WILLIAM

SHAKESPEARE
(1564 – 1616)
Who was William Shakespeare?

THIS WAS
HIM.
  Baptized on 26th of April 1564,
Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire

 Moved to London in 1582 and began

writing and acting in 1585

 Became a part-owner of a playing

company called the Lord Chamberlain’s
men

 Retired to Stratford in 1613

 Died 3 years later
English poet, actor and
playwright
Regarded as the greatest
writer in the English
language
  Primary wrote comedies and histories
(comedies (14): Measure For Measure, As You
Like It, All’s Well That Ends Well; histories
(12): Henry V, Richard III)

 Started writing tragedies (11) about 1608

(Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth)

Finished his career with writing tragicomedies

(The Merchant Of Venice, Cymbeline, The
Winter’s Tale)

 Also wrote sonnets (154) and poems (5)

Fun facts about
William
Shakespeare
 1

Today, no one’s really sure how

Shakespeare’s last name is
spelled, so we might spell it
wrong, but again, he didn’t
know how to spell it, either.
 2

Apart from writing and

producing, Shakespeare was also
an actor. He played the ghost in
‘’Hamlet’’ and Adam in ‘’As You
Like It’’.
 3
He lived a double life. At the
beginning of 17th century, he
was already a well known
playwright in London, but in
Stratford, his hometown, he was
better known as highly respected
businessman and property
owner.
 4
In the Globe theater, where
Shakespeare’s plays were
performed, women weren’t
allowed to act, so both male and
female characters were played by
male actors. In ‘’As You Like It’’, an
actor who played Rosalind (the
main character) was a man
playing woman who pretends to
be a man.
 5
He died in 1616. This is his epitaph:
,,Good friend for Jesus’ sake forbear,
To dig the dust enclosed here:
Blest be the man that spares these stones,
And curst be he that moves my bones.’’
 6
Shakespeare’s original grave
maker showed him holding a bag
of grain. The citizens of
Stratford replaced the bag with
a quill in 1747.
 7
He was credited by the Oxford
English Dictionary for
introducing almost 3000 words
in the English language.
 8
William Shakespeare was
inspiration to lots of modern
songwriters such as Bob Dylan,
Jim Morrison and even 2pac
Shakur.
 9
Shakespeare was illiterate, which
is one of the main reasons why
some people today believe he was
a fraud.
By: Vukashin Petrovich