Our resident Dramaturg Dr. Philippa Kelly asks: WILL PASSION BRING OUT THE ASS IN YOU? The moment Bottom gets entangled as the object of Titania’s passion, he’s transformed into an ass (‘Oh Bottom, thou art translated.’) Does passion ‘translate’ people into their beastly selves, blunting their reason at the service of…
The Tumultuous Transformations of “The Green World”: A Midsummer Night’s Dream is an example of Shakespeare’s use of forested and wild settings referred to by scholars as the “Green World.” The principal characters converge in this Green World and, free of the constraints of the “Real World” can…
Get Ready for The Taming of the Shrew: Understanding the “Induction” “Induction” doesn’t only mean “bringing someone to a position,” like inducting them into the Army or the Hall of Fame. It also means “bringing about or giving rise to” the action, as Shakespeare cleverly demonstrates with his Induction Scene in The Taming of the Shrew.…
Where are the Mothers in Shakespeare? From Juliet’s hands-off Mom to Hamlet’s too-hot Mama, the plays of Shakespeare are hardly an ode to motherhood. It was an age when the reigning monarchs, first Elizabeth then James, as children lost mothers who lost their heads. Did that make glorification of motherhood taboo? NapaShakes…
