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Apr 23, 1564
Shakespeare's birth
William Shakespeare was born on this day in Stratford-upon-Avon in the plague-ridden year of 1564. In the year of his birth, 254 of the 800 people in his town died as a result of the bubonic plague. In London, where the population was much larger, during the year prior to Shakespeare's birth, 20,000 people died. -
Period: Apr 23, 1564 to
Shakespeare
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Two Gentlemen of Verona
Thought to be Shakespeare's earlies play, written in 15909 or 1591. A comedy with some decidedly uncomic features. -
Midsummer Night's Dream
The exact date of this play's authorship is unclear; it is thought to have been written between 1594 and 1596. A comedy.
Love, marriage, fairies, clowns, a guy with a donkey head--what more could you want in a play? -
Romeo and Juliet
A love story turned tragic.
A more interesting play than people sometimes recognize.
Uses a lot of verse, but is also a highly verbal play--characters peform much action with their words. For instance, they insult, invite, confess, conjure, curse, vow and banish. -
Hamlet
To be or not to be what? Crazy? The king? An uncle's murderer? Ophelia's husband? So many choices, so little time.
A tragedy on a grand scale--many dead bodies on the stage at the end of the play. -
Queen Elizabeth
Queen Elizabeth ruled England from 1558 until her death in 1603. Shakespeare's writing was influenced not only by the rule of Queen Elizabeth, but by King James I who succeeded her and by the monarchy in general. -
Othello
Written in 1603 or 1604. Tragedy.
Is this play really about racism? Or is it about xenophobia (the fear of foreigners)?
Should this play be titled "Iago"? Read it and get back to me. -
King Lear
Written in 1604 or 1605. Tragedy.
Was King Lear just a crazy old fool? Was his fool smart enough to be king? -
Macbeth
Tragedy.
All Hail, Macbeth!! Double, double, toil and trouble. What some people won't do for a little bit of power! Is Lady Macbeth evil or is she just encouraging her husband to climb the ladder of success? -
Shakespeare's death
William Shakespeare was born on April 23, 1594 and died on April 23, 1616, at the age of 52--quite young by today's standards.
Was this really what Shakespeare looked like? We don't know. He wasn't famous in his own time, so there are no distinct representations of him from his life. When you search an image of him, what you find are the best conjectures (guesses) of what people think he looked like. This image is one of the most popular, as is the one that accompanies the timeline.
