After the wedding, Shakespeare did what any sensible, ambitious twenty-something would do: he left for London, leaving Anne with the kids in Stratford-upon-Avon. It sounds harsh, doesn’t it? Like when your best friend’s dad says he’s “going out for milk” and you see him in a different country two years later.
But here’s the thing: in those days, a man working in the big city to support his family was pretty normal. William sent money home—he bought a fancy house called New Place. Imagine your spouse texting you from a work trip saying, “Hey, I got a bonus, I bought a mansion. See you in six months.” You’d be annoyed, but also, kind of impressed.
Anne stayed behind and raised their three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. She managed the household, dealt with the local gossip, and probably had a quiet, steady life. Meanwhile, her husband was out there writing Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet. It’s like being married to a rock star who writes love songs—but you’re the one doing the laundry.
E se william shakespeare avesse amato veramente sua moglie anne
Did They Get Along?
We don’t have a lot of details, which is infuriating for historians and a field day for novelists. Shakespeare’s will famously left Anne his “second-best bed.” People have analyzed that line like it’s a coded message from Area 51. Was it an insult? A romantic gesture? Or just a guy saying, “You can have the good one, honey, I’m dead.”
I like to think of it as a private joke. Imagine you’re married for 34 years, you know each other’s quirks, and you leave your spouse the bed where you actually had your real conversations. Plus, the first-best bed was probably for guests. Nobody wants a lumpy guest bed with your mother-in-law’s back problems imprinted on it. The second-best bed was their bed.
Let’s be real: marriage is hard. You and your partner have different rhythms, different priorities, and a whole lot of daily weirdness. Shakespeare and Anne were married for over three decades, with him gone for most of it. That’s long-distance relationship levels of difficulty, but without cell phones or FaceTime. You’d have to send a letter and wait three weeks for a reply that says, “The iambic pentameter is fine. Did you fix the fence?”
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