Shakespeare Blog
Short guides, quotes, and context, written for normal humans.
2026-09-07
Cordelia: The Daughter Who Refused to Flatter King Lear
Cordelia loves King Lear most and says the least. Her refusal to flatter him starts the tragedy, and Shakespeare's ending was so bleak the stage rewrote it.
2026-09-07
Caliban: The Tempest's Monster, or Its Victim?
Caliban is Shakespeare's most argued-over creation: a would-be rapist who also speaks the play's most beautiful lines. Monster, slave, or wronged native?
2026-07-23
When and Where Was Shakespeare Born?
Shakespeare was baptised on 26 April 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon. His exact birthday was never recorded, but tradition marks it as 23 April. The facts, checked.
2026-06-16
Cross-Dressing in Shakespeare: The Women Who Disguised as Men
Boys played every woman on Shakespeare's stage, and his heroines disguised as men. How Rosalind, Viola and Portia used cross-dressing to do what women otherwise could not.
2026-06-09
You Banbury Cheese: Meaning of the Shakespeare Insult
What does 'You Banbury cheese!' mean? Bardolph's two-word jab in The Merry Wives of Windsor, and the lost Elizabethan cheese behind it.
2026-06-05
The Shakespeare Themes Gen Z Was Already Thinking About
Four Shakespeare themes that map onto modern life more closely than you'd expect, from performed identity to being honest about struggling.
2026-06-03
Shakespeare's 10 Best Film Adaptations
From Kurosawa's Ran to 10 Things I Hate About You: ten Shakespeare films that work because the director commits to an idea, and where to start.
2026-06-02
Prospero: Is Shakespeare Writing About Himself?
Prospero promises to drown his book at the end of The Tempest. Is it Shakespeare saying goodbye to the stage? Why that reading persuades, and where it falls short.
2026-06-02
How to Get Cheap Shakespeare Tickets
From £5 standing tickets at the Globe to £10 RSC rush seats and National Theatre day deals, here is how to see great Shakespeare across the UK for less.
2026-06-02
Falstaff: Shakespeare's Greatest Comic Character
Sir John Falstaff is fat, old and broke. Here is who he really is, from his friendship with Prince Hal to his brutal rejection in Henry IV Part 2.
2026-06-02
Bottom: Why Shakespeare's Biggest Fool Is Actually Wise
Nick Bottom is the most oblivious character in A Midsummer Night's Dream, and the only one who visits the fairy world and comes back unchanged.
2026-06-01
Ophelia: Shakespeare's Most Misunderstood Character
Ophelia is usually written off as a passive victim. Read the text closely and she sees clearly, speaks in code and pays for living in a dishonest court.
2026-06-01
Lady Macbeth: Ambition, Guilt and the Original Villain
Lady Macbeth talks herself into catastrophe. From "unsex me here" to "out, damned spot," here is how the play builds her up and then takes her apart.
2026-06-01
Iago: Why Shakespeare's Greatest Villain Has No Motive
Coleridge called Iago's behaviour "the motive-hunting of a motiveless malignity." Here is what that means, and why Iago still unsettles audiences.
2026-06-01
How Did Shakespeare Die?
Nobody recorded what killed Shakespeare. He died on 23 April 1616 in Stratford-upon-Avon, aged 52. What the evidence shows, and the theories that fill the gap.
2026-05-01
Shakespeare Facts: Things You Probably Didn't Know
Verified facts about Shakespeare's life and work: from six signatures to the Globe fire, a lost play, a coat of arms, and the plays that nearly disappeared.
2026-04-01
Anne Hathaway and Shakespeare: What We Actually Know
Anne Hathaway married William Shakespeare in November 1582. She was 26; he was 18. Here is what the documents record, and where speculation begins.
2026-03-01
The Shakespeare Authorship Question: Was He Real?
Did William Shakespeare of Stratford really write the plays? The main alternative candidates, and what the historical evidence shows.
2026-02-01
Best Shakespeare Plays for First-Timers: Where to Start
New to Shakespeare? Five plays to read or watch first, with an honest idea of what to expect from each and why it works as a starting point.
2025-10-21
Taylor Swift's The Fate of Ophelia – Shakespeare Meets Pop
Taylor Swift gave Ophelia a pop afterlife. How "The Fate of Ophelia" from The Life of a Showgirl turns her tragedy into a survival story.
2025-06-01
The Boy Behind Hamlet: What the Hamnet Film Gets Right (and Where Scholars Disagree)
Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley star in the Hamnet film (2025). Did Shakespeare write Hamlet to grieve his dead son? Here is what history actually records.
2025-05-01
10 Powerful Female Characters in Shakespeare
From Lady Macbeth to Beatrice, ten Shakespeare women who take control of their own stories, and why none of them feels dated.
2025-04-25
23 Shakespeare Phrases We Still Use Today
From "wild-goose chase" to "green-eyed monster": 23 everyday phrases from Shakespeare's plays, with the play each one comes from and what it means.
2025-04-24
Shakespeare's 9 Best Quotes About Love
"Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind." Nine of Shakespeare's best lines about love, each explained in plain English.
2025-04-23
Shakespeare Globe Theatre Flags – Elizabethan Advertising & Tudor Marketing
How the Globe Theatre advertised its shows without posters or phones: the flags flown above the playhouse, and what they told audiences.
2024-08-15
Top 10 Shakespearean Insults: Shakespearean Insults Generator, & Quiz
Discover Shakespeare's most savage insults, try our Shakespearean Insults Generator, and test your knowledge with the Shakespearean Insults Quiz.
2024-07-09
Sayings from Shakespeare – Words and Phrases He Gave Us
Words and sayings from Shakespeare that we still use every day, organised by theme, with the plays they come from.
2024-07-09
Best Lines by Shakespeare: Quotes on Life, Love and More
Shakespeare's most famous lines, organised by theme from love and loss to sport and celebration, each with the play it comes from.
2024-03-03
Why Is Shakespeare Known as The Bard?
Where did Shakespeare's most famous nickname, "the Bard", come from? What bards actually were, and how the name stuck to him.
2024-02-23
What Type of Plays Did Shakespeare Write?
Tragedies, comedies and histories: what defines each type of Shakespeare play, with examples from Hamlet to Twelfth Night.