Shakespeare's comedies

19th-century audiences adored Charlotte Cushman in Shakespeare, including Hamlet and Romeo but also Viola (and Cesario). Check out these Twelfth Night finds in our collection.

Twins, sometimes separated or confused for one another, appear more than once in Shakespeare’s plays. Test your knowledge with our quiz on the subject.

How can A Midsummer Night’s Dream speak to students today? Scholar Gail Kern Paster writes that the 400-year-old play connects to a wide range of contemporary issues that 21st-century audiences care about.

Stephen Greenblatt explores this question in this excerpt from Second Chances: Shakespeare and Freud, a book co-authored with Adam Phillips.

Charles Cattermole. A scene from The Merchant of Venice. 19th century. Folger ART Box C368.5 no.1 (size S) Italy is the setting most associated with Shakespeare’s comedies, providing layers of dramatic potential that Kent Cartwright explores in an excerpt from…

“We’re told from a young age that tragedy teaches us important things about what it means to be human. But does it actually teach us anything, or simply reveal what we already know?” writes Austin Tichenor, who looks at Shakespeare’s…