The school’s teachers were graduates of OxfordUniversity. William and his classmates spent nine hours a day in class. The students Brown 2attended year round except for three or four short holiday periods. The school had strictdiscipline and physically punished students who were bad. William mainly studied Latinwhile at grammar school.In November 1582, at the age of 18, Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway. Annewas 26 and was the daughter of a farmer who lived a mile from Stratford. William andAnne had three children. Their first child was baptized on May 26, 1583 and was namedSusanna. On February 2, 1585 Hamnet, a boy, and Judith, a girl, were baptized.After the children were born Shakespeare went to London. After arriving inLondon, Shakespeare joined a repertory theater company. Scholars do not know whichtheater company or companies Shakespeare joined before 1594 (World Book 3). Thesecompanies consisted of a permanent cast of actors who presented a variety of plays weekafter week (World Book 3). Shakespeare became a sharer, or stockholder, of a companycalled the Lord Chamberlan’s Men in 1594. The Lord Chamberlan’s Men was one of themost popular acting companies in London (World Book 3). Shakespeare was a leadingmember of the group for the rest of his career. By the end of 1594 at least six ofShakespeare’s plays had been produced.From 1592 to 1594 London authorities oftenclosed the public theaters because of repeated outbreaks of plague. During this timeShakespeare wrote many poems.The first theater Shakespeare performed in was the “Theatre.” He discussed theidea with some friends and drew up a plan, and found financial backing. In the year 1576there was built the first permanent professional public paly-house of the modern world(Hodges 50). We do not know for certain what the Theatre looked like (Hodges 51). In1598 the land lease on the Theatre had expired. They leased a plot of ...
