Birds of Shakespeare

As we welcome Folger Theatre’s Romeo and Juliet, we take a look back at some intriguing and varied highlights of our past looks at the play.

Artist Missy Dunaway concludes her Birds of Shakespeare series with the greylag goose, the subject of Romeo and Mercutio’s rapid-fire puns in Romeo and Juliet.

Falconry plays an important role in Shakespeare’s world, and Shakespeare peppers falconry terminology throughout his dialogue, Missy Dunaway explores.

Although Shakespeare favors the crow as a symbol of doom, it carries various meanings and appears in several forms.

In Othello Iago refers to Roderigo as a snipe to indicate that he only spends time with him in order to take advantage of him.

The loon appears just once in Shakespeare’s plays, in a line from Macbeth.

The word “gull” is used twelve times in Shakespeare’s plays, appearing the most in Twelfth Night, a play full of pranks and hijinks.

Hamlet uses the heron, or “handsaw,” to reference his power struggle with his uncle, Claudius.

Artist Missy Dunaway explores the thieving magpie’s ominous appearances in Shakespeare’s plays.

In 1536 Henry VIII forbade killing partridges to ensure populations could support falconry. Shakespeare refers to the partridge twice, both as examples of slaughtered prey.

According to Renaissance folklore, robins were kind and adored humans so deeply that if one came upon a person who had passed away, it would place flowers on the body.

The turtle dove as a symbol of love appears in Shakespeare’s romances, tragedies, and comedies.