Shakespeare's Life

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was born on April 23, 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. He was the third of eight children. He lived with his father. It is presumed that he grew up in Henley Street, some one hundred miles northwest of London. He married Anne Hathaway, they had three children; the eldest Susanna, and the twins Judith and Hamnet. Shakespeare was supposed to have left Stratford after he was caught poaching.

Seven years after the birth of his twins Shakespeare and his family disappear from all records until 1588. Shakespeare and his family arrive in London in 1588. By 1592 he had became successful as an actor and a playwright. He wrote comedies, tragedies, and historic plays also. One thing different about all of Shakespeare's tragedies is the tragic hero's flaw always causes his death, while other writers leave there tragic hero's alive. Shakespeare's reputation as a gifted and popular poet was established after his narrative poems Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece. In 1609, Shakespeare's poems were published without the his permission. It is thought unlikely that he wanted many of his deeply personal poems to be revealed to the world. It was not the first time; in 1599, in a collection entitled "The Passionate Pilgrim", two of his poems had been printed without permission.

Shakespeare's life in London was marked by a number of financially arrangements that permitted him to share in the profits of his acting company, the Chamberlain's Men, later called the King's Men, and its two theaters, the Globe Theatre and the Blackfriars. His plays were presented to Queen Elizabeth I and King James I more times than any other Bard.

After about 1608, Shakespeare's play production lessened and he spent more time in Stratford. There he purchased a new home for his family in a mansion called New Place and