William Shakespeare's wife Anne Hathaway was 8 years older than him. The couple almost did not live together, and reunited only a few years before the death of the great playwright. Passing away from life, Shakespeare made a very strange testament not in Ann's favor.
William Shakespeare and his work
William Shakespeare is an English playwright, poet, and Renaissance actor. He was born in 1564 in Sratford, located near London. William's family was very prosperous and he received at that time a brilliant education. When the boy was 16 years old, he was forced to go to work, because his father started having problems, things were not going very well. Biographical information regarding this time varies. According to some, Shakespeare worked as a village teacher, and according to others, as a butcher's assistant.
At the age of 19, William moved to London. There he got a job in the theater and first played on stage, then rewrote the plays in a new way. Shakespeare soon became a theater playwright and began to write original works. So the genius tragedy “Romeo and Juliet”, the comedy “A Midsummer Night's Dream”, “The Merchant of Venice” came into being. The playwright, already held creatively and financially, has written the plays Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear, and Othello. The productions of these works made the Globus Theater, in which Shakespeare worked, extremely popular.
Wife of shakespeare
William Shakespeare married early. At 18, he began an affair with Anne Hathaway, who lived in the neighborhood. At that time she was 26 years old. Her father was a big farmer. Parents of William and Ann not only communicated well, but also were business partners. Newlyweds have known each other since childhood. The wedding was played suddenly because of Ann's pregnancy. She gave birth to her first daughter Susan 5 months after the wedding. Documents have been preserved that confirm that Shakespeare had to take a blessing from the bishop for this marriage. In those days, laws were in force, according to which it was possible to get married only after a triple announcement in the church. It would take several weeks, and the young people could no longer wait.
Historians who have studied the life and work of Shakespeare have come to the conclusion that this marriage was accidental. William did not like his wife and married her only because of pregnancy. A few years after the wedding, Anne gave birth to twins. Shakespeare had a son, Hemnet, and a second daughter, Judith. For some reason, the famous playwright paid more attention to his eldest daughter and treated her with special warmth.
Shakespeare had to endure a personal tragedy. His son died at the age of 11. This was a real blow for the playwright and further estranged him from his wife.
Calling Shakespeare an ideal father is quite difficult. When the twins were less than a year old, he left for London, and the family stayed in Stratford. William visited his hometown only occasionally. Anne Hathaway tried to be a good wife. She raised children, waiting for the return of her husband. Her second birth was very difficult, so the family no longer had children, although initially Anne wanted a large family.
