Tag Archives: superstition

Shakespeare and Hallowe’en: not just Macbeth

The Elizabethan and Jacobeans had superstitions covering almost every area of life. Supernatural explanations for natural phenomena were widely accepted: the appearance of a comet in 1577 caused public alarm, and even historian John Stow believed the story that the striking … Continue reading

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Posted in Plays and Poems, Shakespeare's World | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Seeing the spider

Autumn’s coming round, and that means we are all seeing more spiders in homes, gardens and in the countryside. Spiders have always got a bad press. In folklore they’re associated with evil, malevolence, and rumoured to be venomous.  Spiders don’t … Continue reading

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Posted in Plays and Poems, Shakespeare's World | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments