Biography of William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare is arguably the most famous writer of the English language,
known for both his plays and sonnets. Though much about his life remains open to
debate due to incomplete evidence, the following biography consolidates the most
widely-accepted facts of Shakespeare's life and career.
In the mid-sixteenth century, William Shakespeare's father, John Shakespeare, moved
to the idyllic town of Stratford-upon-Avon. There, he became a successful landowner, moneylender,
glove-maker, and dealer of wool and agricultural goods. In 1557, he married Mary Arden.
During John Shakespeare's time, the British middle class was expanding in both size and wealth,
allowing its members more freedoms and luxuries, as well as a stronger collective voice in local
government. John took advantage of the changing times and became a member of the Stratford
Council in 1557, which marked the beginning of his illustrious political career. By 1561, he was
elected as one of the town's fourteen burgesses, and subsequently served as Constable, then
Chamberlain, and later, Alderman. In all of these positions, the elder Shakespeare administered
borough property and revenues. In 1567, he became bailiff - the highest elected office in Stratford
and the equivalent of a modern-day mayor.
Town records indicate that William Shakespeare was John and Mary's third child. His birth is
unregistered, but legend pins the date as April 23, 1564, possibly because it is known that he died on
the same date 52 years later. In any event, William's baptism was registered with the town of
Stratford on April 26, 1564. Little is known about his childhood, although it is generally assumed that
he attended the local grammar school, the King's New School. The school was staffed by Oxford-
educated faculty who taught the students mathematics, natural sciences, logic, Christian ethics, and
classical languages and literature.
Shakespeare did not attend university, which was not unusual for the time. University education was
reserved for wealthy sons of the elite, and even then, mostly just those who wanted to become
clergymen. The numerous classical and literary references in Shakespeare’s plays are a testament,
however, to the excellent education he received in grammar school, and speaks to his ability as an
autodidact. His early plays in particular draw on the works of Seneca and Plautus. Even more
impressive than Shakespeare's formal education is the wealth of general knowledge he exhibits in his
work. His vocabulary exceeds that of any other English writer of his time by a wide margin.
In 1582, at the age of eighteen, William Shakespeare married twenty-six-year-old Anne Hathaway.
Their first daughter, Susanna, was not baptized until six months after her birth - a fact that has given
rise to speculation over the circumstances surrounding the marriage. In 1585, Anne bore twins,
baptized Hamnet and Judith Shakespeare. Hamnet died at the age of eleven, by which time William
Shakespeare was already a successful playwright. Around 1589, Shakespeare wrote Henry VI, Part 1,
which is considered to be his first play. Sometime between his marriage and writing this play, he
moved to London, where he pursued a career as a playwright and actor.

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 Although many records of Shakespeare's life as a citizen of Stratford have survived, including his
marriage and birth certificates, very little information exists about his life as a young playwright.
Legend characterizes Shakespeare as a roguish young man who was once forced to flee London
under suspect circumstances, perhaps related to his love life, but the paltry amount of written
information does not necessarily confirm this facet of his personality.
In any case, young Will was not an immediate universal success. The earliest written record of
Shakespeare's life in London comes from a statement by his rival playwright Robert Greene. In
Groatsworth of Witte (1592), Greene calls Shakespeare an "upstart crow...[who] supposes he is as
well able to bombast out a blank verse as the best of you." While this is hardly high praise, it does
suggest that Shakespeare rattled London's theatrical hierarchy from the beginning of his career. In
retrospect, it is possible to attribute Greene's complaint to jealousy of Shakespeare's ability, but the
scarcity of evidence renders the comment ambiguous.
With Richard III, Henry VI, The Comedy of Errors, and Titus Andronicus under his belt, Shakespeare
became a popular playwright by 1590.* The year 1593, however, marked a major leap forward in his
career when he secured a prominent patron: The Earl of Southampton. In addition, Venus and
Adonis was published; it one of the first of Shakespeare's known works to be printed, and it was a
huge success. Next came The Rape of Lucrece. By this time, Shakespeare had also made his mark as
a poet, as most scholars agree that he wrote the majority of his sonnets in the 1590s.
In 1594, Shakespeare returned to the theater and became a charter member of the Lord
Chamberlain's Men - a group of actors who changed their name to the King's Men when James I
ascended the throne. By 1598, Shakespeare had been appointed the "principal comedian" for the
troupe; by 1603, he was "principal tragedian." He remained associated with the organization until his
death. Although acting and playwriting were not considered noble professions at the time,
successful and prosperous actors were relatively well respected. Shakespeare’s success left him with
a fair amount of money, which he invested in Stratford real estate. In 1597, he purchased the second
largest house in Stratford - the New Place - for his parents. In 1596, Shakespeare applied for a coat
of arms for his family, in effect making himself a gentleman. Consequently, his daughters made
“good matches,” and married wealthy men.
The same year that he joined the Lord Chamberlain's Men, Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet,
Love's Labour's Lost, The Taming of the Shrew, and several other plays. In 1600, he wrote two of his
greatest tragedies, Hamlet and Julius Caesar. Historians and scholars consider Hamlet to be the first
modern play because of its multi-faceted main character and unprecedented depiction of the
human psyche.
The first decade of the seventeenth century witnessed the debut performances of several of
Shakespeare’s most celebrated works, including many of his so-called history plays: Othello in 1604
or 1605; Antony and Cleopatra in 1606 or 1607; and King Lear in 1608. The last of Shakespeare's
plays to be performed during his lifetime was most likely King Henry VIII in either 1612 or 1613.
William Shakespeare died in 1616. His wife Anna died in 1623, at the age of 67. Shakespeare was
buried in the chancel of his church at Stratford. The lines above his tomb, allegedly written by
Shakespeare himself, read:

