Shakespeare famously never attended university. But not only has his work inspired generations of scholarship, his plays, too, are filled with scholarly characters. Shakespeare, it seems, took an interest in learning.

Perhaps that's why so many people come to Shakespeare for wisdom that they can apply to their own lives. While leading the University of California, Santa Cruz's Shakespeare Workshop, professor and dramaturg Sean Keilen noticed that people look to Shakespeare and the humanities to answer questions like "Who am I? Why am I here? And how should I live?"

Keilen's book, Shakespeare's Scholars: Three Lessons from the Liberal Arts, illustrates how learned characters from Hamlet, Love's Labor's Lost, and The Tempest more can guide us to those answers —some through their wisdom, and others through their own flawed judgment.

In this episode, Keilen shares vital lessons from Shakespeare's fictional scholars in humility, self-knowledge, and perhaps most importantly, forging connection with others.

From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Published June 30, 2026. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the executive producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. Technical support was provided by Sarah Lai Stirland in Santa Cruz and Voice Trax West in Studio City, California. Web production was handled by Megan Fraedrich. Transcripts are edited by Leonor Fernandez. Final mixing services provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc.

"Elizabeth was king, now James is queen." So went the joke circulating around London in the 17th century. While Elizabeth I became an icon for transgressing traditional gender roles, her successor is all too often overlooked or even mocked for the same reasons. Yet James I was a multifaceted ruler who led a fascinating life—and his personal relationships only add to that complexity.

For generations, historians avoided labeling the intimate relationships between James and his "favorites" as romantic. But after combing through James's personal correspondence, historian and author Gareth Russell has uncovered compelling evidence of five significant love affairs with men. His award-winning book, The Six Loves of James I, reveals how these relationships—and his marriage to Queen Anne of Denmark—guided the course of his life and reign.

James I's story is a turbulent one, filled with assassination attempts, kidnapping, and witch hunts. It's also a story of a man who loved "indiscreetly and obstinately," for better or for worse.

In this episode, Gareth Russell explores the untold history of a complicated king through the lens of the great loves of his life.

From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Published June 16, 2026. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the executive producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. Technical support was provided by Pavel Barter in Belfast and Voice Trax West in Studio City, California. Web production was handled by Megan Fraedrich. Transcripts are edited by Leonor Fernandez. Final mixing services provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc.

"Is he a Communist?" During a House Un-American Activities Committee hearing in 1938, Congressman Joe Starnes probed into the politics of a writer produced by the Federal Theatre Project. The playwright in question? Christopher Marlowe.

While Starnes's blunder became legendary, Shakespeare and his contemporaries continued to come up throughout the Red Scare years. Something about early modern poetry and plays often rang as disquietingly topical.

In her book, A Treacherous Secret Agent: How Literature Spoke Truth to Power During the Red Scare, Marjorie Garber reveals how literature has always posed a threat to authority, a power of which Shakespeare was well aware. As she puts it, "poetry makes trouble all the time."

This episode explores how Shakespeare became a magnet for suspicion during the Red Scare—and how he spoke to the moment from beyond the grave.

From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Published May 5, 2026. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the executive producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. Technical support was provided by Philip Bodger in Lewes, England and Voice Trax West in Studio City, California. Web production was handled by Megan Fraedrich. Transcripts are edited by Leonor Fernandez. Final mixing services provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc.

Marjorie Garber is the William R. Kenan, Jr., Research Professor of English and of Visual and Environmental Studies at Harvard University. She is the author of twenty books, including Shakespeare in Bloomsbury and A Treacherous Secret Agent: How Literature Spoke Truth to Power During the Red Scare. She lives in London, UK. Learn more about Marjorie Garber and her work at her website.