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Shakespeare & Beyond

Shakespeare scenes on Mardi Gras floats

Mardi Gras float

Mardi Gras, meet Shakespeare! An 1898 poster in the Folger collection depicts Mystick Crewe of Comus floats that represent 18 Shakespeare plays. The detail image above shows one of the floats on the poster. Can you guess which Shakespeare play it represents?

See details from each of the floats in this slideshow. Imagine these rolling down the streets of New Orleans in the 1890s!

To see a zoomable image of the full Mardi Gras poster, visit the Folger’s digital image collection.