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Shakespeare For All
Shakespeare For All is an engaging, accessible introduction to the life and work of William Shakespeare, featuring world-class scholars and performers. You’ll learn who Shakespeare was and what historical events shaped his writing. You’ll be guided through his most popular poems and plays by leading scholars, actors, and interpreters of Shakespeare. And you’ll find the tools you need to become an interpreter of Shakespeare yourself and join in the ongoing global discussion his works have inspired. Except where otherwise noted, the texts used for this course are from Shakespeare’s Plays, Sonnets and Poems, from The Folger Shakespeare, ed. Barbara Mowat, Paul Werstine, Michael Poston, and Rebecca Niles. Folger Shakespeare Library.
November 20, 2023
Shakespeare's Sonnets Part 3
Part 3 starts with a discussion of general reading strategies to help you discover the poetic techniques and insights of any individual sonnet. It con…
November 13, 2023
Shakespeare's Sonnets Part 2
Part 2 focuses closely on the two major “characters” to whom the sonnets are addressed: a beautiful young man, and a woman described as black. You’ll …
November 6, 2023
Shakespeare's Sonnets Part 1
The sonnet — a 14-line poem with a strict rhyme scheme, conventionally associated with love — was one of the most popular poetic forms in late Elizabe…
October 30, 2023
Shakespeare's "The Tempest" Part 3: The Language
Part 3 features close-readings from Professor Laurie Maguire of some of the play’s key speeches: Caliban’s extraordinarily lyrical description of the …
October 23, 2023
Shakespeare's "The Tempest" Part 2: Characters and Questions
With Professor Laurie Maguire, Part 2 explores the play’s many ambiguities — its uncertain geography, mental space, and genre — and how they reflect t…
October 16, 2023
Shakespeare's "The Tempest" Part 1: The Story
The Tempest, one of the last plays Shakespeare wrote, draws on themes and stories that fascinated him throughout his career while also taking his art …
October 9, 2023
Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" Part 3: The Language
In Part 3, Professor Simon Palfrey offers close-readings of some of the play’s most significant scenes. You’ll hear the play’s dark energies emerge th…
October 2, 2023
Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" Part 2: Characters and Questions
With Professor Simon Palfrey, Part 2 looks closely at the play’s characters, and especially at the intelligence and swiftness of Juliet. You’ll see ho…
September 25, 2023
Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" Part 1: The Story
Children of families who are locked in a fatal feud, Romeo and Juliet risk community, identity, and life to pursue an all-consuming love. Today, Romeo…
September 18, 2023
Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" Part 3: The Language
In Part 3, Professor Emma Smith offers close-readings of some of the play’s most important scenes, which dramatize the wide range of relationships and…
September 11, 2023
Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" Part 2: Characters and Questions
Part 2 looks at the many instances of inversion and transgression, looking at how characters cross boundaries of gender, status, and social role, and …
September 4, 2023
Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" Part 1: The Story
Twelfth Night, named for the celebration that is both the culmination and the close of the Christmas festivities, is a bittersweet romantic comedy at …
August 28, 2023
Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice" Part 3: The Language
In Part 3, Professor Stephen Greenblatt offers close-readings of some of the play’s most significant scenes. You’ll get an in-depth look at the powerf…
August 21, 2023
Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice" Part 2: Characters and Questions
Part 2 discusses the play’s central characters, their profound bonds of intimacy and animosity, and the effect of money on those bonds. Professor Step…
August 14, 2023
Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice" Part 1: The Story
The Merchant of Venice is one of Shakespeare’s most gripping and challenging plays. Labeled as a comedy in Shakespeare’s First Folio, today it resonat…
August 7, 2023
Shakespeare's "King Lear" Part 3: The Language
In Part 3, Professor Palfrey offers close-readings of some of the play’s most significant scenes. You’ll witness the king and the beggar in the heart …
July 31, 2023
Shakespeare's "King Lear" Part 2: Characters and Questions
Part 2 explores the way that Shakespeare revised the original Lear story and the way he revised his own play to create a uniquely wrenching form of tr…
July 24, 2023
Shakespeare's "King Lear" Part 1: The Story
King Lear has perhaps the most expansive cosmic scope of any of Shakespeare’s tragedies. In this play, Shakespeare retells the story of an aging king …
July 17, 2023
Shakespeare's "Henry V" Part 3: The Language
Part 3 features close-readings of some of the play’s most significant speeches, with Professor Stephen Foley. Through Henry’s private soliloquy, we tr…
July 10, 2023
Shakespeare's "Henry V" Part 2: Characters and Questions
Part 2 opens with a discussion of the history play genre and of how history shapes and constrains the plays’ protagonists. With Professor Stephen Fole…