JD Salinger, author of Catcher in the Rye, has died.  He was 91. When a celebrity dies (be they famous for movies, television or even literature!), I go poking around to see if there’s any Shakespeare connection to make.  Other than a funny non-starter on WikiAnswers looking for a comparison between Hamlet and Holden Caufield, I found a larger story about Salinger’s position on copyrighting of specific characters… http://blogs.geniocity.com/friedman/2009/06/doesnt-art-require-the-use-of-symbols-that-resonate-with-the-culture-jd-salinger-and-his-ownership-of-holden-caulfield-compared-to-shakespeare-and-his-theft-of-king-lear/ (Big link!) The gist of the story is that if you can claim ownership of a character like JD Salinger attempts to do with Caufield, then Shakespeare would never have been able to write King Lear.  The article does an admirable job of tracing back the “ownership” of all Shakespeare’s ideas in that play, at least as far as characters are concerned. I wonder if this is perhaps making a mountain of a molehill.  Isn’t this what we have public domain for, and the whole “past the life of the author” thing?  If you create a character, and you are still alive to speak for that character, then aren’t you allowed to determine who uses that character?  Am I missing something?  Once the author has died, and time has passed (presumably allowing his estate to continue to receive benefit from his work?), then you can use his creation as you will. The Shakespeare case is not really comparable, what with Lear being based on a “semi-legendary” figure.  I think that multiple interpretations of a fairy tale are of a different nature than taking the specific creation of one author and trying to appropriate it for yourself.

Something I’d never noticed before.

“I would give you some violets, but they withered all when my father died…”   – one of Ophelia’s last lines

But then:

Lay her i’ the earth:
And from her fair and unpolluted flesh
May violets spring! – Laertes over the grave of Ophelia

That’s actually the only two references to violets in the play (although that’s not terribly surprising, there’s not many references to any flowers). I’m sure that violets have some special significance, I’m just putting it into my “pretend these are real people” way of thinking.  You were there to hear your sister’s last words, so at her funeral so turn them into something more positive and hopeful?  I’m not sure I’d call it a “pun”, as the excerpt below does:

The violet’s scent, said Hamlet, was "Sweet, not lasting, the perfume and suppliance of a minute, no more" and reinforced the flower’s traditional association with an early death. This tradition arose because the violet blooms early in spring and fades before summer and autumn arrive. This symbolism also explains why Laertes alludes to the violet and puns on "spring" in his speech over Ophelia’s grave…

When you think of Ophelia, chances are you picture Ophelia in Olivier’s Hamlet.  I think it was one of my commenters who originally said “It takes years to get that version out of your head.”  I had no idea that she’d won an Academy Award for Best Support Actress for that. Jean Simmons, Olivier’s Ophelia, has died of lung cancer at the age of 80.  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/24/movies/24simmons.html The article is a fascinating one, painting the long life of an outstanding actress.  She was surrounded by greatness, playing multiple times opposite both Laurence Olivier and Marlon Brando. Who knew that Howard Hughes kept her from starring in Roman Holiday? 

Those who knew her said she was generous, modest and unassuming. According to Mr. Granger, Ms. Simmons called Audrey Hepburn after she saw her in “Roman Holiday” — in a role Ms. Simmons might have had — to say, “I wanted to hate you, but I have to tell you I wouldn’t have been half as good.”

From her fair and unpolluted flesh may violets spring, a ministering angel shall she be.  May flights of angels sing her to her reset.

http://www.examiner.com/x-11641-Shakespeare-Examiner~y2010m1d26-F-Murray-Abraham-goes-fist-to-fist-with-robber-at-Much-Ado-About-Nothing When I saw a headline about F. Murray Abraham tussling with a robber in Much Ado About Nothing I assumed it’d be some sort of cute turn of phrase about one of the other actors on stage.  Nope, turns out it was a real robber that he caught going through purses in the dressing rooms, and apparently they went at it.  Police are looking for “a man with a hole in his face the size of Abraham’s fist.”  (That’s an actual quote from the article). Turns out, by the way, that the Oscar-winning actor was actually just in the audience watching, he wasn’t even part of the performance!

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/01/26/bawdy-bard.html Romeo and Juliet is too much for Nashville.  At least it’s too much for Nashville high school students, according to their parents.  They came to town, and out came the censors. Apparently they recognized the word “maidenhead” in the first scene, because they wanted that gone.  Oh, you can still thrust them up against the wall, and pull his naked weapon out, that pretty piece of flesh – apparently nobody figured out what that means. Falling under the same “I recognize that word!” magnifying glass is also Mercutio’s hand upon the very prick of noon.  Nope, right out.  Makes me wonder if Sleeping Beauty is allowed to prick her thumb on the spinning wheel?  Does this mean that Macbeth is out, too?  By what would something wicked this way come?? Romeo and Juliet is all sex and violence.  You can’t begin to censor half of it. UPDATE: Be sure to read the lengthy rebuttal from Will O’Hare, Education Director for the Classical Theatre Project.  Apparently there’s more to the story than meets the eye, and any audience disapproval that may have existed seems to be centered squarely on some interesting choices by the actors, rather than on the specific source material.  I appreciate Will stopping by to set the record straight!