Full of intriguing facts and literary quotations, this fun, engaging and beautifully illustrated book explores the role of money and medals in Shakespeare's world and works. Deniers and ducats, groats and guilders, crowns and cruzados, the author reveals how coins and medals illustrate the personalities and events that shaped Shakespeare's world. Through lively and informative text the reader will discover the role of money in Shakespeare's life and career; how much people were paid and how much things cost looking in detail at the theatre and currency and how it changed. Shakespeare used coinage in his plays to give crucial information on status and character, as a plot device and to add local colour. Money provoked and motivated Shakespeare's characters and this book engages with his monetary references to reveal the meaning behind the metaphors and the significance of the issues the playwright was addressing.
