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BIRTH
William Shakespeare was born on 23rd April 1564 in Stratford upon Avon (market town, about 400 houses)/Henley Street, six years after Elizabeth I became Queen. He had seven sisters and brothers and got baptised 3 days after his birth in the Holy Trinity Church: Gulielmus filius Johannes Shakespeare. Mary Arden, his mother, was the daughter of Robert Arden, who was a successful farmer and landowner. John Shakespeare, his father, was a tradesman. He worked with soft leather, making belts, purses, aprons and gloves, and he also sold wool and barley. John was a respected man, in 1568 he was made bailiff (position corresponding to mayor).
SCHOOLBOY
William went to the local Grammar School in Stratford. He didn´t go on to university, judging from what he says about school in his plays, he doesn´t seem to have had a very happy time. He didn´t learn much, because Ben Jonson, a friend and admirer, said he had "small latin and less greek". School was strict and asked for discipline. His education was typically Tudor. The Bible guided his thoughts (it had by then been translated into English by the two great protestants William Tyndale and Miles Coverdale) and inspirated him.
FAMILY LIFE
He married Anne Hathaway in November 1582 when he was only eighteen. Anne was eight years older, but they had to rush because she was already pregnant. They probably lived with their three children Susanna (1583) and the twins Hamnet and Judith (1585) at his father`s house. It´s impossible to say which profession he had. Life wasn´t easy and must have been quite frustrating.
CAREER
It was in 1587 when William went to London. He started as an actor, became reviser and finally writer of plays. The people liked his comedies and tragedies, for example, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, Hamlet, Macbeth, Julius Caesar, Richard III, The Merry Wives Of Windsor, Much Ado About Nothing, The Merchant Of Venice, A Mid - Summer Night´s Dream, .. They´re even famous now. Some People say he was gay, because he wrote poems to a dark haired lady, which people suppose to be a man. William Shakespeare is one of the most important writers of this century. He died in 1616 when he was 52 years old.
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