The Secret Life Of William Shakespeare - Plot & Excerpts
Has it changed your opinion of him at all? • Overall, do you feel the novel presents a depressing or an uplifting vision of love? • At the age of eighteen, Will declares he knows nothing of himself. In what ways do you think he has come to know himself by the end of the novel? • To what extent do you think Will feels ensnared or empowered by his marriage to Anne? • Do you find Anne’s expectations of Will and their marriage unrealistic? How much empathy do you feel towards her? • How much of a grounding does family provide to the characters in the novel? • ‘Is his father right after all? That a man can’t split himself in two?’ What conclusion do you feel the reader is guided towards? How do you think the idea of duplicity is handled by the author? • To what extent do you feel the women in the novel live up to or subvert their positions in Elizabethan England? • What sort of a contrast do Ben Jonson and Christopher Marlowe provide in the author’s portrayal of expectation and success?
What do You think about The Secret Life Of William Shakespeare?