William ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare Twelfth Night Introduction

His life

• William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

• Born in Stratford-upon-Avon

• The exact date of his birth is unknown, but some believe he was born on April 23, 1564

• By the age of seven, William was able to read and write

• He attended Stratford grammar school until he was 15, where he would have studied Greek and Latin literature and Christian ethics (including knowledge of the Bible)

• William was an intellectual, though he didn't attend university for various reasons. This upset some of his fellow playwrights because they believed that a dramatist should be educated

• William Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway (he was 18, she was 26)

• Anne was already three months pregnant

• Children: Susanna, Judith and Hamnet - Hamnet died at the age of 11

• Now, with a family of three and a wife to take care of, Shakespeare took off to London

• He became quite a successful player in London

• In January 1593, the plague forced many London theaters to close

• Became key member of an acting troupe known as “Lord Chamberlain’s Men”

• Performed at the Globe Theater

• The theater held 2500 people

• William Shakespeare died in Stratford-upon-Avon: the same date that he was born, April 23, 1616 at the age of 52

• William Shakespeare composed what many believe is the most extraordinary body of work in the history of world drama

• He wrote 36 plays and 154 sonnets

Words, words, words

• Shakespeare's surviving works add up to a staggering 884,647 words and 118,406 lines

• Hamlet is Shakespeare's longest play, clocking in at 4,042 lines. His shortest is The Comedy of Errors, with 1,787

• According to the Oxford English Dictionary, Shakespeare coined more than 500 new words, many of which are still commonly used in English speech– Popular Will-isms include: amazement, bump, lonely, countless,

useful, radiance and lackluster