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It's not just Shakespeare, but all the great poets too. Having to dissect their their work is painful for a teacher, never mind the pupils. A few years ago I asked some of my students to write a poem in any format they wanted about any topic they wanted without giving too much thought. We then dissected them line by line and found load of 'interpretations', poetic techniques etc etc, that the original 'poet' hadn't even considered or realised they were including.
Saw Othello at the Royal Opera House yesterday. Blimey jealousy lies deceit back stabbing it has the whole lot. Othello best mate tricks him into believing his wife is cheating on him. Othello kills his wife Desdemona on the strength of his mates word ….finds out he was lying and then kills himself. A dark tale!
Ever since my English teacher took me and a few others to see Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet way, way back in the day, I've loved the Bard. Mind you, Olivia Hussey helped a bit too.
Zeffirelli's version Romeo and Juliet is a good place to start to introduce youngsters to Shakespeare, although like most Shakespeare adaptations it still has its dull moments.
In my opinion the positives of Zeffirelli's version are: 1) It captures the spirit of the original 2) It keeps the original language 3) It has a great cast 4) It has stood the test of time
Zeffirelli's version Romeo and Juliet is a good place to start to introduce youngsters to Shakespeare, although like most Shakespeare adaptations it still has its dull moments.
In my opinion the positives of Zeffirelli's version are: 1) It captures the spirit of the original 2) It keeps the original language 3) It has a great cast 4) It has stood the test of time
I hated Shakespeare at school but had a damascus moment in my 20's and absolutely love it now, not that bothered who actually wrote the plays, they are an incredible body of works, Somebody above mentione "De Vere" as a possible author, there is a fantastic film based on this called "anonymous" which i think should have won the best film Oscar but didnt.
I was made to study a lot of Shakespeare at school but the one play which really intrigued and entertained me was "Richard III". A lot of action, skullduggery and dark humour. I saw it performed at the National Theatre around 1980 and it was gripping stuff.
"Things had started becoming increasingly desperate at Loftus Road but QPR have been handed a massive lifeline and the place has absolutely erupted. it's carnage. It's bedlam. It's 1-1."
I was made to study a lot of Shakespeare at school but the one play which really intrigued and entertained me was "Richard III". A lot of action, skullduggery and dark humour. I saw it performed at the National Theatre around 1980 and it was gripping stuff.
Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this sun of York...
Shakespeare remains a genius of the craft - I don't buy most of the theories about his 'true' identity, although I'd be surprised if there weren't several jobbing and even well-known writers involved in the process, much like it is today with top artists who employ a team of unknowns to help create their work. Indeed, many of the top writers today often employ ghost writers to complete their books.
Hamlet's and Macbeth's soliloquys remain absolute pinnacles in literature of insight into the human condition. They have never been bettered. I hope you don't mind if I quote them here.
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day To the last syllable of recorded time, And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more: it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.
Macbeth's desperate, bitter world weariness speaks to anyone who has suffered, who has despaired...
Hamlet's existential angst is similarly profoundly evocative and insightful...
To be, or not to be: that is the question: Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep; No more; and by a sleep to say we end The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to, ’tis a consummation Devoutly to be wish’d. To die, to sleep; To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub; For in that sleep of death what dreams may come When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause: there’s the respect That makes calamity of so long life; For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, The oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely, The pangs of despised love, the law’s delay, The insolence of office and the spurns That patient merit of the unworthy takes, When he himself might his quietus make With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear, To grunt and sweat under a weary life, But that the dread of something after death, The undiscover’d country from whose bourn No traveller returns, puzzles the will And makes us rather bear those ills we have Than fly to others that we know not of? Thus conscience does make cowards of us all; And thus the native hue of resolution
I mean, come on, this is just incredible writing! Shakespeare blows me away.
It didn't surprise me when they discovered he employed mind-altering substances to aid his thinking....
It's amazing how many sayings people use in everyday life that are in fact from Shakespeare - wild goose chase, melt into thin air, break the ice, foregone conclusion etc.
When my son was told, by his Englush teacher, that they were going to read a play by Shakespeare, he corrected said teacher, saying "it's a script It's not a play until it is performed". I don't know if teacher called him a smartarse.
"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the Earth all one's lifetime." (Mark Twain)
Find me on twitter @derbyhoop and now on Bluesky
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