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  • Essay / Anne Hathaway: Wife of William Shakespeare, Lover of...

    This is my own interpretation of the life and times of Anne Hathaway, based on what little we know about her. My version is somewhat sensational, please excuse me. Anne (aka Agnes) Hathaway was born in 1556 to parents Richard and Joan and certainly grew up with her siblings at Hewlands Farm Shottery. His father was a farmer and he was to remarry after the death of Joan Hathaway. We can assume that Anne Hathaway received at best home schooling or at worst no schooling at all and lived most of her life until her marriage in the hamlet of Hamlet, a mile away. from Stratford in the Forest of Arden. She was certainly a regular visitor to Stratford and her family were well acquainted with the Shakespeares of Henley Street. Despite the age gap, William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway knew each other. Anne Hathaway was not a particularly attractive woman but marriage had eluded her until 1581-82. Then her father died in the fall of 1981 and she received a conditional inheritance from his will. She had to get married. Who would she marry? I assume she was John Shakespeare's "secret lover" and became pregnant by him (not William), although she certainly "kissed" William in the hot summer of 1582. John Shakespeare was, in many ways, a more mysterious man than his own eldest son and his personal failings would, as we know, lead to his downfall in Stratfordian society during the 1580s and 1590s. The Debdales were another Shottery family known to both the Hathaways and the Shakespeares. . Robert Debdale was their son, and at school he had been a personal friend of William Shakespeare. Debdale had left for the Jesuit priesthood with tutor Simon Hunt in 1575. Unfortunately, he fell into a trap on his middle of paper ......sons, Francis Bacon, John Hemmings and Richard Burbage. It was Anne Hathaway who called the meeting a year after Williams' death, organized by Francis Bacon at Gorlambury Manor near St Albans. Anne Hathaway was escorted to the meeting by her son-in-law, Dr. John Hall. Her only request was that there be a complete publication of all of her husband's works before his death. Ironically, this was the first folio which was published in August 1623 and she herself died a month later, to be buried alongside her husband William in the chancel of Holy Trinity Church, Stratford. Anne Hathaway was truly a woman of the past who helped secure her husband's name in immortality. She was not a woman motivated by money or material wealth and she endured a lot in her life. Those who cared for William during his life ensured that Anne Hathaway was also remembered..