Did you think it was Dr. Thomas Bowdler (1754–1825) who replaced the line “Out, damn’d spot” with the sanitized version “Out, crimson spot”? If so, you are in good company. Even Wikipedia and William Safire use it as a prime example of Bowdler’s expurgating Shakespeare’s plays of what he thought was offensive language, but it [more...]
Two great authors died on the same date, yet one was not deceased until ten days after the other. How can this be? One of those great authors is William Shakespeare, and everyone who paid attention in school or college remembers that he died on April 23rd 1616. And the other man? Miguel de Cervantes, [more...]
Some of you may have seen to film Shakespeare in Love, starring Joseph Fiennes and Gwyneth Paltrow. In one of the early scenes we see William Shakespeare, the great English playwright and poet, practising his signature in different styles and then throwing them away. This makes jest of just one of the problems associated with [more...]
‘Lead on Macduff’ is an invitation for someone to take the lead and that you will follow on. But as any keen Shakespearian or wordsmith will tell you, this is a misquotation from Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 8. The phrase should be ‘lay on’ which means to make a vigorous attack. The words are spoken [more...]
Two lovers each wear a ring for their engagement; then on marriage they fit the two together to make a wedding ring. This romantic custom, using a double-hoop gimmel ring, was at a peak of popularity during the 16th and 17th centuries. Gimmel rings have been revived by modern jewellery designers, and seem to have [more...]