Will: What Is He Good For‪?‬ Classics on the Rocks

Over the past several episodes, we’ve explored some of the common themes presented in Shakespeare’s married couples that hint at how he felt about marriage. 

1. In Julius Caesar, Calpurnia and Portia are clear examples of what happens when you don’t listen to your wife.

2. From Portia and Bassanio to Jessica and Lorenzo in Merchant of Venice - marriage doesn’t guarantee a happily ever after - but in finding common ground and a shared vision for life with your partner - happiness is within reach.

3. As demonstrated by Kate and Petruchio, marriage is a partnership and requires teamwork as you play the game of life. 

There is one more concept that appears in Shakespeare’s plays frequently from his most famous couples to those lesser known. Trust.

Trust and respect is pivotal in nearly all relationships in Shakespeare, and he offers some pretty drastic consequences for letting a marriage break.

Today, we’ll look at two plays that sum up what we feel his perspective on marriage may have been... Macbeth and The Winter’s Tale.

Most of this season we have attempted to give new perspective to the traditional narrative that Shakespeare viewed marriage negatively having been forced into marriage in his personal life.  We have even come dangerously close to calling him a feminist. In this episode, we double down and talk about what most would call his least progressive and most misogynistic play, Taming of the Shrew.

In the last episode, we felt pretty confident saying that Shakespeare believed that a good marriage was one of true partnership filled with respect, trust, communication, and most importantly love. However, in Elizabethan England, the act of getting married was still predominantly a business transaction. While courtship mattered to a degree, you married for three reasons: increased social status, monetary gain, or occasionally love.  

But could a transactional marriage lead to a true happily ever after? Or was happiness only found by those madly in love? 

In this episode, we take a look at two of the marriages in The Merchant of Venice and explore how running away for love doesn’t always guarantee a happy ending - and how marrying by business transaction sometimes can (even if it means coercing fate to get the right mate).

It’s one of the most tried and true storylines, the husband makes bad decisions that his wife warns him not to, the husband does it anyway and shenanigans ensue. Today, it’s more of a setup for comedies than dramas but Shakespeare used this theme throughout the canon. In this episode, we take a look at a couple of couples from one of Shakespeare’s cornerstone plays to see what their relationships can tell us about Shakespeare’s views on marriage and partnership.

On this season of Will: What is He Good For?, we will explore Shakespeare’s marriage to Anne Hathaway and explore his general attitude towards marriage through his personal history and textual clues. There is an academic discussion that because he was pushed into marriage after Anne Hathaway became pregnant and that he gave her the "second best bed" in his will that he had a negative view of marriage. And that this negative view is why he often portrays domineering and destructive marriages. But we say, baloney.
While we don’t know what went on behind Mr. and Mrs. Shakespeare's bedroom doors, we believe there is a common theme in Shakespeare's plays when it comes to marriage and the story is more positive, loving, and modern than one might think. 
In Episode 1 - we explore William Shakespeare's final will and testament and discuss what clues the man from Stratford left behind that might give us insight into his perspective on marriage and what his final gift to his wife truly meant.
 
Additional Links and Helpful Resources
Shakespeare Documented - Shakespeare's Last Will and Testament
Shakespeare Birthplace Trust - The Second Best Bed
No Sweat Shakespeare - An Analysis of William Shakespeare's Will & Testament
Learn more about Will, Victoria, Sharon and their theater company Classics on the Rocks here. 

Season 2 of Will: What is He Good For? is coming soon! Join us for another fun-filled series of Shakespeare history and an exploration of his plays.
This season, we're talking Shakespeare and marriage. What did Shakespeare really think about love and marriage? And was giving his wife, Ann Hathaway, the "second best bed" a dying man's final bitter burn or the gift of a loving and caring husband?
Find out in Season 2.... stay tuned.