Title page first edition Don Quijote

Don Quixote goes mad from his reading of books of chivalry. Engraving by Gustave Doré.

Don Quixote de la Mancha and Sancho Panza, 1863, by Gustave Doré

Illustration to The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha, Volume II

Tiles depicting scenes from Don Quixote on a bench in Chapultepec

Don Quixote. Close-up of illustration

Don Quixote

Don Quixote is a novel by Miguel de Cervantes, published in two parts in 1605 and 1615. It is considered a founding work of Western literature and the first modern novel.

The Illusion of a Planned Sequel

Modern audiences view the novel as an intended two-volume epic, but seventeenth-century readers encountered a complete, standalone work. Published in 1605 as a single volume divided internally into four parts, the book closed with a tease of future tales that was nothing more than a standard literary trope. Neither Cervantes nor his contemporary audience took this conventional gesture as a promise of an actual continuation.

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15th-century print of Robin Hood on horseback

Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne. Woodcut print by Thomas Bewick, 1832

King Richard the Lionheart marrying Robin Hood and Maid Marian on a plaque outside Nottingham Castle

Statue of Robin Hood near Nottingham Castle by James Woodford, 1951

Robin Hood has been depicted on Nottinghamshire's county flag since 2011.[135]

'Robin Hood's Grave' in the woods near Kirklees Priory in West Yorkshire

Robin Hood

Robin Hood is a legendary heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and featured in literature, theatre, and cinema.

Yeoman Swordsmen and Hierarchical Greenwood Fealty

Early ballads depict Robin Hood not as a dispossessed nobleman, but strictly as a member of the yeoman class. Within his band, traditional medieval forms of courtesy prevailed rather than modern ideals of social equality. His men demonstrated obedience by kneeling before him, and they carried yeoman swords rather than the quarterstaffs popularized by later tales.

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Arthur-Pyle The Enchanter Merlin

Merlinus (Merlin) in the Nuremberg Chronicle (1493)

Giants help the young Merlin build Stonehenge in an illustration for a circa 1325—1350 manuscript of Wace's Roman de Brut, an expanded adaptation of Geoffrey's Historia Regum Britanniae.

Gustave Doré's image of Merlin at his cave.

Merlin, the Enchanter by Louis Rhead (1923). Merlin has been often connected with birds,[note 14] including transformation stories since the early tale of Suibhne.

Lancelot Speed's illustration for James Thomas Knowles' The Legends of King Arthur and His Knights (1912): "Waving her hands and uttering the charm, [she] presently enclosed him fast within the tree."

Merlin

Merlin is a mythical figure prominently featured in the legend of King Arthur and best known as a prophet and a magician.

Linguistic Euphemism in Norman Translation

When Geoffrey of Monmouth adapted the Welsh bard Myrddin into Latin, he avoided the direct phonetic translation *Merdinus in favor of Merlinus. Medievalist Gaston Paris observed that this deliberate shift occurred to prevent unfortunate similarities with the Anglo-Norman word merde, meaning feces. This phonological change protected the legendary advisor from an embarrassing vulgarity among medieval French speakers.

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Frederick Sandys - Morgan-le-Fay - 1925P104 - Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery

Fata Morgana (Italian for 'Morgan the Fairy'[1]) by Giambologna (c. 1574)

Henry Fuseli's Prince Arthur and the Fairy Queen (c. 1788)

W. H. Margetson's illustration for The Legends of King Arthur and His Knights (1908) "She was known to have studied magic while she was being brought up in the nunnery."[70]

"How Morgain granted Lancelot a leave from her prison to conquer Dolereuse Gard." (Lancelot en prose c. 1494 or later)

Morte D'Arthur by Daniel Maclise (1857)

Morgan le Fay

Morgan le Fay is a powerful and ambiguous enchantress from the legend of King Arthur, in which she and Arthur are most often depicted as siblings.

The Learned Astronomer of Avalon

Modern audiences typically envision Morgan le Fay as an evil sorceress, but her earliest literary portrait in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Vita Merlini was entirely benevolent. Unrelated to King Arthur by blood, Morgen ruled the Isle of Apples alongside eight magical sisters. Geoffrey presented her not only as a great healer who revived the fatally wounded king, but also as an intellectual mathematician who taught astronomy to her fellow nymphs.

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Max Slevogt - Der Sänger Francisco d'Andrade als Don Giovanni in Mozarts Oper - Google Art Project

Portrait of Wilhelm Troszel as Don Juan, by Józef Simmler, 1846

Monument to Don Juan Tenorio in Dos Hermanas, Seville

Don Juan

Don Juan, also known as Don Giovanni, is a legendary fictional Spanish libertine who devotes his life to seducing women.

A Theological Trap for Deathbed Repenters

The original 1630 play by Tirso de Molina was not conceived as a celebration of romantic rebellion, but as a severe religious warning. The playwright sought to challenge young Spaniards who assumed they could sin freely and rely on a final Act of Contrition for automatic forgiveness. By depicting Don Juan dragged to eternal punishment by a stone statue, the drama emphasized that certain sins remain unforgivable.

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The Wandering Jew by Gustave Doré

Adaptation of the motif of the wandering Jew, Basel, 1820–1840, Jewish Museum of Switzerland

The Wandering Jew by Samuel Hirszenberg (1899)

"The Wandering Jew", 1898 illustration by E. J. Sullivan for Sartor Resartus

Ahasuerus at the End of the World, by Adolf Hirémy-Hirschl, 1888.

The Wandering Eternal Jew (Le Juif Eternel), coloured wood engraving by S. C. Dumont, 1852, reproduced at the Nazi exhibition Der ewige Jude in Germany and Austria 1937–1938. Reproduction exhibited at Yad Vashem

Wandering Jew

The Wandering Jew is a mythical immortal man cursed to walk the Earth until the Second Coming, whose legend began to spread in Europe in the 13th century.

