 Shakespeare‘s Life
 Early Years
 Youth
 Marriage
 Family
 Lost Years
 Later Years
 Shakespeare‘s Work
 plays and poems
 Top 5 Plays
 Facts

 Baptized 26 April, 1564
 Stratford-upon-Avon, England
 Seven siblings
 Father: John Shakespeare



Glover
Upper class roots
 Mother: Mary Arden
Catholic


Upper class roots
Inherited the house

 Good education at grammar school
 Focus on literature, poetry and history
 No college education (no hints)
 No further informations about his childhood and youth

 Married Anne Hathaway in 1582
 Pregnant at the time
 She was 26 years old
 He was only 18
 Born in 1556 (day is unknown)
 Died 6 August, 1623
 Clues for unhappy marriage
 Moved to London without her
 Does not benefit from testament

 First daughter: Susanna (*1583)
 Favorite daughter
 Married Dr. John Hall (military doctor)
 Twins (*1585):
 Judith
 Hamnet (died: 1596)

The period between 1585 and 1592 is known as the „Lost Years“ because there are no documentary records of Shakespeare‘s activities

 Moved to London (1591)
 Worked as an actor and playwright (Globe Theatre)
 At the age of 46 he moved back to Stratford
 Rich man
 Visited family and friends in London
 Died at the age of 52 in Stratford
 Exact date and reason unknown
 Speculation: died of a fever caused by drinking

Comedy History Tragedy Poetry
• The Merchant of Venice
• A midsummer
Night‘s Dream
• The Tempest
• Twelfth Night
• Winter‘s Tale
• Henry IV (1-3)
• King John
• Richard II
• Hamlet
• Romeo and
Juliet
• Macbeth
• Julius Caesar
• The Sonnets
• The Lover‘s
Complaint

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Hamlet (as well as his longest play)
Macbeth
Julius Caesar
The Tempest
1 Henry IV
6.
7.
...
Romeo and Juliet

 37 plays
 154 sonnets
 Most successful plays are tragedies
 Still successful in other genres (history, comedy)
 Most written plays are comedies
 The Comedy of Errors was his shortest play
 his plays have inspired modern movies (The Lion King by Hamlet)

 http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/topplays.html
 http://shakespeare.mit.edu/
 http://www.bl.uk/treasures/shakespeare/basics.html
 http://screenrant.com/movies-based-on-shakespeare-plays/
 http://absoluteshakespeare.tripod.com/homepage/id1.html