Measure for Measure feels the most unique out of all of the Shakespeare plays I have read so far, although I’m not sure I can quite put my finger on why. Perhaps because of the role religion plays in it? Perhaps because it feels like a tragedy until the end when no deaths have occurred? Perhaps because it brings “problematic” to…
Do you have any particular thoughts on Olivia’s character from Twelfth Night?
The way I see Olivia is mostly as a device rather than a character, to be honest. She does not have the same depth as Viola, for example (although it is kind of fair to compare them). She is not there to move the story forward. Her presence (passively) allows the story to move forward, but she exists largely in…
The Two Noble Kinsmen, and Tips for Reading Shakespeare
So…this is going to be a bit of a different post. I decided to listen to an audiobook of Two Noble Kinsmen. I have listened to a number of audiobooks before with varying degrees of success, but I thought this would be fine and that I would be able to catch at least the gist of the play. That’s not…
Henry VIII and Benefit of Hindsight
Extra short post today, because I don’t have much to say about this play. Henry VIII. The last of the Bard’s histories. (Both in terms of when it was written, and in the chronology of the histories themselves.) If I were to rank the Bard’s plays, this would rank very near the bottom, but that’s not what I want to…
Richard III
Perhaps this is unimaginative and obvious, but I can never help but think of Richard III and Macbeth as…well, kind of the same play. In the best way. Both have villains/anti-heroes/terrible men that drive the action and are our protagonists of the story. This can give us a rather uncomfortable experience, as we are made to feel complicit in their…
A Winter’s Tale: Love and Forgiveness
As you know if you have been reading this blog, there a few plays from the Bard that have let me feeling less than satisfied. However, A Winter’s Tale (similar to Timon of Athens) proved to be an absolutely delightful surprise. This was one of those that I really didn’t know anything about going into it. Scratch that. I knew…
Henry VI and All His Parts
For the purposes of this blog, and since I am quickly running out of time to complete my blogging challenge, I have decided to cover Henry VI Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 in one blog post. None of these quite live up to most of the other histories (except King John and Henry VIII; they form the less impressive half of…
All’s Well That Ends Well…except it’s not so well
I’m just going to say it: All’s Well That Ends Well is problematic as all…well, you fill in the blank. The plays that are famously problematic (Taming of the Shrew with gender, Merchant of Venice with anti-semitism, etc.) have remarkable redeeming qualities, and are much more than just the one aspect for which they are controversial. This play, much lesser known, does not…
King Lear
For me, King Lear is one of those plays that I love and admire, even though I am convinced that 90% of it has gone over my head. But I mean that in a very good way. It’s not particularly difficult to understand or anything, but there is simply so much there! It is astounding. The first thing that must be said about…
Henry V
I really, really love most of Shakespeare’s histories. I think they have some of his most interesting characters and ask some of the most interesting questions. Henry V is no exception. To me, this play has a lot to say about the role of government, particularly the role of our leaders. (Now that I am starting to write about this, it…