Shakespeare & Beyond

We revisit an essay about Shakespeare and Shaw from the 1994 Folger exhibition “Roasting the Swan of Avon: Shakespeare’s Redoubtable Enemies and Dubious Friends.”

Explore a set of early 19th-century watercolor portraits of Shakespearean heroines in the Folger collection.

Playwright Caridad Svich writes how ‘Henry VIII’ oscillates between characters’ desire for power, on the one hand, and forgiveness, on the other.

Austin Tichenor explores the character complexities of Hero in Shakespeare’s ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ and how to address her reconciliation with Claudio.

Each month, we bring you a snapshot of Shakespeare in performance across America. What’s onstage this May? Find out.

Stephen Greenblatt discusses and reads short excerpts from his new book, “Tyrant,” which looks at how Shakespeare portrayed political leaders in his plays.

See illustrations and costume designs by surrealist Salvador Dalí in the Folger Shakespeare Library collection for plays like “The Taming of the Shrew.”

What did William Shakespeare think of marriage, based on how he wrote about it in his plays and what we know about his union with Anne Hathaway?

“Saint Joan” may well be the most Shakespearean of Shaw’s major plays in its matter and its style

Rafael Squirru and Juan Carlos Liberti collaborated to create this Argentine translation of Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’ with surrealist illustrations.

Timon of Athens was the pilot play for Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Play on! project. Kenneth Cavander reflects on the translation process.

Forty-five years ago on Shakespeare’s birthday, the Folger announced that Laetitia Yeandle, then curator of manuscripts, had “rediscovered” a long-lost diary entry marking the first recorded purchase of Shakespeare’s first publication, Venus and Adonis.