From a supernova in 1572 to the discovery of Jupiter's four biggest moons – astronomical discoveries of Shakespeare's time may pop up in his work
IT IS the middle of the night when the ghost of King Hamlet comes to Elsinore castle. As Bernardo, one of the guards, tells Prince Hamlet's friend Horatio, the ghost's arrival is heralded by a bright light in the heavens. "When yond same star that's westward from the pole / Had made his course to illume that part of Heaven / Where now it burns", he says, before he is cut off by the arrival of the ghost himself.
Shakespeare's output is full of astronomical allusions, but they were traditionally seen as narrative devices or else viewed in the light of medieval thinking. Heavenly bodies, after all, were often considered as portents. But recently, musings about Shakespeare's stargazing have taken ...
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