Many Shakesperean scholars have studied whether or not (and where) the real life of William Shakespeare affected his work. We must assume that some of his writing on love and grief were reflections on his own experience, or of popular sentiments which influenced his own feelings.
For example, the death of Shakespeare's son Hamnet was closely followed by the publishing of the play King John. Many scholars believe that the play Hamlet was a sort of tribute to Shakespeare's dead son, though it was not written until several years later. In King John, we find the following lines from the mouth of a mother who is grieving her dead child:
Grief fills the room up of my absent child,
Lies in his bed, walks up and down with me,
Puts on his pretty looks, repeats his words,
Remembers me of all his gracious parts,
Stuffs out his vacant garments with his form.
(III.4.93–97)
We can imagine that as the publishing of this play so closely followed the death of young Hamnet, perhaps these were Shakespeare's own feelings on his loss, or the feelings of his wife.
While we know little about Anne Hathaway, the wife of William Shakespeare, beyond the dates of her birth and death, Shakespeare's work may offer some insight into his feelings on love and marriage. Marriage in the Elizabethan period was primarily a social function rather than one based on a loving relationship. In fact, William and Anne had a hurried marriage because she was pregnant, and it was considered indecent for an unmarried woman to be pregnant. It is thought that Shakespeare resented being forced to marry her, and though the two lived apart, they had three children together and Shakespeare spent some time in Stratford with his family every year. Love and marriage in his plays are often represented as tragedies, or filled with bickering, or perhaps betraying one's parents in order to fulfill selfish desires. Perhaps Shakespeare experienced some of these things, first-hand or otherwise, in his real life.
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