Shakespeare

The Sound! The Fury! Today, we're talking about Shakespeare's Scottish play, Macbeth. So, was Macbeth really predestined to do all the murdering and bad kinging and other terrible stuff?

This time around, we're looking at the play's characters operate, how the play deals with gender, and the Macbeth as an early anti-hero.

You'll learn about some of the big themes in the play, get a brief plot overview, and the all important connections between Prince Hamlet and Simba, the Lion King.

John talks about gender roles in Hamlet, and what kind of power and agency Ophelia and Gertrude had, if they had any at all (spoiler alert: we think they did).

These two videos explore the very beginnings of the literary and movie genre we now consider romantic comedy with clips from Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. The videos focus on the relationships between Benedick/Beatrice and Hero/Claudio.

Shakespeare's MacBeth begins with witchcraft and ends with a bloody, severed head. It's a play filled with riddles, prophecies, nightmare visions, and death. This video explores the relevance of MacBeth's themes of violence, power and ambition. Related Lesson

“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” sees Shakespeare play with the boundary between illusion and reality - and dramatize the possibility that life is but a dream.

“Who’s there?” Whispered in the dark, this question begins a tale of conspiracy, deception and moral ambiguity. Written by Shakespeare, “Hamlet” depicts its titular character haunted by the past, but immobilized by the future.

Claps of thunder and flashes of lightning illuminate a swelling sea, as a ship buckles beneath the waves. Why does this play still resonate with modern readers?