Who Was Shakespeare?

• William Shakespeare is believed to be the greatest playwright ever. He was born in Stratford in 1582. He was the son of the glove-maker John Shakespeare. He had three children with his wife Anne Hathway. He lived in London for 25 years where he wrote most of his plays. He died 1616 on his 52nd birthday. He started his own association The Lord Chamberlain's Men. The highest form of education he received was grammar school in Startford. 

*(Ironically, an article on the film "Anonymous" came up when I searched for 'Who was Shakespeare' on duckduckgo.com )
I found that Shakespeare authorship has been questioned since the 1780's and that there is no proof that he ever really wrote anything. Also, that William Shakespeare is believed to be a pen name. I even found an article stating that he was actually a woman...

Bibliography:
http://www.online-literature.com/shakespeare/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/find_out/guides/showbiz/shakespeare/newsid_3539000/3539058.stm
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/doubleissue/mysteries/shakespeare.htm

• Many students, if not most, dread reading Shakespeare because of the level of difficulty of his writing. I think that this is the main reason because most of his plays and poems are interesting. This is also how I feel about Shakespeare. I still struggle interpreting Shakespeare's writing and am only able to get the gist of what is happening. I am never fully aware of what is exactly happening or being said. Now that I am to at least understand the main ideas, I enjoy the plays more than I would have if I didn't .