Shakespeare's Own Romance

I thought it would be interesting to look into Shakespeare's love life, to see if I could find any connections to my focus of volatility in love and relationships.


I found a source located on Google Books about Shakespeare's personal life, called A Life of William Shakespeare by Sir Sidney Lee.

The book talks about some documents that suggest Shakespeare's wedding may have been something of a shotgun affair. I think the source is fairly trustworthy, as they back up their information with numerous primary and secondary sources.


It says:

 "In the case of the marriage of an 'infant' bridegroom the formal consent of his parents was essential to strictly regular procedure. ...Despite the circumstance that Shakespeare's bride was of full age and he was himself was by nearly three years a minor,  the Shakespeare bond stipulated merely for the consent of the bride's 'friends,' and ignored the bridegroom's parents altogether. ...Sandells and Richardson, representing the lady's family, doubtless secured the deed on their own initiative so that Shakespeare might have small opportunity of evading a step which his intimacy with their friend's daughter had rendered essential to her reputation" (29).

Apparently, six months after their marriage, Anne gave birth to a daughter. This type of evidence is cagey at best, since the child could have been premature, but the circumstances definitely point to some sort of affair before their marriage.

This sort of information is interesting to look at to show the influences of Shakespeare's life on his plays and sonnets. This does not call into question Shakespeare's affection for his wife, but it appears that his marriage was a bit on the hasty side, demonstrating the rashness of youth prevalent in Romeo and Juliet.