William Shakespeare Background Information By: Jared Eben 4/21/02.

William Shakespeare

Background InformationBy: Jared Eben

4/21/02

William Shakespeare

Shakespeare Quick Facts• Date Baptized: April 26, 1564• Death: April 23, 1616• Place of Birth: Stratford-upon-Avon• Known for:

• Producing perhaps the most varied and powerful body of work any author has ever written

• Exploring elemental themes of power, justice, love, and death in his tragedies, comedies, histories, romances, and sonnets

• Creating realistic stage characters whose appeal comes in their truly human motives, actions, and flaws

• Achieving widespread and lasting recognition for his work, which continues to be taught and performed worldwide

• Adding innumerable phrases and quotations to the English language

Shakespeare Quick Facts• Milestones:

• 1593 Published the poem Venus and Adonis• 1594 Published the poem The Rape of Lucrece• 1594 Joined the Chamberlain's Men theatrical company as an actor

and playwright• Early 1590s Shakespeare's early plays, The Comedy of Errors, The

Taming of the Shrew, Richard III, and Henry VI, Parts I, II, and III, were performed for the first time.

• Mid 1590s Shakespeare's plays Romeo and Juliet, The Merchant of Venice, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Richard II were first performed.

• Late 1590s Shakespeare's comedic plays The Merry Wives of Windsor, Much Ado About Nothing, and As You Like It were first performed. His tragic play Julius Caesar was performed about 1599.

• 1600-1606 Shakespeare's great tragedies Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth were first performed.

• 1606-1613 Shakespeare's later plays, Pericles, Prince of Tyre, The Winter's Tale, The Tempest, and Henry VIII were first performed.

• 1609 Published Sonnets• 1623 First Folio, a compilation of all of Shakespeare's plays, was

posthumously published.

Shakespeare Quick Facts

• Did You Know:• During a performance of Shakespeare's

Henry VIII at London's Globe Theatre in 1613, a cannon set the roof on fire and the theater was destroyed.

• At 18, Shakespeare married 26-year-old Anne Hathaway. They had a daughter, Susanna, and twins, Hamnet and Judith.

• In the mid-19th century, some scholars believed that Shakespeare’s plays were authored instead by Sir Francis Bacon.

My Questions

• What kind of plays would he write today?

• How many plays has he written?• Where did Shakespeare get the

inspiration for his plays?

What kind of plays would he write today?

• I think he would write the same types of stories but with new technology and our words today. If he was writing a love story, he could create a new environment which emphasizes on the love of the couple, with action as well as fun, but still gets the story across.

The Globe Theater

• The Globe Theater was where many of Shakespeare’s plays were performed.

How many plays has he written?

• William Shakespeare has written:• 17 Comedies• 10 Histories• 10 Tragedies

• Making a total of 37 Plays

The Works of Shakespeare

• A Table Of Shakespeare’s Works Can Be Found By Clicking This Button:

Where did Shakespeare get the inspiration for his plays?

• It is not a fact where Shakespeare got his inspiration, therefore we must assume where he got them. I believe that he got it from his family. Family is the most important in most people’s lives. His family must have at some time given him advice, or praise.

Mrs. Ward’s Questions

• How did his childhood & adulthood effect his writing?

• Did the Renaissance culture have an effect on his writing?

• Why are we still reading and performing his plays today?

How did his childhood & adulthood effect his writing?

• Yes. He had an out of the ordinary family. Many of his siblings died. His father was an irresponsible man, morally and financially. So much of an unordinary family must have had an effect on his writing.

Did the Renaissance culture have an effect on his writing?

• Yes. I think that if he had done it in our time period he would not have been accepted. The Renaissance was the perfect time period for Shakespeare. If it had not been done in the Renaissance there would be no Shakespeare.

Why are we still reading and performing his plays today?

• We are still reading and performing his plays today because they are so greatly done and well thought, that know one (so far) has been better and that we can never forget them. They teach us so much in such a little amount of plays, that we can still relate to them to our every day life. They have anger, laughter, seriousness, and whatever else you can think up. We will never forget these plays.

Bibliography

• Google Images: http://www.google.com

• Globe Theater: http://www.rdg.ac.uk/globe/oldglobe/oldglobe_index.htm

• Encarta Encyclopedia CD-ROM• Shakespeare’s Works:

http://tech-two.mit.edu/Shakespeare/works.html