William Shakespeare's Life

William Shakespeare was a famous actor and playwright who lived in Great Britain on the Elizabethan era(1558-1603) between 1564 and 1616. Known as the best playwright of all history, Shakespeare wrote 37 plays and 154 sonnets, his most known plays are Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth and Hamlet. Shakespeare plays are famous because that stories can be contextualized in those times and nowadays. Actually we know very few about Shakespeare's personal life. He was born in Stratford-upon-Avon on April 23, 1564. Shakespeare got married on November 28, 1582 with Anne Hathaway who gave him three children (Susanna and the twins Judith and Hamnet). Anne Hathaway was 8 years older than Shakespeare. In the year 1591 he moved to the city of London for search opportunities in the cultural area. In the Elizabethan times Shakespeare's plays were played in The Globe Theatre. The plays used to be in afternoon because these times they didn't have artificial lighting. During the plays if the audience don't like the performance they could talk, eat, smoke, etc. but they rarely caused trouble. Inside the theatre the normal people stood in the open pit before the stage. In 1613 the theatre a cannon targeted and fired to the Globe during a performance and

caught the roof on fire. Next year, it was rebuild and had been open until 1642 during the Puritan Revolution. The Puritans considered the plays sinful for several reasons: the young men dress like women to play female characters, the fact that theaters were in the same part of town where brothels were and other addiction centers and finally the defense, on the scene, political opinions contrary to Puritanism. Shakespeare's stories are a tribute to the British Monarchy and to Britain itself. He did it to try legitimize Elizabeth's position on the throne but also his position as favored playwright with his tributes. Shakespeare died on April 23, 1616 and that was his birthday . In his will he left to his wife a bed what he used to call as my second best bed because the first one was for his mistresses.

Some Shakespeare plays:

* Romeo and Juliet: That is a story about two young people of rival families, then they fall in love with each other.

* Hamlet: The play dramatizes the revenge Prince Hamlet exacts on his uncle Claudius for murdering King Hamlet, Claudius's brother and Prince Hamlet's father, and then succeeding to the throne and taking as his wife Gertrude, the old king's widow and Prince Hamlet's mother. That play is famous because of the phrase To be or not to be

All Shakespeare Works