39:38 Edward III

Day 39 of 38:38
BONUS DAY!
Edward III

So after completing the 38 plays of Shakespeare in 38 days, I have fallen behind on the bonus days. Well, that's life, I suppose. I might move on to one of these a week. More probable to be one of these whenever I have time. And thanks to SAA, I've got a brand new copy of Thomas Middleton's Collected Works to work my way through as well. But, one play at a time.

Surprisingly, I actually have both read and seen Edward III before. Chesapeake Shakespeare in MD did a reading of it for one of their Pub Night events, and then about a year after that I saw a fine production of the play at Washington Shakespeare Company. In performance, it's a viable play, and one that depends on the main actor to carry it off. WSC's lead was quite good and fittingly charismatic.

Prevailing opinion is that Shakespeare had a hand in writing Edward III, but that it was a collaboration. I think the notion of collaboration is obvious from the two completely separate actions of the play. The first half of the play is taken up with Edward's wooing of the Countess of Salisbury. But this story line is completely forgotten in the second half of the play, which deals entirely with war with France, a war in which the English are strong and victorious.

As for whether Shakespeare had a hand in it? Well, thou the verse is at times mundane, there were several echoes for me. First the play starts off like a poor man's Henry V. There is a conversation about whether the English monarch has a right to rule in France, even though he makes that claim through a woman. Then a snarky French ambassador enters, and the English King is defiant.

Countess and will your sacred self
Commit high treason against the King of heaven,
To stamp his Image in forbidden metal,
Forgetting your allegiance and your oath?

remember Measure for Measure?
Angelo It were as good
To pardon him that hath from nature stolen
A man already made, as to remit
Their saucy sweetness that do coin heaven's image
In stamps that are forbid: 'tis all as easy
Falsely to take away a life true made
As to put metal in restrained means
To make a false one.


King John For what's this Edward but a belly god,
A tender and lascivious wantoness,
That t'other day was almost dead for love?

This scene and it's rah! rah! speeches remind me of Richard's and Richmond's speeches to their troops in Richard III.
Richmond For what is he they follow? truly, gentlemen,
A bloody tyrant and a homicide.

-----------------------------
Favorite Female Character:
Countess
Favorite Male Character:
The Scots, David and Douglass are quite fun.

Laugh out loud:
Douglas Jemmy, my man, saddle my black horse.
King David Meanst thou to fight, Douglas? We are too weak.
Douglass I know it well, my liege, and therefore fly.

"That's what she said!":
Douglass Why then, my liege, let me enjoy her jewels.

How insulting:
King John those ever-bibbing Epicures,
Those frothy Dutch men, puft with double beer

Shakey loves his meta:
Countess No, let me die, if his too boistrous will
Will have it so, before I will consent
To be an actor in his graceless lust.

(we should note that 'will' is slang for 'penis,' and whether the Countess intends this double entendre or not is up to interpretation.)

Oh, misogyny:

Boys are silly:
Edward Ignoble David! hast thou none to grieve
But silly ladies with thy threatening arms?

Favorite Moment/Line:

38:38 The Two Noble Kinsmen

Day 38 of 38:38
The Two Noble Kinsmen

Will I make it by midnight??? Yes, play finished at 11:39 PM. Two Noble Kinsmen felt similar to me with the other plays we have been reading recently. There is a sort of randomness and almost ridiculousness to the plot that we also see in Winter's Tale and Cymbeline and Pericles. But I did like Two Noble Kinsmen better than Henry VIII or The Tempest.

The one thing that really reveals to me the fact that this is a collaboration (and same with Henry) is the sudden appearance of massive amounts of stage directions. I mean, it's certainly not Shavian, but compared to the dearth of stage directions Shakespeare normally uses, it certainly sticks out.

I wonder how much Shakespeare was hearkening back to Midsummer as he was working on this play (presumably with Fletcher). We've got Theseus and Hippolyta, but I don't think we are supposed to think of them as the same characters. But we do have this silly men fighting over women plot, which echoes both Midsummer and Two Gents. The difference being that in this play someone actually dies.

So there it is. I made it through the challenge. 38 Shakespeare plays in 38 days. I'm going to extend this challenge for myself and over the next couple of days read Edward III, Sir Thomas Moore, and Double Falsehood (though for the record, let me state that I think the advertising of Double Falsehood as by William Shakespeare is more than a little questionable). I feel like I should have some deep over-arching thoughts, but I will save those for another post.

-----------------------------
Favorite Female Character:
Jailer's Daughter (at least until she goes all Ophelia on us)
Favorite Male Character:
Palamon (simply for the "I saw her first!" line)

Laugh out loud:
Jailer's Daughter I can tell your fortune.
You are a fool.

Famous Last Words
Palamon I do not think it possible our friendship
Should ever leave us.

"That's what she said!":
Jailer's Daughter My Palamon, I hope, will grow too, finely,
Now he's at liberty. Alas, poor chicken,
He was kept down with hard meat and ill lodging,
But I'll kiss him up again.

How insulting:

Shakey loves his meta:
There is a prologue and epilogue directly stating that the audience is about to see a play

Oh, misogyny:

Boys are silly:
Emilia Men are mad things.

Favorite Moment/Line:
Palamon Were I at liberty I would do things
Of such virtuous greatness that this lady,
This blushing virgin, should take manhood to her
And seek to ravish me.

37:38 Henry VIII

Day 37 of 38:38
Henry VIII

Okay, I have a confession to make. You all know how much I love, adore, and worship Shakespeare. That being said, this is a bad play. Shakespeare et al. have taken a story which has inflamed the imagination of multitudes of writers and made it completely boring. There's no sex, no intrigue, no flirting, no backstabbing. These fascinating and devilish characters are completely flattened in this story.

And yes, I can tell why. Clearly no one wants to piss off Queen Elizabeth. Even Anne Boleyn, a notoriously hated woman, is relatively noble in this play, simply because she was Elizabeth's mother and therefore has to be. But seriously, Shakespeare, did you really need money that badly? You must have. I mean check out this repeated white-washing of Anne

Suffolk She is a gallant creature, and complete
In mind and feature: I persuade me, from her
Will fall some blessing to this land, which shall
In it be memorized.

Cause no, that's not obvious at all...

And then Cardinal Wosley, though clearly against the King marrying Anne, still says "What though I know her virtuous / And well deserving?"

Lovell She's a good creature, and, sweet lady, does
Deserve our better wishes.

And I'm not saying that I think Anne Boleyn was the spawn of Satan brought about on this Earth to destroy England. But I will say that in this play she is worse, that is, she is boring. Even Cardinal Wolsey, as much the villain of the piece as anyone else, is a pussy.

Anyone want to try and argue anything positive about this play?

-----------------------------
Favorite Female Character:
Queen Katharine
Favorite Male Character:
Cardinal Wolsey

Laugh out loud:
Lord Chamberlain It seems the marriage with his brother's wife
Has crept too near his conscience.
Suffolk No; his conscience
Has crept too near another lady.

