Month: September 2005

For the most part when I talk about Shakespeare, I’m preaching to the choir. Odds are that the people who are coming by this blog are already fans of Shakespeare and all we can ever really hope for is an exchange of ideas / interpretations about the plays.

What I’m curious about, though, is the Shakespeare “haters”. Seems like it’s really a love/hate thing with the man. I don’t find many people that just have no opinion. I’m curious why people don’t like him, because I want to see if I can change that. Was it too hard to learn the plays in school? Did you start too early and not have the life experience? Was it all about the language? Couldn’t connect with the characters?

I’m honestly curious. I’m hoping somebody drops in and sheds some light. I think you’re missing out.

Tag: shakespeare

Nick Saban, new head coach of the NFL Miami Dolphins, quotes William Shakespeare as a source of motivation and inspiration. Unfortunately the article doesn’t mention any specific quotes! That’s no fun. The article actually says “In the days leading up to his first game…” he quotes Shakespeare (among others), so I went back a few weeks looking for what he may have said, but nobody seemed to write about it :).

Still interesting, though, that it gets a mention now. I’ll be watching closer to see if he busts out any Shakespeare during a press conference. But if it’s St. Crispin’s Day, I’m going home. That’s too cliche.

🙂

Now this is neat. Ed Stoppard, son of Tom Stoppard, will play Hamlet in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, written by his dad.

The interview’s a good length, and Ed covers his thoughts on what R&G did to Hamlet as a play (by giving us a behind the scenes and essentially making fun of the poor melancholy Dane), lines that were cut from Shakespeare in Love (also by dad Tom), how he got his name, and “Mick Jagger and David Bowie coming around for tea.”

The band Weezer has fans concerned that they’re calling it quits after leaving a particular Shakespeare quote in the liner notes of their last CD. The quote is Prospero’s, from the Tempest, and will be familiar to fans of the play:

“This rough magic / I here abjure, and, when I have required / Some heavenly music, which even now I do / To work mine end upon their senses that / This airy charm is for, I’ll break my staff / Bury it certain fathoms in the Earth / And deeper than did ever plummet sound / I’ll drown my book.”

The Tempest is often referred to as Shakespeare’s final work (although evidence suggests that he at least co-wrote three more plays after this one). But this speech in particular is usually considered to be his personal farewell.

Weezer won’t say if that’s what they meant, other than “…I thought it’s a really nice way to say goodbye, if it is a goodbye.”

Is it possible that a rape trial inspired Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure? The article tells the story of Christopher Beeston, fellow Elizabethan actor who was accused of rape in 1602. Both men were members of the Lord Chamberlain’s men during the 1590’s, though Beeston changed over to the Earl of Worcester’s men in 1602.

The “evidence” seems to be little more than a similarity to Lucio (who admits to making a prostitute pregnant) and Angelo (who threatens to rape someone). To say it inspired the whole play might be a bit of a stretch, but it does appear to be a good example of the sort of thing that was going around in the daily news and gossip of Shakespeare’s time and how easily he would have snuck it into his own work.