The English Renaissance started with the reign of the Thudor family and reached its height with Elizabeth I.

Willam Shakespeare
(1564-1616)

Life
-    He was born on 23 April in Stratford-upon – Avon, Warwickshire, England.
-    He lived in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.
-    His mother name was Mary.
-    His father, John Shakespeare, was a glover and a wooldealer (in 1565 he was elected one of twelve aldermen of Stratford, and three years later he became its bailiff.
-    William had three brothers and four sisters.
-    The whole family lived quite happily in a house on Henley Street.

THE SCHOOLBOY
-    His education was typically Tudor
-    He almost certainly attended Stratford Grammar School, where he learnt Latin and Greek
-    He would also have learnt the Catechism and studied the Bible
-    The Bible was a constant source of inspiration to his

GROWING UP
-    When William Shakespeare was 18 years old, he married Ann Hathaway, who came from the nearby village of Shottery.
-    She was 8 years older than William.
-    They had three children together - Susan and the twins - Judith and Hamnet.   
-    In his twenties, he left Stratford for London where he began his career, first as an actor and than as an editor and writer of plays.

LONDON
-    He was very successful.
-    Queen Elizabeth I and King James I loved him very much.
-    After his arrival in London he joined the King’s Men group of actors.
-    In 1599 he bought the Globe Theatre.
-    Shakespeare and his fellow players were lucky enough to be able to win the patronage of the Lore Chamberlain, and the company came to be called the Lord Chamberlain’s Men.
-    During the twenty years that he lived in London, he wrote many tragedies, comedies, tragicomedies historical plays and sonnets. He is also the author of the romance The Two Noble Kinsmen but much of them were probably written by his collaborator, John Fletcher (1579-1625).
-    After acting in the theatre and writing plays he returned to his family in Stratford.

DEATH
-    After spending an enjoyable evening with his friends, Shakespeare fell ill with a temperature.
-    He did not recover and died on 23 April 1616 – the same day his birth. He was exactly 52 years old.
-    He is buried in Holy Trinity Church at Stratford upon Avon

Work
The plays have renaissance features, meaning that the theme is a secular (světský) one, the heroes are masters of their fate (osud), they assert (prosazovat) their own will and their actions are the consequence (důsledek, následek) of their character.
His plays reflect the problems of his time.
Shakespeare did not adhere (dodržet) to unity (jednota) of places, time and action.
He used blank verse.

1st period (1592 – 1600)
Until 1600 he wrote primarily comedies. Fairness (spravedlnost, čestnost) and love triumphs
-    The Comedy of Errors (Komedie plná omylů)
-    The Taming of the Shrew (Zkrocení zlé ženy)
-    A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Sen noci svatojánské)
-    Much Ado About Nothing  (Mnoho povyku pro nic)
-    The Merry Wives of Windsor (Veselé paničky windsorské)
-    As You Like It (Jak se vám líbí)
-    Twelfth Night (Večer tříkrálový)

He also wrote historical plays, on the basis of chronicles and the reigns (vláda) of kings:
-    Richard II.
-    Richard III.
-    Henry IV. – part 1,2,3,
-    Henry V
-    Henry VI

The best known tragedy from his early period is Romeo and Juliet
At that time he also wrote the play Julius Caesar and the comedy The Merchant of Venice
 
2nd period {1601 – 1608}
A certain (jistý) pessimism and the conviction (přesvědčení) that it is not possible to realize the Renaissance ideals made their appearance (vystoupení)
-    Hamlet
-    Othello
-    King Lear
-    Macbeth
3rd period
-    The Winter’s Tale (Zimní pohádka)
-    The Tenpest (Bouře)
-    Henry VIII.

   Historical plays (1589-1613):
-    Henry IV. – part 1,2,3,
-    Richard III.
-    Richard II.
-    King John
-    Henry IV. – part 1,2
-    Henry V.
-    Julius Caesar
-    Antoni and Cleopatra
-    Coriolanus
-    Henry VIII. 
Comedies (1592-1605)
-    The Comedy of Errors (Komedie plná omylů)
-    The Taming of the Shrew (Zkrocení zlé ženy)
-    Love’s Labour’s Lost  (Marná lásky snaha)
-    The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Dva šlechticové veronští)
-    A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Sen noci svatojánské)
-    The Merchant of Venice (Kupec benátský)
-    Much Ado About Nothing  (Mnoho povyku pro nic)
-    As You Like It (Jak se vám líbí)
-    The Merry Wives of Windsor (Veselé paničky windsorské)
-    Twelfth Night (Večer tříkrálový)
-    Troilus and Cressida
-    All’s Well That Ends Well (Konec vše napraví)
-    Measure for Measure (Půjčka za oplátku) 
Tragedies (1593-1608)
- Titus Andronicus
-    Romeo and Juliet
-    Hamlet
-    Othello
-    King Lear
-    Macbeth
-    Timon of Athens
 Romances (tragicomedies, 1608-1612)
-    Pericles
-    Cymbeline
-    The Winter’s Tale (Zimní pohádka)
-    The Tenpest (Bouře)

Shakespeare’s plays are the basis for the English theatrical tradition.
They have been translated into almost all the languages of the world and are admired (obdivovat) everywhere for the beauty (krása) and poetry (báseň, poezie) of the language.