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Explore the background and biography of William Shakespeare, the famous playwright from Stratford-upon-Avon. Discover the key facts and historical events related to his masterpiece, Hamlet.
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Author Biography: • Full Name: William Shakespeare • Date of Birth: 1564 • Place of Birth: Stratford-upon-Avon, England • Date of Death: 1616 • Brief Life Story: • Shakespeare's father was a glove-maker, • Shakespearereceived no more than a grammar school education. • He married Anne Hathaway in 1582
Author Biography: • Brief Life Story: • left his family behind around 1590 and • moved to London, where he became an actor and playwright. He was an immediate success: • Shakespeare soon became the most popular playwright of the day as well as a part-owner of the Globe Theatre. • His theatre troupe was adopted by King James as the King's Men in 1603. • Shakespeare retired as a rich and prominent man to Stratford-upon-Avon in 1613, • He died three years later.
Key Facts: • When Written: Between 1599 - 1601 • Literary Period: The Renaissance (1500 - 1660) • Related Literary Works: Hamlet falls into the tradition of revenge tragedy, in which the central character's quest for revenge usually results in general tragedy. • The The story of Hamlet is based on a Danish revenge story first recorded by Saxo Grammaticus in the 1100s. • Inthese stories, a Danish prince fakes madness in order to take revenge on his • uncle, who had killed the prince's father and married his mother. • ButShakespeare modified this rather straightforward story and filled it with dread and uncertainty— • Hamlet doesn't just feign madness; he seems at times to be mad.
Key Facts: • Related Historical Events: • Hamlet is in many ways a product of the Reformation, in which Protestants broke away from the until-then dominant Catholic Church, • Together with the sceptical humanism of late Renaissance Northern Europe, which held that there were limits on human knowledge. • Hamlet's constant anxiety about: • the difference between appearance and reality, • the sinfulness of suicide, • the unfairness that killing a murderer while the murderer is praying would result in sending the murder to heaven • These are issues emerging from the breaks in religion and thought brought on by the Reformation and Renaissance humanist thought.