Good friend, for Jesus' sake forbear

To dig the dust enclosed here.
Blessed be the man that spares these stones
And cursed be he that moves my bones.

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 *The dates of composition and debut performance of almost all of Shakespeare's plays remain
uncertain. The dates used in this note are widely agreed upon by scholars, but there is still significant
debate around the dates of completion for many of his plays.

Study Guides on Works by William

Shakespeare

All's Well That Ends Well Antony and Cleopatra William

William Shakespeare
Composed sometime between 1595 and 1603,
the first recorded performance of William
Shakespeare’s tragicomedy All’s Well That Ends
Well took place on November 8, 1623. That the
next recorded performance did not occur until
1741 provides some...
Shakespeare
Shakespeare lived in a time of great
transformation for Western Europe. New
advances in science were overturning ancient
ideas about astronomy and physics. The
discovery of the Americas had transformed the
European conception of the world....

As You Like It William Cardenio William Shakespeare

Shakespeare Cardenio is considered a lost play. The authors
are believed to be John Fletcher and William
As You Like It was likely written between 1598
Shakespeare. The attribution is based primarily
and 1600. It was entered in the Stationers'
upon two 1613 performances by the King’s Men
Register on August 4, 1600 but no edition
acting troupe of a play listed by either the title
followed the entry, thereby leading to the
Cardenno...
ambiguity in its publication date. Two topical
references have been...

Comedy of Errors William Coriolanus William Shakespeare

Shakespeare Shakespeare's principal source for the story of
Coriolanus is a history written by Plutarch, of a
The Comedy of Errors is one of Shakespeare's
Coriolanus who supposedly lived in ancient
earliest plays, but it is wrong to think of it as an
Rome. Shared with this source material is a
apprentice work. It was first printed in the First
concern for the overlap between virtue and
Folio in 1623, and the earliest known
valour; whereas, in...
performance is recorded to have been at Gray's
Inn, one of...

