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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.

Five Christmas gift ideas for Shakespeare fans
Sonnet 18 t-shirt
Shakespeare and Beyond

Five Christmas gift ideas for Shakespeare fans

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Shakespeare & Beyond

We’ve got five Shakespeare-themed Christmas gift ideas for you, selected from the Folger shop and all under $20, from games to artwork and more.

Sharing a love of Shakespeare with your family
Photo by Tracy Russo
Shakespeare and Beyond

Sharing a love of Shakespeare with your family

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Shakespeare & Beyond

Families share Shakespeare together in so many ways, such as watching his plays, quoting familiar lines, or throwing a Shakespeare birthday party.

Shakespeare onstage in November and December
Celebrated Stratford Festival performer Dion Johnstone portrays trailblazing African-American actor Ira Aldridge, whose Othello shocked nineteenth-century London, in Chicago Shakespeare’s Red Velvet, directed by Gary Griffin, in the Courtyard Theater, December 1, 2017–January 21, 2018. Photo by Jeff Sciortino.
Shakespeare and Beyond

Shakespeare onstage in November and December

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Shakespeare & Beyond

Every month, we share a snapshot of Shakespeare in performance around America. Let’s check in with our theater partners with Shakespeare plays onstage in November and December.

A pumpkin pie recipe from 17th-century England
Pumpkin pie
Shakespeare and Beyond

A pumpkin pie recipe from 17th-century England

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Amanda Herbert

In this pumpkin pie recipe from the late 1600s, you peel and slice the pumpkin into thin wedges, dipping them in egg before frying them. Apples, raisins, currants, and sherry also get added to the pie.

Etiquette in early modern England (part 2)
Folger Shakespeare Library V.a.311
Shakespeare and Beyond

Etiquette in early modern England (part 2)

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Author
Karen Lyon

Books on manners became so popular during the Elizabethan period that it was only a matter of time before someone satirized them.

Etiquette in early modern England (part 1)
Folger Shakespeare Library. ART Vol. c91, no. 8c
Shakespeare and Beyond

Etiquette in early modern England (part 1)

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Karen Lyon

“Manners maketh man” was the motto of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century England. Would your own table manners pass inspection?

How Shakespeare describes post-traumatic stress disorder
Lady Percy and Hotspur
Shakespeare and Beyond

How Shakespeare describes post-traumatic stress disorder

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Shakespeare & Beyond

Shakespeare’s plays are full of battles dominated by men, but one of his most compelling speeches about the life of a soldier comes from a woman: Lady Percy in Henry IV, Part 1, speaking to her husband, Hotspur.

How Catholic and Protestant beliefs affect Hamlet's reaction to his father's ghost
Hamlet and ghost. J. Coghlan. [early 19th century?]. Folger Shakespeare Library.
Shakespeare and Beyond

How Catholic and Protestant beliefs affect Hamlet's reaction to his father's ghost

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Shakespeare & Beyond

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.

Shakespeare's ghost revealed!?
Shakespeare in Poets Corner
Shakespeare and Beyond

Shakespeare's ghost revealed!?

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Author
Sarah Hovde

Transparencies, popular in the late 1700s, use back-lighting to reveal a secret image. See one from the Folger collection that reveals Shakespeare’s ghost in Westminster Abbey.

Art to enchant: Shakespeare and Victorian illustration
Victorian Illustrated Shakespeare Archive
Shakespeare and Beyond

Art to enchant: Shakespeare and Victorian illustration

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Michael John Goodman

Illustrated editions of the Complete Works would have been the first encounter with Shakespeare that many Victorian readers would have had.

Cleopatra and Fake News: How ancient Roman political needs created a mythic temptress
Vivien Leigh as Cleopatra
Shakespeare and Beyond

Cleopatra and Fake News: How ancient Roman political needs created a mythic temptress

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Author
Jacquelyn Williamson

The Roman distaste of powerful women, their misunderstanding of the Egyptian way of life, and Octavian’s political need to consolidate his rise to dictator created our image of Cleopatra today.

Making Shakespeare Pop
Pop-Up Shakespeare
Shakespeare and Beyond

Making Shakespeare Pop

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Austin Tichenor Reed Martin

The tricks of this pop-up Shakespeare book, written by the Reduced Shakespeare Company and illustrated by Jennie Maizels, are a perfect way to express the theatricality of Shakespeare’s plays.

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