"That's what she said!":
Lovell O that your lordship were but now confessor
To one or two of these!
Lord Sandys I would I were;
They should find easy penance.
Lovell Faith, how easy?
Lord Sandys As easy as a down-bed would afford it.

How insulting:
Cardinal Wolsey You have as little honesty as honor

Shakey loves his meta:
Surveyor I would have played
The part my father meant to act upon
The usurper Richard.

Oh, misogyny:
Wolsey thou hast forced me
Out of thy honest truth, to play the woman.
Let's dry our eyes.

Boys are silly:

Favorite Moment/Line:

36:38 The Tempest

Day 36 of 38:38
The Tempest

After working my way through Coriolanus, Cymbeline, and Winter's Tale, I have to admit, it's a bit of a relief to see how short The Tempest is. Not that I object to longer plays, but since I was in Chicago for four days for SAA, I'm working hard to get caught up on this project. Getting caught up is easier when the play is 90 pages instead of 130.

Sometimes we notice certain word repetitions more than others. While reading The Tempest, I couldn't help but notice the repeated use of the word "brave". Whether brave appears more than other words, I cannot say, for I know that I am attuned to that catching that word, since I know the phrase "brave new world" comes from this play and was waiting for it to come up. And while I was waiting to read "brave new world" many other things were characterized as "brave".

Miranda O, I have suffered
With those that I saw suffer: a brave vessel,
Who had, no doubt, some noble creature in her,
Dash'd all to pieces

Prospero My brave spirit!

Miranda Believe me, sir,
It carries a brave form.

Ferdinand the Duke of Milan
And his brave son being twain.

Gonzalo You are gentlemen of brave metal

Caliban That's a brave god and bears celestial liquor.
I will kneel to him.

Stephano O brave monster!

Trinculo Where should they be set else? he were a brave
monster indeed, if they were set in his tail.

Caliban He has brave utensils

Stephano Is it so brave a lass?

Caliban Ay, lord; she will become thy bed, I warrant.
And bring thee forth brave brood.

Stephano This will prove a brave kingdom to me, where I shall
have my music for nothing.

Caliban these be brave spirits indeed!

And, of course,

Miranda O brave new world,
That has such people in't!

 My Shakespeare Lexicon gives the following meanings for brave:
valiant
becoming
fine, splendid, beautiful
to display bravery
to defy, to oppose, to bully
to make fine and splended
a display of valor, defiance, or threatening


-----------------------------
Favorite Female Character:
Miranda, by default
Favorite Male Character:
Prospero

Laugh out loud:

"That's what she said!":
Stephano Yet a tailor might scratch her wherere she did itch.

How insulting:
Sebastian A pox o' your throat, you bawling, blasphemous, incharitable dog!

Shakey loves his meta:
Antonio And by that destiny to perform an act
Whereof what's past is prologue

Oh, misogyny:

Boys are silly:
Ariel they were red hot with drinking
So full of valor that they smote the air
For breathing in their faces, beat the ground
For kissing of their feet

Favorite Moment/Line:
Miranda O wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world
That has such people in't.
Prospero 'Tis new to thee.

I love the juxtaposition of optimism and cynicism, youth and age, the flowery poetry of Miranda and the simple statement of Prospero that undercuts her sentiment so efficiently.

34:38 The Winter's Tale

Day 34 of 38:38
The Winter's Tale

So here's what I want to know: How come The Winter's Tale and Cymbeline start with the exact same scene?

Oracles are notoriously ambiguous. You have to be extremely careful in interpreting them the wrong way. They are riddles. Therefore, I love how this play gives us the most straightforward oracle message ever known to man:

"Hermione is chaste; Polixenes blameless; Camillo a true subject; Leontes a jealous tyrant; his innocent babe truly begotten."

It doesn't get any clearer than that.

-----------------------------
Favorite Female Character:
Paulina
Favorite Male Character:
Leontes

Laugh out loud:
Autolycus Though I am not naturally honest, I am so sometimes by chance.

"That's what she said!":
Servant with such delicate burdens of dildos and fadings, 'jump her and thump her'

How insulting:
Leontes A gross hag!

Shakey loves his meta:
Perdita I see the play so lies
That I must bear a part.

Oh, misogyny:
Leontes women say so
That will say anything

Boys are silly:
Hermione a lady's 'verily' 's
As potent as a lord's

Favorite Moment/Line:
Paulina I say, I come
From your good queen.
Leontes Good queen!
Paulina Good queen, my lord, good queen; I say, good queen.

35:38 Cymbeline

Day 35 of 38:38
Cymbeline

Shakespeare seems to be doing a lot with redemption and jealousy in these late plays. (Redemption also figures into The Tempest.) But you can especially see links between The Winter's Tale and Cymbeline. Both have irrationally jealous husbands who lose their faithful wives, only to regret their anger, and be reunited at the end of the play. But the different is, the end of Cymbeline feels much more hopeful to me. I think this is because Hermione is far more silent at the end of the play than Imogen is.

What I love about Cymbeline is its sheer randomness. Though I was correct when I supposed after Pericles this play would seem much more coherent. It does. But I hate it when I see a production and the director has cut Jove descending from the skies. The play is wacky, just go with it!

As far as redemption goes, I also find Cymbeline easier to be swallowed than Pericles. Both of them are plays where a lot of bad things happen and then the ending is joyful. But in Cymbeline the bad things are results of the silly actions of the characters, where as in Pericles they are just random acts. The characters in Cymbeline realize how stupid they've been and I suppose for me that makes the ending more believably enjoyable. Also, Shakespeare gives us hints of the redemption to come. The end of 4.2, Lucius "Some falls are means the happier to arise." The end of 4.3, Pisanio "Fortune brings in some boats that are not steered."

What I don't love about Cymbeline is its clunky exposition. Oy, that first scene. And then again, when we meet Belarius and the boys and he has that long soliloquy telling the audience exactly who they all are. A little too obvious.

PS. My single edition calls this play "The Tragedy of Cymbeline." To me, this is just further proof that we should banish all genre categories when it comes to the plays of Shakespeare. I guess if you are going off the definition of in comedy no one dies and in tragedy people die, sure, Cymbeline is a tragedy and Measure for Measure is a comedy. But I think this definition is inane. Plus, no one we care about in Cymbeline dies. Generally in tragedies we expect the hero to die. Not so with this play. (This whole question of genre has been floating around in my head since SAA. I had a brief discussion there about whether any one still thinks of the "problem plays" as "problem plays" or whether this designation has gone out of style. If not, it should. And frankly, thinking about it since then, I think all the designations are pointless. Think about today -- if you buy a complete or volume of collected works for any current playwright, they are never categorized into any sort of genre classification. Anyway, I have a lot more thoughts on this subject, but that's another posting -- or an article.)

-----------------------------
Favorite Female Character:
Imogen
Favorite Male Character:
Iachimo

Laugh out loud:
Posthumus The stone's too hard to come by.
Iachimo Not a whit,
Your lady being so easy.

"That's what she said!":
Cloten If you can penetrate her with your fingering, so; we'll try with tongue too.

How insulting:
Imogen His meanest garment
That ever hath but clipped his body, is dearer
In my respect than all the hairs above thee,
Were they all made such men.

