Essays and Notes
Banishment: Romeo and Coriolanus
Read the NoteFor two of Shakespeare’s most passionate male characters, banishment holds passionately different meanings. Romeo, banished from Verona, is grief-stricken and in fear of never seeing Juliet again. For him, banishment is the equivalent of death. Coriolanus, banished from Rome, is enraged and contemptuous of the plebeians who he hopes he will never have to see again. For him, banishment is an opportunity for a new life.
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Animal Imagery
Read the NoteAnimal imagery dominates Henry VI, Part 3, as in two passages here:
Margaret
And yet shalt thou be safe? Such safety finds
The trembling lamb environèd with wolves.
Had I been there, which am a silly woman,
The soldiers should have tossed me on their pikes
Before I would have granted to that act…
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Video: St. Crispin’s Day Speech, Mark Rylance at the Globe
Read the NoteMark Rylance at the Globe as Henry V
The Snare of Vanity
Read the NoteIn Act 2, Scene 1 of Julius Caesar, Decius Brutus uses “betrayed” to mean fooled, tricked or misled. A person can escape a unicorn by hiding behind a tree; a bear can be misled by seeing itself in a mirror; an elephant can be tricked into falling into a hole; a lion caught in a trap; and men seduced by flatterers.
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Immigration in Tutor England
Read the NoteShakespeare’s contribution to the play Sir Thomas More, which may never have been produced, is noteworthy for More’s compassionate speech about immigrants. The scene recounts the events of Evil May Day in 1517, during Henry VIII’s reign when Londoners, after sporadic rioting, threatened to kill Flemish and other European immigrants who were thought to be taking Englishmen’s work.
From the British Library by Andrew Dickson and British Library curators:
… continue reading this noteManuscript of a portion the play Sir Thomas More in what is believed to be Shakespeare’s handwriting.
You and Thee
Read the NoteIn Henry IV Part 1, in the exchange between Hotspur and Owen Glendower, about calling up devils from the vasty deep, Hotspur deliberately shifts from the word you to thee when he addresses Glendower. You was often used to convey respect while thee was used when speaking to someone of inferior rank,
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Epilogues and Genders
Read the NoteRosalind in As You Like It, the arch-feminist of Shakespeare’s plays, is the only female character to deliver an epilogue. But for the final laugh, she steps out of character and, as the boy actor who played her, says, —If I were a woman, I would kiss as many of you as had beards that pleased me–
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