Cymbeline William Shakespeare Hamlet William Shakespeare

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 Cymbeline, one of Shakespeare's most
ambitious and complicated plays, tells the story
of a mythic king of England, Cymbeline, who
reigned during the first century A.D. Its several
plots trace the tribulations of the King and his
royal family on...
Henry IV Part 1 William
Shakespeare
Henry IV, Part One first appeared in print in
1598, when two separate quartos were made.
The second quarto serves as the standard text
for most modern editions, and was followed
closely by five more quartos in 1599, 1604,
1608, 1613, and 1622. The...
Henry V William Shakespeare
Henry V was probably the greatest military
leader that England ever had. He laid claim to
the French throne in 1414 by invoking an
English royal claim, and managed to win the
Battle of Agincourt the following year against
seemingly impossible...
Julius Caesar William
Shakespeare
The only authoritative edition of Julius Caesar
is the 1623 First Folio, which appears to have
used the theater company's official
promptbook rather than Shakespeare's
manuscript. Some anomalies exist, most
notably in Act Four where there is...
Love's Labour's Lost William
Shakespeare
A most excellent reason exists for Kenneth
Branagh making the decision to turn William
Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost into a
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The story of the play originates in the legend of
Hamlet (Amleth) as recounted in the twelfth-
century Danish History, a Latin text by Saxo the
Grammarian. This version was later adapted
into French by Francois de Belleforest in 1570.
In it, the...
Henry IV Part 2 William
Shakespeare
Shakespeare lived in a time of great
transformation for Western Europe. New
advances in science were overturning ancient
ideas about astronomy and physics. The
discovery of the Americas had transformed the
European conception of the world....
Henry VIII William Shakespeare
Although Henry VIII is attributed to the
Shakespeare canon and found in nearly every
single collection of his plays, the general
consensus has long been that the play which
brings into the cycle of Shakespeare’s histories
the most drama-worthy of...
King Lear William Shakespeare
The story of King Lear and his three daughters
existed in some form up to four centuries
before Shakespeare recorded his vision. Lear
was a British King who reigned before the birth
of Christ, allowing Shakespeare to place his
play in a Pagan...
Macbeth William Shakespeare
Legend says that Macbeth was written in 1605
or 1606 and performed at Hampton Court in
1606 for King James I and his brother-in-law,
King Christian of Denmark. Whether it was first
performed at the royal court or was premiered
at the Globe...
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 musical comedy when he adapted it for the
screen. (Although critics and the dozen or so
people who actually paid to...
Measure for Measure William
Shakespeare
The first performance of Measure for Measure
is believed to have taken place in 1604, during
the reign of King James I. By this time,
Shakespeare is believed to have begun writing
his plays for performance at the Blackfriars
theatre, a small,...
A Midsummer Night's Dream
William Shakespeare
A Midsummer Night's Dream is first mentioned
by Francis Meres in 1598, leading many scholars
to date the play between 1594 and 1596. It is
likely to have been written around the same
period Romeo and Juliet was created. Indeed,
many similarities...
Othello William Shakespeare
The plot of Shakespeare's Othello is largely
taken from Giraldi Cinthio's Gli Hecatommithi, a
tale of love, jealousy, and betrayal; however,
the characters, themes, and attitudes of the
two works are vastly different, with
Shakespeare's play being...
Richard II William Shakespeare
Richard II was first printed in 1597 in a good
quality text most likely taken from
Shakespeare's manuscript. Two reprints in 1598
mention Shakespeare as the author. Later prints
in 1608 and 1615 appear to be taken from the
earlier versions, but...
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Merchant of Venice William
Shakespeare
The Merchant of Venice was first printed in
1600 in quarto, of which nineteen copies
survive. This was followed by a 1619 printing,
and later an inclusion in the First Folio in 1623.
The play was written shortly after Christopher
Marlowe's...
Much Ado About Nothing
William Shakespeare
Much Ado About Nothing was first published in
1600 and was likely written in 1598. The 1600
printing was the only copy published during
Shakespeare's lifetime, and bears the title
inscription describing that the play "hath been
sundrie times...
Rape of Lucrece William
Shakespeare
T’was a plague that gave birth to William
Shakespeare’s long narrative poem “The Rape
of Lucrece.” Between June 1592 and May 1594,
acting companies were banished from London
and the theater essentially became non-
existent. The reason for this was...
Richard III William Shakespeare
Richard III generated a great deal of interest
both during and after Shakespeare's lifetime. It
was published in quarto at least five times after
being performed in 1592. Richard Burbage first
played Richard the Third and made the
"poisonous...
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 Romeo and Juliet William
Shakespeare
Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare's most famous
tragedy and one of the world's most enduring
love stories, derives its plot from several
sixteenth century sources. Shakespeare's
primary inspiration for the play was Arthur
Brooke's Tragical History of...
The Taming of the Shrew
William Shakespeare
Like many of Shakespeare's plays, the origins of
The Taming of the Shrew are difficult to
ascertain. The play as we have it today comes
from the First Folio of 1623. However, an earlier
version of the play, entitled The Taming of a
Shrew, was...
Titus Andronicus William
Shakespeare
For centuries, Titus Andronicus has carried the
reputation of being the worst play by the best
playwright. Though it was a great success when
first staged in the late sixteenth century, in 1687
an English producer, Edward Ravenscroft,
declared ...
Twelfth Night William
Shakespeare
Twelfth Night is one of the most commonly
performed Shakesperean comedies, and was
also successful during Shakespeare's lifetime.
The first surviving account of the play's
performance comes from a diary entry written
early in 1602, talking about...
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Shakespeare's Sonnets William
Shakespeare
Shakespeare's sonnets comprise 154 poems in
sonnet form that were published in 1609 but
likely written over the course of several years.
Evidence for their existence long preceding
publication comes from a reference in Francis
Mere's 1598 Palladis...
The Tempest William
Shakespeare
The Tempest first appeared in print as the first
play in the 1623 Folio of Shakespeare.
Throughout the play's history, the play has been
variously regarded as a highlight of
Shakespeare's dramatic output, as a
representation of the essence of...
Troilus and Cressida William
Shakespeare
Sardonic, farcical, dark and tragicomic, Troilus
and Cressida is a play that seems more
comfortable on today's stage than it ever was in
Shakespeare's day. Indeed, Troilus went
unstaged for three hundred years; following its
first performance in...
The Two Gentlemen of
Verona William Shakespeare
The Two Gentlemen of Verona was penned by
William Shakespeare sometime between 1590
and 1594, thus placing it among the earliest of
the Bard’s plays. The primary source for
Shakespeare in writing this play appears to be a
Spanish romance by Jorge...
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 The Winter's Tale William
Shakespeare
Shakespeare lived in a time of great
transformation for Western Europe. New
advances is science were overturning ancient
ideas about astronomy and physics. The
discovery of the Americas had transformed the
European conception of the world....

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