It’s Shakespeare like your High School English teacher never taught you.
Death and Dying in Hamlet and Macbeth
Hamlet and Macbeth are about a lot of things. Power and revenge. Madness and the otherworldly. But, when you get right down to it, these are plays about death and dying and murder: so that you know evil when it crosses your path.
See Shakespeare’s dark world illustrated and how each character came to their bloody end. (Click on the image to enlarge or open in new window.)
Shakespeare’s Game of the Hollow Crown
Using Shakespeare’s Richard II, Henry IV, Part One and Henry IV, Part Two as your map, follow the history of rebellion in turn of the 15th century England and the successive stories of three kings: Richard II, Henry IV and Henry V.
Richard II
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Henry IV, Part 1
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Henry IV, Part 2
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Shakespeare’s Enchanted Forest
Look at Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and As You Like It. They take place in a wood and a forest respectively. Dust off your old Elizabethan English dictionary and you’ll see that “wood” meant “mad” back in Shakespeare’s day. So, it makes sense that these are settings of enchantment and escape, but also of confusion–even madness. Since when do lions roam French forests? Since when do fairy queens fall in love with ass-headed (literally) common folk? These are places where you don’t even know if you’re sleeping or awake; or that the woman you love and lost is actually the guy right next to you in drag.
Enter Shakespeare’s Enchanted Forest and see all the comedy (or madness) that ensues. (Click on the image to enlarge or open in new window.)
