Learn About the Last Will of William Shakespeare

Learn about William Shakespeare's last will after his death and what it really meant.

Learn About the Last Will of William Shakespeare Shakespeare remains were returned to Holy Trinity Church for burial where the great bonds owned words on his gravestone defy anyone to ever disturb him from his eternal rest. “Good friend for Jesus sake forbear to dig the dust and close it here, bless be man that spares the stones and cast be he that moves my bones”. This was a fine epitaph for a man who despite spending most of his life away from Stratford always considered that the lovely town of his birth to be his home. There's just one last piece of writing by Shakespeare. This time of a very personal nature that has given scholars of the great bud much to discuss over the centuries. Although Shakespeare altered his will a matter of weeks before his death. It was far more likely to have been a response to Judith’s marriage rather than a premonition of his own imminent death. An astute father, Shakespeare had realized that Quiney was a bad lot and he made provision for Judith and any children she might have to be protected away from the clutches of Quiney. All Judith’s children died before she did and to this branch of the Shakespeare family ended with her death at the remarkably old age of 77 in 1662. New place and to the bulk of Shakespeare’s state went to elder daughter Susanna with the unwritten proviso that she was to care for her mother for the rest of her days. There's an interesting legacy left to his wife Anne that centuries of critics have interpreted as a last insult for the wife he hated. In his own words, he gave unto his wife his second best bed, a snob indeed when taken out of context. Ironically, in Shakespeare’s day families of his high social class and standing would have kept the best bed in the house for guests. So in fact, he may well have been leaving Anne their marital bed which in turn was possibly her parent’s bed from the lovely thatched cottage she grew up in. Consequently, Shakespeare may have been misjudged on this count as his legacy was perhaps a touching tribute to the woman who had single handedly brought up his children in both poverty and prosperity. Susanna ran Dr John Hall’s only daughter Elizabeth despite two marriages failed to produce any issue and so the direct legitimate bloodline of William Shakespeare died with his granddaughter in 1670. But however bereft of descendants William Shakespeare was his progeny of literary offspring have certainly represented him well down through the years to the present day. Often the place of split into three categories, firstly, the histories such as Henry IV and Richard II inspired by the real kings of England whose stories are told in poetic verse. Secondly, the comedies although often humorous or perhaps best known as the place which have happy endings such as Twelfth Night, As You Like It and to the appropriately named All is Well that Ends Well. In contrast and lastly, come the tragedies, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet and Macbeth being prime examples with outcomes being far from joyous. Shakespeare is credited with having written at least 37 plays and a whole array of poetry and sonnets into the bargain.