I found this and just had to share. If Abbott and Costello were Shakespearean actors, this is what it would sound like.
And because I am currently reading King Lear and watching Slings & Arrows season 3:
"When all has been said and all have been slain
It’s good to take a walk in the rain
For several hours
Helps to have a howl in the rain
Without your clothes on
Nice to take a walk in the rain"
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Shakespearean Sonnets about Shakespeare
I used to write a lot of Shakespearean sonnets in high school. I really enjoy the structure of the format, for me it is the challenge of trying to say what I want, but in such a way the it fits the rhyme scheme and the meter. Then I found it fun, and sort of metaphysical, to write Shakespearean sonnets with the text of Shakespeare's plays as the basis.
Macbeth's Lament
O Dagger that I see before my face,
Let fall the blade and pierce my guilty soul
I was not happy with my lowly place,
Instead the kingship was my lofty goal.
The witches gave ambition hope to try,
Yet planted they suspicion in my mind.
"Macbeth thou shalt be king hereafter, aye,
But Banquo's sons the crown in turn shall find"
It drove me mad, the guilt and the mistrust,
I ordered my best friend, Banquo, be killed.
But now I beg my swords to gather rust,
That no more blood on my poor hands be spilled.
And thus it was that pride did damn my soul
To hell, but raised my head upon a pole.
Macbeth's Lament
O Dagger that I see before my face,
Let fall the blade and pierce my guilty soul
I was not happy with my lowly place,
Instead the kingship was my lofty goal.
The witches gave ambition hope to try,
Yet planted they suspicion in my mind.
"Macbeth thou shalt be king hereafter, aye,
But Banquo's sons the crown in turn shall find"
It drove me mad, the guilt and the mistrust,
I ordered my best friend, Banquo, be killed.
But now I beg my swords to gather rust,
That no more blood on my poor hands be spilled.
And thus it was that pride did damn my soul
To hell, but raised my head upon a pole.
Monday, February 7, 2011
King Lear / König Lear
Once again I am reading this play in both English and German, but this time it's a little easier. I have a copy of this play that has the original English text on the left side of the page and a German translation (from Raimund Borgmeier, Barbara Puschmann-Nalenz, Bernd Santesson, and Dieter Wessels). This makes it easier to go back and forth and see just how the German text compares to the English.
The first thing I noticed is that the German translation abandoned the poetic structure of the English text, not even attempting to have a meter or a rhyme. This is most evident in Lear's opening speech, which looks organized and separated by lines on the left hand of my book, but is a big, long paragraph of text on the right.
The other thing I noticed is the many footnotes in my German text. Most of these, especially in the opening scene with Gloucester and Kent, explain the wordplay and puns which do not translate well, as anybody who has tried to tell a joke in a foreign language knows. One of my favorite German jokes makes absolutely no sense in English.
The first thing I noticed is that the German translation abandoned the poetic structure of the English text, not even attempting to have a meter or a rhyme. This is most evident in Lear's opening speech, which looks organized and separated by lines on the left hand of my book, but is a big, long paragraph of text on the right.
The other thing I noticed is the many footnotes in my German text. Most of these, especially in the opening scene with Gloucester and Kent, explain the wordplay and puns which do not translate well, as anybody who has tried to tell a joke in a foreign language knows. One of my favorite German jokes makes absolutely no sense in English.
Zwei Jäger treffen sich im Wald. Beide sind tot.
The joke here is in the double meaning of 'sich treffen' which can mean either to meet or to hit (as in with ammunition). Thus the joke is that two hunters meet or hit each other in the forest. Both are dead. As I said, it doesn't work well in English, but there you go.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Taming of the Shrew and Shakespeare's Comedies
In class we discussed the traditional elements of Shakespearean comedies. As we talked about these I tried to associate each one with Taming of the Shrew. I found that most of them fit, but I had a hard time finding a few of these elements in the play. Let's go through each one, shall we?
Standard elements of Shakespearean comedies:
Standard elements of Shakespearean comedies:
Friday, February 4, 2011
New thoughts to Taming of the Shrew and Gender Roles
I just finished reading the play, and though I rather enjoyed it, laughing at the wordplays and the puns, I find myself rethinking what I thought about how Katherina is treated by Petruchio.
Until this latest reading of the play, my strongest connection to it was acting in a production in high school. The actress that we had playing Kate played her very well, in my opinion, but mostly it seemed like she was humoring Petruchio the entire time. Especially in Act 4 Scene 5, when they are travelling and Petruchio calls the sun the moon and gets Kate to agree that it is the moon, only to ridicule her for her mistake. In our production of this scene, the actress playing Kate said the lines as they appear in the script:
That is how I have always read this play, as Kate simply playing along with Petruchio and his madness, because she got tired of fighting him and suffering the consequences. Which I guess means that Petruchio did indeed tame her. But even as she recited the last speech, there was still a little hint of defiance. And maybe it helped that our Petruchio (one of the nicest, kindest guys I have ever met) did not play the part as mean or as angry as he could have, from the text alone. I have never seen this play as oppressive to women, but this latest reading I was struck by just how blatant the spousal abuse really is.