Shakey loves his meta:
Posthumus Shall's have a play of this? Thou scornful page,
There lies thy part.

Oh, misogyny:
Posthumus Could I find out
The woman's part in me! For there's no motion
That tends to vice in man but I affirm
It is the woman's part; be it lying, not it,
The woman's; flattering, hers; deceiving, hers;
Lust and rank thoughts, hers, hers; revenges, hers;
Ambitions, covetings, change of prides, disdain,
Nice longings, slanders, mutability,
All faults that may be named, nay, that hell knows,
Why, hers, in part, or all; but rather, all;
For even to vice
They are not constant, but are changing still
One vice but of a minute old for one
Not half so old as that.

Boys are silly:
2nd Lord That such a crafty devil as is his mother
Should yield the world this ass! a woman that
Bears all down with her brain, and this her son
Cannot take two from twenty for his heart
And leave eighteen.

Imogen Men's vows are women's traitors!

Favorite Moment/Line:
In performance especially, I love the moment when Iachimo pops out of the trunk.

33:38 Coriolanus

Day 33 of 38:38
Coriolanus

So I understand why theatres sometimes do Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra in rep. I mean, obviously, it is more or less a continuation of the same story. But I think it would work really well to do Julius Caesar and Coriolanus in rep. They seem to link really well thematically. Politics. Easily swayed mobs. People voting against their self-interests. Sounds like today, doesn't it? Even more so when you consider that the Tribunes gets the people to turn against Coriolanus by claiming that he will turn into a tyrant, that is take over the government and their freedom.

Brutus In this point charge him home, that he affects
Tyrannical power

Sicinius We charge you, that you have contrived to take
From Rome all seasoned office, and to wind
Yourself into a power tyrannical

Some things never change, I guess.

For me, in performance, it's much easier for Coriolanus to come off as a jerk. But on the page, I felt totally with him. The people are ridiculous, and he basically gets screwed. Then he does the nice thing and doesn't kill them all, and what happens? Another man throws and hissy fit and kills Coriolanus in a jealous rage. Seriously, Aufidius so clearly has a thing for Coriolanus. I really think this play has the most obvious homo-eroticism in all of Shakespeare's works.

Another thing about Coriolanus -- I think it would be easy to play him simply as a brute, a man of action, but he seems quite shrewd in moments. He sees right through those two nasty tribunes. When Brutus points out that the people have turned against Coriolanus because of the incident with the corn, he responds:
Coriolanus Why, this was known before.
Brutus Not to them all.
Coriolanus Have you informed them sithence?

Finally, I love this line of Volumnia's which reveals how important text work is. It is only by scanning properly that you will know the right way of delivering the line

thou barrest us
Our prayers to the gods, which is a comfort
That all but we enjoy; for HOW can we,
Alas! how CAN we for our country pray,
Whereto we are bound, together with thy victory,
Whereto we are bound?

-----------------------------
Favorite Female Character:
Volumnia
Favorite Male Character:
Sicinius and Brutus sure are bastards, aren't they?

Laugh out loud:

"That's what she said!":

How insulting:
Coriolanus for I do hate thee
Worse than a promise-breaker

Shakey loves his meta:
Coriolanus Like a dull actor now,
I have forgot my part

Oh, misogyny:
Cominius in that day's feats
When he might act the woman in the scene,
He proved best man in the field

Boys are silly:
Cominius And manhood is called foolery when it stands
Against a falling fabric.

Favorite Moment/Line:
Aufidius Know thou first,
I loved the maid I married; never man
Sighed truer breath; but that I see thee here,
Thou noble thing! more dances my rapt heart
Than when I first my wedded mistress aw
Bestride my threshold.

32:38 Pericles

Day 32 of 38:38
Pericles

What an interesting play. I feel like next to Pericles, Cymbeline isn't going to feel random at all. This was another one on the short list that I had not read before. I also haven't seen this one yet. In these later plays, Shakespeare seems increasingly episodic. Thinking about Pericles and Cymbeline and Antony and Cleopatra, there feel like there are more shorter scenes, and scenes that jump around in place and time. He also seems to be seeing just how much he can get away with in terms of plot. Pericles and Winter's Tale seem to be a sort of opposite of Troilus and Cressida. In that play, we are specifically told that we will only see one small section of a vast story. In Pericles and Winter's Tale, Shakespeare is trying to cram the epic story entirely in to one play.

For those of you that have seen Pericles performed, how does it play? Is the ending overwhelmingly joyous after the unrelenting line of tragic events? Or do you find yourself unable to trust the ending, unable to trust the idea that everything will be okay in the end, that, if you will, alls well that ends well?

Also the fact that Antiochus's daughter spends her entire life being raped by her father and doesn't get rescued by Pericles, or anyone else, infuriated me. She has no name in the text, further depriving her of agency. The fact that she is identified only as Antiochus's Daughter, defines her solely by her relationship to her father, her incestuous relationship.

I also wanted to point out how Isabella could have used some of Marina's persuasive power.

-----------------------------
Favorite Female Character:
Dionyza (we get to have a bit of villainy)
Favorite Male Character:
Simonides (I think the scene where he pretends to bully his daughter is fun)

Laugh out loud:
Pericles Why, are all your beggars whipped, then?
Second Fisherman O, not all, my friend, not all; for if all your beggars were whipped, I would wish no better office than to be beadle.

"That's what she said!":
Simonides It pleaseth me so well, that I will see you wed;
And then with what haste you can get you to bed.

How insulting:

Shakey loves his meta:
Gower In your imagination hold
This stage the ship, upon whose deck
The sea-tost Pericles appears to speak.

Oh, misogyny:
Gower With whom the father liking took,
And her to incest did provoke.
Bad child, worse father!

Boys are silly: (Stick it to the patriarchy)
Simonides They are well dispatch'd; now to my daughter's letter:
She tells me here, she'd wed the stranger knight,
Or never more to view nor day nor light.
'Tis well, mistress; your choice agrees with mine;
I like that well: nay, how absolute she's in't,
Not minding whether I dislike or no!

Favorite Moment/Line:
Pericles O Helicanus! Strike me, honored sir,
Give me a gash, put me to present pain,
Lest this great sea of joys rushing upon me
Oerbear the shores of my mortality,
And drown me with their sweetness.

31:38 Alls Well that Ends Well

Day 31 of 38:38
Alls Well that Ends Well

Helena is such an interesting character, so it bothers me whenever I see the play and she is boring, or weak seeming. Not only is she passionate, smart, and willful, but she is capable of holding her own against the sexual references of Parolles. Her only mistake is loving a stupid boy, of whom it is hard to gather much sympathy. I think the play works best when Bertram is played as extremely young. This is the only thing that helps make his behavior understandable.

I really enjoyed the NT Live production of this that I saw. I loved the fairy tale motif, I loved the fact that Bertram was portrayed as quite young, the Parolles was delightful, and I loved the big celebratory ending, with the "Oh Shit, what now" look from both Helena and Bertram.