From Beloved Disciple to Cursed Shoemaker

An early written account in Roger of Wendover's 1228 Flores Historiarum records the wanderer under the title Of the Jew Joseph who is still alive awaiting the last coming of Christ. Before being baptized as Joseph by Ananias, the central figure is named Cartaphilus. Etymologically, this name links to the Greek roots for dearly loved, ironically echoing early Christian lore regarding the disciple whom Jesus loved.

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Thescarletpimpernel1908

Fred Terry as Sir Percy Blakeney/The Scarlet Pimpernel in the 1905 West End theatre production

A scarlet pimpernel (Anagallis arvensis), which the eponymous hero leaves behind after his interventions

Leslie Howard as Sir Percy Blakeney with Merle Oberon as Lady Blakeney in The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934)

Postcard of the West End's New Theatre in 1905 with signs for Julia Neilson (who played Lady Blakeney) in The Scarlet Pimpernel

Dustin Farnum in The Scarlet Pimpernel (1917)

The Scarlet Pimpernel

The Scarlet Pimpernel is a 1905 historical fiction novel by British author Baroness Orczy, set during the Reign of Terror following the start of the French Revolution.

From Nottingham Rejection to West End Landmark

The Scarlet Pimpernel faced rejection from London publishers before finding life on the stage. Adapted by Fred Terry and Julia Neilson, the production premiered at Nottingham's Theatre Royal on 15 October 1903 to poor reception. Terry restructured the final act and transferred the show to London's West End at the New Theatre on 5 January 1905. Despite hostile critical reviews dismissing it as old-fashioned, the production evolved into a massive hit.

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Ernst von Possart as Shylock

Charles Macklin as Shylock by Johan Zoffany, 1768

Henry Irving as Shylock in a late 19th century performance

1911 Italian-French film.

Shylock and Jessica by Maurycy Gottlieb

Shylock and Portia (1835) by Thomas Sully

Shylock

Shylock is a fictional character in William Shakespeare's play The Merchant of Venice (c. 1600), depicted as a Venetian Jewish moneylender and the play's principal villain.

A Saxon Londoner in Venetian Robes

While Shylock's name is often thought to stem from biblical Hebrew genealogies like Salah, sixteenth-century records reveal an unexpected local origin. In Elizabethan London, Shylock was an established Saxon name meaning 'white-haired' and held by local scriveners, mercers, and goldsmiths. Shakespeare likely chose a moniker familiar to everyday English playgoers rather than an authentic Jewish surname. Consequently, the standard modern pronunciation may diverge from the original short-vowel pronunciation intended for audiences.

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Adolf Schrödter Falstaff und sein Page

Mistress Page and Falstaff in The Merry Wives of Windsor, staged by Pacific Repertory Theatre in 1999

1829 watercolour by Johann Heinrich Ramberg of Act II, Scene iv; Falstaff enacts the part of the king

Falstaff rebuked, Robert Smirke, c. 1795

Eduard von Grützner: Falstaff mit großer Weinkanne und Becher (1896) (Falstaff with big wine jar and cup)

Stephen Kemble, "the best Sir John Falstaff which the British stage ever saw"[14]

John Falstaff

Sir John Falstaff is a fictional character who appears in three plays by William Shakespeare and is eulogised in a fourth, primarily known as a companion to Prince Hal in Henry IV, Part 1 and Part 2.

A Martyr's Lineage and a Forced Renaming

Shakespeare originally called his comic knight "John Oldcastle", taking the name of a real historical personage who died in 1417. Because the figure's family found the depiction offensive, Lord Cobham complained and compelled Shakespeare to adopt a new name. Consequently, the playwright changed the moniker to Falstaff while crafting his historical plays.

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Hamlet William Morris Hunt

Photo showing a statute of Hamlet holding a skull, from the famous 'Alas poor Yorick' scene.

A statue of Hamlet with the skull of Yorick in Stratford-upon-Avon

Hamlet reclines next to Ophelia in Edwin Austin Abbey's The Play Scene in Hamlet (1897)

Marcellus, Horatio, Hamlet, and the Ghost by Henry Fuseli

Sarah Bernhardt as Hamlet, 1880–1885

Barry Sullivan's burial site in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin, with a statue of Sullivan in character as Hamlet, 1891

Prince Hamlet

Prince Hamlet is the title character and protagonist of William Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet. He is the Prince of Denmark, conflicted over whether and how to avenge the murder of his father.

From Icelandic Fool to Tragic Prince

The prince's moniker derives directly from the Old Icelandic noun amlóði, which translates to "fool." This linguistic origin captures the feigned lunacy the protagonist displays across his ordeal. The word reflects how the character balances calculated performance with erratic behavior before the Danish royal court.

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SnowWhite22

The queen with her mirror in Jennie Harbour's illustration for My Favorite Book of Fairy Tales (1921)

The Queen arrives at Snow White's wedding in a 1905 German illustration

Morgan McMichaels dressed as the Evil Queen from a 1937 Showgirls Weho Peeformance

Sara Paxton in 2007

Charlize Theron in 2015

Evil Queen

The Evil Queen, also called the Wicked Queen, is a fictional character and the main antagonist of the German fairy tale Snow White, recorded by the Brothers Grimm.

Cannibalistic Feasts and Tight Corset Strings

Before deploying the famous poisoned fruit, the Queen engages in visceral acts of violence and attempted cannibalism. After ordering the Huntsman to return with the princess's lungs and liver as proof of death, she eats the prepared organs, unaware they belong to a wild boar. When she learns Snow White survived, she visits disguised as a peddler to suffocate the girl with tightly laced corsets, later returning with a poisoned comb.

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