I have tried to justify Petruchio's behaviour in light of his line, "This is a way to kill a wife with kindness",
Until this latest reading of the play, my strongest connection to it was acting in a production in high school. The actress that we had playing Kate played her very well, in my opinion, but mostly it seemed like she was humoring Petruchio the entire time. Especially in Act 4 Scene 5, when they are travelling and Petruchio calls the sun the moon and gets Kate to agree that it is the moon, only to ridicule her for her mistake. In our production of this scene, the actress playing Kate said the lines as they appear in the script:
"Then, God be bless'd, it is the blessed sun; But sun it is not, when you say it is not; And the moon changes even as your mind. What you will have it nam'd, even that it is, And so it shall be so for Katherine."But as she said these lines there was overt sarcasm in her voice. And later, as she apologizes to Vincentio for calling him a woman, she glared at Petruchio, blaming him silently for making her look foolish.
That is how I have always read this play, as Kate simply playing along with Petruchio and his madness, because she got tired of fighting him and suffering the consequences. Which I guess means that Petruchio did indeed tame her. But even as she recited the last speech, there was still a little hint of defiance. And maybe it helped that our Petruchio (one of the nicest, kindest guys I have ever met) did not play the part as mean or as angry as he could have, from the text alone. I have never seen this play as oppressive to women, but this latest reading I was struck by just how blatant the spousal abuse really is.
I have tried to justify Petruchio's behaviour in light of his line, "This is a way to kill a wife with kindness",
Thursday, February 3, 2011
The Authorship question, thanks to Twitter
There was a fun thing going on yesterday on Twitter, the hashtag #askshakespeare being sponsored by Blogging Shakespeare. Some prominent Shakespeare scholars were answering questions about Shakespeare. This is fun, and I got involved as well, asking a few questions that I have been thinking about, and I got some great responses.
One of the biggest things that I have always had a problem with when people discuss Shakespeare is the Authorship question. For me, it doesn't really matter. I am very much of the school of thought that "the author is dead." Once an author has written the text, and released it to the public, his involvement with it is over. At that point, all meaning that can be found in the text must be found in the text. If an author makes a statement about anything, I usually ignore it, unless it can be found in the text. For example, J.K. Rowling has said that Dumbledore was gay. I'm sorry, but I find no textual evidence for that, so I do not believe it. If Ms. Rowling wanted Dumbledore to be gay, then she should have put something in the text that would lead to that.
So, with all of this in mind, and seeing that several people had asked about who really wrote Shakespeare, I asked, "#askshakespeare Does it really matter who wrote the text, if we can find deep themes and enjoyment in the plays themselves?"
One of the biggest things that I have always had a problem with when people discuss Shakespeare is the Authorship question. For me, it doesn't really matter. I am very much of the school of thought that "the author is dead." Once an author has written the text, and released it to the public, his involvement with it is over. At that point, all meaning that can be found in the text must be found in the text. If an author makes a statement about anything, I usually ignore it, unless it can be found in the text. For example, J.K. Rowling has said that Dumbledore was gay. I'm sorry, but I find no textual evidence for that, so I do not believe it. If Ms. Rowling wanted Dumbledore to be gay, then she should have put something in the text that would lead to that.
So, with all of this in mind, and seeing that several people had asked about who really wrote Shakespeare, I asked, "#askshakespeare Does it really matter who wrote the text, if we can find deep themes and enjoyment in the plays themselves?"
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Taming of the Shrew Act 1 / Erste Akt
I have read the first act of the play, including the induction. I really like the induction, and I'm sad that it's cut out of most productions as unnecessary. Partly this is because, when my high school did this I played the part of Christopher Sly, but mostly because I think it sheds light on one of the main themes of the play: Identity and how people act when they are treated a certain way.
Sly is a drunkard found asleep in the streets, and a passing Lord decides to have some fun and dress him up and pretend that he's noble. The servants take him and dress him and serve him as if he were a Lord, until Christopher Sly believes he is a lord. The line is "Would not the beggar then forget himself?", "Würde der Bettler nicht sein selbst vergessen?" and the servant says, "he shall think by our true diligence he is no less than what we say he is." "er soll es glauben daß er nichts anders ist, als wir ihn nennen".
I see the same theme played out in the play, with Katherina. She is a shrew and as others keep calling her a shrew she continues to be a shrew. But when Petruchio treats her like a lady, like a respectable wife, she begins to believe that she can be that. For me, the play is not about "taming" a woman, making her subservient. but allowing her to be something more than others allow her to be. It's the medieval version of Johnny Lingo -- he calls her an 8-cow wife so she begins to believe that she is worth 8 cows. More on this as I continue to read the play and find lines that speak to this point.
Sly is a drunkard found asleep in the streets, and a passing Lord decides to have some fun and dress him up and pretend that he's noble. The servants take him and dress him and serve him as if he were a Lord, until Christopher Sly believes he is a lord. The line is "Would not the beggar then forget himself?", "Würde der Bettler nicht sein selbst vergessen?" and the servant says, "he shall think by our true diligence he is no less than what we say he is." "er soll es glauben daß er nichts anders ist, als wir ihn nennen".
I see the same theme played out in the play, with Katherina. She is a shrew and as others keep calling her a shrew she continues to be a shrew. But when Petruchio treats her like a lady, like a respectable wife, she begins to believe that she can be that. For me, the play is not about "taming" a woman, making her subservient. but allowing her to be something more than others allow her to be. It's the medieval version of Johnny Lingo -- he calls her an 8-cow wife so she begins to believe that she is worth 8 cows. More on this as I continue to read the play and find lines that speak to this point.
 |
| Kate and Petruchio in the Polynesian islands? |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)