Kicker: Rethinking Mrs. Shakespeare

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LINDSAY MAST, HOST: For centuries, the wife of Shakespeare—Anne Hathaway—has been cast as the frumpy older woman he left behind. Some even claim he regretted marrying her.

But a fragment of a letter hidden in a 17th-century book and rediscovered in a cathedral library, is rattling that narrative.

Matthew Steggle is a professor at the University of Bristol. The audio from YouTube’s France 23:

STEGGLE: This is the first really chink in the wall on that. It’s the first piece of paper that places her in London.

In London, where her husband was living at the time. There are inferences to Anne managing her husband’s money and mingling in his literary circles.

Good historians will savor this opportunity:

STEGGLE: People are going to think about it. People are going to check the evidence. Maybe use it as a springboard for further research.

So maybe Shakespeare didn’t run away from his wife after all. Proving once again: it’s never too late to question the narrative!

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