Episode 4: Authorship "Question"

We've finished recording episode 4, I'll probably have it up by sometime tomorrow.

Just Went To "The Tempest"

It's been a while since I've posted, but I assure you, nothing interesting has happened before today.

I just went to a performance of The Tempest, and it was pretty good. I guess once we're done with the the Authorship "Question" episode, we'll do The Tempest instead of the episode that people have voted for. Take that, Democracy!

Hamlet Addendum, Woot!

I can't believe I forgot to mention this: There's a part of Hamlet where he says "woo't" over and over again. Truly, Shakespeare is a man ahead of his time.

Recording of the first BardCast is over, and I'm most of the way through editing it.

Shakespeare: Hamlet

I'm still accepting requests for podcast subjects. Go to this post to leave a comment.

Hamlet is very, very good. Its only blemish is that it's been too successful. Now, almost every scene includes a clichè. There are so many famous lines, it must be distracting to the modern audience.

A few famous ones:

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

Therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit,

What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason! how infinite in faculty! in form, in moving, how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of animals! And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust? man delights not me; no, nor woman neither, though, by your smiling, you seem to say so.

To be, or not to be, — that is the question: —

Get thee to a nunnery

Alas! poor Yorick. I knew him, Horatio;

The rest is silence.

Good-night, sweet prince;
And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.

Shakespeare: Twelfth Night

Twelfth Night is a silly bit of nothing. It has two of Shakespeare's favorites: twins and cross dressing ladies. This time, the cross-dressing lady is a twin of a man, which makes them look identical. I'm not expert on twins, but I doubt this would happen with fraternal twins.

Next up is Hamlet!

Shakespeare: As You Like It

As You Like It has the silliest plot yet.

Rosalind and Orlando have fallen in love at first sight*, and agree to meet in the forest to evade the cruel families that don't want to see them together. To avoid being attacked, Rosalind travels to the wood dressed as a man. When Orlando and Rosalind meet, Rosalind decides to use her disguise to convince Orlando that he doesn't love Rosalind. This is solely for the purposed of hijinks.

Now it gets confusing.

Rosalind convinces Orlando to court Rosalind as though she were Rosalind, while Rosalind (who is still dressed like a man) acts irritating so as to make Orlando think that love isn't worth the trouble of dealing with something as absurd as a woman. Naturally, Orlando decides that the best thing to do is convince a complete stranger that he can put up with anything to win Rosalind's love, so he agrees with the plan. Come to think of it, Orlando is either an idiot or a jerk. He doesn't know where his love is, lost in the forest, but he spends his time dealing with some random stranger's shenanigans instead of looking for her.

Naturally, it all works out in the end.

Also, there's the "All the world's a stage" speech, which is good, if not particularly relevant to the action.

*Shakespeare doesn't seem to be able to have people fall in love any other way. In Shakespeare's world, love is a binary condition, and it jumps from one person to another instantly.

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Now playing: Bob Dylan - I Shall Be Released
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Shakespeare And TF2, Together At Last

Shakespeare's been in the news lately. The mayor of Chicago announced that Thursday is talk like Shakespeare day, and the Supreme Court Justices Stevens and Scalia have been cited as being on the side that believes that Shakespeare didn't write Shakespeare, instead having been written by Edward De Vere, Earl Of Oxford.

I'm happy to see a Shakespeare day, but this Earl Of Oxford stuff is embarrassing. This just goes to show that figures of authority in one realm shouldn't have any authority outside of their jurisdiction. Fortunately, they don't have any authority in this case other than their celebrity.

In Valve news, they've sprung a surprise TF2 update just ahead of a L4D update that's supposed to launch today. It's odd, because it doesn't actually have any real content, but it clearly implies future content. Now characters have an item slot for headgear. DUN DUN DUN! This could be the biggest update other than the class packs. They let you reset your stats, too. I decided to take a screenshot of my stats and reset them, just to see what happened. Might as well show you my old stats:

Shakespeare: Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar is really good. It's left a bunch of quotes in our culture, and it has a bunch of quotes that would have been well known had they not been overshadowed by the more famous lines.

