威廉·莎士比亚生於一五六四年四月二十三日,在艾冯河边的斯特雷福,这里地处英国中部,在华维克西伯爵辖区以内。未来的剧作家与诗人的父亲是个挺富裕的市民:他经营毛、皮、肉、粮食的买卖,在斯特雷幅有几所房子,曾一度为市参事会参事,後来并任斯特雷福市长,当时该地约有二千居民。在喜剧“温沙风流的妇人”中莎士比亚描写的正是他自己所出生的那个省城市民阶层。莎士比亚在一个本地“文法学校”里念书,在这学校里主要教的是拉丁文。学生们也学希腊文和中世纪烦琐哲学的逻辑及修辞学·莎士比亚未能学成毕业:他的父亲破了产,因而这位未来的剧作家(当时他还不到十六岁)只好自己来挣钱吃饭。根据一种传说,他曾当过肉店的学徒,根据另一种传说——做过乡村学校的助教。莎士比亚年轻时代同一个农场主的女儿结婚。但不久他就从斯特雷福逃 William Shakespeare was born on April 23, 1464 in Stratford-upon-Avon, which is located in central England, within the counties of Wawel West. The future playwright and poet’s father was an affluent citizen: he ran the sale of wool, skin, meat, and grain. There were several houses in Streh, once a counselor for the city council, Mayor Rayford, at that time about 2,000 inhabitants. In the comedy The Woman of Windsor, Shakespeare portrayed the urban class of his own province. Shakespeare enrolled in a local “grammar school” where Latin was primarily taught. Students also learn the logic and rhetoric of the cumbersome Greek and Middle Ages philosophy. Shakespeare failed to graduate: his father broke, so the future playwright (at the time he was under 16) had to come by himself Earn money to eat. According to one legend, he had been a butcher at a butcher’s shop, according to another legend - as an assistant to a village school. Shakespeare married a daughter of the same farmer in her youth. But soon he escaped from Stratford