Part II: Shakespeare and the Memento Mori
SHAKESPEARE 400 | FreedomProject Media
Published: May 9, 2017
This lecture discusses the concept of “Memento Mori” (Remember to Die) in the plays and poems of Shakespeare. In a culture where lifespans were short, plagues abundant, and medical knowledge primitive, Shakespeare and his world sought to comprehend death by personifying it, undercutting its terrors by making it familiar and ubiquitous. We will trace Memento Mori images throughout Shakespeare’s art.