Hello and welcome to episode 43 of Ripe Good Scholar. Ever since Shakespeare started gaining popularity, people have been attributing plays to him that he may not have had anything to do with. Some of these have been easier to disprove than others. There are a few lingering plays that we cannot say whether Shakespeare had a hand in and so we have T…

Hello and welcome to Ripe Good Scholar. Today we are beginning to get a clearer picture of the Elizabethan theatre scene. It was a place of collaboration and mentoring. Novice writers would hone their craft with the help of more seasoned ones. Writers would also imitate each other and edit each other’s work for their own use. This realization has c…

This is episode 41 of Ripe Good Scholar: The Sources for Twelfth Night Hello and welcome to Ripe Good Scholar. Since we just celebrated the epiphany, or twelfth night, we thought it would be worthwhile to visit the famous Shakespeare text of the same name. Like most of Shakespeare’s work, the story was borrowed from another source. In this case, it…

In this episode we will be discussing the case of Eleanor Cobham, Duchess of Gloucester. We Shakespeareans will know Eleanor as the woman that Margaret of Anjou slapped in Henry VI Part 2. In the play and in real life, Eleanor was accused and found guilty of using witchcraft which led to severe consequences, but fortunately not death. It was, of co…

Hello and welcome to Ripe Good Scholar, spooky edition. Since it’s Halloween, let’s explore a topic that would have been all too familiar to the Shakespearean audience: witches. King James in particular was very anti-witch and led some of the most brutal witch hunts in history. Today Dr. Lisa Grogan and I are going to explore the history of witchcr…

This is episode 38 of Ripe Good Scholar: Venus, Adonis, and Ovid Hello and welcome to Ripe Good Scholar. During his school days Shakespeare was studying the Latin classics, including one that would be a favorite in his life as a playwright, Ovid. Shakespeare adapted a story from Ovid into his best-selling poem, Venus and Adonis. While we are very f…

Hello and welcome to Ripe Good Scholar. One of the first written references to Shakespeare in the London Theater scene is a pamphlet written by Robert Greene on his deathbed, A Groatsworth of Wit. In it, he warns his fellow playwrights to beware of this “upstart crow” who was coming in to steal their glory. These Shakespeare references are why the …

Hello and welcome to Ripe Good Scholar. William Shakespeare is not just a staple of British culture. His works are an important staple of American culture as well. This evolution was not a simple one or one that was straight forward. There were obstacles to overcome and despite the questionable odds, Shakespeare became ingrained in American culture…

In this episode… Dr. Lisa Grogan and I will take a look at Leontes’ from The Winter’s Tale. Early in the play, he becomes obsessed with the idea that his wife is having an affair with his friend, the King of Bohemia. His paranoia escalates quickly and, once he suffers any consequences, subsides just as quickly. This, to me, seemed unrealistic, so I…

Welcome to episode 34 of Ripe Good Scholar: City Comedies. In this episode, Eli and I will be discussing one of the most popular play genres of Shakespeare’s time, the city comedy. While the precise definition is difficult, the basic definition is a play which focuses on the day to day happenings of the middle class. Common topics were sex and mone…

Welcome to episode #33 of Ripe Good Scholar the podcast where we explore the journey Shakespeare’s texts have travelled through the centuries. In this episode, Eli and I will be comparing Shakespeare’s Cymbeline to the folktale Snow White. Despite the fact that Snow White was not published until decades after Shakespeare’s death, the folktale would…

Welcome to episode 32 of Ripe Good Scholar: The Analyzing of a Shrew. In this episode… Dr. Lisa Grogan and I will take a trip through the mind of Katherine from The Taming of a Shrew. From the start of the play, Katherine is portrayed as an unpleasant and outspoken woman. These traits make her an outcast in her society. The people in her life make …

Following the Restoration of the monarchy and therefore playhouses, Shakespeare's plays had to change with the changing expectations of theatre. Show notes: ripegoodscholar.com/ep32 Teller of Tales by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4467-teller-of-the-tales License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Minstrel Guil…

Welcome to episode 30 of Ripe Good Scholar: Darkness Representing Evil In this episode… We are looking at the evolution of race from the Middle Ages to Shakespeare’s time. The discussion is more complicated than we might think. This period of time was when the concept of race as we know it today was being forged. Renaissance Europe was experiencing…

