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Table of Contents

To Sammie, of course!C.D.M.
To TessJ.O.

Who Was William Shakespeare?

William Shakespeareyou probably know his name even if you havent read anything by him yet. He lived four hundred and fifty years ago, wrote at least thirty-five plays, and more than one hundred and fifty poems. Many people think Shakespeare is the greatest playwright who ever lived.

Everything Shakespeare wrote has been translated into dozens of languages, from Spanish to Japanese to Swahili. People all over the world still watch performances of his plays. Movies and Broadway musicals have been based on many of them, such as Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, and Hamlet. Hundreds of words and phrases we use every day were invented by himwords like cold-blooded, quarrelsome, and love letter. His language, ideas, and stories are all around us.

Although William Shakespeare is very famous, we dont know a lot about him. Much of his personal life remains a mystery. Back in the 1500s, not many records were kept for the average person. We know Shakespeare began his life as the son of a glove-maker in the small town of Stratford-upon-Avon. He ended it as a rich and famous London playwright. But what happened in between? We know when he married and when he had children. We know he didnt live with his family for many years. Instead, he went to London, where he became an actor, playwright, and a director of plays. He built and bought theaters. He wrote and acted in plays for the Queen of England. He made friends with powerful noblemen.

But what about Shakespeares day-to-day life? What kind of man and father was he? What made him write plays?

WORDS AND...

HUNDREDS OF WORDS AND PHRASES COINED BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE ARE STILL USED TODAY. HERE ARE JUST A FEW.

AMAZEMENT
BIRTHPLACE
COLD-BLOODED
DAWN
EYEBALL
FASHIONABLE
GENEROUS
ILL-TEMPERED
JADED
LOVE LETTER
MAJESTIC

OUTGROW
PUPPY DOG
QUARRELSOME
RASCALLY
SCHOOLBOY
TRANQUIL
USEFUL
VULNERABLE
WELL-BEHAVED
YELPING
ZANY

PHRASES

ALL THE WORLDS A STAGE, AND ALL THE MEN AND WOMEN MERELY PLAYERS...

AS YOU LIKE IT

KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK! WHOS THERE?

MACBETH

NEITHER A BORROWER, NOR A LENDER BE...

HAMLET

... PARTING IS SUCH SWEET SORROW...

ROMEO AND JULIET

NEITHER RIME NOR REASON...

THE COMEDY OF ERRORS

TO THINE OWN SELF BE TRUE...

HAMLET

TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING...

AS YOU LIKE IT

WILD-GOOSE CHASE

ROMEO AND JULIET

Chapter 1

Little Will

Baby Will was baptized in Stratfords Holy Trinity Church, in 1564. The exact date of his birth is unknown, but it is celebrated on April 23. In England, that day is also a holiday, filled with playacting and parties. It seems a good day to honor Englands greatest playwright as well.

The Shakespeare family lived in Stratford-upon Avon, England, about one hundred miles northwest of London. No more than twenty-five hundred people lived there. When Will was just a few months old, a horrible illness swept through the country. It was called the black death, or bubonic plague. Over two hundred people in Stratford died. The very old and very young were hardest hit. Luckily, John and Mary Shakespeare survived. And so did their firstborn son.

Wills father made gloves, belts, purses, and aprons. Wills mother came from a family who owned farmland. She could trace her family back more than five hundred years. The Shakespeares belonged to Englands middle class. They werent rich, nor were they part of the nobility. But they lived well. During the 1560s, English families like the Shakespeares had food on the table, a roof over their heads, and steady work. It was enough.

TYPICAL STRATFORD HOWE
OF THE 1500S

By the time Will was born, Elizabeth I had been queen for six years. She was thirty-one years old. She had no interest in war. Under Good Queen Bess, as she was called, England grew more and more prosperous.

It was also a time of discovery and new ideas. In 1519, Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese explorer, set out to sail all the way around the world. The trip took three years. It had never been done before.

In 1514, Nicolaus Copernicus, a Polish astronomer, first wrote that the sun was the center of the universe. Before that, people believed the earth was the center with the sun and other planets circling around it.

Artists throughout Europe, especially in Italy, were creating some of the most beautiful paintings and sculptures the world has ever known. The printing press, invented in the 1400s, made many more books available. Before that time, books had to be copied by hand. More and more people learned to read and write.

This was the world that William Shakespeare was born into.

Stratford was a bustling market town on the banks of the Avon River. Crowds came on market day or passed through town on their way to London. What could a person buy? Almost anything, from pigs and sheep to pretty ribbons, warm woolen clothing, and soft doeskin gloves.

The job of the town council was to keep law and order. John Shakespeare was a member of the town council for many years. When Will was four years old, his father served as high bailiff for a year. It was like being mayor. The position was one of great honor.

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