Shakespeare was incredibly popular in nineteenth-century America, where the theater was both a source of entertainment and debating ground for those with differing political opinions.
Just as popular as the Bard's works-or perhaps more so-were the many burlesques and parodies of Shakespeare, especially in the 1840s, when relationships between the United States and Great Britain were strained at best.
The use of Shakespearian parodies to score political points was common on both sides of the Atlantic. In the United Sates, the great Shakespearian rivalry erupted in New York's Astor...
Shakespeare was incredibly popular in nineteenth-century America, where the theater was both a source of entertainment and debating ground for thos...
