Did shakespeare have a good relationship with his wife?

Answer 1

No record of animosity between the two exists. Anne Hathaway was nine years older than her husband, and she became pregnant before they were married. They remained married until William's death in 1616. They produced three children, Susanna Hall, Hamnet Shakespeare, and Judith Quiney. They seem to have been an average upper-middle-class family. Susanna married a doctor, Hamnet, their son, did not live beyond age 11, and Judith married the owner of a bar.

Answer 2

This is an often-debated question, and we do not know the answer for certain. Some people assume from the fact that he moved to London while she stayed in Stratford that they must have been unhappy together, but the motive for the move was surely financial. Others look at Shakespeare's will which leaves his wife only his second-best bed, and draw from that the conclusion that he must have disliked Anne, but legally she was entitled to one-third of his estate before getting anything in the will, and the "second-best bed" was likely their marriage bed and so a gesture of tenderness not contempt. Shakespeare spent a lot of money buying the second-largest house in Stratford for Anne and the children to live in while he slaved away in London, but was this for love of Anne or love of social status? When he retired he returned to live with Anne for the last three years of his life although he owned other houses. This could be because he wanted to live with her, or just because he needed someone to keep house for him. In short, since we have no writings of a personal nature, like a diary or personal letters, we simply cannot answer this question.