Mary Shakespeare

Mary Arden nee Shakespeare is the mother of William Shakespeare and John Shakespeare's wife.

In Real Life
Not much is known about Mary except that she actually existed and came from a rich family, but lost her fortune because of John Shakespeare. They married and had a son called William Shakespeare, who got bullied a lot at school.

In Upstart Crow
Mary is exactly from the same as her real life counterpart never forgiving her husband that he destroyed her noble birth. She claims Will got bullied at a young age because of him going bald. She is very posh and looks down at Anne Shakespeare, her daughter-in-law. She is shown to be very emotional especially at Hamnet Shakespeare's passing in Go On And I Will Follow. In I Know Thee Not, Old Man, she is shown to love the Catholics and fight against Christians, saying Catholics are the one true faith.

She also cares for Susanna and her future along with Anne, both worried about how she might end up unmarried and burned as a witch.