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The American Revolution
During the American Revolution, both sides referred to Shakespeare as a way of talking about the war.
A British political cartoon shows England as a man leaning on a crutch, trying to pull the American colonists by the nose: "And therefore is England maimed & forc'd to go with a staff." (1) This quotation is from Jack Cade in Henry VI, Part 2, suggesting that the Colonists rebelling against the British king are like Cade and his rabble-rousers in Shakespeare's history play.
On the American side, Abigail Adams writes to her husband John after the Battle of Bunker Hill in 1775, praising the courage of the militiamen by quoting from Coriolanus: "Extremity is the trier of spirits/ Common chances common men will bear." (2 & 3)
NEW FIND! While working on this exhibition, the Folger acquired a book once owned by Edward Dale (1620-1695), who immigrated to Virginia in the 1650s. The book itself is unremarkable, but inside is a list of books Dale owned at the time of his death, including a copy of Shakespeare's Second Folio (1632). (4) What you see is one of the earliest records of Shakespeare's Works owned in America.
Read more about Edward Dale's books and listen to an actor reading Abigail Adams's letter at Touchscreen 1 behind you. |