That Shakespeare Life

The superstitions surrounding the ideas of ghosts, death, and what happened to your soul as your body approached it's demise were all inspiring topics for the plays of William Shakespeare. It turns out that these superstitions were not only fuel for dramatic presentations on the stage, but formed the foundation of pretty creepy tales about the real life of one of England's most famous monarchs, Qu...

In Elizabethan England, one very popular art form was that of the woodcut. This art form is an intricate design, taking great skill and talent to produce, and was a huge innovation in the printing industry for the Renaissance time period. Here today to explain for us how woodcuts were made, where Shakespeare might have seen them in print, and where you and I can explore the ones which survive toda...

A tradition from Shakespeare's lifetime that continues into the present day is that of the Lord Mayor's Shows. It is an annual occurrence which exists to introduce the Lord Mayor to the people, the monarch, and London in particular. The way this occasion is marked today, though, is far and away removed from the wild and festive nature of the event when William Shakespeare and his contemporaries we...

When Queen Elizabeth wanted to punish Robert Devereux for his imprudent behavior at court, she placed him in charge of handling the Irish rebels and sent him off to Ireland with strict instructions on how to handle that situation. His campaign was ultimately unsuccessful, due to reasons that can, and have, filled volumes on the history of the Nine Years War, as well as the Irish Rebellion, but whe...

William Shakespeare's presentation of Richard III portrays the king as a villain, with a great focus on his hunchback and other disabilities as a justification and contributing factor to Richard's malalignment morally. For centuries, historians have wondered if the late King really was as twisted as legend has rendered him to be, or if the tales were merely the product of centuries of conflation,...

When we think of unicorns, we most often think of the mythical creature roaming forests in Europe or if you are from the UK, you'll likely make a connection with the famous nursery rhyme about the Lion and the Unicorn. In addition to being the national animal for Scotland, and a symbol of their strength and independence, for Shakespeare and the 16th century society in Scotland, the unicorn is a ty...

In the infancy of the British Empire as Scotland, England, and Ireland were unified for the first time in history under James I, William Shakespeare writes the play Cymbeline. While the actual date he wrote it is unknown, the first performance of Cymbeline is thought to be in 1610, just three years before Shakespeare's daughter, Susanna, is falsely accused of adultery in a very public trial, at wh...

When Elizabeth I came to the throne in 1558, she inherited a tense political and religion tension that bordered dangerously close to civil war over Protestantism vs Catholicism in England. Historical basis for wars with France, the reputation of the Huguenots, and the painful English loss of Calais after ruling it for 150 years all played a role in the reception of small details, including the rep...

When William Shakespeare was writing plays like Richard II in London, including the abdication scene we know it for today would have, and often did, get playwrights arrested for their challenge to the authority of the monarch. That's one reason Shakespeare's plays, Richard II, was traditionally performed without the abdication scene except for the one fateful day it was staged intentionally includ...

illiam Shakespeare was living, and writing at the start of the Golden Age of Libraries. In a world where the written word was considered a luxury item, and private libraries were amassed in castles, mansions, or other private residencies of the wealthy as a sign of their status and intelligence, The Bodleian Library changed the culture of education, and access to knowledge, when they opened their...

When James VI of Scotland became James I of England, he did so as the son of Mary Queen of Scots, and brought with him a tumultous history and risk for civil war. In an example of the King's extraordinary gift at diplomacy and unification, he also brought into England his ability to stabilize conflict and unite warring parties around his position as King.    At 39 years old, when William Shakespea...

One of my absolute favorite quotes from Shakespeare comes from Henry IV Part 1 when Henry V says   Unless hours were cups of sack and minutes  capons and clocks the tongues of bawds and dials the  signs of leaping-houses and the blessed sun himself  a fair hot wench in flame-coloured taffeta , I see no  reason why thou shouldst be so superfluous to demand  the time of the day.   It's hilarious tod...

