September 2010
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I sometimes think that I must be the world's number one fan of Shakespeare's Cymbeline, which I have just re-read twice during the past week. Here's a play that is seldom performed, infrequently read, rarely referenced, and omitted from most university courses on Shakespeare. Although it's generally grouped with the last plays or, as they
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It's an ancient commonplace — sleep is the image of death. In some versions, it's a preparation for death: God has provided us with sleep to get us ready for our inevitable end. "Somnus imago mortis" is all over Shakespeare: "sleep thou ape of death," "death-counterfeiting sleep," etc. My own personal sleep is so wracked
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Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor is a moderately successful play but not among Shakespeare's greatest hits. Nevertheless, there are two fragments of first-class witty dialogue that continue to tickle me even after all these years. The first is Falstaff's indignation at Parson Evans's Welsh-accented transformation of the words "cheese" and "butter." EVANS: Seese is
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There are many curious ideas and events in Shakespeare's Tempest. Here's a trivial one that both bothers and amuses me. For what reason does Prospero keep Caliban in his service and close to home even after he has tried to rape Miranda? Here's the puzzling explanation offered by the great magus himself: "We cannot miss
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Not only Shakespeare specialists, but lay readers and playgoers are puzzled by Caliban's mysterious "scamels." From the context, it's clear that scamels are an easily obtained food. Listen as Caliban lists some of the items he can gather from his island's prodigious storehouse: I prithee let me bring thee where crabs grow; And I with my
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Regular readers of Dr. Metablog know that the good doctor has been flat on his back for a couple of months. However, I'm glad to say, the crisis has passed and I'm upright once again. While lying there I had an opportunity to think about old times. I began to recall some things that my father used