I'm not sure if a lot of people pick up on this, but I've always felt that Parolles is key to the plot because the revealing of his true character parallels the revealing of Bertram's true character. Just as Parolles is caught in cowardice and lies before a crowd of soldiers and friends, Bertram is caught before the crowd of court. I think the play is best when both characters have moments of self-recognition, though I'm not convinced that even with that things end "happily ever after" and I don't think Shakespeare meant us to be. To me, the title is ironically trite.

-----------------------------
Favorite Female Character:
Helena
Favorite Male Character:
Lafeu

Laugh out loud:
Countess Well, sir.
Clown No, madam, ’tis not so well that I am poor, though many of the rich are damned.

"That's what she said!":
Helena Unfold to us some war-like resistance.
Parolles There is none: man, sitting down before you, will undermine you and blow you up.

How insulting:
Countess Wilt thou ever be a foul-mouthed and calumnious knave?

Shakey loves his meta:
Lafeu A showing of a heavenly effect in an earthly actor.

Oh, misogyny:


Boys are silly:
Lafeu These boys are boys of ice, they’ll none have her: sure, they are bastards to the English; the French ne’er got ’em.

Favorite Moment/Line:

30:38 Antony and Cleopatra

Day 30 of 38:38
Antony and Cleopatra

I learned a lot about this play back in 2008 when the Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, DC did the Roman Repertory: Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra with the same cast. As part of the festivities, they held an all day symposium where they had scholars come to the theatre and talk about the plays. One of the speakers I particularly remember was Sara Munson Deats. Incidentally, Deats was at SAA this year, in a session on Shakespeare and Marlowe, but I couldn't audit that one due to not being able to not attend the Theatrical Reconstructions session. Anyway, back in 2008 Deats spoke on the Private Sphere vs. the Public sphere in Elizabethan England. Deats talked about how in Elizabethan England the nuclear family replaced the extended family. The public sphere of business was the job of the husband and the private sphere of home and hearth, the wife's. Elizabethans had to reconcile this with the fact that they had a woman monarch. This public/private theme comes into play in Antony and Cleopatra, which can be seen as setting Roman virtues in opposition with Egyptian virtues, and the characters being torn between the two. (Roman: public, honor, duty, martial prowess, political power, reason, pragmatism, stoicism, coldness, masculine; Egyptian: private, love, sensuality, pleasure, passion, hedonism, warmth, feminine.) Deats argued that only in their deaths were Antony and Cleopatra able to find a balance between the two - by dying in high Roman fashion, by their own hands, but dying for love.


In my mind, I like to fancy that I am just like Cleopatra. But I know in reality that I am so ridiculously low maintenance in relationships that I will never come near her. ;-)

-----------------------------
Favorite Female Character:
Cleopatra
Favorite Male Character:
Enobarbus

Laugh out loud:
Enobarbus Or, if you borrow one another’s love for the instant, you may, when you hear no more words of Pompey, return it again.

"That's what she said!":
Charmian Well, if you were but an inch of fortune better than I, where would you choose it?
Iras Not in my husband’s nose.

How insulting:
Antony Triple-turned whore

Shakey loves his meta:
Cleopatra and I shall see
Some squeaking Cleopatra boy my greatness
I'th' posture of a whore.

Oh, misogyny:
Enobarbus But there is never a fair woman has a true face.

Boys are silly:
Octavius From Alexandria
This is the news: he fishes, drinks, and wastes
The lamps of night in revel; is not more manlike
Than Cleopatra, nor the queen of Ptolemy
More womanly than he

Favorite Moment/Line:
Enobarbus Age cannot wither her, not custom stale
Her infinite variety. Other women cloy
The appetites they feed, but she makes hungry
Where most she satisfies.

29:38 Julius Caesar

Day 29 of 38:38
Julius Caesar

I love this play. Some people claim this play is "talky." I have always found it tightly plotted and very exciting both on the page and on the stage. I love the characters and their interactions. It would be incredibly hard to rank every Shakespeare play according to how I feel about them, but if I struggled through enough to create a top ten, Julius Caesar would for sure be on it.

But here's the aspect of Julius Caesar that gets lost for me in production -- the idea that these men of Rome, these Senators are highly invested in a equitable form of government. They believe it is better to give their lives than suffer tyranny. They are the American Revolution. Freedom is the word. This always sort of gets lost for me in performance. As an audience member I forget about this and get caught up in everything else. I would like to direct this play to see if I could keep that connection. But, I'm not sure if this idea gets lost in the play because of characters being played too nefariously, or if this, indeed, is the entire point. That these men start with noble ideas, and an iron-clad commitment to Freedom, and they lose this idea and themselves along the way. I suspect this is the case, in which case I would want to work to make that fall absolutely clear.

I just read this before heading off to SAA, so I was speaking to my travel mates about this play and specifically the character of Cassius. How interesting is it that Shakespeare gives Cassius the "who so firm but can be seduced" speech! This is the only moment in the play which reveals any sort of villainous and purposeful manipulation. Without it, Cassius is a man of strict principles, fighting to the death to defend those principles. This speech is what makes us Cassius's nobility. And for me, it someone questionably undercuts how deep the friendship with Brutus is. But as my friend Kavita pointed out, maybe it just demonstrates how much this means to him - that he is willing to use a friend, perhaps even sacrifice a friendship, and not just any, but his most important one, in order to achieve his goals.

-----------------------------
Favorite Female Character:
Portia
Favorite Male Character:
Cassius

Laugh out loud:
Octavius You may do your will;
But he's a tried and valiant soldier.
Anthony So is my horse, Octavius

"That's what she said!":
Portia Dwell I but in the suburbs
Of your good pleasure?

How insulting:
Murellus You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things!

Shakey loves his meta:
Cassius How many ages hence
Shall this our lofty scene be acted o'er
In States unborn and accents yet unknown!

Oh, misogyny:
Cassius And we are govern'd with our mothers' spirits;
Our yoke and sufferance show us womanish.

Boys are silly:
Decius But when I tell him he hates flatterers,
He says he does, being then most flattered.

Favorite Moment/Line:
Everything that Cassius says

also

Brutus Between the acting of a dreadful thing
And the first motion, all the interim is
Like a phantasma or a hideous dream:
The genius and the mortal instruments
Are then in council; and the state of man,
Like to a little kingdom, suffers then
The nature of an insurrection.

21:38 Hamlet

Day 21 of 38:38
Hamlet -- The Bad Quarto

So, since I'm at the Shakespeare Association of America conference, I can't pull out my Arden edition of this play to consult, so forgive me if I misspeak (or just comment and correct me, or add things I'm missing ;-) ) For those of you who aren't scholars of the bard, just to catch you up, we have three texts of Hamlet: The first quarto (known as the "Bad Quarto"), the second Quarto, and the Folio. When you see Hamlet performed you are usually seeing a conflation of the texts from the Folio and the second Quarto. The first quarto edition of Hamlet is quite different from the other two texts and full of what seems to be textual mistakes and problems. This version, I would have said, does not get performed due to the "errors." But due to the academic interest in this version, there have recently been fully staged productions of the text of the first quarto Hamlet. The plots are practically identical between the different texts, what is different is the poetry and some of the ordering of the scenes.

