This article is almost certainly exactly what it says it is : Shakespeare words you didn’t know. Not words you didn’t know Shakespeare invented, or cliches that came from Shakespeare that have changed over the years (I’m looking at you, glister/glisten).
Nope, this is words that you almost certainly never saw before. That is, unless you’ve played one of these parts or, you know, study this stuff for a living.
How about Gongarian? Or maybe crants, or tranect?
I’m sure I’ve skimmed over all of them (crants is apparently in Hamlet) and never really thought much about it. But I’ve certainly never heard of any of the ones listed. Your mileage may vary (hence, “almost exactly what it says”, since I’m sure a number of you have in fact seen at least some of these words).
Category: Uncategorized
Most of the posts in this category are simply leftovers from a previous era before the site had categories. Over time I plan to reduce that number to zero and remove this category. Until then, here they are. I had to put something in the box.
Like Shakespeare
Something occurred to me this weekend, while mowing the lawn.
How come when a movie actor wants to portray his project as having quality, he’ll say that it’s like Shakespeare (I’m thinking of the Spiderman reboot, although there are other examples)… but if you went up to the average moviegoer and said “Hey, you want to go see a Shakespeare movie?” most of them would look at you like you were crazy? It’s as if “like Shakespeare” means “very good”, but “actual Shakespeare” means “I won’t like it.”
My theory is that it has to do with our own lack of confidence in ourselves. We’ve all been taught that Shakespeare is the pinnacle of literature. The best of the best. So to compare yourself to such a high standard inherently puts you up there near it, at least. And that’s pretty good.
But, at the same time, we also think that Shakespeare is therefore out of our own reach. That it is too difficult for us to understand. We fear that we will not be able to appreciate it, to discuss it and offer our opinions afterward. So pre-emptively we decide that just wouldn’t like it to begin with.
That makes me sad. People want “like Shakespeare”. But they’re afraid of actual Shakespeare, because they don’t think they can handle it. I wonder how to bridge that gap?
Macbeth : A Love Story
This article is little more than the announcement of a particular show, but I like the way they spun it. This particular interpretation will focus on the Macbeths as one of Shakespeare’s great romantic couples.
“Our director Iam Coulter kept telling us she wanted Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to light up every room when they walk in. They’re dynamic, they’re sexual and they’re very much in love,” says Konchak.
What do you think? I know we’ve discussed Shakespeare’s best couples in the past, but sometimes it’s fun to revisit topics for the new geeks.
Are the Macbeths an example of a wonderful couple, or are they incredibly dysfunctional?
Welcome Guest Blogger : KJ from Bardfilm!
If you hang out at all on Twitter and follow the Shakespeare crowd, you’ve no doubt seen Bardfim‘s hysterical lists with names like #ShakespeareanWWEWrestlers (“The Big Show-within-a-Show”!), #ShakespeareInBed (If it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well it were done quickly….in bed!”), and many others that have long since scrolled out of my ability to search them.
“Why don’t you gather those all together into list-posts so that people can find them later?” I asked. Long story short, we struck upon an idea – he posts them here!
Starting today (shortly, as a matter of fact) you’ll see Bardfilm’s lists showing up here on Shakespeare Geek, and I think the content will be a worthy addition to everybody’s experience. If you’re not already following his blog, go do so. He deserves the traffic. If you’ve ever spotted a Shakespeare reference on film, KJ’s either already talked about it, or wants to hear about it.
Thanks, KJ!
Without further ado, let’s get to the fresh content…
The chains of habit are generally too small to be felt until they are too strong to be broken.
Alternate / Original : The diminutive chains of habit are seldom heavy enough to be felt till they are too strong to be broken.
Saw this one go by on Twitter this morning, and it didn’t feel right. Seems too much like advice, and not the sort of Polonial (ha, I just made that up!) advice like “To thine own self be true,” where it’s directed from one character to another. As a general rule, most of what you’ll find in Shakespeare’s body of work is something that someone said, aloud, to someone else. (True there are soliloquies, and then there’s the sonnets and long poems, but the bulk of the canon is made up of conversation). So ask yourself whether it sounds like something that would have come up in normal conversation.
Turns out, in this case, it’s not. However it’s closer to Shakespeare than you might think.
This quote comes from our old friend Samuel Johnson, sometime in the late 1700’s. Though I cannot find an exact reference to Dr. Johnson’s work, others were quoting him as early as the 1880’s.
In case you missed the Shakespeare connection, you need to go here.