The Hatch and Brood of Time is a column on the place of William Shakespeare in history, his works, and their interpretations. Along with providing insight into the cultures of Elizabethan and Jacobean England, Shakespeare’s works have inspired innovation over centuries and fields, from the shaping of modern cryptography to the naming of Uranus’s moons. The Hatch and Brood of Time examines how Shakespeare has influenced and reflected history, revealing his multifaceted impact on the present day.
The Hatch and Brood of Time Volume 7: November 9, 2020 By London Johns In 1596, William Shakespeare’s 11-year-old son Hamnet died. His cause of death is not known, though it is possible he died of bubonic plague. His father’s reaction to his death is also not known....
The Hatch and Brood of Time Volume 6: November 2, 2020 By London Johns Throughout the centuries since Shakespeare’s death, countless conspiracy theories about his grave have risen and been put to rest. The combination of Shakespeare’s fame and the curse inscribed on his gravestone inspired theories that...
The Hatch and Brood of Time Volume 5: October 25, 2020 By London Johns “What are these,/So withered, and so wild in their attire,/That look not like th’ inhabitants o’ th’ Earth/And yet are on ’t? . . . You should be women,/And yet your beards forbid me to...
The Hatch and Brood of Time Volume 4: October 19, 2020 By London Johns In the early 20th century, in a recently-built laboratory in Geneva, Illinois, a team of researchers were working to identify and interpret ciphers in the works of Renaissance authors. At the head of this team was...
The Hatch and Brood of Time Volume 3: October 12, 2020 By London Johns The prologue of William Shakespeare’s Henry V questioned how a single theater could contain stories from around the world. “May we cram/Within this wooden O the very casques/That did affright the air at...
Volume 24: March 25, 2021 Showboats, Shakespeare, and the American South By London Johns “There is scarcely a pioneer’s hut,” observed a French political thinker visiting the United States in 1831, “where one does not encounter some odd volumes of Shakespeare.” (qtd. in Dickson) However, although written copies of...
