Brief Facts about William Shakespeare:
• William Shakespeare was born in April of 1564.
• Shakespeare's baptismal date was April 26, 1564.
• Shakespeare was born in the village of Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire.
• Shakespeare's father, John Shakespeare, came from a family of yeomen.
• Shakespeare's mother, Mary Arden, came from an ancient family of landed gentry.
• He was educated in the local school, where he studied Latin and Greek, among other subjects, during a school day that often lasted from dawn to dusk.
• Shakespeare was married to Anne Hathaway in 1582, when he was 18; she was 26.
• The exact wedding date is uncertain, but the marriage certificate was issued on November 27,1582.
• William and Anne had their first child, Susanna, in May of 1583.
• This was followed by the birth of twins, Hamnet and Judith, in January of 1585.
The role of women in Elizabethan England:
• Even though there was an unmarried woman on the throne in Elizabethan England, the roles of women in society were very limited.
• In general men were expected to be the breadwinners and women to be housewives and mothers.
• On average, a woman gave birth to a child every two years, but as a lot of babies and children died from sickness, families were not always large.
• Childbearing was considered a great honor to women, as children were seen as blessings from God.
• Women were regarded as "the weaker sex", not just in terms of physical strength, but emotionally too.
• It was believed that women always needed someone to look after them.
• If they were married, their husband was expected to look after them.
• If they were single, then their father, brother or another male relative was expected to take care of them.
• Many women in this period were highly educated, like the Queen herself.
• Women were not allowed to enter the professions i.e law, medicine, politics, but they could work in domestic service as cooks, maids etc, and a female painter.
