Shakespeare
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We all remember, and we're all still shocked and amazed that the late, unlamentable Jerry Falwell proclaimed that the 9/11 attacks on the US were caused by "the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays, and the lesbians." How to understand either the logic or the brain of such a thinker? We…
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Plutarch makes much of Antonius' "hardness in adversity notwithstanding his fine bringing up." Shakespeare knew these words very well; in fact, his copy of Plutarch was open to this exact sentence when he mended his quill and began to compose the famous speech in Anthony and Cleopatra that begins "Anthony, leave thy lascivious wassails." Here…
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In Anthony and Cleopatra, Caesar, who is disciplined and ascetic, both envies and scorns Anthony. In one of the play's greatest moments, Caesar apostrophizes his hedonistic, indulgent rival. "Anthony," he begins, "Leave thy lascivious wassails." "Lascivious wassails" is a most marvelous phrase — not only because of its serpentine hissing, but because it is so colorful. In another context, the word "wassails" might…
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In The Second Part of King Henry the Fourth, the Hostess (also known as Nell or Mistress Quickly) regularly makes fritters of the English language. At one point in the play, she is beside herself — apoplectic, in fact — because she believes that she has been abused by Falstaff. Reaching for words to equal…
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In The Second Part of King Henry the Fourth, it is reported that Falstaff once boldly compared the King to a "singing man of Windsor" — and was assaulted for doing so. Who, then, is this controversial "singing man?" The evidence that might solve this mystery is buried in the dark backward and abysm of time.…
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In The Merchant of Venice, as it appears in one up-to-date modern edition, Portia's husband-to-be Bassanio is attended by a pair of friends named Solanio and Salerio. Yet In another equally authoritative edition of the play, the friends are named Solanio and Salerino — and moreover, in this edition, a third and apparently separate character named…
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In the middle of The Merchant of Venice, right out of the blue, without warning, the audience is suddenly told that Launcelot the clown has gotten a "Negro" pregnant. Who is this 'Negro'? Why haven't we heard of her before? Why does Shakespeare introduce her into his play? And why, having invented her, does he precipitously drop her? A…
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In one modern edition of Shakespeare's The First Part of King Henry the Fourth, Falstaff, in a fit of exuberant swearing, describes Hal as an "eel-skin." But in another edition, the word is "elfskin." What's going on? Only one of these curious words can be "correct." Paunchy Falstaff attacks Prince Hal with a string of half-comic, half-offensive epithets: "you…
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Shakespeare’s audiences were notoriously raucous. Folks entered and left during performances, commented loudly on the action and the actors, and ate oranges and hazelnuts during performances. (When the Rose Theater was excavated in 1994, its floor was found to be paved with crushed hazelnut litter.) The Rose, the Globe, and the Fortune were noisy, busy,…
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A few nights ago, I attended a performance by our local treasure, the ever-glorious Takacs Quartet. Without asking my leave, they chose to play works by Aarvo Part and Philip Glass. I suppose that there must be virtues to "minimalist" music, but a single motif played over and over again in the same tempo, with…