Sign up to save your podcastsEmail addressPasswordRegisterOrContinue with GoogleAlready have an account? Log in here.
Full readings of Shakespeare's plays and other works in the public domain along with comments and text analysis. A podcast for lovers of beautiful thoughts and words!... more
FAQs about Shakespeare Closely Read:How many episodes does Shakespeare Closely Read have?The podcast currently has 30 episodes available.
November 17, 2021Christmas Bonus! - A Christmas Carol beginsWe learn that Marley was dead to begin with and meet Scrooge....more30minPlay
November 15, 2021For within the hollow crown That rounds the mortal temples of a king Keeps Death his courtKing Richard returns to England too late. All his followers have deserted him. The Hollow Crown speech....more30minPlay
November 11, 2021I see thy glory like a shooting star FallBolingroke's rebellion gains ground and he is surrounded by supporters who hope to gain by his success....more30minPlay
November 08, 2021This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this EnglandJohn of Gaunt dies after delivering the wonderful, patriotic "sceptered isle" speech. King Richard seizes all of John's property for his Irish war, effectively disinheireting Henry Bolingbroke. Henry immediately revolts....more30minPlay
November 04, 2021our kingdom's earth should not be soiledAll is set for the trial by combat when Richard steps in and decrees banishment on the combatants. Mowbray gets lifetime banishment, and Bolingbroke ten years (reduced to six years for some reason). Richard makes them swear not to conspire together against him but neglects to have them swear loyalty....more29minPlay
November 01, 2021Richard II - We were not born to sue, but to commandWe start the Hollow Crown series of plays, consisting of Richard II, Henry IV Parts One and Two, and Henry V. We start Richard II; Henry Bolingbroke and Thomas Mowbray accuse each other of treason. After failing to reconcile them, Richard agrees to have them resolve it through trial by combat....more27minPlay
October 28, 2021The rest is silence.The end of Hamlet in which everyone dies. Goodnight sweet prince.One final note, the episode title "The rest is silence", the last line from Hamlet just before he dies, is probably a reference to the silence of death - we don't know what comes after death - that he discussed in the "To be or not to be" speech....more30minPlay
October 28, 2021There's a divinity that shapes our endsHamlet tells Horatio how he turned the tables on Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Short episode today [exit, pursued by a dog]....more15minPlay
October 25, 2021Alas, poor Yorick!The famous graveyard scene. Hamlet and Laertes fight in Ophelia's grave....more29minPlay
October 21, 2021let the great axe fallLaertes vows revenge for Polonius. Claudius skillfully turns his wrath against Hamlet and plots Hamlet's death. Ophelia is mad....more30minPlay
FAQs about Shakespeare Closely Read:How many episodes does Shakespeare Closely Read have?The podcast currently has 30 episodes available.