作者簡介
威廉‧莎士比亞 William Shakespeare （1564－1616）
威廉．莎士比亞出生於英 國，被公認是英國文學史和戲劇史上最傑出的詩人和劇作家。父親在他十三歲時因經商失敗而破產，他因此無法上大學。他十八歲時娶了大他八歲的Anne Hathaway，育有三名小孩。莎士比亞在1590年成為劇作家，起初只是模仿別的作家寫故事，藉此磨練寫作技巧，後來他越漸歡迎，最後成為成功的演員 與劇作家。
莎士比亞擅於刻畫人物心理，運用生動的戲劇語言扣動讀者心弦，他的故事結構嚴謹、情節豐富多元，更富含人生哲理。他一生共 寫了37部作品，可分成四個時期：歷史劇、喜劇、悲劇和浪漫喜悲劇。其中四大悲劇：《哈姆雷特》、《奧賽羅》、《李爾王》和《馬克白》寫於悲劇時期。這些 戲劇故事在世界各地不斷地改編、上演，數百年來雋永不朽，為他贏得最偉大的劇作家的聲譽。
William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, in 1564. The date of his birth is unknown but is celebrated on 23 April, which happens to be St George's Day, and the day in
1616 on which Shakespeare died.
Aged eighteen, he married Anne Hathaway. They had three children. Around 1585 William joined an acting troupe on tour in Stratford from London, and thereafter spent much of his life in the
capital. By 1595 he had written five of his history plays, six comedies and his first tragedy, Romeo and Juliet. In all, he wrote thirty-seven plays and much poetry, and earned enormous fame in
his own lifetime in prelude to his immortality.
