The GEB is back with a sequel to our popular post, Scansion Debates of Shakespeare's Famous Lines. In that post, we took 5 different lines from 5 different plays and presented and analyzed ways to scan them. Now, let's do the same with the sonnets. The sonnet is printed in its entirety. Below are the scansion options: stressed syllables are marked in bold and underlined, while unstressed syllables appear in plain type. Differences from the previous scansion are highlighted in yellow.  1. "As any she belied with false compare." (Sonnet 130) My mistress' eyes are nothing ..read more

 Shakespeare Crosswords: 100 fantastic crosswords themed on William Shakespeare is a stimulating challenge, perfect for those who want to exercise their brains in free moments here and there, but is sold on a somewhat misleading premise.    A Shakespeare-themed crossword puzzle is a great idea: you can imagine that lovers of Shakespeare would take an interest in words and language and would enjoy solving puzzles. Things done well, and with care     A light softcover book, these 100 crosswords have more than enough material to keep you busy for a long time. Great f ..read more

Shakespeare is known first and foremost for his fiery insults. But what do these insults actually mean? Let's take a closer look at seven of Shakespeare's best insults below. 1. Coxcomb The insult "coxcomb" can be found in ten of Shakespeare's plays: All's Well That Ends Well, The Comedy of Errors, Henry V, King Lear, Love's Labour's Lost, The Merry Wives on Windsor, Much Ado About Nothing, Othello, The Taming of the Shrew, and Twelfth Night. It refers to a vain and conceited man, or a dandy. It is also the name for a jester's cap––so it can be used to call someone a fool (as in King Lear, Act ..read more

What are Shakespeare's plays based on? Did he come up with all the storylines himself? Was any of it true? Find the answers to these questions for 37 of Shakespeare's plays here! The list below is in chronological order by year of first confirmed performance. Henry VI, Part II Shakespeare used several different sources for Henry VI, Part II. These include Raphael Holinshed's The Third Volume of Chronicles (1587), Edward Hall's The Union of the Two Noble and Illustrate Famelies of Lancastre and Yorke (1548),  Richard Grafton's A Chronicle at Large and Meere History of the Affayre ..read more

It's frequently said that Shakespeare wrote 37 plays and collaborated on more. But 2 of his plays are lost: that is, we know they were written, but no copies of them survive (at least, that we have discovered and identified yet). Let's dive into what we know and what we don't know about Shakespeare's lost plays. * indicates that the original spelling has been translated into modern English spelling for readability. What are they? The two plays are Love's Labour's Won, written before 1598, and The History of Cardenio, written in 1612 or 1613. How do we know they exist? Love's Labour's Won is li ..read more

One of the marks of a truly great artist is the ability to inspire more art. And Shakespeare is no exception. His plays have given rise to creative projects in all mediums. Here we are focusing on some of the non-written art that Shakespeare has inspired long after his death. 19th Century: Paintings The dramatic pinnacles of Shakespeare's plays are perfect for depiction in a visual medium. Here, let's take a look at some of these paintings, focusing mostly on the 19th Century. The paintings appear in chronological order. 1) The Three Witches or The Weird Sisters by Henry Fuseli This work ..read more

This Mother's Day, find out how well you know the mothers of Shakespeare's plays! Questions appear in order of increasing difficulty. Answers appear at the bottom of the page, below the image. Level 1: Name the Mother 1. Which mother comes to life from a statue?     a) Lady Capulet     b) Lady Montague     c) Margaret     d) Hermione 2. Who is not a biological mother, but a motherly figure, to Juliet?     a) Lady Capulet     b) Lady Montague     c) The Nurse     d) None of th ..read more

Like every one of us, Shakespeare had interests and obsessions. He regularly interacted with many of the same theatrical and thematic motifs, and that is one of the reasons why he has such a signature style. So what are the essential ingredients to a Shakespearean play? 1. The Fool Comedy or tragedy, history or drama, you need a fool. Way wiser than everyone else. 2. The Forest A great place to get lost or take on a new identity. Also a favorite site for all things supernatural. 3. The Letter From a falsely written one to the one that reveals it all, the letter is a critical element of Shakesp ..read more

We're back with another 10 names of Shakespeare's characters from 10 different plays. (You can find our first post here.) Can you unscramble them all? Bonus points if you can identify the play each character appears in! Scroll down to the bottom of the page for the answers.  1) RUYADE Hint  2) ELCENAF Hint  3) NCEMYEBIL Hint  4) ERPTE CEQINU Hint  5) ORNMEIHE Hint  6) WONEREB Hint  7) ROELING Hint  8) LESPLOAR Hint  9) ZIREFOLL Hint  10) ASINURDP Hint  –––––––– Answers: 1) Audrey (As Y ..read more

 Should we consider Shakespeare's works as high art, or entertainment? Today, we usually consider Shakespeare's works as a form of "high art." We include his plays in survey courses of great literature, and refer to his works in political speeches and other works of literature. While we define literary "high art" as that which represents the best of what literature has to offer (and Shakespeare certainly falls within this category), we also define it as that which is appreciated by those with "good taste"––an vague phrase that usually means "highly educated." So considering Shakespeare's ..read more