Uncle Bill Shakespeare...Alive and Well!
- Thread starter Meanderer
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Meanderer
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Shakespeare on Eclipses
"In 1598, during Shakespeare’s lifetime, England experienced a total solar eclipse, with the path of totality tracking from Cornwall in the southwest up to Aberdeen in Scotland."
The physical darkness of an eclipse as a metaphor for psychological darkness:
“My wife, my wife! What wife? I have no wife.
O insupportable! O heavy hour!
Methinks it should be now a huge eclipse
Of sun and moon, and that th’ affrighted globe
Should yawn at alteration.”
—Othello in Othello (5.2.121)
"In 1598, during Shakespeare’s lifetime, England experienced a total solar eclipse, with the path of totality tracking from Cornwall in the southwest up to Aberdeen in Scotland."
The physical darkness of an eclipse as a metaphor for psychological darkness:
“My wife, my wife! What wife? I have no wife.
O insupportable! O heavy hour!
Methinks it should be now a huge eclipse
Of sun and moon, and that th’ affrighted globe
Should yawn at alteration.”
—Othello in Othello (5.2.121)
Meanderer
Seemly Member
A Shakespearean Study Guide for The Northman
Saxo and Shakespeare, Masculine Fantasies, and Racist Fictions in Robert Eggers’s New Blockbuster
"The Northman isn’t an adaptation of Hamlet."
"The film is an adaptation of one of Shakespeare’s sources, a story told in the medieval historian Saxo Grammaticus’s History of the Danes. The Northman overleaps Hamlet. It’s a 'Not Shakespeare' adaptation, to borrow the title of Christy Desmet, Natalie Loper, and Jim Casey’s recent book."
"Yet people today usually only know of Saxo because of Shakespeare. The Northman exploits the same Shakespearean text it avoids: the filmmakers are what Valerie Fazel and Louise Geddes call 'Shakespeare users'."
"Scholarly knowledge of Saxo, Shakespeare, Hamlet, and Shakespearean adaptation can clarify The Northman. And debates surrounding The Northman—such as the appropriation of Viking culture in modern white supremacist movements—can be read back into Saxo and Shakespeare."
"The five sections that follow address the history of Hamlet adaptation, the idea of “the north” in pre-modern Europe, the tradition of violent masculine vengeance, the feminist reading needed to recover authentic representation of women in this myth, and the white supremacist underpinnings of the film." (READ MORE)
Saxo and Shakespeare, Masculine Fantasies, and Racist Fictions in Robert Eggers’s New Blockbuster
"The Northman isn’t an adaptation of Hamlet."
"The film is an adaptation of one of Shakespeare’s sources, a story told in the medieval historian Saxo Grammaticus’s History of the Danes. The Northman overleaps Hamlet. It’s a 'Not Shakespeare' adaptation, to borrow the title of Christy Desmet, Natalie Loper, and Jim Casey’s recent book."
"Yet people today usually only know of Saxo because of Shakespeare. The Northman exploits the same Shakespearean text it avoids: the filmmakers are what Valerie Fazel and Louise Geddes call 'Shakespeare users'."
"Scholarly knowledge of Saxo, Shakespeare, Hamlet, and Shakespearean adaptation can clarify The Northman. And debates surrounding The Northman—such as the appropriation of Viking culture in modern white supremacist movements—can be read back into Saxo and Shakespeare."
"The five sections that follow address the history of Hamlet adaptation, the idea of “the north” in pre-modern Europe, the tradition of violent masculine vengeance, the feminist reading needed to recover authentic representation of women in this myth, and the white supremacist underpinnings of the film." (READ MORE)
Meanderer
Seemly Member
The Elephant In The Room: Ajax
elephant, noun.
1. b. fig. of a man of huge stature.
1609 Shakespeare Troilus and Cressida ii. iii. 2 Shall the Elephant Ajax carry it thus?
"The elephant; noble, beautiful, and calm, gracefully shuffling forwards on four tree-stump legs that crush anything that may so unfortunately find itself beneath them—bugs, small mammals, human toes. It’s a fate that can’t be avoided because, as we know, elephants can’t bend their knees."
"The elephant hath joints, but none for courtesy:
his legs are legs for necessity, not for flexure."
(2. 3. 98-99)
"That’s what we would have thought, had we lived in the 16th or 17th century. That’s what you may still think if you see an image of an elephant (pictured below, to refresh your memory), with column-like legs that don’t seem to move like ours. Have you ever seen an elephant cross their legs? The elephant’s hilariously inflexible legs coupled with its large stature proves to be an excellent insult to those around you who may not be the smallest and most delicate of companions."
"Shakespeare chose Ajax as his target – the dimwitted yet strong Greek commander of Troilus and Cressida. Taken straight out of Homer’s Iliad, where Ajax is described as having a large frame and being the strongest of the Achaeans, Shakespeare’s characterization is not necessarily wrong, although it isn’t the most humanizing."
elephant, noun.
1. b. fig. of a man of huge stature.
