Episode 40: Frances Dolan on 16th Century Marriage

From Merry Wives of Windsor, to Measure for Measure, Alls Well That Ends Well, and others, the role of marriage plays a big role in Shakespeare’s plays, determines the action, defining the characters, and living on several assumptions about the marriage institution. But what are those assumptions, exactly? As a modern audience member, what do we need to know about marriage in Shakespeare’s lifetime, and how has it changed over the last 400 years? Will these changes impact how we receive Shakespeare’s stories?

Here to help us find the answers to these questions and explore the history of marriage, Shakespeare’s own marriage to Anne Hathaway, and what we can take away from the displays of marriage in Shakespeare’s plays, is our guest Frances Dolan.

Frances is a Distinguished Professor English at UC Davis, Her work focuses on Shakespeare and his contemporaries. In 2004-5, she served as the President of the Shakespeare Association of America. She has held fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities (at the Newberry Library and the Folger Library), and the Monticello College Foundation. In November of 2018, she led a Folger Weekend Seminar on Agriculture in the 16th century, and she is the author of the article, “Shakespeare and Marriage” for UCDavis that we have invited her here to speak with us about today.