Contents:A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | Y |
Settings in BritainSettings in Britain and FranceSettings elsewhere
A
Actium, a promontory in Greece. "Our overplus of shipping will we burn//And, with the rest full-mann'd//from the head of Actium//Beat the approaching Caesar" Antony and Cleopatra, III.VII.[1]
Agincourt The site of the defeat of the French by the heavily outnumbered English army in Henry V and the location of the St Crispin's Day speech. "Then call we this the field of Agincourt,/Fought on the day of Crispin Crispianus".[2]
Antioch is the opening setting of the play Pericles, Prince of Tyre where the eponymous hero meets King Antiochus and his daughter then evades death after solving the riddle that points to their incestuous relationship.
The hospital of Bedlam is mentioned in "Pat!—he comes, like the catastrophe of the old comedy//my cue//is villainous melancholy, with a sigh like Tom o' Bedlam" King Lear, 1.2.
The plays that William Shakespeare saw in Coventry during his boyhood or 'teens' may have influenced how his plays, such as Hamlet, came about.[5]
Cyprus and Venice are the two main settings for Othello. Cyprus was formally annexed by Venice in 1489, and remained part of the Venetian Empire until 1570. The play was written in 1603.
"Cataian" (i.e. Cathay) a demonym often associated with China.[6]
Illyria is a region in western Balkan Peninsula where Shakespeare's most famous fictional comedy, Twelfth Night takes place. It is also mentioned in the Part 2 of Henry VI: "Being captain of a pinnace, threatens more // Than Bargulus the strong Illyrian pirate."[12]
Jerusalem Chamber appeared in scene IV of Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 2.[13] The king is taken there to die to compensate for the fact he never made his promised crusade to Jerusalem itself.
K
Shakespeare used the tale of Henry V receiving the insulting gift of tennis balls from the French Dauphin at Kenilworth for dramatic effect in Henry V, Act 1, scene 2.[14]
Located in Cannon Street, the London Stone is an ancient stone of mythic origin that is bound up with London's fortunes. It was used as a place for proclamations to be read aloud to citizens of London. In Henry VI, Part 2, the rebel leader Jack Cade strikes his staff upon the stone and declares himself the new leader of the city; "And here, sitting/ upon London-stone, I charge and command that, of the/ city's cost, the pissing-conduit run nothing but/claret wine this first year of our reign."[4]
Milford Haven is the Welsh port which Innogen travels to in Cymbeline in the belief that her husband Posthumus will meet her when, in fact, he has sent her to be murdered by Pisanio following Iachimo's lies about her fidelity to Posthumus. It is near Milford Haven that she is unknowingly reunited with her lost brothers, Guiderius and Arviragus, while disguised as a boy, Fidele.
Salisbury. Earl of Salisbury appears as a faithful lord to King Richard in the play Richard II. The character appears in the act II scene IV and act III scene II.
Savoy Palace. The former home of John of Gaunt, attacked by Jack Cade's rebels in Henry VI, Part 2: "So, sirs: now go some and pull down the Savoy;/ others to the inns of court; down with them all."[16]
Swinstead Abbey was an abbey in Lincolnshire. In King John, the orchard is the scene of the death agonies of King John, supported by his Barons. In the actual history, it is Swineshead Abbey that King John visited, and the confusion of Swinstead and Swineshead was common in the late-sixteenth century.[17]
Tower of London Most notably, the Tower is the location of the murder of young Edward V and his brother, Richard, Duke of York, on the orders of their uncle Richard III.
Westminster Palace Westminster Hall, the last remaining building of the old palace, is the site of the powerful and controversial deposition scene in Richard II (play) where Richard hands his crown to his cousin, Henry Bolingbroke (Henry IV). "My crown I am; but still my griefs are mine:/You may my glories and my state depose,/But not my griefs; still am I king of those".[18] Part of the Richard II segment of Shakespeare's Globe's Complete Walk to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death was filmed in the Hall.[19]
