I- William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was the son of John Shakespeare of Stradford-upon-Avon. (John Shakespeare kept a general store; he dealt in wool and other produce, and gradually acquired property). John married Mary Arden, daughter of this father’s landlord, a man of some property. The 3rd of their 8 children was William, born on April 23rd, 1564.

There is little documentation for Shakespeare’s boyhood. Nobody knew that he was going to be a dramatist about whom any information would be prized in the centuries to come. The most important record that we have is a marriage license issued by the Bishop of Worcester on November 27th, 1582, to permit William Shakespeare to marry Anne Hathaway, seven or eight years his senior.

(Furthermore, the Bishop permitted the marriage after reading the banns only once instead of 3 times, evidence of the desire of haste. The need was explained on May 26th, 1583 (6 months later), when the christening of Susanna, daughter of William and Anne Shakespeare, was recorded at Stratford. Two years later, on Feb. 2, 1585, the records show the birth of twins to the Shakespeare, a boy and a girl who were christened Hamnet and Judith.

What W. Shakespeare was doing in Stratford during the early years of his married life, or when he went to London, we do not know. How Shakespeare broke into the London theatres as a dramatist and an actor, we do not know either. But what we do know is that by 1594, Shakespeare was a member of the company of actors known as the Lord Chamberlain’s Men. Shakespeare was both an actor and a shareholder in the company.
And what we do know also is that his plays were popular and that he was highly successful in his vocation. His first play may have been «The Comedy of Errors», acted perhaps in 1591.

From his plays: Henry VI, Richard III, Titus Andronicus, the taming of the Shrew, Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer night’s Dream, The Merchant of Venice, Much ado about nothing, Julius Caesar, As you like it, 12th night, All’s well that ends well, Othello, King Lear....

Shakespeare retired completely about 1613.

In the course of his career in London, he made enough money to enable him to retire to Stratford with a competence. His purchase on May 4th, 1597, of «New Place» in Stradford, with a handsome garden, indicates his increasing prosperity. There, his life and children lived while he busied himself in the London theatres. The summer before he acquired «New Place», his life was darkened by the death of his only son, Hamnet, a child of eleven.
[Shakespeare’s daughter Susanna made a good match in 1607 with Dr John Hall, a prominent Stratford physician. This second daughter, Judith, did not marry until she was 31 years old, and then, under scandalous circumstances, she married Thomas Quiney, a Stratford wine merchant.]

On April 23rd, 1616, the anniversary of his birth, W. Shakespeare died, and he was buried as an honored citizen. On August 6th, 1623, a few months before the publication of the collected edition of Shakespeare’s plays, Anne Shakespeare joined her husband in death.

Shakespeare is now read, studied, and quoted in 80 languages.
 

II- A Midsummer Night’s Dream:

A- Brief History

 «A Midsummer Night’s Dream» is a continuously popular work. It was licensed for printing on October 8th, 1600, and was printed in the same year.

Internal evidence indicates that Shakespeare wrote «A Midsummer Night’s dream» for the wedding of some great personage, but that personage’s identity has escaped literary historians. [Scholars have guessed that it might have been written for the wedding of William Stanley, Earl of Derby, and Elizabeth Vere, daughter of the Earl of Oxford, which took place in the presence of Queen Elizabeth, at her palace at Greenwich on January 26th, 1595.]

A Midsummer Night’s Dream has had a long and interesting stage history. [How great was its popularity when Shakespeare’s company performed it in the play -house.] It was listed among the comedies for which Shakespeare was famed.

B- People in the Play:
 

I- William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was the son of John Shakespeare of Stradford-upon-Avon. (John Shakespeare kept a general store; he dealt in wool and other produce, and gradually acquired property). John married Mary Arden, daughter of this father’s landlord, a man of some property. The 3rd of their 8 children was William, born on April 23rd, 1564.

There is little documentation for Shakespeare’s boyhood. Nobody knew that he was going to be a dramatist about whom any information would be prized in the centuries to come. The most important record that we have is a marriage license issued by the Bishop of Worcester on November 27th, 1582, to permit William Shakespeare to marry Anne Hathaway, seven or eight years his senior.

(Furthermore, the Bishop permitted the marriage after reading the banns only once instead of 3 times, evidence of the desire of haste. The need was explained on May 26th, 1583 (6 months later), when the christening of Susanna, daughter of William and Anne Shakespeare, was recorded at Stratford. Two years later, on Feb. 2, 1585, the records show the birth of twins to the Shakespeare, a boy and a girl who were christened Hamnet and Judith.

What W. Shakespeare was doing in Stratford during the early years of his married life, or when he went to London, we do not know. How Shakespeare broke into the London theatres as a dramatist and an actor, we do not know either. But what we do know is that by 1594, Shakespeare was a member of the company of actors known as the Lord Chamberlain’s Men. Shakespeare was both an actor and a shareholder in the company.
And what we do know also is that his plays were popular and that he was highly successful in his vocation. His first play may have been «The Comedy of Errors», acted perhaps in 1591.

From his plays: Henry VI, Richard III, Titus Andronicus, the taming of the Shrew, Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer night’s Dream, The Merchant of Venice, Much ado about nothing, Julius Caesar, As you like it, 12th night, All’s well that ends well, Othello, King Lear....

Shakespeare retired completely about 1613.

In the course of his career in London, he made enough money to enable him to retire to Stratford with a competence. His purchase on May 4th, 1597, of «New Place» in Stradford, with a handsome garden, indicates his increasing prosperity. There, his life and children lived while he busied himself in the London theatres. The summer before he acquired «New Place», his life was darkened by the death of his only son, Hamnet, a child of eleven.
[Shakespeare’s daughter Susanna made a good match in 1607 with Dr John Hall, a prominent Stratford physician. This second daughter, Judith, did not marry until she was 31 years old, and then, under scandalous circumstances, she married Thomas Quiney, a Stratford wine merchant.]

On April 23rd, 1616, the anniversary of his birth, W. Shakespeare died, and he was buried as an honored citizen. On August 6th, 1623, a few months before the publication of the collected edition of Shakespeare’s plays, Anne Shakespeare joined her husband in death.

Shakespeare is now read, studied, and quoted in 80 languages.
 

II- A Midsummer Night’s Dream:

A- Brief History

 «A Midsummer Night’s Dream» is a continuously popular work. It was licensed for printing on October 8th, 1600, and was printed in the same year.

Internal evidence indicates that Shakespeare wrote «A Midsummer Night’s dream» for the wedding of some great personage, but that personage’s identity has escaped literary historians. [Scholars have guessed that it might have been written for the wedding of William Stanley, Earl of Derby, and Elizabeth Vere, daughter of the Earl of Oxford, which took place in the presence of Queen Elizabeth, at her palace at Greenwich on January 26th, 1595.]

A Midsummer Night’s Dream has had a long and interesting stage history. [How great was its popularity when Shakespeare’s company performed it in the play -house.] It was listed among the comedies for which Shakespeare was famed.

B- People in the Play: