Bear facts about the Bard 1

Your annual feature on exam howlers ("The French Resistance made good use of the internet, you know", August) reminded me how keenly students of Shakespeare have illuminated plays I thought I knew inside out. To know that in The Winter's Tale, Antigonus makes his final exit "perused by a bear" is to feel increased respect for the Bard's green credentials.

And it has been hard to see Old Hamlet as the Polack-smiting father of legend since reading that, while his son berates Gertrude in her closet, his ghost is seen "hoovering in the background". Quite the new man - I can't wait to see the production.

David Roberts, Birmingham City University.