Wiliam Shakespeare

- is considered to be the greatest of all dramatists all over the world. He was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1564. William attended the local grammar school. In 1582 he married Anne Hathway. She was 8 years older than William and they had two daugthers and one son who died at the age of 11. In 1599 he bought the Globe Theatre.

First he helped adapt or re-write older plays but later he started to write his own plays and he was very sucessful. Both the Queen Elizabeth I. and James I. liked him very much. After acting and writing he went back to the Stratford and lived a quiet life with his family. He made a fortune so he could buy a new house in Stratford. He died on the same day as he was born on 23rd April 1616. The legend says that he died after a louder birthday celebration with his friends. He was buried at local Trinity church. Tourists, who come to visit Stratford, can stay overnight in hotels or houses providing bed and breakfast. One hotel is very interesting. The rooms have no numbers but they are named after Shakespeare´s plays:
He wrote 37 plays and beatiful sonnets. His mastery lies in his human vision which reveal the complexity of moral questions and in the richness of his language. He wrote comedies, historical plays and tragedies.

COMEDIES:
The Comedy of Errors, The Taming of the Shrew, The Two Gentlenmen of Verona, The Marchant of Venice, A Midsummer-Night´s Dream, Merry wives of Windsor, Much Ado about Nothing, As You Like It, Twelth Night

HISTORICAL PLAYS:
Richard II., Richard III., Henry IV., Henry V., Henry VI., Julius Caesar

TRAGEDIES:
Romeo and Juliet, Mackbeth, Hamlet, King Lear, Othello

FAMOUS QUOTATIONS:
Hamlet: “To be or not to be - that is the question.“
„There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking make it so.“
„Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.“
King Richard III.: „Talkers aren´t good doers.“
Henry VIII.: „Two women placed together make cold weather.“
As You Like It: „All the world is a stage and all the men and women merely
players.“
Romeo and Juliet: „Good night, good, parting is such a sweet sorrow that
I shall say good night till it be morrow.“