William Shakespeare is known as one of the greatest drama playwright in English literature. Shakespeare was born in a medieval market town in England’s West Midlands called, Stratford-upon-Avon. There are no birth records for Shakespeare so technically his birthday is unknown. There is very little documentation of Shakespeare’s early life. People assume that he was born on or near April 23, 1564 because church records shows that he was baptized on that day. Infants were baptized about three days after their birth during that time. In 1611, Shakespeare retired. He died five years later on April 23, 1616. There are no records of his cause of death. William Shakespeare’s father, John Shakespeare, was a successful merchant and held official positions …show more content…
Shakespeare did not reappear in public eye and in historical records until 1592 when he was in Robert Greene’s pamphlet as an “upstart crow.” This was the first piece of evidence that showed that he was earning a living as an actor and a Playwright. According to the September 20, 1592 edition of the Stationers’ Register (a guild publication), Robert Greene said that Shakespeare was trying to match the level of more educated and known playwrights such as Greene himself or Thomas Nashe. When he reemerged from his “lost years,” he had moved to London and was beginning his career as an actor and playwright. In 1953, the playwright got Henry Wriothsley, the Earl of Southampton, to sponsor him. His first two narrative poems “Venus and Adonis” (1593) and “Rape of Lucrece” (1594) were written in his honor. Documents show that in the early 1590’s, Shakespeare became a managing partner of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, a successful acting company. Although theater and art was not considered high ranking in the social class in 16th century England, the nobility were friends with some of the actors and were good patrons of the performing arts. Throughout the rest of his career, he often played before the court of Queen Elizabeth I as a member of the company. The Lord Chamberlain’s Men changed the name to the Kings Men company in 1603 when King James I came to