Imagining Shakespeare's Wife
The Afterlife of Anne Hathaway

Examines representations of Anne Hathaway from the eighteenth century to contemporary portrayals in theatre, biographies and novels. 

Katherine West Scheil (Author)

9781108416696, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 28 June 2018

294 pages, 40 b/w illus. 2 tables
23.5 x 15.8 x 1.8 cm, 0.61 kg

'Scheil's careful combing of literature for fictionalized Hathaways offers a rich index for graduate students and advanced scholars alike.' Horacio Sierra, Early Modern Women: An Interdisciplinary Journal

What has been the appeal of Anne Hathaway, both globally and temporally, over the past four hundred years? Why does she continue to be reinterpreted and reshaped? Imagining Shakespeare's Wife examines representations of Hathaway, from the earliest depictions and details in the eighteenth century, to contemporary portrayals in theatre, biographies and novels. Residing in the nexus between Shakespeare's life and works, Hathaway has been constructed to explain the women in the plays but also composed from the material in the plays. Presenting the very first cultural history of Hathaway, Katherine Scheil offers a richly original study that uncovers how the material circumstances of history affect the later reconstruction of lives.

Preface
1. Origins
2. Forging the Shakespeare marriage: Anne Hathaway in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries
3. The legacy of Anne Hathaway's cottage
Interlude: fact and fiction
4. 'Fit to marry': early imaginary Annes
5. Post-war imaginary Annes
6. Anne Hathaway for a female audience
Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Shakespeare studies & criticism [DSGS], Literary studies: plays & playwrights [DSG], Literary studies: c 1500 to c 1800 [DSBD]