The question of who was Will Shakespeare has been argued by academics and theater nerds for years. Could the man who was born to a local merchant, with a basic Elizabethan education and relatively meager prospects really be the man who wrote 36 timeless plays, invented new words and phrases, and whose work has endured nearly 500 years? Or is it possible that man from Stratford was just a pseudonym for someone else of more noble birth and higher education?
Throughout our series, we’ll explore the Man from Stratford’s life, history, and explore textual clues that will prove who owns Shakespeare’s words, relevance, and most importantly his legacy.
All content for Will: What Is He Good For? is the property of Classics on the Rocks and is served directly from their servers
with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.
The question of who was Will Shakespeare has been argued by academics and theater nerds for years. Could the man who was born to a local merchant, with a basic Elizabethan education and relatively meager prospects really be the man who wrote 36 timeless plays, invented new words and phrases, and whose work has endured nearly 500 years? Or is it possible that man from Stratford was just a pseudonym for someone else of more noble birth and higher education?
Throughout our series, we’ll explore the Man from Stratford’s life, history, and explore textual clues that will prove who owns Shakespeare’s words, relevance, and most importantly his legacy.
In the last episode, we felt pretty confident saying that Shakespeare believed that a good marriage was one of true partnership filled with respect, trust, communication, and most importantly love. However, in Elizabethan England, the act of getting married was still predominantly a business transaction. While courtship mattered to a degree, you married for three reasons: increased social status, monetary gain, or occasionally love.
But could a transactional marriage lead to a true happily ever after? Or was happiness only found by those madly in love?
In this episode, we take a look at two of the marriages in The Merchant of Venice and explore how running away for love doesn’t always guarantee a happy ending - and how marrying by business transaction sometimes can (even if it means coercing fate to get the right mate).
Will: What Is He Good For?
The question of who was Will Shakespeare has been argued by academics and theater nerds for years. Could the man who was born to a local merchant, with a basic Elizabethan education and relatively meager prospects really be the man who wrote 36 timeless plays, invented new words and phrases, and whose work has endured nearly 500 years? Or is it possible that man from Stratford was just a pseudonym for someone else of more noble birth and higher education?
Throughout our series, we’ll explore the Man from Stratford’s life, history, and explore textual clues that will prove who owns Shakespeare’s words, relevance, and most importantly his legacy.
