William Shakespeare

Table of Contents

Introduction & Top Questions
Shakespeare the man
- Life
  - Early life in Stratford
  - Career in the theatre
  - Private life
  - Sexuality
- Early posthumous documentation
  - The tributes of his colleagues
  - Anecdotes and documents
Shakespeare the poet and dramatist
- The intellectual background
- Poetic conventions and dramatic traditions
  - Changes in language
  - Shakespeare’s literary debts
- Theatrical conditions
- The dating of Shakespeare’s plays
- Publication
Shakespeare’s plays and poems
- The early plays
  - Titus Andronicus
  - The early romantic comedies
  - The early histories
- The poems
- Plays of the middle and late years
  - Romantic comedies
  - Completion of the histories
  - Romeo and Juliet
  - The “problem” plays
  - Julius Caesar
  - The tragedies
  - The romances
  - Collaborations and spurious attributions
Shakespeare’s sources
Understanding Shakespeare
- Questions of authorship
- Linguistic, historical, textual, and editorial problems
- Literary criticism
  - Seventeenth century
  - Eighteenth century
  - Romantic critics
  - Twentieth century and beyond
    - Increasing importance of scholarship
    - Historical criticism
    - New Criticism
    - New interpretive approaches
    - Feminist criticism and gender studies
    - Deconstruction
Chronology of Shakespeare’s plays

Quotes References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images, Videos & Interactives

William Shakespeare explained in five questions

Learn about William Shakespeare's early boyhood and path to London to become a playwright and actor

See an illustrated manuscript of 16th-century coats of arms, including commentary on whether Shakespeare is worthy of one

Interactive: A Tour of the Rebuilt Globe Theatre

Shakespeare's house in Stratford-upon-Avon

For Students

William Shakespeare summary

Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England: William Shakespeare's birthplace

William Shakespeare Timeline

William Shakespeare’s Important Works

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Like so many circumstances of Shakespeare’s personal life, the question of his sexual nature is shrouded in uncertainty. At age 18, in 1582, he married Anne Hathaway, a woman who was eight years older than he. Their first child, Susanna, was born on May 26, 1583, about six months after the marriage ceremony. A license had been issued for the marriage on November 27, 1582, with only one reading (instead of the usual three) of the banns, or announcement of the intent to marry in order to give any party the opportunity to raise any potential legal objections. This procedure ...(100 of 21986 words)

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