The Merchant of Venice

About William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in April 1564 and his birth is traditionally celebrated on April 23. The facts of his life known from surviving documents are sparse. He was one of eight children born to John Shakespeare a merchant of some standing in his community. William probably went to the Kings New School in Stratford but he had no university education. In November 1582 at the age of eighteen he married Anne Hathaway eight years his senior who was pregnant with their first child Susanna. She was born on May 26 1583. Twins a boy Hamnet ( who would die at age eleven) and a girl Judith were born in 1585. By 1592 Shakespeare had gone to London working as an actor and already known as a playwright. A rival dramatist Robert Greene referred to him as an upstart crow beautified with our feathers. Shakespeare became a principal shareholder and playwright of the successful acting troupe the Lord Chamberlains Men (later under James I called the King s Men). In 1599 the Lord Chamberlains Men built and occupied the Globe Theater in Southwark near the Thames River. Here many of Shakespeares plays were performed by the most famous actors of his time including Richard Burbage Will Kempe and Robert Armin. In addition to his 37 plays Shakespeare had a hand in others including Sir Thomas More and The Two Noble Kinsmen and he wrote poems including Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece. His 154 sonnets were published probably without his authorization in 1609. In 1611 or 1612 he gave up his lodgings in London and devoted more and more time to retirement in Stratford though he continued writing such plays as The Tempest and Henry VII until about 1613. He died on April 23 1616 and was buried in Holy Trinity Church Stratford. No collected edition of his plays was published during his life-time but in 1623 two members of his acting company John Heminges and Henry Condell put together the great collection now called the First Folio.