Saw this as a Google search term in my logs today, thought it was interesting. Not exactly two words I tend to put together, empathy and Tybalt. Am I missing something? Is he not the classic example of everything that is wrong with this sort of situation? The whole “We hate each other and nobody can seem to remember why….but I don’t really care, I don’t need a reason” type of character? Maybe there’s something to this. Let’s look where we see him: Jumping into a fight in the very first scene. Not, like Benvolio, trying to stop it. Heck, Tybalt doesn’t know how it started or who started it, he just sees swords drawn and wants in on the action. Later he’s willing to ruin Capulet’s party by starting a fight in the middle of it. Maybe, *maybe* we can start to side with him here a little if you truly believe that he’s defending his family honor, that he believes Romeo is there to ruin the fun. We know it’s not the case, but part of empathy is being able to see things through other people’s eyes. Next up, he challenges Romeo to a duel. This is just logical behavior for him, as predictable as Laertes coming after Claudius to avenge Polonius’ death. In Tybalt’s world, if you are dishonored, you challenge the person to a duel. Primitive by today’s standards? Sure. But he’s not acting by today’s standards. Here’s where it gets interesting, because of Romeo’s reaction to the challenge. Tybalt doesn’t know it, but Romeo is now his family (having secretly married Juliet). So Romeo showers him with love like a brother. What’s going through Tybalt’s head? Obviously he thinks he’s being mocked. Here he is trying to do the right and honorable thing to do, reclaiming his honor (although much like the bad guy in Karate Kid II (Ralph Macchio Goes To Japan) he never seems to realize that he is the one costing them their honor, not restoring it). Had Mercutio not been in the picture, things might have turned out differently. Tybalt might have declared Romeo a lunatic and refused to battle. Instead – Mercutio drew first. Don’t forget that. Mercutio did not defend Romeo from harm. It was Mercutio who basically attacked Tybalt unprovoked (we can do “empathy for Mercutio” later). Well, we all know what happens next, Tybalt gets in the lucky (cheap?) shot, Mercutio dies. How’s that play out for Tybalt, though? Does anybody think Tybalt was actually trying to kill him? Or was it an accident? It was a dirty blow, no doubt about it, but that doesn’t mean it was supposed to be a killing one.

I think here’s it’s strictly up to interpretation. Back in the Zeffirelli version it was played out more like “kids taking things too far” – but in the Luhrman version with Jon Leguizamo, Tybalt *is* physically beating Romeo, and Mercutio’s rescue is much different. They really are trying to kill each other:
What do you think?

http://geek.shakespearezone.com/?p=1769 As You Like It, for kids – with stuffed animal puppets.  Sounds like the kind of thing I’d rush to, if it wasn’t in Toronto.  But, hey, maybe some of my readers are in the neighborhood. [If anybody knows of local performance like this, variations on Shakespeare for kids, please let me know. I’m happy to spread the word.  I can’t post every announcement about every adult traditional Shakespeare show, but I do like to help popularize the kid versions.]

http://current.com/items/90169852_convicts-use-shakespearean-dialect-to-smuggle-cawbe-fool-shades.htm This story’s about a week old and reasonably silly, but it was not until I re-heard it on NPR that I caught the Shakespeare hook.  Whether it’s true or not, the story goes that criminals behind bars in England have resurrected centuries old slang as a sort of modern code, using words like “cawbe” for cocaine and “inick” for cell phone. Depending on which story you read the slang is either Elizabethan or “more than 500 years old” (are those the same thing? how long did that woman reign??), and may or may not have actually appeared in Shakespeare’s text. What I think is quite silly is the quote about this being “the most ingenious secret code we have ever come across.”  For starters, you’ve already cracked it, haven’t you?  I mean, I’m hearing about it on NPR Wait Wait, Don’t Tell Me.  How good could it have been?  I’d think that the most ingenious ones are, in fact, the ones you don’t know anything about yet 🙂

Here’s a question that’s maybe better for the philosophy blogs, but I heard this phrase – “in praise of melancholy” – the other day, and it made me think of King Lear. Now, nobody will say King Lear is a happy play.  Words thrown around tend to be more like “gutwrenching” and “agonizing”.  It is also heralded widely as one of greatest pieces of literature in the English language. Nobody sees King Lear and comes out of it saying “Well, that was fun.”  But here’s my question – does it make you happy?  Do you, at some deep level, feel better about…things?  I’m not talking about the entertainment of seeing a good production.  I’m talking about watching the story of King Lear play out on the stage as if you were watching the lives of real people. I’m trying to think of the best way to explain it.  I think it’s similar to when people say they enjoy a good cry, or enjoy scaring themselves near to death.  There is value in expanding the range of how you experience life – both the highs and the lows.  Another analogy that comes to mind is going to the gym and waking up the next morning in pain.  The pain is really only at one level, and though it certainly hurts, your brain is able to go a level beyond and say, “Yes, but that’s good for me, I’m happy that I got the workout because it will ultimately improve my quality of life.” Know what I’m talking about?  Who can say it better than I’m doing here?

http://pixton.com/comics/tagged-with/shakespeare After learning about a high school group that won an award for their work with creating a comic The Tempest I decided to check out Pixton, the comic creator.  I’m quite pleased with all the Shakespeare I found. True, it’s not like most of these will be winning awards anytime soon.  But that’s not really the point.  If there are classrooms out there where the project is to create a comic book out of a Shakespeare play, and that helps the kids actually follow along with character and plot, I’m all for it.  I guess I’d just hope that if all you’re aiming for is character and plot that elementary school kids could do this.  If you’re talking about high school kids then I’d like a little bit more understanding than just “Brutus kills Caesar because that’s what it says he does.”