Nearly all of the soliloquies are considerably shorter in the first Quarto Hamlet, and there will be a line that is identical to what we know, followed by a line that is completely different. For example, the line we know goes "To be or not to be; that is the question." The first quarto says "To be or not to be, aye there's the point."

Anyway, the first quarto is called the Bad Quarto for several reasons - it is a lot shorter, leading to the claim that things are missing, a lot of the logic of the speeches is missing, the syntax is weird, and the poetry many find to be inferior. Where did this text come from?

From what I recall there are two prevailing theories about the Q1. The first that it is a memorial reconstruction of the actual Hamlet play by Shakespeare. An actor with an apparently very bad memory tried to write down the entire play and had to approximate large chunks of it. The second theory is that the q1 is Shakespeare's first draft, based off of the Ur-Hamlet, or the name given to the supposed source play that Shakespeare based his Hamlet off of. Then, the theory says, Shakespeare rewrote the play entirely to what we know today.

But the Q1 Hamlet is ... weird. I know that's a completely subjective assessment. But the characters all seem underdeveloped. Their arcs don't make sense. The poetry is inferior. There is a lot of missing logic. Syntax is strange. Thoughts are unfinished. Several names are different.

So here's a totally crazy thought that I have no evidence for, and don't have the time to properly research. But what if the Q1 Hamlet IS the Ur-Hamlet? What if this text is not Shakespeare at all, but the text that Shakespeare based his version off of?

It's claimed that the Q1 version of Hamlet is some version of Shakespeare's writing, because, I suppose, there are many identical lines, and the plot follows the same trajectory. But Shakespeare's other plays also have extreme parallels with source material. But I would need to do further research on other source plays and Shakespeare's versions to see if there are direct line quotes as there are between the Hamlets.

One of the scholars at the reading noted that he thought the Q1 Hamlet was a superior text. I and my friends found this questionable. But, hey, to each his own.

-----------------------------
Favorite Female Character:
Gertrude
Favorite Male Character:
uh... don't have one

Laugh out loud:
Hamlet There's never a villain dwelling in all Denmark,
But he's an arrant knave.
Horatio There need no Ghost come from the grave to tell you this.

"That's what she said!":
Hamlet Upon your lap, what do you think I meant country matters?

How insulting:
Ghost that incestuous wretch

Shakey loves his meta:
Gilderstone In Faith my Lord, novelty carries it away,
For the principal public audience that
Came to them, are turned to private plays,
And to the humor of children.

Oh, misogyny:
Hamlet Frailty, thy name is woman.

Boys are silly:
Corambis Sum men often prove,
Great in their words, but little in their love.

Favorite Moment/Line:
Hamlet Why what a dunghill idiot slave am I

28:38 Macbeth

Day 28 of 38:38
Macbeth

What amazing timing. The day of this play happened to be the day I had an audition for this play, so I needed to re-read it anyway. This is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and I found it exciting to read. Shakespeare really had hold of dramatic tension here; you can't help but get swept up in the build to "Macduff was from his mother's womb / Untimely ripped." Even when you know that's coming, it's still exciting.

I noticed reading the script that the only time Lady Macbeth speaks in prose is in the "Out, damned spot" scene. Everywhere else (except reading the letter -- not her words) she speaks in verse. This is very suggested of her as being a poised, intelligent, woman, knowing how to handle herself in court and public situations. She has truly gone mad, and we are seeing into her very soul in her final scene. There is no artifice left, she is simple herself, and as so, speaks in prose.

The one problem I generally have with this play when I see it in performance, is that productions tend to not do enough with Fleance, Banquo's son. Often when I see Macbeth performed, the audience is allowed to forget by the end of the play that the Weird Sisters promised Banquo that his children would be kings (But that myself should be the root and father / Of many kings). It is absolutely imperative for productions to not let us forget this -- after all, peace has been restored, Macbeth has been defeated, and the crown of Scotland is given to Malcolm. All is perfect in the world. Except not, because if we've been paying attention, we know this isn't the end of the story and somehow Fleance becomes king.

Finally, I found this passage of Macbeth's quite striking

Better be with the dead,
Whom we, to gain our peace, have sent to peace,
Than on the torture of the mind to lie
In restless ecstasy. Duncan is in his grave;
After life's fitful fever he sleeps well;
Treason has done his worst: nor steel, not poison,
Malice domestic, foreign levy, nothing
Can touch him further!

It's a slight variation on the typical "It's not so great to be king" speeches we find in Shakespeare.

-----------------------------
Favorite Female Character:
Lady Macbeth
Favorite Male Character:
Macbeth

Laugh out loud:
Macbeth O! yet I do repent me of my fury,
That I did kill them.
(okay, this isn't a comic line, per se, but it still makes me laugh)

"That's what she said!":
Malcolm I am yet
Unknown to woman

How insulting:
Macduff Not in the legions
Of horrid Hell can come a devil more damned
In evils, than Macbeth.

Shakey loves his meta:
Macbeth Life's but a walking shadow; a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more.

Oh, misogyny:
Macduff O! I could play the woman with mine eyes,
And braggart with my tongue.

Boys are silly:
Lady Macbeth When you durst do it, then you were a man;
And, to be more than what you were, you would
Be so much more the man.

Favorite Moment/Line:
Macbeth My dearest love,
Duncan comes here to-night.
Lady Macbeth And when goes hence?
Macbeth To-morrow, as he purposes.
Lady Macbeth O! never
Shall sun that morrow see.
Your face, my thane, is as a book where men
May read strange matters. To beguile the time,
Look like the time; bear welcome in your eye,
Your hand, your tongue: look like the innocent flower,
But be the serpent under ’t. He that’s coming
Must be provided for; and you shall put
This night’s great business into my dispatch;
Which shall to all our nights and days to come
Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom.

27:38 Timon of Athens

Day 27 of 38:38
Timon of Athens

Here's another new one for me! And this one, unlike Troilus and Cressida and King John, I've never read any part of it before. I don't even know what this play is about, so here we go...

Wow. Who knew that Shakespeare wrote a play about economics and greed? You know how plays of Shakespeare's go in cycles? All of a sudden several productions of one play will happen in one year? Or how the lesser known works go through periods of time where they are popular? Well, I'm surprised that isn't happening right now with Timon. I found it very easy to read, perhaps because the issues of hypocrisy and greed are ones that have affected every culture in every time.

Luculius Thou knowest well enough, although thou comest to me, that this is no time to lend money, especially upon bare friendship, without security.

But why does Timon constantly have bad things to say about women, when it is his male friends that have brought about his downfall? When Posthumous rails against women, it's one thing. But Timon has no reason. It comes completely out of nowhere.

Maybe this play doesn't get pulled out because even though it could resonate strongly today, it is quite obviously a weaker work. I mean, the play's not very subtle. During act one I pretty much knew where it was going. It's also quite repetitive, in the things the characters say and the actions they take. Cutting could take care of that, but it's already a short play. Also, this play is quite depressing. I find it even more depressing than a lot of the tragedies. I mean, this play pretty much has nothing good to say about humanity.

