Amanda's Shakespeare Blog September 2005 Archive

Shakespeare crafted some of the most unforgettable passages in Western literature, but how well do we really know the exact lines? Test your knowledge inside by filling in the missing ... Read More

Everyone has heard of Shakespeare's greatest creations -- Hamlet, Macbeth, Iago, Prospero -- but matching the character to the play from which he or she comes is sometimes a challenge. ... Read More

Did you know that Shakespeare had two sisters named Joan, one born in 1558 and the other in 1569? No one knows first-born Joan's exact date of death, but it ... Read More

Did you know that Shakespeare's primary source for "All's Well That Ends Well" was "The Decameron", written by Giovanni Boccaccio in 1353? Read Shakespeare's comedy...

Renaissance records of Shakespeare's plays in performance are exceedingly scarce. However, those few contemporary accounts that have survived provide brief yet invaluable information about a handful of Shakespeare's dramas. They ... Read More

And thus I clothe my naked villany With odd old ends stol’n forth of Holy Writ, And seem a saint when most I play the devil. "Richard III" (1.3.345-7)

Doubt thou the stars are fire; Doubt that the sun doth move; Doubt truth to be a liar; But never doubt I love. ("Hamlet", 2.2.123-6) Are Hamlet and Ophelia Shakespeare's best couple? Take our ... Read More

Othello and Desdemona, Antony and Cleopatra, Ferdinand and who? Take our quiz and match the famous couples from Shakespeare's plays. Good luck!

Is Sonnet 147 autobiographical? Did Shakespeare really have an affair with a raven-haired seducer? Come explore this complex poem, complete with annotations and a detailed commentary. Need more sonnet help? Click ... Read More

We have no record of the first Iago, but Joseph Taylor, an actor with the King's Men from 1619, was acclaimed in the role of the voluble villain, and during ... Read More

Presented here are those characters who meet their ends violently -- those who feel "death's eternal cold" through murder, treason, suicide, and bloody combat.

The Bard bequeathed £10 (ten pounds) to the poor in his will (which is about equal to $5000 USD) but that is hardly enough to satisfy his critics. A recent ... Read More

Henry Bolingbroke usurps the throne of which king? Give the quiz a try! Detailed answers are provided.

Where the bee sucks, there suck I In a cowslip’s bell I lie; There I couch when owls do cry. On the bat’s back I do fly After summer merrily: Merrily, ... Read More

Like all citizens of Tudor England, Shakespeare would have had an intimate knowledge of every story in the Bible. There are scores of biblical references in Shakespeare's works, but the ... Read More

A guide to pronouncing proper names found in Shakespeare's plays. Names will be added frequently, so be sure to bookmark this page.

Shake·speare fa·nat·ic A person motivated by extreme enthusiasm for and devotion to the Bard. You know who you are and this is the quiz you've been waiting for. Test your mettle ... Read More

These are the youths that thunder at a playhouse, and fight for bitten apples; that no audience, but the Tribulation of Tower-hill, or the Limbs of Limehouse, their dear brothers, are able to ... Read More

A violet in the youth of primy nature, Forward, not permanent, sweet, not lasting, The perfume and suppliance of a minute. "Hamlet" (1.3.9) Shakespeare mentions many different flowers ... Read More

"If music be the food of love, play on..." As you probably guessed, the famous line above opens Shakespeare's comedy "Twelfth Night." But which Shakespearean drama opens with the line, "I ... Read More

Is whispering nothing? Is leaning cheek to cheek? is meeting noses? Kissing with inside lip? stopping the career Of laughing with a sigh?--a note infallible Of breaking honesty--horsing foot on foot? Skulking in corners? ... Read More

I will not be afraid of death and bane, Till Birnam forest come to Dunsinane. "Macbeth" (5.3.69) Dunsinane is the setting of Act 5 and the location where Macbeth is finally slain. ... Read More