Shakespeare's Dead : Bodleian Library : 9781851242474 : 1851242473 : 22 Apr 2016 : Pyramus: 'Now die, die, die, die, die.' [Dies] A Midsummer Night's Dream At the 400th anniversary of his death, Shakespeare could hardly be more alive, in theatre, in popular culture, in scholarship. And death in Shakespeare's plays likewise tends to affirm or transform life: in the memory of characters or in their speeches, in the living body of the actor, in the refusal of his characters to go quietly, in the ubiquity of ghosts, elegies and resurrections, and in the fact that theatre can go to places that everyday life cannot. The ingenious ways of dying in Shakespeare, from suicide to murder, and from workaday dagger to baroque pie recipe, are all documented in this book. They show how the playwright choreographs death as a moment of discovery as much as destruction. Underpinning this is the idea that a character may die, but the actor does not. Death on stage is literally impossible ? a fact paro