The more I give to thee, the more I have,

myself and the entire cast learned a great deal

and the magical passionate world in which he lived.

We are very pleased to have the opportunity

the emotional power in Shakespeare's words.

just how forcefully they speak to us today.

Why out of those thousands upon thousands of writers

that have come and gone over the past 400 years

does Shakespeare continue to be performed

Why are we still so fascinated by these plays

The most likely reason is probably that Shakespeare,

understood exactly what makes people tick.

And he was able to transform that understanding

But what do we really know about Shakespeare, the man?

and over 4 centuries of scholarly research,

there must be enough biographical material

Believe it or not, every fact we know for sure

Actually we're not even sure of the day of his birth.

but that may be because he died on that date.

a license was issued for his marriage to Ann Hathaway.

May 26, 1583, their daughter Susanna was christened.

of two more children, twins named Judith and Hamnet.

1592, Shakespeare's name first appeared in print

in an attack by a fellow writer named Robert Greene,

for presuming to write as well as a university educated man.

is that on April 23, 1616 he died in Stratford-upon-Avon,

and was buried in the same church where he was born.

Isn't that incredible that so little is known

But, of course, we know much more about Shakespeare

because we have the wonderful plays and poems he left us.

And through them we can enter his imagination.

"But soft, what light through yonder window breaks.

Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,

that thou, her maid, art far more fair than she."

It's easy to forget that Shakespeare, in his time,

who wrote for and about people at all levels of society.

his universal understanding of the human condition

In Hamlet you have the ultimate dysfunctional family.

In Macbeth you have the very extreme of political ambition.

you have the world's greatest story of young love.

That's why it's nothing short of a Shakespearian tragedy

that this great playwright is so often thought of as boring,

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Shakespeare In The Classroom | Bonus Feature | Shakespeare In Love | MIRAMAX