“How does Anne Hathaway portray Duffy’s view of Shakespeare?”

From the quotation of Shakespeare’s will, right the way through the poem, Duffy finds many ways to present her thoughts and feeling for Shakespeare through the voice of his wife ‘Anne Hathaway’.

In her poem, Carol Ann Duffy speaks in the voice of Anne Hathaway herself. It makes sense that Duffy wants to give a voice to this otherwise silenced woman because Duffy herself is known as a feminist. However this idea contrasts with that of the tone from the rest of the poem as before the poem even begins, she is showing a positive attitude towards Shakespeare, quoting his will, “Item I gyve unto my wife my second best bed”. At first glances, this seems like a strange and disappointing possession to receive from your husband, however, this bed is a reoccurring theme in the poem, and through Duffy speaking as Anne Hathaway we get the sense that to Anne, this solitary possession is important to her as it brings back many happy memories of romantic nights together “while guests dozed on, dribbling their prose”. The second best bed, the best traditionally being given to guests, was where they spent many romantic nights “we loved in a spinning world of forests, castles, torchlight, clifftops, seas where we would dive for pearls”. This is the first suggestion that this poem is different to that of her others, as she is yet to make a negative remark towards Shakespeare, suggesting that she respects him, whilst has a negative opinion on the other male poets and characters of other poems such as The Kray Sisters and Mrs Midas, making them out to be selfish and self-centered, giving no thought to the consequences of their actions.

In the first few lines of the sonnet, Duffy subtly makes references to key features in some of Shakespeare’s best known plays, “spinning world of forests, castles… seas where we would dive for pearls”, such as the forest and castle in Macbeth and the sea of The Tempest. Through these references, Duffy is showing admiration for his work, something that she rarely does in her poetry due to her feminist views. She quite clearly respects Shakespeare for his work and as fellow poet, and feels the need to reference his work in her own poetry to reflect these strong views.

It was customary in Shakespeare’s time to give the best bed in the house to guests. Comparing the activities taking place in each of the rooms, “I dreamed he'd written me, the bed
a page beneath his writer's hands” with “the best, our guests dozed on, dribbling their prose”, Duffy is basically saying that whilst Anne and Shakespeare are having an incredibly romantic night together, their guests, although they are in the best bed, are leading an average, perhaps even boring relationship. To Anne and Shakespeare, although they know that it is in fact the second best bed that they sleep in together, to them it is the best bed, and that is why Anne so appreciates Shakespeare leaving it to her in his will. After his death, she could still sleep in that same bed that they shared together, reminiscing of the “Romance
and drama played by touch, by scent, by taste”. “I dreamed he'd written me, the bed
a page beneath his writer's hands”, is also consistent with Shakespeare’s occupation but it also makes a strong statement about the imaginative power of Anne. She desires him so much that she would like to be one of his dramatic creations.

The poem concludes with Anne claiming that all her memories of her husband are stored “in the casket of my widow’s head”. He is preserved not in a coffin or urn, not even in his writing, but in the thoughts inside Anne’s head, implying that the real William Shakespeare was a man that only his wife could ever truly know.

‘Anne Hathaway’ is quite clearly different to that of Duffy’s many other poems, as she has found many subtle techniques to hint to the reader, her respect and admiration for William Shakespeare, unlike that of her other poems such as ‘Mrs Midas’, in which she characterizes men as being selfish, self centered and with total disregard for anyone but themselves, giving no thought to the consequences of their actions. She changes many people’s opinions of Shakespeare, many who have previously questioned his sexuality, implying that he really did love his wife and that she truly loved him too, with all her heart.