Month: June 2011

I’ve avoided this week’s “Shakespeare may have smoked pot” story because, frankly, it doesn’t interest me all that much. Not only is it not very new (link to a story from Nov 2000 – about the same guy, even), but it’s being reported horribly. Once you wade through all the ridiculous articles ranging from “Dude, Shakespeare smoked bowls??” to “Of course Shakespeare smoked pot, haven’t you ever seen Midsummer Night’s Dream?” it seems that everybody’s reporting the story as “Dig him up to see if he smoked pot.”
The problem is, they’re not digging him up.

If given the go-ahead, Prof Thackeray will use scanning equipment to create a 3D image of the bard.

Prof Thackeray said: ‘We are confident that we could complete our work without moving a single bone.’

I suppose the only interesting question to me is, what if they did conclusively find evidence that Shakespeare was smoking something while he wrote? Would that change your opinion of him at all? Just as importantly, how do you think it would change the world’s opinion? Do you think there’s any possible way that people would suddenly begin to dismiss him because of that? Or, from the opposite angle, would that be the single greatest vote in favor of marijuana legalization in the history of the drug?
I guess there are interesting questions after all. 🙂

Haley Steinfeld’s Juliet now has her Romeo – and his name is Douglas Booth. Looks like a Romeo. Got a bit of a young Leo DiCaprio thing going on. I don’t recognize any of his other credits.
For some reason, the article’s description of Romeo amused me:

“…the coveted role of Romeo, an accomplished swordsman and adept lover…”

Really? I never really thought about Romeo’s swordsmanship, and just always figured that his victory over Tybalt could just as easily have been a lucky shot, given the circumstances (a vengeance-crazed Romeo against a mostly-all-talk Tybalt?). Calling him an accomplished swordsman sounds more like a description of the Hamlet/Laertes duel to see who was better.
And “adept lover”? That makes him sound like something of a Don Juan character with a lot of notches on his belt, doesn’t it?
Who writes this stuff? And who felt obliged to add that kind of color to the story, as if people didn’t already know it? Doesn’t the whole “fall in love despite the bitter rivalry between their two families” thing pretty much sum it up for most of the planet?

Saw the headline and immediately assumed they’d go straight for Malvolio’s “C’s, U’s and T’s” joke. But no! They go for the F bombs.

Actually, I never really thought of it. We all know that Shakespeare could be filthy when he wanted to, but how often did he go for the F word? The examples that they give in the article (“what is the focative case? I’ll firk him!”) had never really stood out to me.

Earlier this year I had the opportunity to review Wayne Myers’ The Book of Twelfth Night, or What You Will: Musings on Shakespeare’s Most Wonderful (and Erotic) Play [review can be found here]. Since it spends so much time describing famous productions of the play, I suggested that it needed some pictures.

Well, Wayne happens to be a follower of the blog, heard and agreed with my comments, and I’m happy to report that the latest edition addresses this very issue! I’m looking at a brand new copy with over a dozen pages of Twelfth Night images. Very cool!

I’m also happy to announce that the author has generously donated some copies for us to give away! And, since we’ve just launched Shakespeare Answers, this seemed like a golden opportunity to cross promote.

Rules

1) Create an account on Shakespeare Answers, if you do not already have one.

2) Answer this question. This is so that people interested in entering the contest can all be counted in one place. If you don’t know the answer, wait a moment, someone else is bound to (even if the author needs to give a little help…) Repeat answers are allowed, you don’t have to be the first one. This is just a place to check in.

3) Contribute to the site in at least three (3) additional ways. This could include asking a question, answering one, or commenting on someone else’s question or answer. The more you interact with the site, the higher your reputation/karma score gets. (Higher scores will not increase your chance of winning).

4) The subject does not have to be Twelfth Night – but if you *do* have a question about Shakespeare’s “most wonderful (and erotic) play”, then the author himself may be the one to answer it!

5) Contest ends on midnight Friday, June 24.

6) Three (3) names will be chosen at random from eligible entries received. Winners will receive a copy of the latest edition of Wayne Myers’ book. (As always, we must be able to notify you if you win, so please use a real email address when you create your Answers account, as this is what I’ll be using to contact you.)

Any questions?

Hi gang,
This topic has come up, in general, over the years. This time, though, I’ve got a specific twist in mind. Susan uses The Shakespeare Stealer to introduce her 6th graders to Shakespeare – in 7th and 8th grade her kids work on an actual Shakespeare play (last year Henry V, this year The Tempest).
So, here’s Susan’s question : We’ve done Shakespeare Stealer 5 years in a row now. Do you know any other good fiction novels, appropriate for middle school, that would serve as a good introduction to Shakespeare? If it ties in to The Tempest, bonus!
(It dawns on me that I should pick this book up for my kids. I don’t know why I haven’t yet.)