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Beyond the records of his baptism in 1564 and his burial in 1616 there
is little documentary evidence for William Shakespeare’s life, although
there are many unverifiable stories and anecdotes. Even the traditional
date for his birth, St George’s Day, 23 April, is uncertain. What
evidence there is connects him firmly to Stratford-upon-Avon, where he
was born, married, and died. Nothing is known of Shakespeare’s
early life before his marriage, at the age of 18, in 1582. For five years,
when he was in his 20s, there is nothing to tell us where Shakespeare
was or what he was doing. He disappears from Stratford records after
1587, and reappears only in 1592 in London.
We do not know how and when
he became an actor, or when he began writing plays
either in collaboration with other dramatists or alone. His work as a
dramatist is recorded through
his published plays, but his career as an actor is
virtually undocumented. Shakespeare is mentioned occasionally, in official
records, in the records
of the lives of his relations and friends, and in
the writings of his fellow actors and dramatists, and that is all. His
life and career have
been more extensively researched than those of any
other writer, but the evidence remains elusive.
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