The Life of William Shakespeare
Shakespeare Early Years
Success in London
Lord Chamberlain’s Men
Birth date –
Hometown –
Father –
Personal life –
Education Stratford –
The Globe Theatre –
Marriage –
The Jacobean Era
Children -
Elizabeth I dies –
James I –
Lord Chamberlain’s Men –
Then What?
The Lost Years –
“wit-combats” –
Poet and Playwright
The Final Plays
actor + playwright
The Rose -
“Romances” –
Henry Wriothesley -
The Tempest –
150 Sonnets –
Henry VIII play –
Return to Stratford
Shakespeare’s moves to Stratford –
death cause –
Elizabeth Rules! (literally)
The Virgin Queen Medieval  Modern times
London is flourishing!
Shakespeare’s will –
Religious Strife
Epitaph:
Good friend for Jesus sake forbeare,
To dig the dust enclosed here.
Blessed be the man that spares these stones,
And cursed be he that moves my bones.
Cath.

Henry VIII
Prot.  Cath. 
Henry VIII
Mary
Effect on Shakespeare
Shakespeare in His Time
HENRY VIII – 6 wives
Divorced –
Domestic Affairs
Key advisors
Army
Problems –
People <3 Elizabeth I
2. Anne Boleyn – )
Executed –
3. Jane Seymour –
Died –
4. Anne of Cleves
Divorced / Annuled
5. Kathryn Howard
Executed
6. Katherine Parr
Widowed –
Elizabeth
Cath = Catholic Prot = Protestant
Treatment of Catholics
1. Catherine of Aragon –
Prot.
Urban Life
Population
Entertainment
first permanent theatre
Class boundaries
Plague –
 Prot.
James
Mary, Queen of Scots
Master of the Revels –
Off limits –
Mary Stuart –
Catholics/ Protestants in Scotland
Imprisonment
Plots
Beheaded
Theatre Structure
Elizabeth’s Love Life
Anti-marriage –
New King James I
Life Behind the Curtain
Elizabeth dies
Less successful
Personality
Rivalry –
King James Bible
Macbeth
Theatre  Globe
What’s my roll?
Kit Marlowe (Christopher) –
“Shakespeare mirrored turbulence,
innovation, excitement, and soulsearching of a fast-changing society”
University Wits –
Elizabethan and Jacobean Theatre
Theatre Before and During
Miracle plays –
Morality plays –
The Theatre –
Church opinions –
The Tower of London
Prison
Moat
Heads on stakes
The Life of William Shakespeare
SHAKESPEARE'S CHILDHOOD
birth date - April 23rd 1564
hometown - Stratford Upon Avon,
England
father - John Shakespeare glove-making,
town councilman, high bailiff, secret
catholic --> debt (possible alcohol
problems)
education - excellent school system
taught by college graduates
15 or 16 yr olds from wealthy
families went to Cambridge or Oxford Shakespeare did not.
married - Anne Hathaway ( 8 yrs older)
because she was pregnant
children - Susanna, then twins, Judith
and Hamnet died at 11(?)
Personal life – little info, apt. in London,
returned to Stratford for son’s death,
bought a big house for his family in
Stratford – New Place
The Globe Theatre – 1599, Richard
Burbage was principle male role
THE JACOBEAN ERA
Elizabeth I dies – 1603
James I – King of Scotland becomes
King of England
Lord Chamberlain’s Men - became
King’s Men (James I)
2 plays per year
“wit-combats” - Shakespeare and Ben
Johnson –in taverns 8 Mile/Eminem
THE LOST YEARS
1585-1592 (almost a decade) No records
solider? lawyer's clerk?thief? tutor?
