This day marks both the birth of Shakespeare in 1564 and his death in 1616.
While the works of William Shakespeare are arguably the most extensively read in the English language, very little concrete information exists about the playwright himself. There are scholars who suggest that the plays attributed to William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon were actually penned by another educated and aristocratic author who preferred to stay anonymous.
Shakespeare’s father was likely a regular tradesman who went on to become an alderman and bailiff in Stratford-upon-Avon, where Shakespeare was baptized on April 26, 1564.
At the age of 18, Shakespeare took Anne Hathaway as his wife, and in 1583, they welcomed their first daughter, followed by twins in 1585.
Eventually, Shakespeare journeyed to London to pursue a career in acting, achieving recognition in the city’s theatrical scene by 1592 as both a performer and playwright. His early works, among them The Comedy of Errors and The Taming of the Shrew, were crafted in the early 1590s. As the decade progressed, he composed tragedies like Romeo and Juliet (1594-1595) and comedies such as The Merchant of Venice (1596-1597). Notably, his most significant tragedies, including Hamlet (1600-01), Othello (1604-05), King Lear (1605-06), and Macbeth (1605-1606), emerged post-1600.
He joined the well-regarded theater company, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, which later became known as the King’s Men. In 1599, the company constructed and managed the renowned Globe Theatre. Over time, Shakespeare became a significant stakeholder in the troupe, accumulating enough wealth to purchase a substantial residence in Stratford by 1597.
In 1610, he returned to Stratford, dedicating his time to writing his final works, including The Tempest (1611) and The Winter’s Tale (1610-11). Additionally, he penned over 100 sonnets, published in 1609. Although several pirated editions of plays like Titus Andronicus and Romeo and Juliet appeared during his lifetime, a comprehensive collection of his works was not released until after his death.
In 1623, two members of Shakespeare’s acting company compiled and published the collection known as the First Folio (1623).
