William Shakespeare Lecture Notes
Birth
April 23, 1564
Stratford-on-Avon
Death
April 23, 1616
Stratford-on-Avon
52 years old
Life
Most famous poet / playwright in the world
Lived during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I and King James I (Elizabethan Period)
His genius was his understanding of people
His skill was with words
His ability was pleasing an audience
His Family
Lived in and around London, England
Lived during the Renaissance
Father – John Shakespeare – glove maker, shop keeper, land owner, Bailiff (mayor) of
Stratford-on-Avon. (Well-off)
Mother – Mary Arden
William had 7 brothers and sisters
Married Anne Hathaway
He was 18
She was 26
Their first child was born 6 months after their marriage
They had three children:
Susanna
Twins: Hamnet and Judith.
Hamnet died at age 11.
Schooling
Attended the free grammar school – 7 AM to 5 PM - until age of 15
Studied Latin, Latin Grammar, and Mythology
Career
Gained fame about age 21
Member and part owner of Lord Chamberlain’s Men (later became King’s Men)
Earned most of his money as an actor, not a playwright
Actor for about 20 years
Wrote 37 plays
Paid approx. $40 to write a play
Also wrote poems and sonnets
Other playwrights / friends: Ben Johnson, Christopher (Kit) Marlowe
Fellow actor / good friend: Richard Burbage
Shakespeare was known as a quiet, polite, good-natured man and a loyal friend
Retire to New Place (house he bought)
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He never wrote a play set in Elizabethan England
Characters lived in medieval England, France, Italy
Used more words than any other writer – 21,000 words
Many he made up: critic, assassinate, bump, gloomy, suspicious, hurry, catching a
cold, the mind’s eye, elbow room
His Will
Left his wife his “second-best bed”
As a widow, she was entitled to 1/3 of his income of the estate and to remain in the house
Principal bequests were to his daughter, Judith
Susanna received 2 houses on Henley Street, all other lands, and menial residue
Elizabethan Age
Ideal man (Renaissance Man) was a courtier, skilled in social graces, fencer, poet,
conversationalist with wit, and a gentleman
Women were “lower” or less important than men
Marriages were often arranged
Women were powerless under the law