A new reader wants to talk about Joan of Arc’s portrayal in Henry VI.  Specifically, she (I am guessing she from a Twitter image) feels that Shakespeare “insulted Joan, obviously” and that “he disgraced himself.”

For reference see also this recent comment in the “Why Do You Hate Shakespeare?” thread, which I must assume (though have not proven) comes from the same person:

I really, really hate him.
I was very shocked when read [Henry 6 part 1]. She wasn’t a witch, a whore, an immoral girl, and a femme fatale! T.T How could the hack insulted her? stupid!

Truthfully I have no opinion on the subject, at all, having only the most passing knowledge of this particular play.  But I promised that I would put it out there for discussion.  Any of my history buffs want to jump in with why exactly Shakespeare might have painted Ms. D’Arc in such a negative light, relative to the playwright’s own religion / location / time period?

So yesterday I’m looking at one of my books (an old Arden edition of The Tempest), and a thought comes to mind that often prevents me from posting stuff.  It goes a little something like this:  “If I flip through that and learn something, and I post it, then most of the people who read that are going to say, ‘Yup. Knew that. Now we can discuss our opinions on the relative value of that information and what it might mean to a bigger picture.'”  In other words, I tend to think that when *I* learn something, everybody else already knew that thing, and I’m just catching up.  I convince myself that if you study Shakespeare at all, then you basically “know” everything there is to know, and spend the rest of your time discussing what it means, if that makes sense.

Hence my question.  When’s the last time you actually *learned* a *fact* about Shakespeare or his works?  Not new interpretations or angles for looking at a scene.  I mean things like, “Until just now I didn’t really realize that Hamlet’s final O groans are in the Folio text.  I thought they were in the bad quarto.”  (This is a true example.)

Convince me that you all haven’t memorized every spelling and punctuation choice made in every version of every play.  When’s the last time you got to do have that moment that I clearly have regularly where you get to learn a new thing?

[ Or maybe, NaShaWriMo? ]

I’ve asked on Twitter, I’ve asked on Facebook (* so if you’ve answered there no need to answer again :)) so now I’m asking here for people that only read the blog:

What’s your favorite sonnet?  The catch : you can’t answer 18, 29, 116 or 130. 

Everybody and their mother has been inundated with those particular sonnets over the years.  What I’m looking for is the next group, the ones that the Shakespeare geeks love that, with a little more exposure, we can get the rest of the world to acknowledge.

So, hit me.  Other than those famous four, what’s your favorite sonnet, and why?  To make the results the most objective, try to come up with your answer before you look at the comments, otherwise you’ll never be able to tell if your vote was swayed.

Ok, I’ve been busy.  But Bardfilm’s been doing double duty, manning both his own blog as well as queuing up the quirky stuff for my return.  May I happily present you the Return of Theme Song Shakespeare?

All (but Him) in the Family

My name is Brabantio.
Where’d my Desdemona go?
She eloped with O-thell-o.
This is that play.
I’ll allow no buts or ifs—
Nor those crazy handkerchiefs.
Senate, we could use a man
Like Cassius as Ensign.
But Othello sure was great—
Did some service to the state—
Now he’s certain of his fate:
This is that play.

(For those youngsters that need a hint, click …….. here. )