William Shakespeare Research Paper

William Shakespeare was born in Stratford, later called Stratford-Upon-Avon, United Kingdom. Stratford was a market town about 103 miles west of London. The town was divided by the river Avon. The exact date of his birth is not known. His baptismal record was dated April 26, 1564. The custom of the day was to baptize on the 3rd day. So, his birth is assumed to be April 23, 1564. This is also the Feast Day of Saint George, the Patron Saint of England. He was the third child of John Shakespeare, a leather merchant and Mary Arden, a local land heiress. He was their first son and the first child to live past infancy. Both of his older sisters died before their first birthday. He had 5 siblings born after him. Three brothers and

This was known as “Shakespeare’s Lost Years”. It was rumored he left Stratford because he was caught poaching deer. He reappeared in 1592 when he performed one of his plays on the London stage. After 1594, Shakespeare’s plays were performed solely by a group of actors called Lord Chamberlain’s Men. This continued until Queen Elizabeth died in 1603. They were later given a royal patent and named The King’s Men by King James I. In 1599 the company built their own theatre, The Globe, on the south banks of the River Thames. Shakespeare’s first mention as a playwright was in 1592. Shakespeare’s first published play is thought to be King Henry the VI, Part Two, in 1594. He wrote 37 plays. There were 20 comedies, 10 tragedies and 7 histories. His most famous was a tragedy named Hamlet. William Shakespeare is the best-selling fiction author of all time (estimated 4 billion copies sold). Due to the plague, many theatrical performances were cancelled between June 1592 and April 1594. During this time, he wrote many poems and sonnets. He wrote 154 sonnets. They are grouped as The Fair Youth Sonnets (1 – 126), The Dark Lady Sonnets (127 – 152) and The Greek Sonnets (153 –