WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
LIFE AND TIMES
William Shakespeare, considered by many to be the greatest playwright in English literature, was born in 1564 in Stratford-on-Avon, eighty miles from London, to John and Mary Shakespeare.  The third of eight children (and the oldest surviving child), Shakespeare attended the Stratford grammar school where he studied Latin.
In 1582, when he was 18, he married Anne Hathaway, a woman eight years his senior, and their first child was born six months later.  In 1585, Anne gave birth to twins, a son, Hamnet and a daughter, Judith.  From 1585 to 1592, little is known about Shakespeare's activities or whereabouts.
By 1592 he had become well known in London theatrical circles, foremost as an actor but also as a playwright.  He did have his detractors, including a writer named Robert Greene who called him an "upstart crow" who thought he could write, but his work was well respected.
He joined the Lord Chamberlain's Men, a repertory company, in 1594'. From time to time, the theaters were closed due to outbreaks of the plague, and so Shakespeare continued writing plays and poetry.  In 1599, his repertory company built the Globe Theatre; In 1603 Queen Elizabeth I died, and the company became the King's Men to honor the new monarch, James I.  In 1608, the company leased Blackfriar's, a private enclosed playhouse which had artificial lightning, something the Globe did not.  The Globe burned down in 1613 and was rebuilt the following year. Shakespeare died in 1616 and was buried at the Holy Trinity Church in Stratford.
Shakespeare's son Hamnet died in 1596. Susanna, his oldest daughter, married in 1607; his younger daughter Judith in 1616.  Shakespeare's line ended in 1670 when Susanna's daughter Elizabeth dies on February 17, 1670.
THE GLOBE THEATRE
The Globe Theatre was typical of public theaters of the times.  It had no roof and no artificial lighting, so plays had to be performed by daylight and in good weather. Playwrights used little scenery, and so Shakespeare's plays are full of description of the setting to help the audience imagine what it looked like.  The building was arranged around an open courtyard with several levels of seats.  The lowest level, called the pit, was the cheapest.  It was here that the "groundlings," the poorest playgoers, could stand and watch the show.
The stage projected toward the audience on a large platform, and the audience could watch from several sides. There was no curtain as we know it, so dead bodies were an awkward problem—they had to be carried offstage in full view of the audience.
Members of the repertory companies were only men and boys.  It was not acceptable for women and girls to perform on stage during this era.

HIS PLAYS
Shakespeare's plays fall into three categories— comedies, tragedies, and histories—and his career can be divided into the following four periods:
The First Period (1590-1594):  Shakespeare's beginning works

THE COMEDY OF ERRORS
HENRY VI, PARTS I, II and III
THE TAMING OF THE SHREW
KING JOHN
TITUS ANDRONICUS
TWO GENTLEMAN OF VERONA

The Second Period (1595-1600):  Shakespeare's development of mostly historical plays and romantic comedy (this is the period when Shakespeare became definitely established)

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM	
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING	
LOVE'S LABOR'S LOST	
THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR	
THE MERCHANT OF VENICE	
HENRY IV, PARTS I and II
TWELFTH NIGHT
RICHARD II
AS YOU LIKE IT
JULIUS CAESAR
HENRY V
ROMEO AND JULIET

The Third Period (1601-1608):  Shakespeare's tragedies

HAMLET	
TROILUS AND CRESSIDA               
ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL          
MEASURE FOR MEASURE                
TIMON OF ATHENS                    
ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA
OTHELLO
MACBETH
KING LEAR
PERICLES
CORIOLANUS

The Fourth Period (1609-1613):  Shakespeare's final works

CYMBELINE 
THE WINTER'S TALE

THE TEMPEST
HENRY VIII