Inside Shakespeare's plays
“Good Peter Quince:” Shakespeare’s most autobiographical character
Richard Ruiz (Peter Quince) and Holly Twyford (Bottom) in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Folger Theatre, 2016. Teresa Wood. A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream is one of William Shakespeare’s most popular plays, and for good reason. Frequently a young person’s introduction to…
Better than laughing: Renaissance melancholy
The most famous book about Renaissance melancholy, Robert Burton’s The Anatomy of Melancholy (1621), celebrates its four hundredth anniversary this year. Though it was published five years after Shakespeare’s death, it gathers together ideas about melancholy from antiquity right through…
20 Shakespeare quotes about love
The word “love” appears 2,146 times in Shakespeare’s collected works (including a handful of “loves” and “loved”). Add to that 59 instances of “beloved” and 133 uses of “loving” and you’ve got yourself a “whole lotta love.” So, what does…
“Comic sport”: Shakespeare’s depictions of governments in chaos
Chaotic and ineffective government may be a problem in our current life, but it makes for excellent drama in the theater — and in William Shakespeare’s hands, excellent comedy as well.
Romeo and Juliet: Is Shakespeare’s famous love story actually a play about violence?
Tybalt (Rex Daugherty) duels Mercutio (Brad Koed), with Benvolio (Aaron Bliden) looking on. Romeo and Juliet, Folger Theatre, 2013. Casey Kaleba was the fight director. Photo by Teresa Wood. Is Romeo and Juliet a play about love? Well yes, but…
Losing the name of action: Hamlet reconsidered
Photograph by Lizzie Caswall Smith of Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson as Hamlet. Folger Shakespeare Library. During this global pandemic, when the whole world is quarantined to try to prevent the spread of COVID-19, Hamlet seems like a character perfectly suited to…
The dinner table as classroom: Home-schooling gone wrong in 'The Taming of the Shrew'
Shakespeare’s comedy The Taming of the Shrew showcases one of the earliest and thorniest examples of teaching in a home environment—thorny both because of the way pedagogy in the play is full of cynicism and brutality, and because, on the…
The Merry Wives of Windsor: What sets this comedy apart from Shakespeare’s other plays?
Simple (Derrick Truby) and Mistress Quickly (Kate Eastwood Norris) in The Merry Wives of Windsor, Folger Theatre, 2019. Cameron Whitman Photography. The Merry Wives of Windsor was written at the end of the 16th century, and is what I would…
Possets, drugs, and milky effects: A look at recipes, Shakespeare's plays, and other historical references
Shakespeare’s plays are full of references to food and cookery, but they’re not always very appetizing. In Hamlet, the ghost of elder Hamlet describes the effect of the poison that Claudius pours into his ears, how it winds its way…
Cursing Coriolanus and combating cornhoarders
Coriolanus at the Lyceum / Cyrus C. Cuneo. 1901. Folger ART Box C972 no.1 (size XL)In 1608, famine plagued England. Preachers responded with sermons begging the gentry to show compassion for the poor, King James I responded with royal proclamations…
The Queen of the Night: The infinite variety of Cleopatra
In the image above, Constance Collier, magnificent as the dying Cleopatra, sits on her throne in a dimly-lit room, light sparkling off her crown, belt and spangled train. This 1906-07 London production of Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra is considered a…
Desdemona and Emilia: The testament of female friendship in Othello
Desdemona and Emilia’s friendship inspires resistance and the courage to speak the truth, resulting in Iago’s exposure and Desdemona’s exoneration.