Stratford-Upon-Avon: A Glimpse Into the Life of Shakespeare
Georgia Flynn
Shakespeare is a quintessential image of English culture, with his plays still being performed often throughout England, not to mention around the world. Due to the prevalence of Shakespeare to this day as well as the iconic quality of his material, it is no wonder that British culture has seemed to capitalize on Shakespeare as a major source of tourism in London, as well as his home in Stratford-Upon-Avon.
People flock from all over to see where this great playwright worked, where his iconic plays were first performed, as well as where Shakespeare was born, grew up, raised his family, and was buried. People are looking for a deeper study into the personal life of the playwright and a glimpse of life in the time of Shakespeare, something that is lesser known to many people than his famous plays.
People know Shakespeare for the iconic tropes created by him which have been recreated again and again in modern pop culture. They know of his impact on the English language, storytelling, and playwriting as a whole. But many people, such as myself, know little if anything about Shakespeare’s personal life– the hardships he faced, the places that shaped him from a young age, and where he called home. For myself, visiting Stratford-Upon-Avon was a chance to look through a window into Shakespeare’s life, imagine this picturesque little town in the time of his youth. I walked through the church where he would have attended, walked along the canal which would have been an everyday sight for him. The museum which has taken place of his childhood home gave me a chance to read (albeit in little blurbs and captions underneath displays) about his family, his father’s place in the town as a glove maker and a prominent figure in the town bureaucracy who fell into disrepute and hard financial times. It gave me an opportunity to deduce for myself the possible motivations behind Shakespeare’s move to London and rise into success and wealth. I learned about Shakespeare’s potentially controversial marriage at the age of 18 to the 26 year old Anne Hathaway, and of their children, his two daughters and his son Hamnet who so tragically died at the age of 11 as a result of the plague.
These details about his personal life opened up so many questions for me, and allowed me to look at his works in a different light. I mused over possible characters that could have been inspired by figures in his life, how situations and events he had written may be metaphors or references to real life events that had a profound impact on him. People are drawn to this tourist destination perhaps for a love of Shakespeare’s work, and leave, at least in my experience, with a deeper understanding of his life and an expanded curiosity about the inspiration, thought process, and feelings he carried behind his famed plays.
