The Secret Life of a Tudor Woman

 The film, Shakespeare’s Mother: The Secret Life of a Tudor Woman, by Michael Wood, refers to how William Shakespeare was raised and the hardships the family went through to progress as a family. Michael Wood refers to a recurring symbol and motif throughout the film: family is everything. Throughout the film Wood described hardships that the family faced and how each hardship was resolved and worked on together.

Michael Wood tells a story about a woman, Mary Arden, in a time of revolution who is facing multiple hardships. She married a mayor who ended up getting caught up in financial business that resulted in close to bankruptcy. The family was in financial ruin and (on top of that), was also facing issues like; the mental distress of three children dying young, financiall failure, religious persecution, and policital issues.

Wood addressed all of these issues and how heavily they can strain a family. Throughout the film he keeps going back to the original symbol of the story that a family can get through anything as long as they are together and work collaboratively. I was very interested about how Wood tied all of these hardships and bottlenecks to how the amazing William Shakespeare was raised. 

William Shakespeare was the one who saved the family from the financial distress with the amount of box office sales he had. The film takes a look at the perspective of a Tudor mother who is raising children and dealing with many forms of distress. I was interested to see Wood presenting forms of achievement that the family were continuously accomplishing together and how it all led to raising the world’s most famous poet, William Shakespeare.