Shakespeare lived here and Shakespeare still lives here, but not just in through The Shakespeare Center and the Royal Shakespeare Company. The pervasiveness of everything Shakespeare is striking when first wandering around Stratford-upon-Avon. One of the most noticeable aspects of the everything-Shakespeare of Stratford appears in the recognizable caricature head of the Bard exhibited on restaurant signs, shop doors, fliers, everything. Even with the birthday celebrations on April 23, the firework show featured the iconic face as an oversized pyrotechnic display, proudly burning in front of the theater of the Royal Shakespeare Company.
And then we have the names: “Iago” denotes a jeweler’s, “Cordelia” claims a bridal store, “Othello” owns a bar. Not to mention the attractions that play on Shakespeare’s words with restaurants such as The Food of Love or shops like Much Ado About Toys. Stratford has taken literary tourism to another level. I find the Shakespeare culture surrounding Stratford especially intriguing after learning about the idea of English heritage, how it ties into English literature and film, and how it created a tourist industry in England during the latter decades of the 20th century. Jane Austen’s ties to Bath have given her a museum in the city, and Charles Dickens’ fame of wandering the streets of London have generated a series of walking tours, but I can’t think of any other author in the English literature canon with a city so dedicated to living memory and literary fame as Stratford is for Shakespeare.
Stratford has made Shakespeare larger than life after his death through all the allusions to his life and works (and quite literally with his giant burning head). I think I could probably go an entire day (or week or month) in Stratford using only Shakespeare everythings; I could begin my morning drinking from a Shakespeare mug, do some shopping using a Shakespeare tote, maybe snack on a Shakespeare chocolate in the afternoon, and then grab dinner at The Encore before heading to the RSC to watch a Shakespeare play. Maybe that will be my personal adventure on this trip.