William Shakespeare   (1564–1616) Othello LINKS Mr. William Shakespeare and the Internet http://daphne.palomar.edu/shakespeare/ Terry Gray at Palomar College created this annotated guide to Shakespeare resources available on the Internet. Welcome to Shakey's Place http://library.advanced.org/10502/ Developed by students, this site boasts a "3D Globe Theater Internet Experience." Such Stuff as Dreams Are Made On http://members.aol.com/shakesp95/shakes.htm This site has another interesting collection of Shakespeare links which are arranged by category. BIOGRAPHY William Shakespeare (1564–1616) Shakespeare was born at Stratford-on-Avon in April 1564. His father became an important public figure, rising to the position of high bailiff (equivalent to mayor) of Stratford. Although we know practically nothing of his personal life, we may assume that Shakespeare received a decent grammar school education in literature, logic, and Latin (though not in mathematics or natural science). When he was eighteen, he married Anne Hathaway, eight years his senior; six months later their son was born. Two years later, Anne bore twins. We do not know how the young Shakespeare supported his family, and we do not hear of him again until 1592, when a rival London playwright sarcastically refers to him as an "upstart crow." Shakespeare seems to have prospered in the London theater world. He probably began as an actor, and earned enough as author and part owner of his company's theaters to acquire property. His sonnets, which were written during the 1590s, reveal rich and varied interests. Some are addressed to an attractive young man (whom the poet urges to marry); others to the mysterious dark lady; still others suggest a love triangle of two men and a woman. His dramas include historical plays based on English dynastic struggles; comedies, both festive and dark; romances such as Pericles (1608) and Cymbeline (1611) that cover decades in the lives of their characters; and the great tragedies: Hamlet (1602), Othello (1604), King Lear (1605), and Macbeth (1606). About 1611 (at age forty-seven), he retired to the second largest house in Stratford. He died in 1616, leaving behind a body of work that still stands as a pinnacle in world literature.