I mentioned in my post on King Lear that a lot of plays we are reading right now have to do with madness. Little did I know that Timon would be a further example. But here is another aspect in which this play isn't quite as good -- Timon's descent from sanity is not as artfully demonstrated as Lear's or Macbeth's.

I also think we are going to notice a lot of resonating elements when we read Coriolanus next week.

-----------------------------
Favorite Female Character:
There are only about five lines in this entire play given to female characters. Thanks a lot, Shakey.
Favorite Male Character:
Apemantus

Laugh out loud:

"That's what she said!":
Timon An thou shouldst, thou'dst anger ladies.
Apemantus O, they eat lords; so they come by great bellies.

How insulting:
Timon Most smiling, smooth, detested parasites,
Courteous destroyers, affable wolves, meek bears,
You fools of fortune, trencher-friends, time's flies,
Cap-and-knee slaves, vapors, and minute-jacks!

Shakey loves his meta:
Timon Why, thy verse swells with stuff so fine and smooth
That thou art even natural in thine art.

Oh, misogyny:
Apemantus What things in the world canst thou nearest compare to thy flatters?
Timon Women nearest.
(That's not very nice, Timon, considering it is entirely the male gender that is false to you.)

Boys are silly:
Apemantus I wonder that men dare trust themselves with men

Favorite Moment/Line:
Timon I'll teach them to prevent wild Alcibiades' wrath...
I have a tree, which grows here in my close,
That mine own use invites me to cut down,
And shortly must I fell it: tell my friends,
Tell Athens, in the sequence of degree,
From high to low throughout, that whoso please
To stop afflication, let him take his haste,
Come hither, ere my tree hath felt the axe,
And hang himself.

26:38 King Lear

Day 26 of 38:38
King Lear

I know this is somewhat blasphemous, but Lear's never been one of my favorites. I always find myself far more interested in the subplot -- Goneril, Regan, Edmund, the gouging of Gloucester, than with King Lear running around on the heath and the fool saying nonsensical things. But I don't think it's because the play isn't well written, or because Lear isn't an amazing character -- I just think it points to the difficulty of the play and the role. I've seen it produced several times, and so far Ian McKellan has been the only actor who managed to make me care about Lear. That production, directed by Trevor Nunn, was superb. It was long, long, long, but I was not once bored. The cast was nearly perfect. With the exception of Cordelia, every actor on that stage was remarkable.

Reading this plays in the ?order? they were written reveals that Shakespeare later in his career kept returning to the theme of madness. What could a person endure before he or she broke? We see this question explored in Hamlet, here in Lear, on day 28 with Macbeth, and a variation with the madness of jealousy with Othello and, coming up, Winter's Tale. Shakespeare humanizes madness, which seems quite remarkable in an era when mental illness was simply not understood or treated well.

As I was reading Lear this time around, a speech of Edgar's struck me as being somewhat similar to Richard II in the deposition scene. Through this speech, Edgar literally erases his identity and remakes himself:

While I may ’scape
I will preserve myself; and am bethought
To take the basest and most poorest shape
That ever penury, in contempt of man,
Brought near to beast; my face I’ll grime with filth,
Blanket my loins, elf all my hair in knots,
And with presented nakedness outface
The winds and persecutions of the sky.
...
That’s something yet: Edgar I nothing am.


In a way, Richard does the exact same thing:

Now mark me how I will undo myself:
I give this heavy weight from off my head,
And this unwieldy sceptre from my hand,
The pride of kingly sway from out my heart;
With mine own tears I wash away my balm,
With mine own hands I give away my crown,
With mine own tongue deny my sacred state,
With mine own breath release all duteous rites:
...
What more remains?

-----------------------------
Favorite Female Character:
Goneril
Favorite Male Character:
Edmund

Laugh out loud:

"That's what she said!":
Regan But have you never found my brother's way
To the forefended place?

How insulting:
Kent You base football player.

Kent A knave, a rascal, an eater of broken meats; a base, proud, shallow, beggarly, three-suited, hundred-pound, filthy, worsted-stocking knave; a lily-livered, action-taking knave; a whoreson, superserviceable, finical rogue; one-trunk-inheriting slave.

Shakey loves his meta:
Lear When we are born, we cry that we are come
To this great stage of fools.

Oh, misogyny:
Fool For there was never yet fair woman but she made mouths in a glass.

Boys are silly:
Regan I pray you, father, being weak, seem so.

Favorite Moment/Line:
Edmund Thou, Nature, art my goddess; to thy law
My services are bound. Wherefore should I
Stand in the plague of custom, and permit
The curiosity of nations to deprive me,
For that I am some twelve or fourteen moonshines
Lag of a brother? Why bastard? wherefore base?
When my dimensions are as well compact,
My mind as generous, and my shape as true,
As honest madam’s issue? Why brand they us
With base? with baseness? bastardy? base, base?
Who in the lusty stealth of nature take
More composition and fierce quality
Than doth, within a dull, stale, tired bed,
Go to the creating a whole tribe of fops,
Got ’tween asleep and wake? Well then,
Legitimate Edgar, I must have your land:
Our father’s love is to the bastard Edmund
As to the legitimate. Fine word, ‘legitimate!’
Well, my legitimate, if this letter speed,
And my invention thrive, Edmund the base
Shall top the legitimate:—I grow, I prosper;
Now, gods, stand up for bastards!

25:38 Othello

Day 25 of 38:38
Othello

Why does everyone always talk about Iago having no motive for what he does to Othello? It seems to me that he suffers from the fault that he is determined to give Othello. Iago is obsessed with sex. I remember three instances where he mentions someone else sleeping with his wife. That's quite frequent. He is beaten in jealously only by Master Ford! This play has a lot of talk about sex, which is so interested seeing we are reading it shortly after Measure for Measure.

Iago is, without a doubt, the consummate actor in all of Shakespeare. Even Richard III doesn't come close. R3 might brag about how he can change his face and fool and trick people, and he does to a certain degree, but many people know the entire time just how awful he is. Nobody knows this about Iago. Everyone loves him. He's called honest and good. No one even has a clue. He's got them all fooled, and not just the thick characters, but the smart ones too.

Emilia is quite fascinating in that respect. She seems brilliant and sassy and like she doesn't take crap in some of her lines, but then she is completely oblivious to the actual nature of her husband. I've not yet seen Othello on the stage but something tells me there are a lot of possibilities for playing Emilia and Iago's relationship. I find it very interesting that he's so concerned with her fidelity. And she, before she has that liberating speech about how women can act just like men do, says "Who would not make her husband a cuckold to make him a monarch? I should venture purgatory for it." This seems to undercut the liberation, as she is saying she would cheat on Iago if it would prove profitable to Iago. And then no one seems more surprised than Emilia about what Iago has done. When she puts two and two together she repeats the question "My husband?" four times. She is literally in shock (granted, some of that shock is due to the fact that she had an unknowing hand in the scheme).

-----------------------------
Favorite Female Character:
Emilia
Favorite Male Character:
Iago

Laugh out loud:

"That's what she said!":
Iago Your daughter and the Moor are now making the beast with two backs.

