There is great speculation surrounding the life of Shakespeare. Surprisingly, there are not many facts known about the life of this great poet and playwright. Shakespeare’s date of birth is recognized as April 23, 1564. It is known that he was baptized in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire on the following day, April 24, 1564. His father, John Shakespeare, was a prominent local wine merchant. His mother, Mary Arden. was the daughter of a Roman Catholic member of the landed gentry. Shakespeare was the third of eight children, and the eldest son. It is supposed that he was educated at a local grammar school. According to some accounts, he was apprenticed to a butcher. It would have been customary for him to have been apprenticed to his father’s business so that one day he could take it over. Financial difficulties dictated that doing so would not have been the best choice. Another account states that Shakespeare became a schoolmaster. It is agreed upon that Shakespeare likely had lots of leisure time during his childhood. This is reflected in his early plays by his considerable knowledge of hunting and hawking. Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway in 1582. She was the daughter of a farmer. It is reported he left Stratford after he was caught poaching a deer in the deer park of Sir Thomas Lucy.
Shakespeare came to London in 1588 and had achieved success as an actor and playwright only four years later, in 1592. He earned his reputation as a Renaissance poet by his two erotic narrative poems “Venus and Adonis” and “The Rape of Lucrece”. Shakespeare’s popularity in modern times is owed more to his thirty-eight plays. In Shakespeare’s day, these plays were popular but not respected by educated contemporaries.
Shakespeare had several successful financial arrangements while in London. These arrangements allowed him to share in the profits of his acting company, the Chamberlain’s Men (later known as the King’s Men) and its theater’s the Globe and the Blackfriars. His plays were performed for Queen Elizabeth I and King James I more often than the play’s of his contemporaries. However, Shakespeare faced potential trouble at court when his company performed ‘the play of the deposing and killing of King Richard II” in 1599. This was at the instance of conspirators against Queen Elizabeth. Shakespeare’s company was later found to have had no role in complicity to the conspiracy.
Shakespeare had settled with his family in a house known as New Place in Stratford. He had by this time become established as a leading local citizen. His theater production began to decline after 1608. He died on April 23, 1616 and was buried in the Stratford church.
