1.  Author Background

2.  Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon in England.  He was the son of John Shakespeare, a successful glover and alderman (councilman).  His mother was Mary Arden, the daughter of a rich farmer.  Shakespeare was baptized on April 26, 1564.  His birthdate is unknown, but is traditionally observed on April 23, 1564 (it was custom to baptize babies 3 days after birth).  Shakespeare died on April 23, 1616.

3.  Not much is known about Shakespeare’s education.  It is generally accepted that he was educated at the King’s New School in Stratford, a free school that was chartered in 1553.  Curriculum was enforced by law, and therefore we know that Shakespeare would have been educated in Latin and the Classics.  There is no evidence, however, that Shakespeare received a university education.

4.  At the age of 18, William Shakespeare married 26-year-old Anne Hathaway on November 27, 1582.  The marriage seemed to have been organized very quickly.  Speculation is that Anne may have been pregnant, which might have expedited the marriage.

5.  The hastiness of William and Anne’s marriage is plausible due to the fact that six months after the marriage, Anne gave birth to a daughter, Susanna.  Susanna was baptized on May 26, 1583.  Two years later, Anne gave birth to twins, a son named Hamnet and a daughter named Judith.  The twins were baptized on February 2, 1585.  Unfortunately, Hamnet, Shakespeare’s only son, died of unknown causes and was buried on August 11, 1596.  It is speculated that Hamlet was a tribute to Shakespeare’s son.

6.  After the birth of Shakespeare’s twins, very little was recorded about William until 1592, leaving a seven year gap in his life known as the “lost years.”  Speculation about these years is that Shakespeare moved to London and began working for a theater company as a horse-minder, beginning his ascension to fame.  Other thoughts are that he became a schoolmaster.  One report even suggests that Shakespeare fled Stratford to escape prosecution for poaching.

7.  By 1592, Shakespeare developed a successful career in theater in London.  He was so famous that he was attacked by fellow playwrights, who felt that Shakespeare, a relatively- uneducated man, was challenging the intellect of university graduates.  Robert Greene said of Shakespeare, “there is an upstart Crow, beautified with our feathers, that with his Tiger’s heart wrapped in a Player’s hide, supposes he is as well able to bombast out a blank verse as the best of you.”

8.  By 1594, Shakespeare was co-owner, actor, player, member, and principal playwright for a theatrical troupe called Lord Chamberlain’s Men.  This company quickly became the most successful and popular play company in London.

9.  When Queen Elizabeth I died in 1603, Lord Chamberlain’s Men were awarded a royal patent by the new king, James I, and its name was changed to The King’s Men.  They were so successful that in 1599, the group built their own theater on the south bank of the Thames called The Globe Theater.  Shakespeare became so wealthy that he purchased the second-largest house in Stratford.

10.  Not much is known about the roles Shakespeare performed during his theater career in London.  However, in his First Folio of 1623, it stated that Shakespeare was one of “the Principal Actors in all these plays.”  Some biographers have written that Shakespeare often played “kingly” roles, such as the ghost of Hamlet’s father (the dead king of Denmark).

11.  Shakespeare retired to Stratford in 1613.  He died on April 23, 1616, and was survived by his wife, Anne, and daughters Susanna and Judith.  Most of Shakespeare’s estate was left to Susanna, while he left for his wife Anne “his second best bed.”  Shakespeare’s daughters married, but due to deaths, there are no direct descendants of Shakespeare living.

12.  As a final poetic gesture, Shakespeare left an inscription on the stone covering his grave that read the following:  Good frend for Iesvs sake forbeare,  To digg the dvst encloased heare.  Blese be ye man yt spares thes stones,  And cvrst be he yt moves my bones.  So, what was Shakespeare trying to say?

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14.  Dialogue is a conversation between two or more characters.

15.  Monologue is a long speech spoken by one character to one or more other characters.

16.  Soliloquy is a speech in which a character speaks his or her thoughts aloud, usually alone on stage.

17.  Stage directions are information in the written play, not intended to be spoken by actors. They provide information about scenery, props, lighting, costumes, and actors’ movements on stage.

18.  Drama will also make use of terms related to fiction in general, such as: o Plot o Setting o Characters o Point of View o Theme