An analysis of the famous playwright, William Shakespeare, reveals the difficulties he overcame and the activities he carried out during his childhood, as a playwright, his involvement with the Globe theater after having moved to England, and during the time of his death, along with some interesting and troubling facts about him. William Shakespeare lived a normal childhood along with his parents and siblings. Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon on 23 April 1564 as the third of Shakespeare's eight children. Shakespeare and his brothers were born to parents John Shakespeare and Mary Arden Shakespeare. The son of a small-town squatter, William enrolled at King's New School in Stratford at the age of four or five and continued to study the alphabet, the Book of Common Prayer and basic Latin (Shmoop Editorial Team). Most schools today do not adhere to the rigorous pace and educational practices in place during Shakespeare's time, so it is well established that Shakespeare was far from ignorant. Furthermore, being a student with an important grammatical background thanks to the school, William began with works of important literary figures such as Caesar, Virgil, Ovid, Seneca and others (Shmoop editorial team). William Shakespeare's family consisted of seven other siblings and his mother and father. William had four sisters (Joan [first-born], Joan [second-born] Anne and Margaret) and three brothers (Edmund, Gilbert and Richard) (Mabillard), but fate led some of them on a crooked path. During the time young William was growing up, waves of plagues bombarded the countryside and many people suffered and died as a result, some of the victims including J. herself...... middle of paper ..... .p .com. Shmoop University, Inc., November 11, 2008. Web. March 3, 2014. “William Shakespeare.” History.com. AE Networks and Web. 4 March 2014. .Presseley, JM. Shakespeare's "The Lost Years", www.bardweb.net. Shakespeare Resource Center, 1 1 2014. Web. 18 March 2014. .Mabillard, Amanda. Shakespeare of Stratford: Shakespeare's brothers. Shakespeare online. September 12, 2000. 2014. .