Shakespeare's marriage may have been happier than previously thought - new research
Kyiv • UNN
Shakespeare was thought to have abandoned his wife, but new research proves they lived together in London. A found letter indicates a closer relationship than previously thought.
English playwright William Shakespeare and his wife Anne Hathaway may have lived together in London, and their marriage was much happier than it has been believed for centuries.
This is reported by the BBC, writes UNN.
Details
According to the BBC, for more than 200 years it was believed that Shakespeare left his wife in Stratford-upon-Avon and went to London. And the fact that he decided to leave her almost nothing in his will meant that he probably felt resentment towards her.
Professor Matthew Steggle from the Department of English at the University of Bristol conducted a study of a fragment of a letter addressed to "good Mrs. Shakespeare", which seems to show that they actually lived together in central London between 1600 and 1610.
In particular, the letter states that Shakespeare is holding money for an orphan boy named John Butts, instead asking Mrs. Shakespeare for money. At the same time, Hathaway supports her husband and tells the author of the letter that they will have to find the money themselves.
First discovered in 1978, the letter has been known for some time, but no one could identify the names or places mentioned, or see any reason to believe that Shakespeare in the letter was necessarily William, and not someone else with the same name in that period
So, in fact, this is a story about Shakespeare's marriage, as well as about Shakespeare's London contacts...And if the inscription on the back of the letter is an answer, then it is also a story about the first written work in history that can be attributed to Anne Hathaway
What the letter is about
The letter mentions that the boy was an orphan, and Professor Steggle, after conducting his research, concluded that there is only one person named John Butts in London who meets this criterion.
There is also a mention of Trinity Lane. And it is known that of the four married couples with the surname Shakespeare who lived in London during that period, only William and Anna probably lived in an area that was considered moderately wealthy.
This is at least twice the number of letters known to have been addressed to or sent by Shakespeare and his family
So far only one is known. It also shows a side of Shakespeare's London life that was previously unknown, giving him a new address on Trinity Lane and a completely new field of activity for him
He also added that this suggests that Shakespeare's wife spent a lot of time with her husband in London.
