Shakespeare & Beyond

7 excerpts from Shakespeare-inspired novels
Looking to escape in a good book? Take a break from non-fiction, and read these excerpts from Shakespeare-inspired novels that we’ve featured in the past two years on Shakespeare & Beyond.

"The Taming of the Shrew" on the American stage before "Kiss Me, Kate": An excerpt from "Shakespeare in a Divided America" by James Shapiro
The Taming of the Shrew is often referred to as one of Shakespeare’s “problem plays” because of its controversial depiction of gender roles; last year’s Broadway production of Kiss Me, Kate, the 1948 musical based on The Taming of the…

These 7 women have had enough. Match the Shakespeare character to her speech.
Take our quiz to see how well you know Shakespeare’s plays.

The madness of Hamlet and King Lear: When psychiatrists used Shakespeare to argue legal definitions of insanity in the courtroom
Well-known Shakespeare characters such as King Lear and Hamlet suffer (or appear to suffer) from madness—and early American psychiatrists took note. Observations drawn from literature began to bleed into courtroom testimony regarding insanity pleas.
Year in review: Top Shakespeare & Beyond stories of 2019
What were some of our most popular stories this year? Let’s take a look. Chopping chocolate. Photo by Teresa Wood. Recipe adaptations and blog posts about food culture We published several recipes in conjunction with First Chefs: Fame and Foodways…

Top 10 Shakespeare Unlimited podcast episodes of 2019
Our top Shakespeare Unlimited podcast episodes from 2019 feature interviews with authors, directors, actors, and scholars. Happy listening! 1. Deborah Harkness: A Discovery of Witches In 1994, Deborah Harkness was doing research at Oxford University’s Bodleian Library when she stumbled…

Six miniature Shakespeare books to delight and intrigue you
Have you seen some of the smallest books in the Folger Shakespeare Library collection? We’ve been sharing miniature Folger Finds on Instagram throughout the year as these books joined a rotating display of items from the James L. Harner Collection of…

Excerpt: The Afterlife of Shakespeare's Sonnets
Why weren’t Shakespeare’s sonnets included in the First Folio? And what was the effect on the way that later readers and critics considered Shakespeare’s total body of work? Jane Kingsley-Smith of Roehampton University, London, explores these questions in the below…

Seven Christmas gift ideas for Shakespeare fans
We’ve got seven Shakespeare-themed holiday gift ideas for you, selected from the Folger Shop and all less than $20. Find something for your friends, your family members, or yourself. And if you would like more ideas, see our eight present…

Excerpt - Shakespeare’s Church and the Pilgrim Fathers: Commemorating Plymouth Rock in Stratford
Did you know that the Pilgrims have a presence in the church where William Shakespeare was baptized and buried? A stained glass window that bears the inscription, “The Gift of America to Shakespeare’s Church,” shows the Pilgrims landing on Plymouth…

Excerpt: Shakespeare and the Folktale
What are the connections between traditional folktales and Shakespeare’s plays? Charlotte Artese, an English professor at Agnes Scott College in Georgia, sets out to explore these folktale sources in a new anthology of stories, Shakespeare and the Folktale, published October…

Quiz: In Praise of Shakespeare
The Folger Shakespeare Library building is filled (inside and outside) with inscriptions of quotations by famous writers praising Shakespeare. See if you can successfully fill in the blanks for these quotes