Shakespeare and Precious Stones Treating of the Known References of Precious Stones in Shakespeare's Works

In Shakespeare and Precious Stones, George Frederick Kunz guides listeners through the glittering world of gems and jewels embedded in the Bard’s language. This engaging nonfiction literary scholarship traces every known reference to pearls, rubies, diamonds, and more across Shakespeare’s plays and poems, explaining their symbolic meanings, folkloric associations, and the mystical beliefs that gave them power in early modern minds. Kunz situates Shakespeare’s imagery within its historical context—Elizabethan trade routes, Renaissance natural philosophy, and the period’s lore of talismans, birth stones, and planetary correspondences—while assessing the poet’s practical knowledge of gem sources and uses. Drawing on classical, medieval, and contemporary sources, Kunz decodes metaphors and similes, revealing how precious stones conveyed status, emotion, and moral weight on the Elizabethan stage. Ideal for Shakespeare lovers, literary scholars, gem enthusiasts, and history buffs, this audiobook deepens appreciation for the material culture underlying the plays. Listen to enrich readings of Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, and other works with fresh insight into the cultural and symbolic life of jewels in Shakespeare’s world.