Shakespeare's Life- Extra Credit William Shakespeare was born on April 23, 1564. He was baptized on April 24,1564, in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. He was the third of eight children born toJohn Shakespeare and Mary Arden. John was a well-known merchant and Mary was thedaughter of a Roman Catholic member of the gentry. Shakespeare was educated at thelocal grammar school. According to history, Shakespeare was the eldest son, and heshould have been the apprentice to his father's shop so that he could be taught everythinghis father knew and soon take over the business. But instead he was the apprentice to abutcher because of the trouble in his father's financial situation. Another story says thatShakespeare became a schoolmaster.Shakespeare was allowed a lot of free time when he was young. This was suggestedby historians that his plays show more ideas of hunting and hawking than do those of otherplay writers. In 1582 he married Anne Hathaway, the daughter of a farmer. He wasthought to have left Stratford after he was caught poaching in the deer park of Sir ThomasLucy. he was a local justice of the peace. Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway had adaughter in 1583 and twins- a boy and a girl- in 1585. The boy however, eventually didnot live.Shakespeare apparently arrived in London around 1588 and by 1592 had gainedsuccess as an actor and a playwright. Shortly after that, he secured the business of HenryWriothesley, 3rd earl of Southampton. The publication of Shakespeare's two poemsVenus and Adonis (1593) and The Rape of Lucrece (1594) and some of his Sonnets(published 1609), established a reputation for him as a talented and popular Renaissancepoet. The Sonnets describe the devotion of a character to a young man whose beauty andcharm he praises and to a mysterious and untrue woman with whom the poet is afraid. The following triangular situation, resulting from the attraction of the poet's friend to thewoman, is treated with p...
