Tuesday, obviously, was a crazy day for everyone. We started the day in the middle of the night (according to American time zones) so everyone was a little bit dazed. Everything Nick said in class was extremely interesting, but I was so exhausted that much of it didn’t sink in. However, when we went to Shakespeare’s Birthplace I was really moved. I was impressed by how many famous people in history have come to visit his home since 1700. It emphasized how important Shakespeare is in history and to many people across the world. When I think about how people I see as role models viewing Shakespeare as a role model, it makes me feel so far removed from Shakespeare’s humanity. He becomes idolized to the point where it is difficult to relate to him on any human level and it is exacerbated by the 450 years that have surpassed since his birth. Yet, standing in Shakespeare’s childhood home, we truly were experiencing part of his life that helped to define him as a person prior to his success. One of the tour guides mentioned that the floors in one of the rooms were original, so we were very literally walking in Shakespeare’s footsteps. I just thought, “Wow”. In the exhibit, there was a huge section that displayed all of the idioms and phrases we use today that are attributed to Shakespeare (a section of this is pictured below). The idioms are so frequently used, but few people know the explanations behind their meanings. Realizing that Shakespeare created so much of our language and manipulated how it evolved over time reveals his brilliance and vast influence. But still, Shakespeare was born in the home we stood in. He was a baby just like everyone else; he had a family and a childhood. It really amazed me.
I felt the same way when we visited Anne Hathaway’s Cottage, especially when we saw the original furniture that Shakespeare left to Hathaway’s family in his will. While walking through the beautiful gardens (pictured below), one of my classmates said that she imagines that Shakespeare and Hathaway walked these paths together when he courted her. These were the fields that Hathaway ran in and the chair designated as Shakespeare’s Courting Chair sits upstairs in the cottage. These are the items of every day life for Hathaway, but somehow she was destined to be with a man who achieved greatness. The tour guide joked to us that when they originally built the house, they didn’t realize how many people would be visiting it so they didn’t leave enough room. I laughed, but I was also awestruck by the thought that ordinary families and individuals may never know the long lasting impact they leave behind. I have enjoyed learning about Shakespeare’s life in Stratford-upon-Avon because it adds to my knowledge and changes my perspective when reading his plays. It also provides an incredible vision into how the lives of these men and women influenced the world we live in today, whether or not they knew it would at the time.
