PODCAST · history
Ripe Good Scholar
by ripegoodscholar
We believe that to understand Shakespeare’s relevance today, we must understand the journey his texts have travelled through the years. Join us as we dive into the theaters, museums, and archives to discover that journey for ourselves. Feel free to contact me at [email protected]
Episodes
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The Shakespeare Apocrypha
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…
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George Peele and Titus Andronicus
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...
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The Sources for Twelfth Night
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…
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Eleanor Cobham Witch Trial
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...
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Witches - Halloween Special
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...
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Venus, Adonis, and Ovid
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...
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A Groatsworth of Wit
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...
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Shakespeare in Colonial America
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...
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Leontes’ Paranoia
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...
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City Comedies
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...
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Folklore Cymbeline
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...
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The Analyzing of a Shrew
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...
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Restoration Rewrites
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:...
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Darkness Representing Evil
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...
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The Norse Origins of Hamlet
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....
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King Lear’s Need to Be Loved
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…
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The Creation of Shakespeare’s First Folio
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…
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Queen Elizabeth and the Fairy Court
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,...
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Jewish People in Elizabethan England
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...
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Romeo & Juliet Source Material
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:...
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Shakespeare as a Writer
“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…
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Antony and Cleopatra Source Material
“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…
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Diagnosing Lady MacBeth
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.…
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Hamnet Shakespeare
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...
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Does It All End Well?
“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...
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Shakespeare and Plague
“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...
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The Truth About Prince Hal
“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…
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Hamlet and Grief
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...
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Troilus & Cressida Sources
“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....
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The Essex Rebellion and Shakespeare
“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...
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Romeo & Juliet: Love or Lust
“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…
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Shakespeare’s Lost Years
“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.”…
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Richard III
“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…
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MacBeth Sources
“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…
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Diagnosing Portia
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...
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Fairies
“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…
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Titus Andronicus’ Fatal Flaw
“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…
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Elizabethan Grammar School
“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...
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Diagnosing Henry VI
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…
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What’s Wrong with Two Gentlemen of Verona
"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…
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A Comedy of Errors
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/...
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The Life and Death of Richard II
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...
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The Problem with Bardolatry
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:...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
We believe that to understand Shakespeare’s relevance today, we must understand the journey his texts have travelled through the years. Join us as we dive into the theaters, museums, and archives to discover that journey for ourselves. Feel free to contact me at [email protected]
HOSTED BY
ripegoodscholar
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We believe that to understand Shakespeare’s relevance today, we must understand the journey his texts have travelled through the years. Join us as we dive into the theaters, museums, and archives to discover that journey for ourselves. Feel free to contact me at [email protected]
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