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LIFE:
Born on: 23 April 1564 place of birth: Stratford-on-Avon, Warwickshire
Died on: 23 April 1616 place of death: Stratford-on-Avon, Warwickshire
Information on:
His parents: Father John: respected middle-class trader;
Mother Mary Arden: from a family of local landowners
His education: fair education at the local Grammar School
His family: married with 18 to Anne Hathaway (8 years older)
His further life:
1586: left Stratford for London
1592: popular actor and writer, jack-of-all-trades for an older dramatist
1598: among the principal actors of the city
1599: member of the company running the Globe Theatre with 1/10 interest in the profit.
1611: bought property in Stratford and retired there
How was his popularity indicated?
1. other fellow writers published their plays under Shakespeare's name, because that guaranteed a good sale
2. an anthology of contemporary literature placed Shakespeare at the head of his contemporaries
WORKS:
1. Apprenticeship: 1586-1592
First famous play: Titus Adronicus (blood-soaked melodrama)
Early comedies: The Comedy of Errors, Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Taming of the Shrew,
Plays based "on real life stories": Henry VI, King John, Richard III
2. Growing success: 1594-1599
1594: Joined the Lord Chamberlain's Men (best theatrical company in England)
Successful plays of that time: The Merchant of Venice, Romeo&Juliet, A Midsummer's Night
Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It, Twelfth Night
3. The tragic phase: 1599-1608
1599: Shakespeare's company acquired the famous Globe Theatre
Plays of that period: Macbeth, Othello; King Lear, Hamlet, Julius Caesar,
Coriolanus, Antony and Cleopatra, Timon of Athens, Troilus
and Cressida, All's Well That Ends Well, Measure for Measure
4. The last plays: 1608-1611
1608: King's Men bought the Blackfriars
Plays of that time: Henry VIII, Pericles, Cymbeline, The Winter's Tail,
The Tempest
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