1. Who is Shakespeare?
William Shakespeare

2. Shakespeare wrote during the Renaissance Period known as the Elizabethan Era, named after Queen Elizabeth I.
This time period was known as a time of immense creativity, culture, and the arts.

3. 1564
Shakespeare was born in England around (date) April 23rd, 1564 in Stratford-Upon Avon.
Parents: John and Mary Arden Shakespeare
Mary—daughter of wealthy landowner.
John—glovemaker, local politician.
We know this from the earliest record: his baptism which happened on Wednesday, April the 26th, Therefore, it is celebrated three days earlier.
He attended King’s New School in Stratford where he studied about 10 hours per day, 6 days per week.

4. 1582
He married Anne Hathaway, a woman eight years older than him; Together, they have 3 children:
Susanna (1583)
Hamnet and Judith (1585)
Hamnet died of the plague at age 11.

5. 1589
He sets out for London to make his fortune. He writes his first plays: Richard the Third, The Comedy of Errors, Titus Andronicus, The Taming of the Shrew, Henry the Sixth Parts I, II, and III.

6. 1592
He not only becomes a playwright, but an actor as well; theaters closed down for two years because of the plague.
He uses this time to write two poems: Venus & Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece.
The Globe Theater

7. 1594
Theaters reopen; he completes Love’s Labour’s Lost, Romeo and Juliet, Richard the Second, and King John.
He becomes a charter member of Lord Chamberlain’s Men.

8. 1596
He writes his histories between now and 1603; also writes The Merchant of Venice, Henry the Fifth, Julius Caesar, and Twelfth Night.

9. 1603
Queen Elizabeth dies and King James I becomes England’s new ruler. He renames Lord Chamberlain’s Men to The King’s Men.
Between now and 1608, he writes the tragedies Othello, King Lear, Macbeth, and Antony & Cleopatra.

10. 1608
Shakespeare writes his last plays, A Winter’s Tale and The Tempest.
He decides to retire and move back to Stratford-Upon Avon.

11. 1616
Shakespeare dies on April 23rd at the age of 52.

12. 1623
His First Folio was published by two members of The King’s Men.

13. Shakespeare has written 38 plays, as well as many sonnets and poems.

14. Shakespeare’s Major Works
The Comedy of Errors Henry VI (three parts) Richard III Titus Andronicus The Taming of the Shrew The Two Gentlemen of Verona "The Rape of Lucrece" "Sonnets" Love's Labor's Lost
Romeo and Juliet
Richard II A Midsummer Night's Dream King John "Venus and Adonis" The Merchant of Venice Henry IV (Part I) Henry IV (Part II) Much Ado About Nothing Henry V
1599 Julius Ceasar
As You Like It Twelfth Night
Hamlet The Merry Wives of Windsor "The Phoenix and the Turtle" Troilus and Cressida All's Well That Ends Well Othello Measure for Measure Timon of Athens
King Lear
Macbeth Antony and Cleopatra Coriolanus Pericles O - Cymbeline 161O-1I - The Winter's Tale 161I - The Tempest Henry VIII The Two Noble Kinsmen