Shakespeare
Family Background
William Shakespeare’s father was John Shakespeare. He was the alderman of the city Stradford. But in 1578 he cancelled his career of unexplainable reasons. John and Mary, the mother of William, had 8 children. William was married to Anne Hathaway. It is very interesting that his wife was 26 years old when she married William, he was 19 years old. Six month after the marriage Susanna Shakespeare was born. William left Stradford without Anne, so I think it wasn’t a happy marriage.
His education
He visited the Grammar School in Stradford and was well grounded. His father was a senior official in town and so Shakespeare had free access to education. Historians say that he didn’t visit a university and his knowledge in his plays was from his friends and out of books.
His career and his works
Shakespeare’s career started in London with a theatrical company. At that time he was an actor and playwright for this company. In 1592 the theatres closed, because of the plague and Shakespeare began to write poems. Most notable were “Venus and Adonis” and “The Rape of Lucrece”. When the theatres reopened he wrote plays again. He wrote good plays and in 1599 he became a partner of the new Global theatre. His plays were only performed in the Globe theatre and the scrip of his plays were also there.
He wrote tradegies, histories, comedies and romances. The most famous plays he wrote are “Hamlet”, “Romeo and Juliet”, “Othello” and “A Midsummer Night's Dream”
©Michael Dietrich