While Shakespeare is name is the most well known of the playwrights from Renaissance England, he was hardly the only famous artist working during that time period. Christopher Marlowe, Ben Jonson, John Fletcher, and John Lyly are just a few of the names we can mention of excellent theater practitioners working alongside the bard, and it turns out, William Shakespeare apparently had at least a high...

Robert Greene's A Groatsworth of Wit was written as a small pamphlet, and told a moralistic tale which was partly autobiographical. The story includes many characters, songs, fables, and perhaps most famously--sharply barbed criticism that takes aim at his contemporary playwrights and actors. The most famous criticism for which Greene's work is most remembered is that this document is where Shakes...

When William Shakespeare died in Stratford Upon Avon England in 1616, the world lost an incredible soul that would far outlast his 52 years. But how did the greatest playwright die? And why was he not buried alongside other great playwrights of his stature at Westminster Abbey? Here to take us back to 1616 and walk us through the myths, the legend and the facts about Shakespeare's death is our gue...

William Shakespeare grew up functioning as the oldest of his five siblings, with his parents losing two children before William was born. The stories of his brothers and sisters are brief, but as you might expect from the life of William Shakespeare, they are full of intrigue, mystery, and mirth. Here today to share with us the stories of Shakespeare siblings is our guest, David Kathman.

When it comes to Food in Shakespeare's England, there were superstitions, recipes, kitchens, and even cooking methods attached to the metaphors Shakespeare intended when he used food references in his works.  All of this effusive history behind food in early modern England is at the heart of the Folger Shakespeare Library's latest project caled Before Farm to Table. Our guest this week Elisa Tersi...

The bard has his own bobble head figurines and his likeness has even been made into emojis and memes here in the 21st century, but how much of this likeness is real and what has posterity simple made up? From the famous Chandos Portrait that was the founding acquisition of England's National Portrait Gallery, to the Droeshout portrait that graced the front cover of the First Folio in 1623, how man...

During William Shakespeare's lifetime, the central spot for gathering news of the day, purchasing the latest books, or catching up on what's new from your favorite author, poet, or playwright, was the churchyard outside St. Paul's Cathedral in London. Frequenter's to this spot were known as "paul's walkers" and it was a huge number of walkers indeed that crossed the yard to search the various stal...

There are close to 200 plant references in Shakespeare's plays, with the bard mentioning herbs, spcices, as well as the iconic roses that was such a plague to Juliet in Romeo and Juliet. With the massive amount of exploration and import of foreign goods that was exploding in Egland dudirng Shakespeare's lifetime, many of the plants mentioned by the bard were being seen in england for the very firs...

William Shakespeare uses Tudor Knot Gardens in his plays, most notably in Love's Labour's Lost, but also with a mention in Richard II. These iconic symbols of Tudor history are as intricate in design as they are in their history and folklore. Here to help us explore exactly why Shakespeare would have invoked the reputation of a Tudor Knot Garden for his plays, as well as the history of the design,...

After William Shakespeare made his name in London, established himself as a gentleman at home, he returned to Stratford Upon Avon to seek his status as a gentleman, acquiring not only a coat of arms, but the second largest house in town. New Place was brought with considerable legal wrangling, however, and the story of how Shakespeare came to own his famous house is filled with fights, suspicion,...

With all of the major advances that have taken place since the The Scientific Revolution, it can be easy to forget how impactful and, indeed, revolutionary the time period was for playwrights like William Shakespeare. The bard was being influenced by high level mathematics, and a very Renaissance minded way of thinking that spills off the page into his productions. Here to help us explore some of...

Elephants being given as gifts to the monarch, lions being tamed inside theaters, and bears chasing people off stage in A Winter's Tale. Where did these exotic animals come from? Why were they being used on stage? Peta Tait visits with us this week to explore exotic animals in Shakespeare's England.

For William Shakespeare's London, multiple races were commonplace on the streets near The Globe theater where plays like Othello and Merchant of Venice boldy portrayed blackness and multiple ethnicities in performance, but what was the 16th century perspective on race when they saw various ethnicities on stage? Othello was first portrayed by Richard Burbage, who was a white man, so did Shakespeare...