"The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose."
- The Merchant of Venice, Act I, Scene III
Not bad for a man who never went to college.
Showing posts with label Shakespeare. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shakespeare. Show all posts
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Saturday, December 19, 2009
The Scottish Play
Ember Saturday of Advent
An old theatrical superstition has it that saying "Macbeth" inside a theater will cause disaster, so thespians have taken to calling Shakespeare's drama by that name "The Scottish Play."
The Scottish usurper in the production is perhaps the original cause: he toys with witches and their goddess Hecate, and they're all of the sort to lay hexes and predict gloomy fates.
The weird sisters have their own take in the matter -- after all, it's as the title character approaches that one intones:
By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes.
- Macbeth, Act IV, scene i
Thus, as the witches would have it, the author of the play's regicide is the wicked thing.
Macbeth and the Witches
(Henry Fuseli, painter)
Macbeth would have done better to remain small and good as a battlefield hero rather than go for the big and bad ambition that inclined him to reason that failure was worse than murder.
Stage actors who slip and utter the forbidden name can be forgiven by recourse to another superstition, which involves exiting the theater and reciting this line:
Angels and ministers of grace defend us.
- Hamlet, Act I scene iv
It's a worthwhile prayer for all of us.
An old theatrical superstition has it that saying "Macbeth" inside a theater will cause disaster, so thespians have taken to calling Shakespeare's drama by that name "The Scottish Play."
The Scottish usurper in the production is perhaps the original cause: he toys with witches and their goddess Hecate, and they're all of the sort to lay hexes and predict gloomy fates.
The weird sisters have their own take in the matter -- after all, it's as the title character approaches that one intones:
By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes.
- Macbeth, Act IV, scene i
Thus, as the witches would have it, the author of the play's regicide is the wicked thing.
Macbeth and the Witches(Henry Fuseli, painter)
Macbeth would have done better to remain small and good as a battlefield hero rather than go for the big and bad ambition that inclined him to reason that failure was worse than murder.
Stage actors who slip and utter the forbidden name can be forgiven by recourse to another superstition, which involves exiting the theater and reciting this line:
Angels and ministers of grace defend us.
- Hamlet, Act I scene iv
It's a worthwhile prayer for all of us.
Friday, November 7, 2008
Shakespeare Scholar
I was this close to going straight into graduate school after attaining my AB in English.* The cause for the change, of course, was that I married (such a diversion has happened to better men than myself; I have no regrets).
Had I gone into the graduate program that was my first love, it would have been to pursue Shakespeare studies. Though I was reckless enough to try to pull it off, I did have at least enough sense to ask the advice of a trusted professor.
"There are too many Shakespeare scholars already," I said.
"Yes, but there are not too many good Shakespeare scholars," Professor Stewart replied.
She was a marvelous professor.
King Lear with Ophelia the truth-speaker was and remains my favorite play by the Bard; MacBeth is a close second. I came upon Hal and Falstaff afterwards; years later I had a youngster I was tutoring learn and recite the St. Crispin's Day speech from Henry V.
A few years back I got into an argument with a military history buff who claimed that the Dark Lady of Shakespeare's sonnets was a historical personage and not a mere literary construct (which is the interpretation I'd been taught). The chap left in a huff at my recalcitrance; after his hors de combat I declared victory, which was a relief to the on-lookers who were still awake because it marked the cessation of the conflict. I'll take my victories where I can get them.
* Several years later I did get an MS in Tech Writing.
Had I gone into the graduate program that was my first love, it would have been to pursue Shakespeare studies. Though I was reckless enough to try to pull it off, I did have at least enough sense to ask the advice of a trusted professor.
"There are too many Shakespeare scholars already," I said.
"Yes, but there are not too many good Shakespeare scholars," Professor Stewart replied.
She was a marvelous professor.
King Lear with Ophelia the truth-speaker was and remains my favorite play by the Bard; MacBeth is a close second. I came upon Hal and Falstaff afterwards; years later I had a youngster I was tutoring learn and recite the St. Crispin's Day speech from Henry V.
A few years back I got into an argument with a military history buff who claimed that the Dark Lady of Shakespeare's sonnets was a historical personage and not a mere literary construct (which is the interpretation I'd been taught). The chap left in a huff at my recalcitrance; after his hors de combat I declared victory, which was a relief to the on-lookers who were still awake because it marked the cessation of the conflict. I'll take my victories where I can get them.
* Several years later I did get an MS in Tech Writing.
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