Month: April 2007

So I just did famous last words.  It’s only appropriate (I wonder if this person saw the same post I did?) then to look at cases where the last words of a figure weren’t exactly something to write home about.  Last lines that, in the author’s opinion, end up making the character sound like a tool. http://pntl.muzzy.org/?p=403 I think he cheaps out with the Pyramus reference, since that wasn’t a real character death.  But I agree with Paris, he was a bit flowery for me, even when dying.  

If there’s one thing you can say about Shakespearean tragic heroes, it’s that they certainly get to say what’s on their mind before they kick it.  Wikiquote, offshoot of Wikipedia, actually has a whole page dedicated to Shakespearean last words.  The most obvious ones (Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, etc…) are in there, but also Titus, Richard II, King John, and a number of others.  I’m not really sure if there’s a system to figuring out just how much context to put on “last words”.  After all, somebody recently told me that a NY Times crossword clue recently was Romeo’s last words and the answer they wanted ended up being just the last four letters (I won’t spoil it if you’re looking for the answer – that’s on the Romeo page). This is about as poetic as his last word being “Arrrghhhh.” (Thanks to Monty Python for that joke.)

If you’re into lists of Shakespeare quotes, don’t leave without checking out the Top 5 Best Things To Say Before Killing Somebody.

There’s a meme going around (mostly LiveJournal) that says “When you see a Shakespeare quote, post one of your own.”  I’m not in the mood to play that, since I can quote Shakespeare whenever I want :).  But I thought it would be fun to see what people are quoting.  So I blog searched for “shakespeare meme” and “quote shakespeare” over the last few days and tallied the results.  Guess who wins? Quoted Once :  Julius Caesar, Othello, As You Like It, Comedy of Errors, Venus and Adonis, Richard II.  I’m a little disappointed that Julius Caesar didn’t get more love.  But can I just say bravo to whoever threw Comedy of Errors in there?  Nobody thinks to quote that one :).  Although you would have gotten even more points for Pericles, Prince of Tyre. Quoted Twice : The Tempest, Taming of the Shrew, Romeo and Juliet, Twelth Night, King Lear, Macbeth.  I think that if I kept looking I would have found more for all of these, they seemed like logical choices and very quotable. Quoted Three Times : Any of the Sonnets.  I suppose this is misleading since there are lots of sonnets to choose from, but most people probably never even thought that the sonnets counted.  I’d have to go back and look but I’m pretty sure none of the three quotes I found was “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day”, either.  That’s good. Runners Up, Quoted Four Times : Hamlet,  Henry V, Midsummer Night’s Dream.  And the Winner, Quoted Seven Times : Much Ado About Nothing  So does that mean that the dialogue between Beatrice and Benedick is the most popular stuff Shakespeare ever wrote?  Is it a coincidence that Kenneth Brannagh has made popular movies of three out of the top four quoted plays?  

First it was Prospero, and now Ariel is getting the animated treatment.  I had to contact Ted Lange at Thrice Fresh to see what he’s up to.  If he’s doing The Tempest as a graphic novel, I want to get in line.Here’s the email I got back in response (I hope he doesn’t mind me publishing it):As far as the project I’m working on, it’s a graphic novel that re-intreprets characters from classical mythology. Along the way a few characters from The Tempest got thrown into the mix. Prospero and his familiars are so cool that I had to incorporate them into my story. It’d be great to get feedback from the Shakespeare folks that regularly hit up your blog. I’m a big fan of Shakespeare but I’m not an expert in any way. I just sort of pick out the elements that resonate with me and  run with them. I’m looking forward to his Caliban.