Who was William Shakespeare?

William Shakespeare is widely regarded as one of the greatest writers in the English language. He was born on or around 23 April 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon, the eldest son of John Shakespeare, a prosperous glover and local dignitary, and Mary Arden, the daughter of a wealthy farmer. At 18, William married Anne Hathaway, and the couple had three children over the next few years.

What did Shakespeare write?

Between about 1590 and 1613, Shakespeare wrote at least 37 plays and collaborated on several more. His 17 comedies include The Merchant of Venice and Much Ado About Nothing. Among his 10 history plays are Henry V and Richard III. The most famous among his tragedies are Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth. Shakespeare also wrote 4 poems, and a famous collection of Sonnets which was first published in 1609.

Hamnet & Hamlet: What inspired him to write Hamlet?

In 1601 Shakespeare wrote Hamlet. What prompted this mournful, melancholy play, whose main character's first actions alone on stage are to contemplate suicide, mourning "How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable / Seem to me all the uses of this world"? Some believe the 1596 death from an unknown illness of Shakespeare's 11-year-old son—the intriguingly named Hamnet—prompted the dark tone in the playwright's later works. Other scholars think that the death of Shakespeare's father in 1601—the same year he wrote Hamlet—inspired his exploration of a grieving son.