William Shakespeare

b. 26 April 1564, Stratford upon Avon: d. 23 April 1616, Stratford upon Avon

William's father was a mayor of Stratford and a justice of the peace. William was educated at Stratford Grammar School and married in 1582 to Anne Hathaway, who was eight years his senior and pregnant at the time of the marriage; little more is known of William until his arrival in London late in the 1580's.

In London, he established himself as an actor, poet and playwright, writing over forty plays. It is impossible to overestimate his influence as a literary figure as a glance at the titles of his plays confirms, but his real influence lies in the wonderful quality of the language he employs and his insight into the recesses of the human psyche. Quotations from his works remain in everyday use simply because his ability to encapsulate often complex concepts with a brilliant and economical use of language remains unmatched.

It seems that he may have seen himself primarily as a poet, at least in his early days in London. His first plays (The Two Gentlemen of Verona and The Taming of the Shrew) were probably written at the very end of the 1580's. The plays now known as Henry VI (parts 1, 2 and 3) appeared by 1591. Richard III (completing the cycle known as the 'first tetralogy') followed in 1592, based like most of his early histories, on Holinshead's Chronicles. He often employed a literary licence in the use of his sources which in the case of Richard III has led to considerable debate in regard to the true nature of Richard's character. Such is the power of his characterisation that it is impossible for anyone who has been exposed to the play to forget the personification of evil presented as Richard. Although a vociferous group of enthusiasts decry this interpretation of Richard it may be that Holinshead and Shakespeare, whilst open to charges of exaggeration, may not have been too far from the truth.

In 1594 he joined the Lord Chamberlain's Men and it was for them that he wrote a second group of history plays, Richard II, Henry IV (parts 1 and 2) and Henry V. Together with the 'first tetralogy' these plays provide ample proof of the importance which Elizabethan society obviously continued to place on the events of the Wars of the Roses and the propaganda requirements of the Tudors in regard to the legitimisation of their claims to the throne.

The Lord Chamberlain's Men began to use the new Globe theatre for their productions from 1598 and it was in this theatre that Shakespeare's major tragedies were first performed. Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth are, for many commentators, his greatest achievement. The later romances, Pericles, The Winter's Tale, Cymbeline and The Tempest also had their first performances at the Globe.

On James I's accession the Lord Chamberlain's Men became the King's Men and many of Shakespeare's later plays, such as King Lear, Macbeth and Cymbeline, by stressing the negative aspects of dynastic instability and by looking at an early mythologised historical Britain, obviously seek to show James as a force for stability and unity.

Shakespeare returned to Statford upon Avon (probably after the production of his last play Henry VIII in 1612) a very successful man. He held a major shareholding in the King's Men who had become the most important company of actors of the period; he had therefore not only established himself as a playwright and actor but also as a businessman. He died in April 1616 and he is buried in the parish church in his home town.

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A chronology of Shakespeare's plays is notoriously difficult to establish. Each commentator has their own version. A listing is offered beneath which is a fusion of various sources. The dates should be taken in many cases as approximate.

Late 1580's The Two Gentlemen of Verona and The Taming of the Shrew
1591 Henry VI parts I, II and III
1592 Richard III
1594 The Comedy of Errors, Titus Andronicus
1595 Love's Labour's Lost, Richard II
1596 A Midsummer Night's Dream, Romeo and Juliet
1597 The Merchant of Venice, Henry IV part I
1598 Henry IV part 2
1598 - 1600 Much Ado About Nothing
1599 Henry V, Julius Caesar
1600 As You Like it
1601 Twelfth Night, Merry Wives of Windsor
1602 Hamlet
1603 Othello
1604 Measure for Measure, All's Well that Ends Well
1605 Macbeth
1606 King Lear
1607 Antony and Cleopatra
1608 Pericles, Timon of Athens
1609 Troilus and Cressida, The Sonnets, Coriolanus
1610 Cymbeline
1611 The Tempest, The Winter's Tale
1612 Henry VIII