the language of buying and selling. One also hears the voices of Stratford-upon-Avon, references to the nearby Forest of Arden, to sheep herding, to small- town gossip, to village fairs and markets.”

The Final Years Sometime between 1610 and 1613 Shakespeare seems to have returned to live in Stratford. He carefully invested in land and other property, which made him the wealthy man that surviving documents show him to have become. Shakespeare's growing wealth and reputation was believed to have played some part in granting John Shakespeare, his father, the coat of arms that he had so long sought.

The Final Years Continued 7 years after he died, his plays were published as Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies, his work is now known as The First Folio. Shakespeare died on April 23 rd 1616 was buried on April 25 th according to an epitaph carved under his bust in Holy Trinity Church.

Works Cited “Shakespeare's Life.” Folger. Mimi Godfrey. Folger Shakespeare Library. 4 April Web.