shakespeare

shakespeare

William Shakespeare was born to John Shakespeare and mother Mary Arden some time in late April 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon. There is no record of his birth, but his baptism was recorded by the church, thus his birthday is assumed to be the 23 of April. His father was a prominent and prosperous alderman in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon, and was later granted a coat of arms by the College of Heralds. All that is known of Shakespeare's youth is that he presumably attended the Stratford Grammar School, and did not proceed to Oxford or Cambridge. The next record we have of him is his marriage to Anne Hathaway in 1582. The next year she bore a daughter for him, Susanna, followed by the twins Judith and Hamnet two years later.

Seven years later Shakespeare is recognized as an actor, poet and playwright, when a rival playwright, Robert Greene, refers to him as "an upstart crow" in A Groatsworth of Wit. A few years later he joined up with one of the most successful acting troupe's in London: The Lord Chamberlain's Men. When, in 1599, the troupe lost the lease of the theatre where they performed, (appropriately called The Theatre) they were wealthy enough to build their own theatre across the Thames, south of London, which they called "The Globe." The new theatre opened in July of 1599, built from the timbers of The Theatre, with the motto "Totus mundus agit histrionem" (A whole world of players) When James I came to the throne (1603) the troupe was designated by the new king as the King's Men (or King's Company). The Letters Patent of the company specifically charged Shakespeare and eight others "freely to use and exercise the art and faculty of playing Comedies, Tragedies, Histories, Inerludes, Morals, Pastorals, stage plays ... as well for recreation of our loving subjects as for our solace and pleasure."

Shakespeare entertained the king and the people for another ten years until June 19, 1613, when a canon fired from the roof of the theatre for a gala performance of Henry VIII set fire to the thatch roof and burned the theatre to the ground. The audience ignored the smoke from the roof at first, being to absorbed in the play, until the flames caught the walls and the fabric of the curtains. Amazingly there were no casualties, and the next spring the company had the theatre "new builded in a far fairer manner than before." Although Shakespeare invested in the rebuilding, he retired from the stage to the Great House of New Place in Statford that he had purchased in 1597, and some considerable land holdings ,where he continued to write until his death in 1616 on the day of his 52nd birthday.

In his time William wrote 13 Comedies, 13 Historical Plays, 6 Tragedies, 4 Tragicomedies, as well as many sonnets (154) , which were mostly dedicated to his patron, Henry Wriothsley, The Earl of Southampton.

1556 - Anne Hathaway is born.
1564 - William Shakespeare is born in April (probably the 23rd) in Stratford-On-Avon (94 miles from London.)
1582 - Marries Anne Hathaway on November 27.
1583 - Susanna Shakespeare is born.
1585 - The twins Judith and Hamnet Shakespeare are born.
1592 - After leaving Stratford for London, William was recognized as a successful actor, as well as a leading poet. He was a member of 'The Chamberlain's Men'.
1596 - Hamnet dies at the age of eleven. Shakespeare becomes a "gentleman" when the College of Heralds grants his father a coat of arms.
1597- He bought a large house called "The Great House of New Place".
1599 - The 'Globe Theater' is built from the pieces of 'The Theater' in July.
1603 - 'The Lord Chamberlain's Men' became 'The King's Men' on May 19.
1613 - The 'Globe Theatre' burns during a performance of Henry VII when a canon fired on the roof sets fire to the straw thatch. The theatre is rebuilt, but Shakespeare retires.
1616 - April 23, in Stratford on his 52nd birthday he died.

Comedies

"Comedy of Errors" 1592
"The Taming of the Shrew" 1592-94
"Love's Labor's Lost" 1594-95
"Two Gentlemen of Verona" 1594-95
"A Midsummer Night's Dream" 1595-96
"The Merchant of Venice" 1596-97
"Much Ado About Nothing" 1598-99
"As You Like It" 1599-1600
"Twelfth Night" 1599-1600
"Merry Wives of Windsor" 1601-02
"Troilus and Cressida" 1601-02
"All's Well That Ends Well" 1602-03
"Measure for Measure" 1604-05

Historical

"Henry VI" parts I, II, III 1590-92
"Richard III" 1590-92
"King John" 1594-96
"Richard II" 1597-(?)
"King Henry IV" part I, part II 1597-98
"Henry V (1599)" 1598-99
"Julius Caesar" 1599-1600
"Henry VIII" 1613-(?)
"Antony and Cleopatra" 1606-07
"Coriolanus" 1607-08

Tragedies

"Titus Andronicus" 1593-94
"Romeo and Juliet" 1594-95
"Hamlet" 1600-01
"Othello" 1604-05
"The Tragedy of King Lear" 1605-06
"Macbeth" 1605-06

Tragicomedies

"Timon of Athens" 1607-(?)
"Cymbeline" 1609-10
"The Winter's Tale" 1610-11
"Tempest" 1611-12参考资料：http://shakespeare.mit.edu/

Shakespeare is above all writers,at least all modern writers, the poet of nature; the opet that holds up his readers a faithful mirror of manners and of life. His characters are not mofified by the customs of particular places, unpracticed by the rest of the world; by the peculiarities of studies or professions, which can operate but upon small nvmbers; or by the accidents of transient fashions or temporary opinions: they are genunine progency of common hunmanity, such as the world will always supply, and observation will always find. His persons act and speak by the influence of those general passions and principles by which all minds are agitated, and the whole system of life is continued in motion. In the writings of other poets a character is too often na individual; in those of Shakespeare it is commonly a species.