Romeo And Juliet

An 1870 oil painting by

Ford Madox Brown

depicting Romeo and Juliet's

famous balcony scene.

Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy

written early in the

career of playwright

William Shakespeare

about two young "star-cross'd lovers"

whose deaths ultimately

unite their feuding families.

It was among Shakespeare's

most popular plays

during his lifetime and,

along with Hamlet and Macbeth,

is one of his most frequently

performed plays.

Today, the title characters

are regarded as archetypal

young lovers.

Romeo and Juliet belongs to a tradition

of tragic romances

stretching back to antiquity.

Its plot is based on an Italian tale,

translated into verse as

The Tragical History of Romeus

and Juliet

by Arthur Brooke in 1562,

and retold in prose in

Palace of Pleasure by

William Painter in 1582.

Romeo and Juliet has been adapted

numerous times for stage,

film, musical and opera.

Marriage

The picture below shows the place

that Shakespeare marriage

" Temple Grafton"

On 29 November 1582 at Temple Grafton

near Stratford,

the 18-year-old Shakespeare

married Anne Hathaway, who was 26.

Two neighbours of Hathaway,

Fulk Sandalls and John Richardson,

posted bond that there were no

impediments to the marriage.

The ceremony may have been

arranged in some haste;

Hathaway gave birth six months later.

·························

The picture below shows Shakespeare's wife.

This is Anne Hathaway.

The wife of Shakespeare.

On 26 May 1583 Shakespeare's first child,

Susanna, was baptised at Stratford.

Twin children, a son, Hamnet,

and a daughter,Judith,

were baptised on 2 February 1585.

Hamnet died in 1596, Susanna in 1649

and Judith in 1662.

After his marriage, Shakespeare left few

traces inthe historical record until he

appeared on the London theatrical scene.

Indeed, the period from 1585

(when his twin children were born) .

In 1592

is known as Shakespeare's "lost years"

because no evidence has survived to show

exactly where he was or why

he left Stratford for London.

This is the signature of

" William Shakespeare "

Education of Shakespeare

Shakespeare probably attended

King Edward VI

Grammar School in Stratford

from the age of seven.

It was further endowed by a

Catholic chaplain in 1482.

It was free to male children in Stratford and

it is presumed that the young

Shakespeare attended,

although this cannot be confirmed because

the school's records have not survived.

While the quality of Elizabethan era

grammar school was uneven,

the school probably would have provided

an intensive education in Latin grammar

and literature.

As a part of this education,

the students would likely have

been exposed to Latin plays,

in which students performed to better

understand the language.

There is no evidence that he received

a university education.

Shakespeare's life

The picture below shows where is

Shakespeare born .

The front of the house in Stratford known as
'Shakespeare's Birthplace' .


William Shakespeare was born in a small
country town .

He was the son of "John Shakespeare".
A successful glover and alderman from Snitterfield,
and of Mary Arden,
a daughter of the Gentry.

They lived on Henley Street,

having married around 1557.

This is the first official record of Shakespeare,

as birth certificates were not issued in

the time of Queen Elizabeth.