Point of View

"Anne Hathaway" is written from the first-person perspective of William Shakespeare's wife, Anne Hathaway. The poem is an intimate one, as the speaker attempts to reframe the gift of the "second-best bed" left to her in Shakespeare's will as a relic of their sensuality and love. By writing the poem from this perspective, Duffy essentially gives voice to someone about whom quite little is known, compared to Shakespeare himself. This point of view is both a feminist statement – women in the early modern period rarely published anything themselves – as well as commentary about the assumptions critical discourse makes when certain voices are absent from the narrative. By giving Anne Hathaway her own "voice," Duffy shifts the understanding of Shakespeare's will, as well as their relationship more generally. As such, the poem subtly argues for the inclusion of alternative perspectives when considering the reputation of major...