The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves

Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look;
He thinks too much: such men are dangerous.

Casca: Ay, he spoke Greek.
Cassius: To what effect?
Casca: Nay, an I tell you that I'll ne'er look you i' the face again: but those that understood him smiled at one another, and shook their heads; but, for mine own part, it was Greek to me.

Cowards die many times before their deaths

Et tu, Bruté? — Then fall, Caesar!

Cry Havoc! and let slip the dogs of war.

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.

And here's a cool speech: People are begging Julius Caesar to stay home, for fear he will die if he goes out. They have seen visions sent to them by the gods:

Julius Caesar
The gods do this in shame of cowardice:
Caesar should be a beast without a heart,
If he should stay at home today for fear.
No, Caesar shall not: danger knows full well
That Caesar is more dangerous than he:
We are two lions litter'd in one day,
And I the elder and more terrible:-
And Caesar shall go forth.

Talk about cool

Anyway, the play isn't actually about Caesar, it's about his assassination. Brutus is the protagonist.

21 Down, 16 To Go
Next Up: As You Like It

Shakespeare: The Merry Wives Of Windsor

The Merry Wives Of Windsor is a trivial piece of nothing. There's a legend that Shakespeare was specially requested to write a play to continue the life of Sir John Falstaff, and this play has the feeling of something written for a motive other than writing something great.

The play may be the first occurrence of the phrase "The world is my oyster". It has a different tone than we see it today, though:

"Why, then the world's mine oyster,
Which I with sword will open."

That is to say, "the world will be my source of money, which I'll get through violence."

20 Down, 17 To Go
Next Up: Julius Caesar

Shakespeare Test Podcast

The Complete Shakespeare Podcast is officially in Alpha. You can visit the site, and listen to our test broadcast, Here. It's not anything entertaining, it's just a demonstration that it works.

Shakespeare: Much Ado About Nothing

"Much Ado About Nothing lives up to its title"

~Wil Durant

I was going to end with that, but there's a relevant quote for my upcoming tooth removal surgery:

For there was never yet philosopher,
That could endure the tooth-ache patiently.

19 Down, 18 To Go
Next Up: The Merry Wives Of Windsor

Shakespeare: Henry V

Henry V is a good play. It has two of the top 10 Shakespearean speeches: the "Once More Into The Breach" speech and the "Band Of Brothers" speech. Even though some of the words may seem unfamiliar in our modern language, it still stirs the soul to read or hear those speeches.

Shakespeare does an odd thing in this play: each of his acts is introduced by a man describing the scene, specifically telling the audience to use their imaginations to fit the enormous events of history into such a small place as a theater and a small time of only two hours. This sounds very artificial, but the writing of these segments is simply fantastic. Without any acting, just a man speaking on a stage, Shakespeare summons up armies and countries that no play could encompass visually. Some of the writing in this play is Shakespeare at his finest.

So, some guy claims that Bush II could be described in a Henry V context. His basic claim is that Bush was ashamed at his father's performance, and so he resolved to do everything in the opposite way of his father. He wrote a book. If you care, I'm sure you could find it.

I know I haven't mentioned my Space Opera for a while, but the Henriad, as I've heard it called, would be the centerpiece of the entire story, and this would be the first movie. A young King goes to war and woos the sexy foreign lady on the other side? It's a perfect movie for males 18-24, the only demographic that people target seriously, for some reason.

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Next Up: Much Ado About Nothing

500 Posts! New Shakespeare Blog/Podcast!

For my 500th post, I have an announcement.

I'm starting yet another blog, this one will be the companion piece to a new podcast which I also intend to make. I don't know when the podcast will begin, but I hope we can have a test episode up soon. You can check out the website at http://tcspodcast.blogspot.com/

If there's anything you want to tell us about Shakespeare, or you have any requests, please leave a message on the new blog.

