It just so happens that my daughter, who is in first grade, is in the “1B” class.  You can almost see it coming, can’t you? While cleaning the counter I happened to flip over a “pinch pot(*)” she had made in school.  Carved in the bottom were her initials, and what turned out to be 1B.  “1B?” I asked. “1B,” she said.  “That’s my class number.” “1B.” “Yes, 1B.’” “2B?” “No, 1B.” “Not 2B?” “1B, Daddy!” “2B or not 2B, that is the question, whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune or take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them.  To sleep perchance to dream aye there’s the rub for in that sleep what dreams may come when we have shuffled off this mortal coil…”(**) “….let me guess, that was Shakespeare, wasn’t it.” I’m getting predictable.   (*) I think in the old days we would have called it an ashtray. (**) I realize that’s not an accurate quote, I was bluffing.  She’s not at the point yet where she’s going to correct my delivery.  Although maybe one day :).

Sorry I’m so late, but I did want to think everybody for playing my Christmas Carol Contest.  The question was, can you spot the fairly obvious Shakespeare reference “right smack in the middle” of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol? Apologies to those who I misled with “middle”, I did not expect you take me literally.  The reference I was looking for is only about 4 paragraphs in: The mention of Marley’s funeral brings me back to the point I started from. There is no doubt that Marley was dead. This must be distinctly understood, or nothing wonderful can come of the story I am going to relate. If we were not perfectly convinced that Hamlet’s Father died before the play began, there would be nothing more remarkable in his taking a stroll at night, in an easterly wind, upon his own ramparts, than there would be in any other middle-aged gentleman rashly turning out after dark in a breezy spot — say Saint Paul’s Churchyard for instance — literally to astonish his son’s weak mind. As I mentioned previously, this paragraph is almost always snipped from productions, so don’t feel bad if it’s completely foreign to you.  It is, however, on page 1 of the text :).  Bonus points to reader Deb for finding a Measure for Measure reference (“a vain man in his little brief authority”), and Carl for digging up a Twelfth Night connection when Scrooge goes visiting with the ghost of Christmas present.   Winners have been notified, and copies of Manga Macbeth and Manga Julius Caesar will be going out in the mail this week! Thanks again for playing, and hopefully 2009 will bring lots of new PR reps who like to send me free books that I can give away.

Had to share this email I just got from regular contributor Carl Atkins (with his permission): I have been noodling around with some research on Twelfth Night and came across this remark by H. H. Furness (in the preface to his New Variorum edition from 1901), which I just loved. I thought you might get a kick out of it: "If the use of the adverb ‘probably,’ in connection with all statements regarding Shakespeare, were legally forbidden on pain of death without the benefit of clergy, I think the world would be the happier, certainly the wiser." I like that little bit about "without the benefit of clergy." From the days when a fate worse than death was dying without the benefit of clergy! He then throws in this kicker at the end, which made me laugh out loud:  Note that the passage of this law would have reduced Stephen Greenblatt’s "Will in the World" to about 2 pages. :)  Thanks Carl!

Where is everybody?  The response for my Christmas Carol Contest has been less than overwhelming. To recap : In celebration of Charles Dickens’ timely ghost story A Christmas Carol, I’m giving away two of Shakespeare’s own ghost stories – Manga Macbeth and Manga Julius Caesar.  To get in on the action, just email me and tell me the Shakespeare reference in Dickens’ original that from what I can tell most of the movie/tv/audio versions seem to snip out for some reason. Contest ends at end of day on Christmas Eve.  For hopefully obvious reasons y’all will understand if I don’t get around to announcing the winners until after the holiday, however.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/37976/the-simpsons-quoting-shakespeare?c=Animation-and-Cartoons I had not seen this one.  Who knew that the ability to quote Shakespeare might save your family from a bomb-wielding maniac? 🙂