How insulting:
Emilia I will be hanged if some eternal villain
Some busy and insinuating rogue
Some cogging, cozening slave, to get some office
Have not devised this slander.

Shakey loves his meta:

Oh, misogyny:
Well, the word whore occurs 12 times, and the word strumpet 10 times.

Boys are silly:
Emilia 'Tis not a year or two shows us a man.
They are all but stomachs, and we all but food.
They eat us hungerly, and when they are full
They belch us.

Favorite Moment/Line:
Emilia But I do think it is their husbands’ faults
If wives do fall. Say that they slack their duties,
And pour our treasures into foreign laps,
Or else break out in peevish jealousies,
Throwing restraint upon us; or, say they strike us,
Or scant our former having in despite;
Why, we have galls, and though we have some grace,
Yet have we some revenge. Let husbands know
Their wives have sense like them; they see and smell,
And have their palates both for sweet and sour,
As husbands have. What is it that they do
When they change us for others? Is it sport?
I think it is; and doth affection breed it?
I think it doth; is ’t frailty that thus errs?
It is so too; and have not we affections,
Desires for sport, and frailty, as men have?
Then, let them use us well; else let them know,
The ills we do, their ills instruct us so.

24:38 Measure for Measure

Day 24 of 38:38
Measure for Measure

I've been waiting for this day since we started this project. I love this play. It's my favorite work in the canon. It would not be a stretch to say I'm obsessed with it. So there are a million different topics I could tackle in this blog posting, because I can talk forever about this play. I've performed scenes from the play in an education setting twice. I've performed scenes in a performance setting twice. I've done the play once. I hope to do it several more times. I read scholarly articles about it FOR FUN. I told you I was obsessed.

The topic I am choosing for this blog posting, since it does have relevance to Shakespeare's other works, is Shakespeare and his sources. Shakespeare's genius did not lie in coming up with stories. In nearly every play he wrote, the story was pre-existing, and often in multiple forms. But Shakespeare never just took the most common version of the story and presented it straight. He changed details, deleted characters, combined other plots, etc. And what Shakespeare chooses to keep and what he chooses to change is often a fascinating window into what he was trying to accomplish, particularly with Measure for Measure.

Shakespeare makes two major changes to the traditional story behind Measure for Measure. Two major, striking changes. But before we get into that, let's visit that traditional story. It's known as the story of the bad magistrate. There are many variations, but basically the story goes that there is a man who is awaiting execution due to a crime he committed (originally murder). A female relative of his (usually his wife, but sometimes his sister) pleads to the judge for mercy. The judge says he will free the man if she sleeps with him. The woman does, but the judge still has the man executed. The woman complains to the ruler of the land. The judge's punishment is two-fold: first he has to marry the woman, second, he is executed.

The first major change Shakespeare makes to this story is that Isabella does not sleep with Angelo. I'm pretty sure that in every other version of the story I've been able to read the woman gives up her honor in order to save the man's life. This is, we can all agree, a terrible choice to have to make, and Shakespeare heightens the stakes even more by making Isabella an almost nun (and therefore virgin). Unlike all the other heroines, Isabella says no and sticks to that.

Secondly, Shakespeare changes Angelo's punishment. It's pretty horrifying to imagine that a raped woman would then be forced to marry her attacker. In the versions of the story where he is immediately put to death, this is somewhat more bearable. But there are versions (Cinthio's novella Hecatommithi is one) where the woman, after being married to the corrupt magistrate, then pleads for mercy for him, and he is spared. This plot point seems absolutely ludicrous. Shakespeare changes the nature of this entirely by adding the character Mariana. Isabella says no, but someone still sleeps with Angelo. Angelo is still forced to marry the woman he slept with (but not the woman he wanted to rape), death is threatened, Angelo's wife begs for mercy, and Angelo is pardoned.

By making these changes, Shakespeare also ensures the play's ambiguity (the very characteristic for which I love it). If we had this play today, and Isabella slept with Angelo and then was forced to marry him, I doubt any one would produce it with anything but a dark ending. But Shakespeare's Measure for Measure is produced and interpreted with a wide variety of tones. Add to this the fact that the woman of the tale still is confronted with marriage. But here Isabella is asked by the Disguised Ruler, further complicating our response to this play. Isabella is not forced into marriage to the Bad Magistrate; instead she is forced into marriage with the Disguised Ruler; or is she? Her chosen state of virginity first comes under assault from Angelo, and then again at the end of the play, albeit in a very different way, from the Duke. How are we supposed to react to this? Every production of this play will have a different answer, which is exactly why I think Measure for Measure is so brilliant.

 -----------------------------
Favorite Female Character:
Isabella
Favorite Male Character:
Lucio

Laugh out loud:
Escalus What do you think of the trade, Pompey? Is it a lawful trade?
Pompey If the law would allow it, sir.

"That's what she said!":
Duke Know you this woman?
Lucio Carnally, she says.

How insulting:
Isabella O you beast!
O faithless coward! O dishonest wretch!

Shakey loves his meta:
Duke I love the people,
But do not like to stage me to their eyes:
Though it do well, I do not relish well
Their loud applause and Aves vehement

Oh, misogyny:
Duke So then it seems your most offenceful act
Was mutually committed?
Juliet Mutually.
Duke Then was your sin of heavier kind than his.

Boys are silly:
Isabella Women? Help heaven! Men their creation mar
In profiting by them.

Favorite Moment/Line:
Be absolute for death; either death or life
Shall thereby be the sweeter. Reason thus with life:
If I do lose thee, I do lose a thing
That none but fools would keep: a breath thou art,
Servile to all the skyey influences,
That dost this habitation, where thou keep’st,
Hourly afflict. Merely, thou art death’s fool;
For him thou labour’st by thy flight to shun,
And yet run’st toward him still. Thou art not noble:
For all th’ accommodations that thou bear’st
Are nurs’d by baseness. Thou art by no means valiant;
For thou dost fear the soft and tender fork
Of a poor worm. Thy best of rest is sleep,
And that thou oft provok’st; yet grossly fear’st
Thy death, which is no more. Thou art not thyself;
For thou exist’st on many a thousand grains
That issue out of dust. Happy thou art not;
For what thou hast not, still thou striv’st to get,
And what thou hast, forget’st. Thou art not certain;
For thy complexion shifts to strange effects,
After the moon. If thou art rich, thou’rt poor;
For, like an ass whose back with ingots bows,
Thou bear’st thy heavy riches but a journey,
And death unloads thee. Friend hast thou none;
For thine own bowels, which do call thee sire,
The mere effusion of thy proper loins,
Do curse the gout, serpigo, and the rheum,
For ending thee no sooner. Thou hast nor youth nor age;
But, as it were, an after-dinner’s sleep,
Dreaming on both; for all thy blessed youth
Becomes as aged, and doth beg the alms
Of palsied eld; and when thou art old and rich,
Thou hast neither heat, affection, limb, nor beauty,
To make thy riches pleasant. What’s yet in this
That bears the name of life? Yet in this life
Lie hid moe thousand deaths: yet death we fear,
That makes these odds all even.

