William Shakespeare
Given the libraries of tomes that have been written about the master playwright's work, there is relatively little that is known about the man William Shakespeare himself. He was born in Stratford to John Shakespeare and Mary Arden, somewhere around April 23, 1564.
When he was 18, Shakespeare married 26-year-old Anne Hathaway and they had three children together before he moved to London and performed with and wrote for the Chamberlain's Men. Today, we have preserved 37 plays and 154 sonnets that are attributed to Shakespeare. Some works were collaborations and there are frequently controversies over whether Shakespeare himself was the author of the plays or whether he simply owned them and was a successful businessman.
His plays are often divided into four periods:
The Experimental Period: to 1593, includes Love's Labor Lost and Comedy of Errors.
The Established Period: 1594-1601, this includes some of his most famous romantic comedies, including A Midsummer Night's Dream and Merchant of Venice.
The Somber Period: 1602-1609, he wrote his most somber tragedies during this time, including Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth.
The Poetic Period: 1610 forward, these included plays that were often categorized as "romances" including The Tempest and A Winter's Tale.
Bibliography
Richard II |
Troilus and Cressida |
Romeo and Juliet |
The Gentlemen of Verona |
Taming of the Shrew |
The Two Noble Kinsmen |
The Tempest |
The Winter's Tale |
Titus Andronicus |
King John |
All's Well That Ends Well |
King Lear |
Antony and Cleopatra |
Love's Labour Lost |
As You Like It |
Macbeth |
The Comedy of Errors |
Measure for Measure |
Coriolanus |
Merchant of Venice |
Cymbeline |
Merry Wives of Windsor |
A Midsummer Night's Dream |
|
Henry IV: Part I, Part II |
Much Ado About Nothing |
Henry V |
Othello |
Henry VI: Part I, Part II, Part III |
Pericles |
Julius Caesar |