Welcome to episode 29 of Ripe Good Scholar: The Norse Origins of Hamlet. In this episode… We will be taking a deep dive into the texts that inspired Shakespeare’s Hamlet. It all started in the early days of Danish history and went through a few iterations before finally reaching Shakespeare. Without these texts that came before, we may not have the…

There’s a lot going on in King Lear. There are big emotions and tons of drama. It’s what makes the play so compelling. However, it’s more than just drama that draws us in. It’s that human element that we immediately identify with in some capacity. Today, I’m going to talk with Dr. Lisa Grogan about Lear and why he is the way that he is. Full show n…

In this episode we will be looking at how Shakespeare’s First Folio came to be and the lasting effect it had on our image of Shakespeare. There were a handful of people involved in the creation of the First Folio and each has an interesting story to tell. Beyond that, the process of getting such a large book published would have been a feat in and …

In 1575 Elizabeth travelled to the home of Robert Dudley and, while there, was greeted by the Lady of the Lake herself. From that point forward, it became a trope to compare Elizabeth to the Fairy Queen. Even Shakespeare himself dipped his toes in the fairy waters with a Midsummer Night’s Dream, but his flattery was a little different than you may …

Welcome to episode 25 of Ripe Good Scholar: Jewish people in Elizabethan England In this episode… We will explore the history of the Jewish people in England and across Europe. In addition, we will look at the stereotypes believed by Elizabethans and how it may have influenced Shakespeare as he wrote The Merchant of Venice. Today, Shylock is often …

Today we look at the materials Shakespeare used to write Romeo and Juliet. This includes the novella by Matteo Bandello. The poem by Arthur Brook and the short story by William Painter. Let's dive in to see how the story got to Shakespeare and how he changed it. Show notes can be found at: ripegoodscholar.com/ep25 Teller of Tales by Kevin MacLeod L…

“Brokering and improving source texts explains how his crowd-pulling plays rapidly had an audience, and how he rapidly came to be known as a man of the theatre. The pillaging of sources also accounts for the early dates of several plays, and the fact that plays with confusingly similar names, plots and characters existed before Shakespeare could ha…

“Now Antonius was made so subject to a woman’s will, that though he was a great deal stronger by land, yet for Clepatra’s sake he would needs have this battle tried by sea.” - Plutarch in Parallel Lives We cannot underestimate the role Shakespeare played in establishing Antony and Cleopatra as one of the world’s most infamous tragic couples. Their …

I thought I heard a voice cry, “Sleep no more! Macbeth is murdering sleep.” Innocent sleep. Sleep that soothes away all our worries. Sleep that puts each day to rest. Sleep that relieves the weary laborer and heals hurt minds. Sleep, the main course in life’s feast, and the most nourishing. MacBeth Act 2 Scene 2 There can be no doubt that Macbeth i…

Trigger Warning: Child Loss “If William Shakespeare wrote about his son’s death at all, he concealed it in the lines of his late sonnets and plays that reveal a depth of understanding about grief.” - Vanessa Thorpe, Alas, Poor Hamnet, The Guardian Because there is so little known about Shakespeare’s private life, we are left to speculate. We no not…

“Shakespeare’s unpleasant young men are numerous. Bertram, as a vacuity, is authentically noxious.” - Harold Bloom in Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human As I reached the end of All’s Well That Ends Well, I found myself asking: but does it all end well? Helena, by all accounts a wonderful woman, ends up married to the man of her dreams, who - a…

“I could draw forth a catalogue of many poore wretches, that in fields, in ditches, in common Cages, and under stalls (being either thrust by cruell maisters out of doores, or wanting all worldly succor but the common benefit of earth and aire) have most miserably perished.” -Thomas Dekker “The Wonderful Year” The bubonic plague was a regular part …

“From his father’s usurpation of Richard II’s throne in 1399, when Henry was but twelve, he was active in the government of England. [...] Henry V came to the throne extensively experienced in politics, administration, and warfare: few kings have been so well trained for their job.” - Peter Saccio in Shakespeare’s English Kings Henry IV Parts 1 and…

Hello, and welcome to another episode of Breaking Bard, I’m your host Sara. You may have noticed a distinct lack of a cold open. That is because this episode is very long and my fluff was deemed unnecessary...by me. On today’s episode I am joined by Dr. Lisa Grogan, a clinical psychologist and close friend. I am also joined by Sara Clark with the C…

