William Shakesphere : A Short Biography

 William Shakesphere was born in 1564 in Stradford-upon-Avon. His father, John Shakesphere was a tanner and a glovemaker. His mother's name was  Mary Arden Shakesphere. Shakesphere had three younger brothers and two younger sisters. He was from a middle class family. 

He attended a local grammar school. In 1582 when he was 18, he married Anne Hathaway who was 26. In 1583 they had a daughter named Susanna. Two years later they had twins, a son named Hamnet and a daughter named Judith. 

After some years, a unfortunate thing happened. Hamnet died at the age of eleven. Shakesphere was well known for his plays and dramas. He wrote 37 plays in 20 years. His plays are of three catogories tragedies, comedies and histories. In 1592 the Black Plague devastaded London. To prevent this terrible disease, the officials closed many public places including theaters. 

Since plays could not be performed during this time, Shakesphere spent his time writing many Sonnets and narrative poems. Sonnet is a 14 line short poem and narrative poems tells us a story.

 In 1594 the theaters re-opened and Shakesphere had joined a well-known acting group called Lord Chamberlain Company. This group had the best actor {Richard Burbage} the best theater {The Globe} and the best writer {Shakesphere}. They often presented plays for royality including, Queen Elizabeth I and King James I. 

Since women were not allowed to act, men played the roles of women characters. Shakesphere himself acted in some plays. He wrote many plays such as The Winter's Tale, King Lear, As You Like It, The Taming of the Shrew, Twelth Night, The Merchant of Venice etc. 

He retired from the theaters in 1610 and went to his hometown Stratford-upon-Avon. He died there on April 23, 1616. His body was buried in the Holy Trinity Church in Stradfort.