Shakespeare's tragedies

One of Shakespeare’s most popular plays, both in his lifetime and ours, Romeo and Juliet juxtaposes the joy of first love against a violent world divided by a blood feud. Explore some of the tragedy’s most well-known quotes.

Shakespeare’s shortest tragedy, Macbeth, tells a story of ambition, violent murder, and its crippling psychological aftereffects, all foretold by a trio of witches. Explore some of the play’s most well-known lines, in order of their appearance.

“Beware the Ideas of March!” But what are the Ides of March? And how did Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar help cement them in the popular imagination?

Theater powerhouse Whitney White shares the music she hears when she reads Shakespeare— punk rock, the blues, gospel—and how the sounds and rhythms of Lady Macbeth, Emilia, Juliet, and Richard III inspired All Is But Fantasy.

Reference Associate Erika Giddens, who manages the Folger’s Ask a Librarian service, takes us behind the scenes to share some of the most asked questions about Shakespeare and how she answers them.

Shakespeare’s tragedy is filled with memorable lines about power. Explore some of the most well-known quotes, in order of their appearance in the play.

Austin Tichenor shares three takes on Shakespeare’s Macbeth that focus on the human struggle within the tragedy in new and unexpected ways, including a production at the RSC, a novel about Lady Macbeth, and a film for streaming.

Challenge yourself with our haunting quiz about the phantoms and apparitions in Shakespeare’s plays and how they are portrayed, from Banquo’s ghost in Macbeth to Hamlet’s father’s Ghost, and many more.

Challenge yourself with this new quiz about Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar.

Shakespeare’s tragedy is filled with memorable lines, including Mark Antony’s speech that begins “Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears.” Explore some of the play’s most well-known quotes.

When theaters shut down during COVID, actors Sam Crane and Mark Oosterveen performed Hamlet inside Grand Theft Auto Online. Filmmaker Pinny Grylls captured it all in a documentary, Grand Theft Hamlet.

“Serious actors. No director. One rehearsal. In a bar.” That’s Back Room Shakespeare Project’s motto and it makes for a unique relationship between actor and audience that Austin Tichenor writes enhances the power of Shakespeare’s work.