Birthplace

No one really knows where or when William Shakespeare was born. People generally accept the date April 23, because after birth, the baby must be baptized on the next Sunday or holy day. "The actual date of Shakespeare's birth is not known, but, traditionally, April 23, St George's Day, has been Shakespeare's accepted birthday, and a house on Henley Street in Stratford, owned by William's father, John, is accepted as Shakespeare's birth place." (Mabillard).This demonstrates the importance of keeping records. Back in the day, records were lost or damaged causing us to lose valuable information about important historical characters. Nowadays, it is a lot easier to keep and store records so that future generations can access this information.

Education

While there are no real records about where Shakespeare attended school, people assume that because of his fathers position, he would have wanted to educate him. People assume that he attended Stratford grammar school because it was close to his house. "Though no records of his education survive, it is likely that he attended the well-regarded local grammar school, where he would have studied Latin grammar and classics." (History) I think people can also assume that Shakespeare attended this school because of his future career in writing. It is clear that his passions for literature and writing developed from somewhere, and school is a great guess.

Shakespeare's marriage and kids

Shakespeare got married really young to a much older woman named Anne Hathaway. Eventually had 3 kids, one of which died later on in life. "At the age of eighteen, he married Anne Hathaway, who was eight years older than he was. Sometime after the birth of their second or third children (twins), Shakespeare moved to London..." (Anderson) Shakespeare was forced to grow up at a really young age when he married Anne and almost immediately became a father. It appears that they may have only married due to her pregnancy once again setting Shakespeare up for a tragic life.

Shakespeare's Early Life

Shakespeare went through a period of relative seclusion. It is unknown exactly what he did during this time, however he emerged from this period a literary genius. "Shakespeare's daily activities after he left school and before he re-emerged as a professional actor in the late 1580s are impossible to trace. Suggestions that he might have worked as a schoolmaster or lawyer or glover with his father and brother, Gilbert, are all plausible.So too is the argument that Shakespeare studied intensely to become a master at his literary craft, and honed his acting skills while traveling and visiting playhouses outside of Stratford." (Mabillard) This shows the importance of practicing our skills. Shakespeare probably spent many of these years writing various stories and poems in order to better his writing skills.

Shakespeare's Early London Career

Shakespeare was beginning to delve into a new writing career. This career path included jealous people fighting to be the first to make it big. "Shakespeare apparently attracted the hostile attention of a jealous rival. Robert Greene was a university-trained writer who was among the first to attempt to make a career of writing for the stage and the commercial press. " (Lander).The fact that Shakespeare was able to become as famous as he did is very impressive because of how competitive the field was. He was a pioneer in this type of writing allowing him to become a success.

His first poem

When the plague was going around, the theaters were shut down to try to contain the disease. While this happened playwrights were unable to perform. In order to survive, Shakespeare was forced to move onto poetry for the time being. "From mid-1592 to 1594, London authorities frequently closed the theaters because of repeated outbreaks of plague. Without the income provided by acting and playwriting, Shakespeare turned to poetry. In 1593, Venus and Adonis became the first of Shakespeare’s works to be published." (Lander) This demonstrates how talented Shakespeare was. Since he could not make money doing what he knew how to do best, he was forced to turn to another form of literary work. He was able to make this a successful career for himself as well.

Shakespeare's Writing

Shakespear's work has been debated for years because proper records were not kept to distinguish exactly what work he wrote. Therefore people are forced to use voice to separate Shakespeare's work. His voice can be divided into two different periods of his life, one of comedies and the other of tragedies. "The apparent change in the subject and temper of Shakespeare's work at the beginning of the seventeenth century has been the subject of much idle talk. There is no more reason to believe that he was specially and personally merry when he wrote this group of comedies, than there is to believe that he was sad or embittered during the period which produced Julius Caesar, Hamlet, Othello, Lear, Macbeth, Antony and Cleopatra—to which some would add Troilus and Cressida, Timon, and even Measure for Measure, as well as Coriolanus. " (Saintsbury) Being able to decide if a piece of literature was written by a specific author lies in the ability to recognize different styles of writing. Shakespeare's voice is seen throughout his work demonstrating the importance of having personal style.

Shakespeare's Acting

It is unknown whether Shakespeare was forced to travel to London in order to begin his acting career or whether he was recruited. However, it quickly became apparent that Shakespeare was talented in the acting field. "Whether an acting troupe recruited Shakespeare in his hometown or he was forced on his own to travel to London to begin his career, he was nevertheless an established actor in the great city by the end of 1592. In this year came the first reference to Shakespeare in the world of the theatre. " (Mabillard) Sometimes people are forced to go out and make their own dreams happen. Whether or not Shakespeare was recruited does not matter. He became a success because he went to London to accomplish something he knew he wanted to accomplish.

Year of Frame

In London, Shakespeare was known to be one was the top ranked popular playwrights. He was ranked this high because of how many times his plays were performed and published. "During much of this period, Shakespeare ranked as London’s most popular playwright, based on the number of times his plays were performed and published." (Lander) Shakespeare was extremely talented. He quickly became successful in this field, and he managed to become an icon that we still recognize in modern day literature.

His Legacy

Shakespeare was one of the most famous writers in history. Some people have argued that he even changed the English language through popular phrases he created. "Shakespeare is believed to have influenced the English language more than any other writer in history, coining—or, at the very least, popularizing—terms and phrases that still regularly crop up in everyday conversation. Writers can be some of the most influential individuals. Even hundreds of years later, Shakespeare's influence is seen through everyday conversation showing how his work has lived on long past him.