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Considers bowl Shakespeare bequeathed in his will in terms of Puck's crabapple prank in Midsummer Night's Dream.
Acknowledges the Ovidian source of "‘The sun for sorrow will not show his head" at the end of Romeo and Juliet, while identifying a new source: Virgil's Georgics. Points to verbal echoes and also suggests that Shakespeare would have thought of Virgil (the "Mantuan Muse") as he wrote about Romeo's exile to Mantua. Concludes that "the contributions of more than one author might mingle as [Shakespeare] created a striking new line of his own."
Contends that Maria's letter in Twelfth Night that reads "M.O.A.I doth sway my life" can be deciphered when considered in French, where "A" sounds like "et" ("and") and so would mean "M, O, and I," that is, "moi" ("me"). Notes that "Her c’s, her u’s, and her t’s" likewise includes "a pun on the penultimate letter and a conjunction." Suggests that Twelfth Night's characters can be divided into "two groups: those who can understand these linguistic games (Sir Toby and Fabian) and those who are defeated (Malvolio and Sir Andrew)."
Suggests that Theseus's rejection of a "celebratory interlude depicting the dismembering of Orpheus" in act 5 of Midsummer Night's Dream echoes Plutarch's Life of Theseus and Euripides' Bacchae.
Contends that in Season of Migration to the North, Tayeb Salih "force[s] a questioning of the understanding of Othello by the Western, and especially British, public." Argues that Season of Migration to the North allows readers "to understand the play [Othello] contextually rather than anachronistically. English summary, 1.
Contests positioning of All's Well that Ends Well as a problem play or dark comedy, instead offering "ferial," festive, and mythopoetic readings. English summary, 115.
"Explores how Titus Andronicus disturbs and undermines the distinction between inside and outside through its use of stage space, its evocation of early modern ideas about Roman architecture, and its deployment of coded reminders of the effects of the English Reformation." Explores how buildings and spaces are presented on stage, tracing references to monasteries (which, in England, were dissolved by Shakespeare's day) and emphasizing the symbolic and thematic importance of traps. Compares Constance Marten and Mark Gordon (featured in English news in 2023 for fleeing with a baby) to Tamora and Aaron. English and French summaries, 6.
Argues Roland Emmerich’s 2011 film Anonymous (q.v.) aligns trajectory of Elizabeth I’s reign with Shakespeare’s career and creative development. Discusses how film casts doubt on Shakespearean authorship in order to “unseat [him] as a literary god,” while also appropriating Shakespeare’s cultural and economic capital. English summary, 1.
Considers understanding of gnats, midges, pests and other “vermin” for early modern literary culture. Discusses Shakespeare’s representation of such pests as inhabiting wet climates and their association with plague.
Argues stormy weather in England in late 1612 and early 1613 contextualizes Othello performances of 1613, where spectators would have recently experienced difficult weather. Discusses role of storms in Othello, noting that, unusually for Shakespeare, storm affects only minor characters of the Turks.