William Shakespeare Biography

Early Life of William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was a celebrated playwright, poet and actor. He was born in the city of Stratford-upon-Avon in England, in the year 1564.

Married Life

In 1582, when Shakespeare was just 18 years old, he got married to Anne Hathaway, who was eight years older than him. After that, there are no definite records of the next few years of his life. Historians often refer to these years of Shakespeare’s life as the ‘lost years.’

Career

William began his career as a playwright in London in 1592. Soon he himself started acting and also became part-owner of a playwright company known as the ‘Lord Chamberlain’s Men.’ King James I renamed it as ‘The King’s Men.’ Many of Shakespeare’s plays were performed at the Globe Theatre.

Many of his plays were written in the latter half of his career. Shakespeare then underwent a series of ups and downs owing to the outbreak of the bubonic plague due to which the theatres had to be shut down. The Globe Theatre caught fire too. However, it was rebuilt again.

William retired and settled in Stratford, where he died in 1616.

William Shakespeare Plays

• Shakespeare wrote 37 plays in his lifetime. Some of his most famous works are Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, Merchant of Venice and Julius Caesar.
• To this day, Hamlet is probably his most quoted and reproduced tragedy. It is also Shakespeare’s longest play.

William Shakespeare Facts

• William Shakespeare did not attend college.
• During Shakespeare’s time, women were not permitted to act in plays, so in all of his plays, the female characters were played by men.
• Shakespeare had no interest in getting his plays published; he wanted them to be performed on stage instead.
• Shakespeare is credited with introducing almost 3,000 words to the English language.

To read more interesting biographies of famous people, browse though our huge collection of short biographies for kids.