Shakespeare and the American Revolution
Matthew Darly. “Poor Old England Endeavoring to Reclaim His Wicked American Children.” Etching [London]: M. Darly 39 Strand, 1777 Apr. Library of Congress.
“Be taxt, or not be taxt, that is the question.” By the time the first battles of the American Revolution took place on April 19, 1775 in Massachusetts, Shakespeare had been imported from England on stage and page to the New World. His plays were performed on the east coast from Massachusetts to Virginia, where the first documented theater building opened in 1718. Though not yet taught in school, Shakespeare was widely read, most often in editions printed in England."
"As patriots and loyalists took sides, Shakespeare provided a common language through which they could express their differences. It was a war fought with ink and paper as well as with bullets and guns. “Be taxt, or not be taxt, that is the question,” wrote a patriot in 1770; while a loyalist Tory expressed uncertainty about whether to sign on to a boycott of British goods in 1774: “To sign, or not to sign? That is the question”—both sides channeled Hamlet."
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Matthew Darly. “Poor Old England Endeavoring to Reclaim His Wicked American Children.” Etching [London]: M. Darly 39 Strand, 1777 Apr. Library of Congress.
“Be taxt, or not be taxt, that is the question.” By the time the first battles of the American Revolution took place on April 19, 1775 in Massachusetts, Shakespeare had been imported from England on stage and page to the New World. His plays were performed on the east coast from Massachusetts to Virginia, where the first documented theater building opened in 1718. Though not yet taught in school, Shakespeare was widely read, most often in editions printed in England."
"As patriots and loyalists took sides, Shakespeare provided a common language through which they could express their differences. It was a war fought with ink and paper as well as with bullets and guns. “Be taxt, or not be taxt, that is the question,” wrote a patriot in 1770; while a loyalist Tory expressed uncertainty about whether to sign on to a boycott of British goods in 1774: “To sign, or not to sign? That is the question”—both sides channeled Hamlet."
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