1609 Shakespeare Troilus and Cressida ii. iii. 2 Shall the Elephant Ajax carry it thus?
"The elephant; noble, beautiful, and calm, gracefully shuffling forwards on four tree-stump legs that crush anything that may so unfortunately find itself beneath them—bugs, small mammals, human toes. It’s a fate that can’t be avoided because, as we know, elephants can’t bend their knees."
"The elephant hath joints, but none for courtesy:
his legs are legs for necessity, not for flexure."
(2. 3. 98-99)
"That’s what we would have thought, had we lived in the 16th or 17th century. That’s what you may still think if you see an image of an elephant (pictured below, to refresh your memory), with column-like legs that don’t seem to move like ours. Have you ever seen an elephant cross their legs? The elephant’s hilariously inflexible legs coupled with its large stature proves to be an excellent insult to those around you who may not be the smallest and most delicate of companions."
"Shakespeare chose Ajax as his target – the dimwitted yet strong Greek commander of Troilus and Cressida. Taken straight out of Homer’s Iliad, where Ajax is described as having a large frame and being the strongest of the Achaeans, Shakespeare’s characterization is not necessarily wrong, although it isn’t the most humanizing."
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Meanderer
Seemly Member
Johnny Cash's Shakespeare.....
"Among the Folger’s smallest treasures are the wee books of the James L. Harner Collection of Miniature Books Pertaining to Shakespeare. The smallest book in Harner’s collection is a 14 millimeter printing of act IV, scene 1 of The Merchant of Venice. The collection also includes this miniature set of Shakespeare’s plays that belonged to country singer Johnny Cash."
The set came to the Harner collection from Cash’s assistant Peggy Knight, who worked for the Cash family for 33 years. On a certificate of authenticity, Knight wrote:
"This set of miniature books was owned by Johnny Cash for as long as I, Peggy Knight, can remember. I do not know where John originally came by the books but John had such a wide variety of interest in things that you never knew what he would come home with in their travels… John passed these on to me a few years before he passed away. John & June were very giving people and often gave staff members personal mementos and items through the years."
"Among the Folger’s smallest treasures are the wee books of the James L. Harner Collection of Miniature Books Pertaining to Shakespeare. The smallest book in Harner’s collection is a 14 millimeter printing of act IV, scene 1 of The Merchant of Venice. The collection also includes this miniature set of Shakespeare’s plays that belonged to country singer Johnny Cash."
The set came to the Harner collection from Cash’s assistant Peggy Knight, who worked for the Cash family for 33 years. On a certificate of authenticity, Knight wrote:
"This set of miniature books was owned by Johnny Cash for as long as I, Peggy Knight, can remember. I do not know where John originally came by the books but John had such a wide variety of interest in things that you never knew what he would come home with in their travels… John passed these on to me a few years before he passed away. John & June were very giving people and often gave staff members personal mementos and items through the years."
Meanderer
Seemly Member
"As an excavator of "lost history," Michael Henry Dunn is recognized as an authority on the sizzling controversy over the authorship of the Shakespeare plays and poems. His one-man show, "Sherlock Holmes and The Shakespeare Mystery" has been performed to standing ovations throughout the U.S., and in Europe. Previously available only in a brief excerpt, now the previously unseen historic debut performance, filmed at India Hall in Hollywood, California, can be enjoyed in full."
Sherlock Holmes and The Shakespeare Mystery
Sherlock Holmes and The Shakespeare Mystery
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Meanderer
Seemly Member
How does Artificial Intelligence compare with William Shakespeare?
"AI, or not AI......that is the question"?
"How does Artificial Intelligence compare with William Shakespeare? Let me count the ways by first asking the AIs themselves."
“ChatGPT, a powerful language model developed by OpenAI, represents a remarkable feat of artificial intelligence,” the chatbot immediately boasted about itself. “While it possesses the ability to generate coherent and contextually relevant text,” it continued in the slightly repetitive third person, “comparing it to the literary genius of Shakespeare is a considerable stretch” — a conclusion that reveals ChatGPT’s admirable talent for understatement.
Then I went to the appealingly named Bard, the AI that Google fast-tracked as a response to ChatGPT’s dominance in the zeitgeist. “Artificial Intelligence (AI) and William Shakespeare are two very different things,” Bard explained helpfully before concluding, “AI is a tool that can be used for a variety of purposes, while Shakespeare was a human being who created some of the most famous works of literature in the English language.”
(READ MORE)
"AI, or not AI......that is the question"?
"How does Artificial Intelligence compare with William Shakespeare? Let me count the ways by first asking the AIs themselves."
“ChatGPT, a powerful language model developed by OpenAI, represents a remarkable feat of artificial intelligence,” the chatbot immediately boasted about itself. “While it possesses the ability to generate coherent and contextually relevant text,” it continued in the slightly repetitive third person, “comparing it to the literary genius of Shakespeare is a considerable stretch” — a conclusion that reveals ChatGPT’s admirable talent for understatement.
