For Warburton and Boswell, the forgeries were something they had wanted because, in their eyes, they were authentic and had been in the hands of Shakespeare himself. Its strange how something as seemingly insignificant as a piece of paper can bring a certain thrill to someone. I think that I got the thrill from touching all the manuscripts and documents of Ireland because its hard to be sure that these people were who we believe them to be. We don't know who they were, only what books tell us. We don't know the type of person Ireland was, but somehow, by seeing his handwriting and reading his views and forgeries of Shakespeare, it was an insight into hundreds of years ago when Ireland was alive and well. Shakespearean artifacts are especially thrilling because of all of the controversy surrounding his life and his plays. By touching all these things, it somehow makes me feel like I knew Shakespeare and knew that he was the real author of those plays.

posted on behalf of Jacqueline