William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare, the phenomenal playwright of the 16th and 17th century. Mr Shakespeare is not only the greatest playwright of the literary world but also is an inspiration to current and future playwrights, poets, authors and actors. William Shakespeare is known mainly as an actor and writer of plays. He had a full life in maturity and is the perfect role model for any all-rounded scholar of the Arts.

William Shakespeare was born in Stratford, England on the twenty third day of April, 1564. He was the third child and eldest son born to John Shakespeare and Mary Arden. Joan and Margaret were William's older sisters. His younger siblings were Gilbert, Joan (named after the first Joan who was a victim of the plague), Anne, Richard and Edmund. William attended the Stratford Grammar School between the ages of 6 and 13. In this educational institute he enjoyed learning English and Latin and also enjoyed reading stories written by Latin authors. In addition to this, Shakespeare worked for a butcher.

The "I do's"; these matrimonial vows were taken by Shakespeare and his wife to be, Ann Hathaway in the year 1582. Ann and William had three lovely children in total: Susanna, born in 1583, Hamnet and Judith, the twins born in 1585. Sadly, in 1596, young Hamnet passed on. It is often said that one of Shakespeare's famous characters (of his plays) stemmed from the name of his only son-Hamnet.

In the year 1592 and onwards, Shakespeare is a more recognized figure in the English society. The years before that, ranging from 1578-1582 and 1585-1592 are termed as the "Lost Years", that he did not acquire the skills of a playwright and actor. Nevertheless, he accumulated great wealth in the few following years and was soon able to assist in the financing of the Globe. The Globe was to be the new playhouse, since the old theatre was demolished. Shakespeare wrote a numerous number of plays, some popular ones including: A Midsummer's Night's Dream, The Merchant of Venice, The Tempest, Macbeth, King Lear, Othello, Hamlet, the three parts of Henry VI and last, but most definitely not least, Romeo and Juliet, which was the first of his greater plays. Two of his few poems include: “Venus and Adonis” and “Sonnets”.

On the 23rd of April, 1616 Shakespeare died at Stratford. After Shakespeare's death, two of his fellow actors, Heming and Condell made the interesting observation that Shakespeare's “hand and mind went together, and what he thought, he uttered with that easiness that we scarce received from him a blot in his papers”. These two men put together a Folio volume of thirty-six of William Shakespeare's plays in honour of such a greatly talented man.