A critical examination of Hamlet’s “To Be or Not to Be” speech, arguing that it concerns the ethics of revenge rather than suicide, and exploring whether it is a genuine soliloquy or a performance for hidden listeners.
A playlist exploring Shakespeare’s social circle in Stratford-on-Avon, with individual videos on friends and contemporaries including Richard Quiney, Richard Field, Thomas Greene, Julius Shaw, Hamnet Sadler, and others.
An exploration of how rigidly Shakespeare adheres to iambic pentameter, examining his use of metrical variation, substitution, and the relationship between rhythm and dramatic meaning.
An analysis of Hamlet’s To Be or Not to Be soliloquy, focusing on its ethical arguments about revenge, mortality, and the paralysis of indecision.
An examination of the claim that Shakespeare coined an exceptional number of English words and expressions, weighing the evidence from contemporary sources and the history of the language.
A concise introduction to what we know about Shakespeare from contemporary sources, tracing the documentary record of his life from his baptism in Stratford in 1564 to his burial there, with reference to contemporary praise from Francis Meres.