“For now will I go straight to my matter, In which you may the double sorrows hear Of Troilus in loving of Criseyde, And how that she forsook him ere she died.” Troilus and Creseyde by Geoffrey Chaucer Troilus and Cressida is one of Shakespeare’s lesser known plays, and I kind of understand why. The ending is not the most satisfying. However, Shake…

“The swooning lover crashed into Elizabeth’s chamber in his filthy travelling clothes ‘so full of dirt and mire that his very face was full of it’ to confront his fair mistress, barely out of bed, her wrinkles brutally exposed in the morning light and her wig off." - Lisa Hilton, The Renaissance Prince The swooning lover here is Robert Devereux, Ea…

“Two households both alike in dignity, In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. From forth the fatal loins of these two foes A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life; Whose misadventured piteous overthrows Do with their death bury their parents’ strife.” -Prol…

“It has become a commonplace of Shakespearian biography that, from roughly his age of twenty to his age of twenty-eight, we encounter the ‘lost years.’ But no years are ever wholly lost. There may be a gap in chronology, but the pattern of a life may be discerned obliquely and indirectly.” - Peter Ackroyd in Shakespeare the Biography From the birth…

“And therefore, since I cannot prove a lover, To entertain these fair well-spoken days, I am determined to prove a villain And hate the idle pleasures of these days. Plots have I laid, inductions dangerous, By drunken prophecies, libels and dreams, To set my brother Clarence and the king In deadly hate the one against the other” Richard III Act I, …

“But screw your courage to the sticking place and we’ll not fail” - Lady MacBeth Act I, Scene 7 of the Scottish Play Many have heard of MacBeth, the tyrannical title character of one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays. Many more are unaware that MacBeth was a real Scottish King. Shakespeare however was completely aware because he relied heavily of …

A little disclaimer about this episode. Dr. Lisa Grogan and I are talking about Portia from Julius Caesar. There is a significant discussion about self-harm and suicide, so if those are subjects that bother you, you may want to skip this episode. “I have made strong proof of my constancy, giving myself a voluntary wound here, in the thigh; can I be…

“We fairies that do run.../ Following the darkness like a dream/ Now are frolic; not a mouse/ Shall disturb this hallowed house./ I am sent with broom before/ To sweep the dust behind the door” Midsummer Night’s Dream Act 5 Scene 1 Today when we hear the word fairy, a small winged creature probably comes to mind. A little glowing girl fluttering am…

“A nobler man, a braver warrior, lives not this day within the city wall” - Titus Andronicus Act I, Scene 1 Not too many people are familiar with Titus Andronicus, one of Shakespeare’s earliest plays. It is also easily Shakespeare’s goriest play. Most of the main characters die, some after horrible mutilation. A couple even get baked into a pie and…

“We may see the young Shakespeare, therefore, spending thirty or forty hours each week in memorising, construing, parsing and repeating prose and verse in Latin. We may hear him talking the language, to his schoolmaster and to his fellow pupils.” Peter Ackroyd in Shakespeare: A Biography A common argument of anti-Stratfordians is that Shakespeare w…

One of Shakespeare’s earliest and arguably worst plays is probably Henry VI, all three parts. It’s essentially about the start of the wars of the roses. As such, I would not qualify Henry as the star of his own play. This is actually an excellent reflection of his life. He was king from infancy and lacked the strong will necessary to be a medieval …

"Sweet Proteus, no; now let us take our leave to Milan let me hear from thee by letters of thy success in love, and what news else betideth here in absence of thy friend and I likewise will visit thee with mine" - The Two Gentlemen of Verona Act 1, Scene 1 For being an Englishman, Shakespeare set a surprisingly few number of plays in England. Many …

In this episode we look into the plot points of William Shakespeare's A Comedy of Errors and why it makes for an excellent farce. Music: Teller of Tales by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4467-teller-of-the-tales License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Minstrel Guild by KevinMacLeod Link: https://incompetech.f…

Sometime around 1595 William Shakespeare penned a new play, The Life and Death of King Richard II. If you couldn’t already guess, it was a history play. History plays were all the rage at the time. However, it was a daring endeavor because it depicted the deposition of a legitimate monarch. One shouldn’t be too surprised that the current monarch at…

In this introductory episode, we explore the thesis of the podcast: the need to break down bardolatry. Teller of Tales by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4467-teller-of-the-tales License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Minstrel Guild by KevinMacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4056-minstrel-gui…