Shakespeare's marriage as a very young man to a woman much older than himself was reportedly a loveless affair.  The union did produce a son named Hamlet who later died and led Shakespeare to write a number of tragic plays on the subject of loss.  Romeo and Juliet's parents are left to mourn the loss of their children's lives and young innocence.  Shakespeare almost completely abandons his marriage to go in search of forbidden love much like the star-crossed lovers in "Romeo and Juliet."  But he like his characters dies before ever finding exactly what he was searching for.