William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was born on April 23, 1564 and died of unknown causes at the age of 52 on his birthday on April 23, 1616. The education Shakespeare received included learning to speak and write in Latin. At that time, Shakespeare would have been expected to translate Latin to English and English to Latin. He also studied the works of classical authors and dramatists such as Ovid, Plautus, Horace, Virgil, Cicero, and Seneca. When Shakespeare was 14, he left school and not much is known of his life until he was 18 when he married Anne Hatheway, who was 26 and already several months pregnant. Shakespeare was away in London for long periods of time, until he retired. When he retired he remained in Stratford until his death. He was buried at Holy Trinity Church. Shakespeare is best known for being a dramatist who wrote numerous plays for entertainment. To this day, many different kinds of theatre companies put on Shakespeare plays, from small amateur groups to large professional companies. Shakespeare's contribution to the arts also includes many film and television productions of his plays, his plots, characters, and poetry.

William Shakespeare's wife, Anne Hatheway was born in 1556. She lived in Shottery which was not far from Stratford. The house was shared between Anne and her brother after the death of their parents. She married Shakespeare in November, 1582. Anne gave birth to three children, Susanna in 1583, and the twins Hamnet and Judith in 1585. Shakespeare has often been thought to have disliked his wife. For most of their marriage, he lived in London while she remained in Stratford. In addition, Shakespeare left Anne only the "second-best bed," according to his will. During that time period, "the best-bed" was reserved for guests only. The "second -best bed" would have likely been the bed that Anne and William shared. According to his will, Anne would have needed to be supported by her children. Shakespeare chose to remain in Stratford even after retirement. Anne Hatheway died in 1623.

As previously stated, William Shakespeare was born in 1564, in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, to John Shakespeare and Mary Arden. There is no record of his exact date of birth but his parents had William baptized on Wednesday April 26, 1564. Since it was customary at that time to have a new-born baptized before the following Sunday, it is assumed that he was born on April 23, 1564. William's father, John Shakespeare was born in 1531. William's grandfather, Richard Shakespeare, a farmer, worked various plots of land. one of which was owned by William's maternal grandfather, Robert Arden of Wilmecote . William's mother, Mary Arden was born in 1540. The Ardens were one of the most prominent families in Warwickshire, tracing back beyond the Norman Conquest. Mary was favored the most of the eight daughters of Robert Arden. Her father died when she was sixteen and she was in her father's will, in which he left her some money and some land.

During his lifetime, Shakespeare's contribution to the arts included tragedies, comedies, and historical plays. Shakespeare's tragedies are his most famous and popular plays. "Romeo and Juliet", "Macbeth", "Othello", and "Hamlet", are some of the most famous characters in these tragedies. At the end of Shakespeare's tragedy, the hero and several of the other characters are dead. Several of his tragedies contain supernatural characters such as ghosts and witches. In "Macbeth" for example, Macbeth kills King Duncan and is crowned King himself. Another character known as Malcolm later kills Macbeth and Malcolm becomes King. When "Macbeth" kills a character known as Banquo, his ghost appears at Macbeth's feast that evening reminding Macbeth of his guilt.

Shakespeare's comedies are not always funny but they usually have happy endings. They can be divided into three main groups, happy comedies, which are often funny, problem plays, which deal with more serious issues, and the romances, which are similar to fairy tales. "The Taming of the Shrew" is an example of a happy comedy which is about a man from Verona, Petruchio, who goes to Padua to marry a rich woman. He arrives at his friend's house and is told of a woman named Katherine who is available to wed, and that her father is very rich, but she is intolerable. Petruchio goes to woo her anyway

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