23:38 Troilus and Cressida

Day 23 of 38:38
Troilus and Cressida

This is the first time I've read the play, and I don't have time to read it again right now (have to move on to the next one!), so there are several aspects I found interesting, but I'm not sure I have full, coherent thoughts about them yet. There is something going on in this play with identity. People keep asking who someone is, or making jokes about who someone is, or comparing one person to another.

Shakespeare clearly states in the prologue of the play that is begins in media res. In the middle of already happening action. But he forgets to tell us it will end that way too. I mean, what kind of ending was that? They all fight, and the play ends. There is no final scene between Troilus and Cressida, he doesn't die in battle, she doesn't kill herself, etc. It felt very abrupt.

I had heard that this was not a very nice play, and that's true. It reminds me of Merchant of Venice in that respect. Everyone's quite mean. There are a lot of very mean lines.

Also this is one of the plays where the title doesn't seem to accurately describe the play. Even though Helen isn't a very large character, there is, of course, a lot of talking about her. I thought these two moments were very striking.

Troilus Helen must needs be fair,
When with your blood you daily paint her thus.

Paris You are too bitter to your countrywoman.
Diomedes She's bitter to her country. Hear me, Paris.
For every false drop in her bawdy veins
A Grecian's life hath sunk; for every scruple
Of her contaminated carrion weight
A Troyan hath been slain. Since she could speak,
She hath not given so many good words breath
As for her Greeks and Troyans suffered death.
-----------------------------
Favorite Female Character:
Cressida
Favorite Male Character:
not sure

Laugh out loud:

"That's what she said!":
Cressida My lord, come you again into my chamber.
You smile and mock me, as if I meant naughtily.

How insulting:
Thersites Thou green sarcenet flap for a sore eye, thou tassel of a prodigal's purse, thou!

Shakey loves his meta:
Prologue our play
Leaps o’er the vaunt and firstlings of those broils,
Beginning in the middle; starting thence away
To what may be digested in a play.

Oh, misogyny:
Troilus But I am weaker than a woman's tear...
Less valiant than the virgin in the night

Also

Patroclus A woman impudent and mannish grown
Is not more loathed than an effeminate man
In time of action.

Wow. That's mean.

Boys are silly:
Ulysses How one man eats into another's pride
While pride is feasting in his wantonness!

Favorite Moment/Line:
In Troy there lies the scene. From isles of Greece
The princes orgulous, their high blood chaf’d,
Have to the port of Athens sent their ships,
Fraught with the ministers and instruments
Of cruel war: sixty and nine, that wore
Their crownets regal, from the Athenian bay
Put forth toward Phrygia; and their vow is made
To ransack Troy, within whose strong immures
The ravish’d Helen, Menelaus’ queen,
With wanton Paris sleeps; and that’s the quarrel.
To Tenedos they come,
And the deep-drawing barks do there disgorge
Their war-like fraughtage: now on Dardan plains
The fresh and yet unbruised Greeks do pitch
Their brave pavilions: Priam’s six-gated city,
Dardan, and Tymbria, Ilias, Chetas, Trojan, 16
And Antenorides, with massy staples
And corresponsive and fulfilling bolts,
Sperr up the sons of Troy.
Now expectation, tickling skittish spirits,
On one and other side, Trojan and Greek,
Sets all on hazard. And hither am I come
A prologue arm’d, but not in confidence
Of author’s pen or actor’s voice, but suited
In like conditions as our argument,
To tell you, fair beholders, that our play
Leaps o’er the vaunt and firstlings of those broils,
Beginning in the middle; starting thence away
To what may be digested in a play.
Like or find fault; do as your pleasures are:
Now good or bad, ’tis but the chance of war.

22:38 Twelfth Night

Day 22 of 38:38
Twelfth Night

I just... I just can't get behind this play. I know it's beloved. I have very close friends that worship this play. But I just don't find it that delightful. Especially on the page. Watching drunkenness is more entertaining than reading it, so I felt like I was slogging through this play a lot. Compared to Shakespeare's other heroines I find Viola to be a bit of a wet mop. The exposition is rather unpolished. "Oh, I've heard of the Duke. Isn't he a bachelor?" "Yes, but he's in love with Olivia." "What's she like?" Ug.

But I do think the kinkyness of the ending is fun. The second Orsino finds out Viola is a girl, it's on. Ha. Also "Give me thy hand / And let me see thee in thy woman's weeds."

---------------------------------
Favorite Female Character:
None of the three really stand out to me.
Favorite Male Character:
Malvolio

Laugh out loud:
Feste Good madonna, why mournest thou?
Olivia Good fool, for my brother's death.
Feste I think his soul is in hell, madonna.
Olivia I know his soul is in heaven, fool.
Feste The more fool, madonna, to mourn for your brother's soul, being in heaven.

"That's what she said!":
Olivia Wilt thou go to bed, Malvolio?
Malvolio To bed? Ay, sweetheart, and I'll come to thee.

How insulting:
Olivia Ungracious wretch,
Fit for the mountains and the barbarous caves,
Where manners ne'er were preached...
Rudesby, be gone. (Just for you, Emily)

Shakey loves his meta:
Fabian If this were played upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction.

Oh, misogyny:
Orsino For women are as roses whose fair flower,
Being once displayed, doth fall that very hour.

Boys are silly:
Orsino For, boy, however we do praise ourselves,
Our fancies are more giddy and unfirm,
More longing, wavering, sooner lost and worn,
Than woman's are.

Favorite Moment/Line:
I like the song that ends the play.

When that I was and a little tiny boy,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain;
A foolish thing was but a toy,
For the rain it raineth every day.

But when I came to man’s estate,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain;
’Gainst knaves and thieves men shut their gates,
For the rain it raineth every day.

But when I came, alas! to wive,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain;
By swaggering could I never thrive,
For the rain it raineth every day.

But when I came unto my beds,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain;
With toss-pots still had drunken heads,
For the rain it raineth every day.

A great while ago the world begun,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain;
But that’s all one, our play is done,
And we’ll strive to please you every day.

21:38 Hamlet -- On Hold

I'm placing re-reading Hamlet on hold for now. Here's why: My plan was to use this opportunity to read the 1st Quarto Hamlet (also known as the "bad quarto) all the way through. I've read the "regular" Hamlet several times, see it multiple times, and prepared auditions for it. So I know the more recognized text quite well. So I'm planning to read the Q1 just to really see all the differences. But I'm not reading it right now, because in a week I'll be heading to Chicago to attend the annual conference of the Shakespeare Association of America. One of the pre-conference events is a reading of, you guessed it, the first quarto Hamlet! A reading that we get to PARTICIPATE in! I'm pretty excited. What are the chances they'll let me read Ophelia? (Not that I think she's an amazing part -- more on that later, but because I spent so much time prepping to audition for her, that I'd love the chance to sort of do it. I do know the songs... ;-) ) Though hey... maybe if they do the thing were the cast changes each act... maybe I will get to read a little of the melancholy Dane himself...
So I'll report back on that next week.