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 1. Home
 2. This Day in History
 3. April 23
 4. William Shakespeare born

This Day In History: April 23

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1564


WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE BORN



The great English dramatist and poet William Shakespeare is born in
Stratford-upon-Avon on April 23, 1564—at least, by historians' best reckoning.
It is impossible to be certain the exact day on which he was born, but church
records show that he was baptized on April 26, and three days was a customary
amount of time to wait before baptizing a newborn. Shakespeare’s date of death
is conclusively known, however: it was April 23, 1616. He was 52 years old and
had retired to Stratford three years before.

Although few plays have been performed or analyzed as extensively as the 38
plays ascribed to William Shakespeare, there are few surviving details about the
playwright’s life. This dearth of biographical information is due primarily to
his station in life; he was not a noble, but the son of John Shakespeare, a
leather trader and the town bailiff. The events of William Shakespeare’s early
life can only be gleaned from official records, such as baptism and marriage
records.

William Shakespeare

He probably attended the grammar school in Stratford, where he would have
studied Latin and read classical literature. He did not go to university but at
age 18 married Anne Hathaway, who was eight years his senior and pregnant at the
time of the marriage. Their first daughter, Susanna, was born six months later,
and in 1585 William and Anne had twins, Hamnet and Judith. Hamnet, Shakespeare’s
only son, died 11 years later, and Anne Shakespeare outlived her husband, dying
in 1623. Nothing is known of the period between the birth of the twins and
Shakespeare’s emergence as a playwright in London in the early 1590s, but
unfounded stories have him stealing deer, joining a group of traveling players,
becoming a schoolteacher, or serving as a soldier in the Low Countries.

The first reference to Shakespeare as a London playwright came in 1592, when a
fellow dramatist, Robert Greene, wrote derogatorily of him on his deathbed. It
is believed that Shakespeare had written the three parts of Henry VI by that
point. In 1593, Venus and Adonis was Shakespeare’s first published poem, and he
dedicated it to the young Henry Wriothesley, the 3rd earl of Southampton. In
1594, having probably composed, among other plays, Richard III, The Comedy of
Errors, and The Taming of the Shrew, he became an actor and playwright for the
Lord Chamberlain’s Men, which became the King’s Men after James I’s ascension in
1603. The company grew into England’s finest, in no small part because of
Shakespeare, who was its principal dramatist. It also had the finest actor of
the day, Richard Burbage, and the best theater, the Globe, which was located on
the Thames’ south bank. Shakespeare stayed with the King’s Men until his
retirement and often acted in small parts.

By 1596, the company had performed the classic Shakespeare plays Romeo and
Juliet, Richard II and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. That year, John Shakespeare
was granted a coat of arms, a testament to his son’s growing wealth and fame. In
1597, William Shakespeare bought a large house in Stratford. In 1599, after
producing his great historical series, the first and second part of Henry IV and
Henry V, he became a partner in the ownership of the Globe Theatre.

The beginning of the 17th century saw the performance of the first of his great
tragedies, Hamlet. The next play, The Merry Wives of Windsor, was written at the
request of Queen Elizabeth I, who wanted to see another play that included the
popular character Falstaff. During the next decade, Shakespeare produced such
masterpieces as Othello, King Lear, Macbeth, and The Tempest. In 1609, his
sonnets, probably written during the 1590s, were published. The 154 sonnets are
marked by the recurring themes of the mutability of beauty and the transcendent
power of love and art.

Shakespeare died in Stratford-on-Avon on April 23, 1616. Today, over 400 years
later, his plays are performed and read more often and in more nations than ever
before. In a million words written over 20 years, he captured the full range of
human emotions and conflicts with a precision that remains sharp today. As his
great contemporary the poet and dramatist Ben Jonson said, “He was not of an
age, but for all time.”

Featured


DID SHAKESPEARE REALLY WRITE HIS OWN PLAYS?

Nothing has been found documenting the composition of the more than 36 plays and
154 sonnets attributed to the Bard.

Read moreRead more about Did Shakespeare Really Write His Own Plays?

By: History.com Editors

HISTORY.com works with a wide range of writers and editors to create accurate
and informative content. All articles are regularly reviewed and updated by the
HISTORY.com team. Articles with the “HISTORY.com Editors” byline have been
written or edited by the HISTORY.com editors, including Amanda Onion, Missy
Sullivan, Matt Mullen and Christian Zapata.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------




CITATION INFORMATION

Article TitleWilliam Shakespeare born
AuthorHistory.com Editors
Website NameHISTORY
URLhttps://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/william-shakespeare-born
Date AccessedSeptember 26, 2024
PublisherA&E Television Networks
Last UpdatedApril 22, 2024
Original Published DateNovember 24, 2009


FACT CHECK

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