Widge is the protagonist of The Shakespeare Stealer. He is a 12-year-old, male apprentice from the English countryside who was orphaned in infancy by his mother and never knew his father. When Widge is seven, he is adopted by a man named Dr. Bright, who is neglectful and abusive. Dr. Bright teaches Widge charactery, which is a method of shorthand, before he sells him to a stranger named Falconer.

Much of Widge’s emotional intelligence and social prowess are influenced by his early experiences of abuse. Widge is fiercely independent, often to his detriment, and he is unused to kindness. Given his hopeless past, he has no aspirations for himself other than surviving each day of work. Most importantly, however, Widge has no idea how to respond to friendship and community, having been neglected and abused for most of his life.

Ultimately, The Shakespeare Stealer is about Widge’s journey to overcome his difficult past, to find his true self, and to embrace a community of people who care about him. After becoming an apprentice for a theatre troupe called the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, Widge is taken in by an actor named Mr. Pope, and he shares a bedroom with another young theatre apprentice, Sander.