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Now playing: Peter Schmalfuss - Fantasy No. 3
via FoxyTunes

Shakespeare: King Henry IV, Part I

I liked Henry IV, part I.

Like I said earlier, they do a lot of jokes about Sir John Falstaff being fat. Here we find a phrase that Shakespeare sort of coined: "Discretion is the better part of valour" began as Falstaff saying "The better part of valour is discretion", which I suppose is functionally the same.

There are many good speeches and conversations. Act II, Scene III, where Hotspur leaves his wife without telling her he is going to battle, is almost entirely excellent dialogue.

There's a very good and humourous scene between Falstaff and Prince Henry where they roleplay a conversation between the Prince and the King (Act II, Scene IV). When Falstaff plays the King, the King seems to only be interested in praising Falstaff, and when Prince Henry plays the King, he mocks Falstaff to no end, while Falstaff, acting as the Prince, defends himself against the words of the real Prince. I can imagine that Shakespeare enjoyed writing that scene.

Shakespeare seems to think that battles consist of lords dueling each other after pairing off. Never does a regular soldier enter a fight, and the commanders of each army almost inevitably fight. It's all for drama, of course, but sometimes, it seems rather silly.

Although the play's title is Henry IV, the story is truly about Prince Henry, later Henry V. He changes from a rogue to a warrior for the King to earn his father's respect. He has an excellent line contemplating the corpse of the rebel leader Hotspur:

Prince Henry
When that body did contain a spirit,
A kingdom for it was too small a bound;
But now two paces of the vilest earth
Is room enough:-this earth that bears thee dead.

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Next Up: King Henry IV, Part II
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King Henry IV, Part One, Part One

Just a little post about King Henry IV, Part One, before my full post:

Sir John Falstaff is fat. Now I've spoiled 90% of the jokes in the play. I have to look up if this story is the first use of "Courage is the better part of valour".

Shakespeare: The Merchant of Venice

First of all, The Merchant of Venice is a racist play. Wikipedia debates the idea, but it seems pretty clear to me. First, there's the Prince of Morocco, who is presumably black. When he loses the game which I'll describe below, Portia hopes that all people with his colour fail to win her in marriage.

Then there's Shylock. He is a bad person, and he is a Jew. These things are not are not a coincidence in the play. Everyone refers to him as a Jew, and treats him poorly as a result. He claims that this mistreatment turned him into a bad person, but it's a facade. Even in his private thoughts in his very first line, he wants to see Antonio dead simply for being Christian, and for lending out money without interest, thereby cutting into Shylock's money lending business. He even says that he wants to see Antonio dead on behalf of "his tribe". When he leaves a scene, he's heading to the synagogue. In this play, being Jewish, and being a villain are inextricable.

Shylock has a famous speech where he says he is still a human being, including the line, "If you prick me, will I not bleed?" So if anyone talks like that, you could call them a Shylock, if you wanted to confuse them.

There's an odd contest in the play: Everyone wants to marry the beautiful Portia, and the father is being careful about who he gives his blessing to. He won't let any old Prince or Duke courting her to have her hand, he'll only let someone who can guess the right choice in a cryptic riddle. He made three coffins, made of gold, silver, and lead, respectively. Each one has a vague riddle that doesn't help on the outside, and one has a statue of Portia inside. If you choose the coffin with Portia's image inside, you win! If you choose the wrong one, you can never marry in the remainder of your life. Come to think of it, Portia's father is a bit of a dick. By the way, the lead one was the right one. This isn't really a spoiler, since we saw the other two be picked incorrectly before hand.

This play has a classic Shakespeare trick: women dressing as men. Since women were played by young men back then, this means that the actor was pretending to be a woman pretending to be a man. Shakespeare really seemed to adore this idea, since he does it so often.

