Shakespeare is great (at least partly) because he was born into an exciting time and place.

1. Shakespeare was born and lived his probably ordinary young life in Stratford, but the bigger world was beckoning to him. See A Timeline of Shakespeare's Life to 1592.

Wait a Minute!! How about the idea that somebody else wrote "Shakespeare"? -- The Earl of Oxford?
2. Just at the moment when it might look as if he might be settled for life, Shakespeare moved to London and the great world, where his career began. See Shakespeare in London.

1. Shakespeare did not write plays so that people could read them. He wrote plays so that people could hear and see them.
   • hearing a play
   • literacy
   • Shakespeare as an actor
   • stage directions --See the first scene of Julius Caesar and this scene in Hamlet
2. When you read a Shakespeare play you will understand and like it better if you try to do some of the work of the missing element: the acting. See Reading Drama the Stanislavski Way, or Using the Magic "If"