THE FINAL PLAYS
“Romances” – The Winter’s Tale, The
Tempest – magic, storms, and divine
interventions
The Tempest – last play Shakespeare
wrote on his own
Henry VIII play – set fire to Globe
Theatre 1613
POET AND PLAYWRIGHT
Both an actor + playwright
The Rose – London’s most popular
theatre in 1590s
1592 – instead of touring the country
with players he wrote poetry. Henry
Wriothesley – 2 long poems
150 Sonnets – about who?
RETURN TO STRATFORD
Shakespeare’s moves to Stratford – 1614
death - April 23rd 1616
cause – festivities at his daughter’s
wedding, drank too much walked home,
caught a cold  Pneumonia
Shakespeare’s will – 2nd best bed to his
wife
SUCCESS IN LONDON
Lord Chamberlain’s Men – was a
shareholder (piece of the profit)
Shakespeare, Will Kemp + Richard
Burbage, considered London’s best and
performed for Queen Elizabeth at court,
Not a very good actor  focused on
playwrighting
Epitaph:
Good friend for Jesus sake forbeare,
To dig the dust enclosed here.
Blessed be the man that spares these
stones,
And cursed be he that moves my bones.
Shakespeare in His Time
HENRY VIII – 6 wives
1. Catherine of Aragon – Spanish +
Catholic, daughter Mary (previously
married to Henry’s brother)
Divorced - attempted annulment,
banishment from Holy Roman Church.
Henry becomes a Protestant
2. Anne Boleyn – daughter Elizabeth ( I )
Executed - adultery, incest and plotting
to murder the King
3. Jane Seymour – son Edward (died
young)
Died – lack of strength after childbirth
4. Anne of Cleves
Divorced / Annuled
DOMESTIC AFFAIRS
Key advisors
Army – no standing army
Self-governed – most of England
Outbreaks of plague, food riots, catholic
plots, threats on invasion
People <3 Elizabeth I – despite suffering
URBAN LIFE
Population– in London doubled to
200,000 during Elizabeth’s reign
Entertainment – bear/bull baiting. Dog
and cock-fighting arenas
1576 – first permanent theatre
Class boundaries – eliminated!
Plague - outbreaks shut down
playhouses. Believed to be breeding
grounds for plague because of sinful
plays  what about church?
MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS
5. Kathryn Howard
Executed - adultery
Mary Stuart – Catholics tried to put her
in power, ruled Scotland until Protestants
overthrew her. She went to Elizabeth for
help and was imprisoned for 20 years.
Plotted to kill Elizabeth was beheaded.
6. Katherine Parr
Widowed – Henry dies 1547
The Virgin Queen - Elizabeth I
Medieval  Modern times
London is flourishing! – economy,
politics, culture, social mobility, trade
RELIGIOUS STRIFE
Catholic  Protestant -> Catholic 
Protestant  Protestant
Henry VIII
Henry VIII
Elizabeth
James
Mary
Treatment of Catholics - persecuted,
fines for not going to church
Shakespeare does not mention religion in
his plays
ELIZABETH’S LAST YEARS
Anti-marriage – weaken her power and
create foreign conflicts
ENGLAND UNDER JAMES I
Less successful
Personality – Scottish accent, never
bathed, witchcraft
King James Bible
Macbeth
“Shakespeare mirrored turbulence,
innovation, excitement, and soulsearching of a fast-changing society”
Elizabethan and Jacobean Theatre
Playwrights in London – 300
Opinion of Peers – Shakespeare was one
of the best
PREHISTORY OF ENGLISH
THEATRE
Miracle plays – church saints
Morality plays – good vs. evil
The Theatre – 1576 built by James
Burbage (father of Richard Burbage)
Church opinions – theatre’s were sin!
Master of the Revels – ok’d plays
Off limits – politics, religion, no living
figure could be represented on stage
Theatre Structure – 14-20 sided, 2-3,000
spectators, no stage set, flag flying
LIFE BEHIND THE CURTAIN
Rivalry – intense!
Theatre  Globe
What’s my roll? – scrolls of lines, just their part
Kit Marlowe (Christopher) – same age as
Shakespeare, biggest rival, died at 29, brawl
over tab, spy for queen, possible assassination
University Wits – club of scholars, Shakespeare
not invited to join