This book provides a colourful glimpse into the life of Shakespeare through vignettes of his family and his relationships with them.This book gathers into a single source a multitude of information concerning Shakespeare's immediate family, from his grandfathers to his granddaughter, the last member of his direct family line. But to what extent did the relationships in his plays reflect the actual familial structures of Shakespeare's day? To what extent did Shakespeare experience personally the familial dynamics he wrote of so eloquently? And to what extent were Shakespeare's own family experiences typical or atypical of other Elizabethan or Jacobean families? These questions can be addressed because more is known of Shakespeare's family than of the families of any of his fellow writers and actors. For several generations members of Shakespeare's family were important local figures in and around Stratford-Upon-Avon, and, fortunately, Stratford-Upon-Avon's history is one of the best documented in England.In vivid detail, the author provides an overview of the various members of Shakespeare's family and, where possible, draws conclusions concerning Shakespeare's relationships with his various family members. Further, the author notes to what extent Shakespeare's family experiences were typical or atypical of the time, and includes at the end of each chapter a discussion of scenes from Shakespeare's plays presenting the relevant familial relationship, juxtaposing the relational scenes he wrote with what we know of his own experience. Such a comparison impresses us once again not just with his skill at holding the mirror up to the nature of his time, but with the imaginative insight into humanity that lay at the heart of his dramatic genius.