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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.

Happier without men? Shakespeare and Cervantes’ heroines, religious life, married life, and country life
Shakespeare and Beyond

Happier without men? Shakespeare and Cervantes’ heroines, religious life, married life, and country life

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Author
Kathryn Swanton

Connan Morrissey (Hermione) and Laura C. Harris (Perdita) embrace at the end of The Winter’s Tale, directed by Blake Robison, Folger Theatre, 2009. Carol Pratt. Shakespeare’s heroines often end up with husbands who don’t seem good enough for them, while…

Follow the First Folio tour! Updates from Missouri, Arkansas, New York, and California
Shakespeare and Beyond

Follow the First Folio tour! Updates from Missouri, Arkansas, New York, and California

Posted
Author
Esther French

Sword-fighting workshops for kids! Selfies with Shakespeare! The First Folio continues on its tour of the United States during this special 400th anniversary year for Shakespeare. Here’s a quick cheat sheet of all the places where you can find our traveling exhibition, First Folio! The Book that…

Quiz: Shakespeare's fathers (and their children)
Shakespeare and Beyond

Quiz: Shakespeare's fathers (and their children)

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Author
Esther French

Shakespeare’s Fathers   Which Shakespeare characters (fathers or their children) speak these lines? A daughter’s love   “Good my lord, You have begot me, bred me, loved me. I return those duties back as are right fit: Obey you, love…

50 episodes and counting: Shakespeare Unlimited podcast explores race, imperialism, magic, music, Star Wars, and more
Shakespeare and Beyond

50 episodes and counting: Shakespeare Unlimited podcast explores race, imperialism, magic, music, Star Wars, and more

Posted
Author
Esther French

The Shakespeare Unlimited podcast connects Shakespeare and his plays with our world today through interviews with actors, directors, and scholars—but also with astronomers, a conservator, and a professional magician, among others. The 50th episode, which deals with race, Othello, and how…

From Hero to Lady Susan: Kate Beckinsale in 'Love & Friendship'
Shakespeare and Beyond

From Hero to Lady Susan: Kate Beckinsale in 'Love & Friendship'

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Author
Janine Barchas Kristina Straub

As curators of the upcoming exhibition Will & Jane: Shakespeare, Austen, and the Cult of Celebrity opening at the Folger on August 6, we could not help viewing the new Austen film Love & Friendship through a Shakespearean lens—and with…

Ask a Librarian: Summertime in Elizabethan England
Shakespeare and Beyond

Ask a Librarian: Summertime in Elizabethan England

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Author
Karen Lyon

Q: I know about Queen Elizabeth I’s summer progresses, but how did ordinary people spend their summers in Shakespeare’s time? A: For most Elizabethans, summer presented little opportunity for a vacation from regular work routines. There were still farms to tend,…

"An elegant collection of enigmas"
Shakespeare and Beyond

"An elegant collection of enigmas"

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Author
Sarah Hovde

“You have not the Book of Riddles about you, have you?” So Slender asks Simple in Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor. Riddles have been around since ancient times, and are present in many cultures: from Babylonian and Sanksrit texts, to Norse and…

The Elizabethan Garden: 11 plants Shakespeare would have known well
Elizabethan Garden
Shakespeare and Beyond

The Elizabethan Garden: 11 plants Shakespeare would have known well

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Author
Esther French

The text for this blog post is adapted from an article in the Summer 2009 issue of Folger Magazine. Shakespeare, who grew up in a riverside country town and was the grandchild of prosperous farmers, refers with familiarity to an extraordinary number of plants…

The perfect Shakespeare-inspired cocktails for summer: Juliet’s Emoji-to and Caliban's Wrong Island Iced Tea from 'Shakespeare, Not Stirred'
Shakespeare and Beyond

The perfect Shakespeare-inspired cocktails for summer: Juliet’s Emoji-to and Caliban's Wrong Island Iced Tea from 'Shakespeare, Not Stirred'

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Author
Esther French

Mix your own drinks with recipes inspired by Shakespeare characters! Two professors combined their love of cocktails with their love of Shakespeare to create Shakespeare, Not Stirred: Cocktails for Your Everyday Dramas, a collection of recipes with names like “Kate’s…

War and America's Shakespeare
American soldier in Vietnam
Shakespeare and Beyond

War and America's Shakespeare

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Author
Esther French

“Extremity is the trier of spirits/ Common chances common men will bear.” Quoting from Shakespeare’s Coriolanus, Abigail Adams praised the courage of the militiamen at the Battle of Bunker Hill in a letter to her husband, John Adams, in 1775. From the…

How Queen Elizabeth I spent her summer vacation
Queen Elizabeth I arriving at Nonsuch
Shakespeare and Beyond

How Queen Elizabeth I spent her summer vacation

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Author
Karen Lyon

Elizabeth I arriving at Nonsuch, Franz Hogenberg after Georg Hoefnagel. Hand-colored engraving from Braun and Hogenberg’s Civitates Orbis Terrarum, ca. 1598. Folger Shakespeare Library. (Click the image to see a zoomable version in the Folger’s digital image collection.) You thought you had…

Follow the First Folio tour! Updates from Louisiana, Massachusetts, Montana, Hawaii, West Virginia, and North Carolina
Shakespeare and Beyond

Follow the First Folio tour! Updates from Louisiana, Massachusetts, Montana, Hawaii, West Virginia, and North Carolina

Posted
Author
Esther French

(Photo Credit: Tulane School of Liberal Arts) Tulane University welcomed the First Folio to its city earlier this month in true New Orleans style: Dr. Michael White and the Liberty Brass Band led a jazz funeral for Shakespeare, followed by a…

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