Inside Shakespeare's plays
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Much A-Don't About Dating
What does Shakespeare tell us of love? The plays provide us with a wealth of wooing and wedding, and many examples of what not to do.
![Hamlet and ghost. J. Coghlan. [early 19th century?]. Folger Shakespeare Library.](https://images.folger.edu/uploads/2017/10/011490-Hamlet-ghost.jpg?fit=10%2C10 "Hamlet and his father's ghost")
How Catholic and Protestant beliefs affect Hamlet's reaction to his father's ghost
When Hamlet first encounters his father’s ghost, the Danish prince’s reactions reflect Shakespeare’s understanding of the theological differences between early modern Catholics and Protestants regarding the spiritual realm, says David Scott Kastan.
When words fail: A possible interpretation of Isabella's silence in Measure for Measure
“Measure for Measure” is technically a comedy, which means it ends with a marriage. So why does Isabella respond to the Duke’s proposal with silence?
Shakespeare's mother tongue: English and Latin collide in The Merry Wives of Windsor
“The Merry Wives of Windsor” was written around 1597, and is often considered to be Shakespeare’s most English play.
The pelican in her piety
If you search for the word “pelican” in Shakespeare’s plays, you come across three instances, in Hamlet, King Lear, and Richard II. All three refer to a symbolic meaning of the pelican that can feel remote to today’s reader or…
Love letters in Shakespeare: As You Like It, Hamlet, and The Two Gentlemen of Verona
We look at three instances of love letters in Shakespeare’s plays: Orlando’s love poems to Rosalind in As You Like It, Hamlet’s passionate missive to Ophelia in Hamlet, and Proteus’s romantic letter to Julia in The Two Gentlemen of Verona.
Beware the Ides of March
Perhaps if Caesar had paid attention to the Soothsayer and to his wife Calpurnia’s premonitions, he might not have been killed—but that would be re-writing history.