William no doubt attended the local grammar school in Stratford where his parents lived, and would have studied primarily Latin rhetoric, logic, and literature [Barnet, viii]. At age 18 (1582), William married Anne Hathaway, a local farmers daughter eight years his senior. Their first daughter (Susanna) was born six months later (1583), and twins Judith and Hamnet were born in 1585.

Shakespeares life can be divided into three periods: the first 20 years in Stratford, which include his schooling, early marriage, and fatherhood; the next 25 years as an actor and playwright in London; and the last five in retirement back in Stratford where he enjoyed moderate wealth gained from his theatrical successes. The years linking the first two periods are marked by a lack of information about Shakespeare, and are often referred to as the dark years; the transition from active work into retirement was gradual and cannot be precisely dated [Boyce, 587].

John Shakespeare had suffered financial reverses from Williams teen years until well into the height of the playwrights popularity and success. In 1596, John Shakespeare was granted a coat of arms, almost certainly purchased by William, who the next year bought a sizable house in Stratford. By the time of his death, William had substantial properties, both professional and personal, which he bestowed on his theatrical associates and his family (primarily his daughter Susanna, having rewritten his will one month before his death to protect his assets from Judiths new husband, Thomas Quiney, who ran afoul of church doctrine and public esteem before and after the marriage) [Boyce, 529].

Shakespeare probably left school at 15, which was the norm, and took some sort of job, especially since this was the period of his fathers financial difficulty. Numerous references in his plays suggest that William may have in fact worked for his father, thereby gaining specialized knowledge [Boyce, 587].

At some point during the dark years, Shakespeare began his career with a London theatrical companyperhaps in 1589for he was already an actor and playwright of some note in 1592. Shakespeare apparently wrote and acted for Pembrokes Men, as well as numerous others, in particular Stranges Men, which later became the Chamberlains Men, with whom he remained for the rest of his career.

When, in 1592, the Plague closed the theaters for about two years, Shakespeare turned to writing book-length narrative poetry. Most notable were Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece, both of which were dedicated to the Earl of Southampton, whom scholars accept as Shakespeares friend and benefactor despite a lack of documentation. During this same period, Shakespeare was writing his sonnets, which are more likely signs of the times fashion rather than actual love poems detailing any particular relationship. He returned to play writing when theaters reopened in 1594, and published no more poetry. His sonnets were published without his consent in 1609, shortly before his retirement.

Amid all of his success, Shakespeare suffered the loss of his only son, Hamnet, who died in 1596 at the age of 11. But Shakespeares career continued unabated, and in London in 1599, he became one of the partners in the new Globe Theater [Boyce, 589], built by the Chamberlains Men. This group was a remarkable assemblage of excellent actors who were also business partners and close personal friends . . . [including] Richard Burbage . . . [who] all worked together as equals . . . [Chute, 131].

When Queen Elizabeth died in 1603 and was succeeded by her cousin King James of Scotland, the Chamberlains Men was renamed the Kings Men, and Shakespeares productivity and popularity continued uninterrupted. He invested in London real estate and, one year away from retirement, purchased a second theater, the Blackfriars Gatehouse, in partnership with his fellow actors. His final play was Henry VIII, two years before his death in 1616.

Incredibly, most of Shakespeares plays had never been published in anything except pamphlet form, and were simply extant as acting scripts stored at the Globe. Only the efforts of two of Shakespeares company, John Heminges and Henry Condell, preserved his 36 plays (minus Pericles, the thirty-seventh) [Barnet, xvii] in the First Folio. Heminges and Condell published the plays, they said, only to keep the memory of so worthy a friend and fellow alive as was our Shakespeare [Chute, 133]. Theater scripts were not regarded as literary works of art, but only the basis for the performance. Plays were a popular form of entertainment for all layers of society in Shakespeares time, which perhaps explains why Hamlet feels compelled to instruct the traveling Players on the fine points of acting, urging them not to split the ears of the groundlings, nor speak no more than is set down for them.

Present copies of Shakespeares plays have, in some cases, been reconstructed in part from scripts written down by various members of an acting company who performed particular roles. Shakespeares plays, like those of many of the actors who also were playwrights, belonged to the acting company. The performance, rather than the script, was what concerned the author, for that was how his play would become popularand how the company, in which many actors were shareholders, would make money.

William Shakespeare died on April 23, 1616, and was buried two days later in the chancel of Holy Trinity Church where he had been baptized exactly 52 years earlier.

Writer-Complete Works
1 Henry VI 158992
2 Henry VI 159091
3 Henry VI 159092
Richard III 159193
Venus and Adonis 159293
The Comedy of Errors 159294
Sonnets 15921609
Titus Andronicus 159394
The Rape of Lucrece 159394
The Taming of the Shrew 159394
The Two Gentlemen of Verona 1594
Loves Labors Lost 1594
King John 159496
Richard II 1595
Romeo and Juliet 1595
A Midsummer Nights Dream 159596
Henry IV, Part 1 1596
The Merchant of Venice 159697
Henry IV, Part 2 159697
The Merry Wives of Windsor 1597
Much Ado About Nothing 159899
Henry V 1599
Julius Caesar 1599
As You Like It 15991600
Hamlet 160001
The Phoenix and Turtle 1601
Twelfth Night 160102
Troilus and Cressida 160102
Alls Well That Ends Well 160203
A Lovers Complaint 160208
Measure for Measure 1604
Othello 1604
King Lear 1605
Macbeth 1606
Antony and Cleopatra 160607
Pericles 160608
Coriolanus 160708
Timon of Athens 160708
Cymbeline 160910
The Tempest 161011
The Winters Tale 1611
Henry VIII 1613
The Two Noble Kinsmen 1613