Then I went to the appealingly named Bard, the AI that Google fast-tracked as a response to ChatGPT’s dominance in the zeitgeist. “Artificial Intelligence (AI) and William Shakespeare are two very different things,” Bard explained helpfully before concluding, “AI is a tool that can be used for a variety of purposes, while Shakespeare was a human being who created some of the most famous works of literature in the English language.”
(READ MORE)
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Meanderer
Seemly Member
GLOUCESTER: Richard III | Act 2, Scene 1
"By false intelligence, or wrong surmise,
Hold me a foe;
If I unwittingly, or in my rage,
Have aught committed that is hardly borne
By any in this presence, I desire
To reconcile me to his friendly peace:
'Tis death to me to be at enmity;
I hate it, and desire all good men's love."
"By false intelligence, or wrong surmise,
Hold me a foe;
If I unwittingly, or in my rage,
Have aught committed that is hardly borne
By any in this presence, I desire
To reconcile me to his friendly peace:
'Tis death to me to be at enmity;
I hate it, and desire all good men's love."
Meanderer
Seemly Member
This drive to use technology to make the works of Shakespeare even more accessible......
"All The World's a Stage!" (2016)
"At the moment the dominant technology causing most excitement in the technology sector is virtual reality (VR) – and the universal nature of Shakespeare’s works provide the perfect base for these new immersive experiences. Convrgency, an experimental VR lab formed by Harvard Students, recently translated Macbeth, into an immersive version."
"The team refashioned the play to be centred on a 360 degree camera that serves as the viewer’s perspective, bringing them closer to events. In certain moments the characters even address the audience directly, peering into the camera as if to make eye-to-eye contact with them."
"Google Cultural Institute has also worked with the RSC to create an impressive 360-degree version of Henry V's famous battle speech. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream Oberon tasks Puck with finding a rare herb with magical love-inducing properties…"
“I’ll put a girdle round about the earth in forty minutes”
"Puck replies that he will search across the span of the globe in a little over half an hour; although what would have sounded like total fantasy to audiences in Tudor England, in our high speed connected world, it now feels woefully slow."
"All The World's a Stage!" (2016)
"At the moment the dominant technology causing most excitement in the technology sector is virtual reality (VR) – and the universal nature of Shakespeare’s works provide the perfect base for these new immersive experiences. Convrgency, an experimental VR lab formed by Harvard Students, recently translated Macbeth, into an immersive version."
"The team refashioned the play to be centred on a 360 degree camera that serves as the viewer’s perspective, bringing them closer to events. In certain moments the characters even address the audience directly, peering into the camera as if to make eye-to-eye contact with them."
"Google Cultural Institute has also worked with the RSC to create an impressive 360-degree version of Henry V's famous battle speech. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream Oberon tasks Puck with finding a rare herb with magical love-inducing properties…"
“I’ll put a girdle round about the earth in forty minutes”
"Puck replies that he will search across the span of the globe in a little over half an hour; although what would have sounded like total fantasy to audiences in Tudor England, in our high speed connected world, it now feels woefully slow."
Meanderer
Seemly Member
Ian McKellen on life after falling off London stage: 'I don’t go out'
"The renowned Shakespearean theater performer explained that while portraying Sir John Falstaff on stage, his foot got caught on a chair. He tried to "shake it off" but ended up sliding across the newspapers strewn across the stage "like I was on a skateboard."
"The more I tried to get rid of it, the faster I proceeded down a step, onto the forestage, and then on to the lap of someone in the front row," McKellen explained. "I started screaming, 'Help me!' and then 'I’m sorry! I don’t do this!' Extraordinary things. I thought it was the end of something. It was very upsetting. I didn’t lose consciousness (and) I hadn’t been dizzy."
"McKellen also revealed his injuries could have been much worse: "I was wearing a fat suit for Falstaff and that saved my ribs and other joints. So I’ve had a lucky escape, really."
READ MORE
"The renowned Shakespearean theater performer explained that while portraying Sir John Falstaff on stage, his foot got caught on a chair. He tried to "shake it off" but ended up sliding across the newspapers strewn across the stage "like I was on a skateboard."
"The more I tried to get rid of it, the faster I proceeded down a step, onto the forestage, and then on to the lap of someone in the front row," McKellen explained. "I started screaming, 'Help me!' and then 'I’m sorry! I don’t do this!' Extraordinary things. I thought it was the end of something. It was very upsetting. I didn’t lose consciousness (and) I hadn’t been dizzy."
"McKellen also revealed his injuries could have been much worse: "I was wearing a fat suit for Falstaff and that saved my ribs and other joints. So I’ve had a lucky escape, really."
READ MORE
Meanderer
Seemly Member
"The Green-Eyed Monster is used by Shakespeare to represent Jealousy. It also so serves to establish a connection between the color green and jealousy as seen in this quote; "O, beware, my lord, of Jealousy! It is the green-eyed monster," (3.3.195-196). Iago used the monster to access Othello's insecurities and bring his downfall."
RadishRose
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