ChronoFive
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Setting the scene
William Shakespeare was baptized on April 26, 1564, in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire; his birth is traditionally dated April 23, St. George's Day. His father John was a glover and alderman; his mother Mary Arden came from landowning stock.
What happened
By the 1590s Shakespeare wrote for London theaters, joining the Lord Chamberlain's Men and investing in the Globe. Plays from Hamlet to Macbeth and sonnets explored power, love, jealousy, and mortality in language still quoted daily.
Why it still matters
He died on April 23, 1616, in Stratford and left his 'second-best bed' to his wife Anne Hathaway in his will—a line debated by scholars ever since. Memorable detail: the First Folio of 1623, compiled by colleagues John Heminges and Henry Condell, preserved 18 plays that might otherwise be lost.
Background
Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet endure centuries later.