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Shakespeare & Beyond

Shakespeare's patriotic empathy

Photograph from Laurence Olivier's movie of Henry V
Photograph from Laurence Olivier's movie of Henry V

Near the end of June, a video produced by Shakespeare’s Globe went viral on social media. “The Stranger’s Case – Shakespeare’s Rallying Cry for Humanity” was a multi-actor and multi-camera rendition of a speech from The Book of Sir Thomas More, a play popularly thought to be by William Shakespeare but which is in actuality the product of many writers, predominantly Anthony Munday but with possible contributions from Henry Chettle, Thomas Dekker, Thomas Heywood, and — perhaps — Shakespeare himself. (As to whether the speech is actually Shakespeare’s, the Folger Shakespeare Library will only go so far as to say, “On the basis of poetic style, many scholars believe that a three page revision to the play is in Shakespeare’s handwriting.” The three-page revision includes the text spoken in the video.)