In all, I thought this one was pretty good.

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Next Up: King Henry IV, Part 1

PS. God of Shakespeare, I know I don't pray to you often, but please make these plays about Kings named Henry interesting. If they're not, it's going to be a long slog. Three in a row!

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Merchant Of Venice Lesson

I'm going to do a full post on the Merchant Of Venice later, but here's a freebie:

Antonio: Would you mind lending me some money?
Shylock: Sure, but if you can't pay me back in time, you'll have to die.
Antonio: I don't see a problem with that.

~Later~

Antonio: I don't have the money.
Shylock: Well, kill yourself then.
Antonio: There's no way I could have seen this coming!

A little advice to my readers: if someones offers you conditions that will kill you, don't go for it! (unless they offer something awesome).

Shakespeare: Richard II

Richard II is a good play, and it'd make a great addition to my series of space-operas based on Shakespearean plays. They'll be the Star Wars of the 2000's!

I've found that I enjoy the Histories/Dramas much more than the comedies of Shakespeare. There are often comedic moments that work even today, but they don't approach modern comedy in Humour:Time ratio. The Dramas of Shakespeare are better at reaching those things that are immortal in man, where the Comedies tend toward punning, which often ages poorly, and absurdism, which has been trumped so thoroughly by modern comedy that it is dwarfed in comparison.

I understand that Shakespeare was a bit of a political hack, who wrote to support Elizabeth I, and therefore, I would assume, the line of Henrys in the British Monarchy. Richard II is the story of a Henry usurping the throne, and the assassination of the King. There are some nobles that complain at Richard's taxes, but he isn't painted as a hideous villain, which would help to justify the revolution. It just seems odd that a monarchist would tell a story that so undermines the legitimacy of a monarch, especially since the current monarch was a continuation of that line.

In all, a good story, with real pathos.

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Next Up: The Merchant Of Venice

Shakespeare: The Taming Of The Shrew

I'm often reminded of Goethe's saying: "A man's faults are of his time, but his virtues are his own." This is certainly the case for The Taming Of The Shrew. The play features all the excellent writing of Shakespeare, but it also displays the monstrous misogyny of the time. The titular "taming" is a prolonged string of spousal abuse, which culminates in an wife suffering from battered spouse syndrome. This abuse is celebrated by all the husbands present.

It's unfortunate, because, as I said earlier, the writing is very good at times. Shakespeare pulls some more of his cross-dressing and role-shifting silliness in this one. One problem I had was the fact that almost every character's name was both unfamiliar and ended in 'O', leading to more than a little confusion on my part. This is compounded by all the people pretending to be other people.

The central play is actually another of Shakespeare's favorite tricks, the play within a play. The first act of the play is about a noble who tricks a poor man, Christopher Sly, into believing that he is a noble who has been sick and delusional, only now emerging from his illness. Sly has a great line when introduced to the man pretending to be his wife:

SLY
'Tis much. Servants, leave me and her alone.
Madam, undress you and come now to bed.

Anyway, the nobles go to watch a play, which is the "actual" play about taming a shrew. Only once in the remainder of the story do the original characters act, and that is just to mention that the play isn't over yet. There's no resolution there at all.

I enjoyed this one. More than a few moments that were genuinely funny, and I think a couple more would have been funny had I known the old-timey usage of the words.

13 down, 24 to go.
Next Up, Richard the Second


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Shakespeare: King John

King John is pretty good. There are some very dramatic and emotional scenes. Here is the best scene of all time:

~War Was Beginning~

King John: I am dying, and my last thread of life is hanging on your report. Tell me how the war goes.
Bastard: We were marching toward the battle when most of our troops were washed into the sea.
King John: [Dies
Hubert: What are you talking about? The French have sent an emissary to negotiate peace. The war's over!
Bastard: Whoops!

12 down, 25 to go.
Next Up: The Taming of the Shrew