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Shakespeare & Beyond

Shakespeare & Beyond

The Shakespeare & Beyond blog features a wide range of Shakespeare-related topics: the early modern period in which he lived, the ways his plays have been interpreted and staged over the past four centuries, the enduring power of his characters and language, and more.

Quiz: Shakespeare characters that share the same name
The Comedy of Errors
Shakespeare and Beyond

Quiz: Shakespeare characters that share the same name

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Shakespeare & Beyond

Take the quiz to see if you can identify some of the Shakespeare characters who share names with characters in other plays.

The sanitized Shakespeare of Mary Lamb and Henrietta Bowdler - Excerpt: 'Shakespeare's Lady Editors' by Molly Yarn
Lamb's Tales from Shakespeare
Shakespeare and Beyond

The sanitized Shakespeare of Mary Lamb and Henrietta Bowdler - Excerpt: 'Shakespeare's Lady Editors' by Molly Yarn

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Shakespeare & Beyond

As anyone who has read Shakespeare’s plays can attest, their content is not always very appropriate for children: brutal murders, bawdy jokes, incest, etc. Editions of Shakespeare’s plays that have been designed specifically for children often omit or smooth over…

Is Shakespeare for everyone?
Shakespeare and Beyond

Is Shakespeare for everyone?

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Austin Tichenor

Austin Tichenor makes the case for why we should say “Shakespeare is for anyone who wants him” instead of “Shakespeare is for everyone.”

The unlikely link between a sixth-century queen and Macbeth
The Dark Queens
Shakespeare and Beyond

The unlikely link between a sixth-century queen and Macbeth

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Shakespeare & Beyond

While working on a dual biography of Brunhild and Fredegund, Shelley Puhak stumbled across a connection between these medieval queens and Shakespeare.

Picturing early modern women athletes
Women racing gondolas
Shakespeare and Beyond

Picturing early modern women athletes

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Peter Radford

Folger fellow Peter Radford explores the history of picturing women athletes from ancient Greece to early modern Europe, how these images can be hard to find and interpret, but also why they’re so valuable and compelling.

The evolution of American Moor: The Untitled Othello Project
Untitled Othello Project
Shakespeare and Beyond

The evolution of American Moor: The Untitled Othello Project

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Keith Hamilton Cobb

Keith Hamilton Cobb reflects on his play American Moor and how the questions he received in response to it led to the development of the Untitled Othello Project, a deeply scrutinizing exploration of Shakespeare’s text.

Glimpses of women athletes in 18th-century England
Shakespeare and Beyond

Glimpses of women athletes in 18th-century England

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Peter Radford

A Folger fellow and former Olympian shares images and stories of 18th-century women athletes in England who competed in races, fights, cricket matches, and more.

What's onstage at Shakespeare theaters in February
Shakespeare and Beyond

What's onstage at Shakespeare theaters in February

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Ben Lauer

There’s nothing intuitive about a month with 28 (sometimes 29) days and an unpredictable number of Rs in its name. But once you see what the Folger’s theater partners have onstage this month, seeing a show at a theater near…

Quiz: Match the lovers to their Shakespeare play
Two lovers
Shakespeare and Beyond

Quiz: Match the lovers to their Shakespeare play

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Shakespeare & Beyond

Shakespeare’s comedies and romances are full of lovers. See if you can match each pair of lovers with the Shakespeare play in which they appear.

Excerpt: 'A Fine Madness: A Christopher Marlowe Murder Mystery' by Alan Judd
A Fine Madness cover
Shakespeare and Beyond

Excerpt: 'A Fine Madness: A Christopher Marlowe Murder Mystery' by Alan Judd

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Shakespeare & Beyond

Elizabethan playwright Christopher Marlowe may not be as famous as his contemporary William Shakespeare, but his death at age 29 was far more dramatic — an argument over a bill that led to a stabbing, with the killer successfully pleading…

A 16th-century love charm of frog bones
Shakespeare and Beyond

A 16th-century love charm of frog bones

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Shakespeare & Beyond

In Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, much of the comedic conflict derives from the application of the nectar of a magic flower. Under its influence, the queen of the fairies (Titania) becomes enamored of a donkey, and, through a bit…

The world of Italy in Shakespeare's comedies - Excerpt: Shakespeare and the Comedy of Enchantment
A scene that takes place in Venice in Italy
Shakespeare and Beyond

The world of Italy in Shakespeare's comedies - Excerpt: Shakespeare and the Comedy of Enchantment

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Shakespeare & Beyond

Charles Cattermole. A scene from The Merchant of Venice. 19th century. Folger ART Box C368.5 no.1 (size S) Italy is the setting most associated with Shakespeare’s comedies, providing layers of dramatic potential that Kent Cartwright explores in an excerpt from…

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