Quick Facts
- NAME: William Shakespeare
- OCCUPATION: Playwright, Poet
- BIRTH DATE: c. April 23, 1564
- DEATH DATE: April 23, 1616
- EDUCATION: King's New School
- PLACE OF BIRTH: Stratford-upon-Avon, United Kingdom
- PLACE OF DEATH: Stratford-upon-Avon, United Kingdom
- Nickname: "Bard of Avon"
- Nickname: "Swan of Avon"
- AKA: Shakspere
- AKA: Will Shakespeare
- Nickname: "The Bard"
Best Known For
William Shakespeare, often called the English national poet, is widely considered the greatest dramatist of all time.
Videos see all videos
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Alan Cumming - Macbeth (3:40)
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William Shakespeare - Mini Biography
Though little is known about William Shakespeare's personal life, his works such as "Hamlet," "Romeo and Juliet," and "King Lear," have influenced literature and theater for over 400 years.
William Shakespeare - The Life of the Bard
William Shakespeare is one of the most well known and influential playwrights of our time, yet little is known about his childhood. Discover how Shakespeare became the bard the world knows today.
Alan Cumming - Macbeth
An inside look at Alan Cumming's one man version of William Shakespeare's "Macbeth". Video courtesy of Simon & Schuster.
Christopher Marlowe - Mini Biography
During Christopher Marlowe's short career, he produced one of the most controversial and well-known plays of all time, "Doctor Faustus." The truth behind his sudden death still remains suspicious and unresolved.
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Play NowWilliam Shakespeare. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 03:08, May 25, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/william-shakespeare-9480323.
William Shakespeare. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/william-shakespeare-9480323 [Accessed 25 May 2013].
"William Shakespeare." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 25 2013, 03:08 http://www.biography.com/people/william-shakespeare-9480323.
"William Shakespeare," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/william-shakespeare-9480323 [accessed May 25, 2013].
"William Shakespeare," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/william-shakespeare-9480323 (accessed May 25, 2013).
William Shakespeare [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 25] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/william-shakespeare-9480323.
William Shakespeare, http://www.biography.com/people/william-shakespeare-9480323 (last visited May 25, 2013).
William Shakespeare. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/william-shakespeare-9480323. Accessed May 25, 2013.
What seems to be true is that William Shakespeare was a respected man of the dramatic arts who wrote plays and acted in some in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. But his reputation as a dramatic genius wasn't recognized until the 19th century. Beginning with the Romantic period of the early 1800s and continuing through the Victorian period, acclaim and reverence for William Shakespeare and his work reached its height. In the 20th century,
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new movements in scholarship and performance have rediscovered and adopted his works.
Today, his plays are highly popular and constantly studied and reinterpreted in performances with diverse cultural and political contexts. The genius of Shakespeare's characters and plots are that they present real human beings in a wide range of emotions and conflicts that transcend their origins in Elizabethan England.
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