william shakespeare william shakespeare twelfth night introduction
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William ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare Twelfth Night Introduction
His life
• William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
• Born in Stratford-upon-Avon
• The exact date of his birth is unknown, but some believe he was born on April 23, 1564
• By the age of seven, William was able to read and write
• He attended Stratford grammar school until he was 15, where he would have studied Greek and Latin literature and Christian ethics (including knowledge of the Bible)
• William was an intellectual, though he didn't attend university for various reasons. This upset some of his fellow playwrights because they believed that a dramatist should be educated
• William Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway (he was 18, she was 26)
• Anne was already three months pregnant
• Children: Susanna, Judith and Hamnet - Hamnet died at the age of 11
• Now, with a family of three and a wife to take care of, Shakespeare took off to London
• He became quite a successful player in London
• In January 1593, the plague forced many London theaters to close
• Became key member of an acting troupe known as “Lord Chamberlain’s Men”
• Performed at the Globe Theater
• The theater held 2500 people
• William Shakespeare died in Stratford-upon-Avon: the same date that he was born, April 23, 1616 at the age of 52
• William Shakespeare composed what many believe is the most extraordinary body of work in the history of world drama
• He wrote 36 plays and 154 sonnets
Words, words, words
• Shakespeare's surviving works add up to a staggering 884,647 words and 118,406 lines
• Hamlet is Shakespeare's longest play, clocking in at 4,042 lines. His shortest is The Comedy of Errors, with 1,787
• According to the Oxford English Dictionary, Shakespeare coined more than 500 new words, many of which are still commonly used in English speech– Popular Will-isms include: amazement, bump, lonely, countless,
useful, radiance and lackluster
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