Saturday, December 8th. The Weekend Edition of William Shakespeare's Thought For The Day.

[Aristus]

"Let's meet as little as we can."

As You Like It", Act III, Scene 2, Line 253.

[fizzgig]

1. excellent as always

happy weekend, friend

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. Yes indeed, my dear Aristus!

Well played, indeed, well played!

I am glad he is no longer part of the national scene.

[Lady Freedom Returns]

3. two thumbs up!

[femmocrat]

4. LOL Great one, Aristus!

I'm glad he has faded into whatever private hell he now inhabits.

[Denninmi]

5. When speaking of Mittens:

Thersites:
I will see you hang'd like clatpoles ere I come any more to
your tents. I will keep where there is wit stirring, and leave the
faction of fools.

Patroclus:
A good riddance.

Troilus and Cressida, Act 2, scene 1

(Brought to you courtesy of Google)

[silentwarrior]

6. Whose tongue sore er speaks false

Not truly speaks, who speaks not true lies.


An evil soul producing holy witness
is like a villain with a smiling cheek
A goodly apple rotten at the heart
O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath!

[Denninmi]

7. I should know better than try to play this game.

My experience with the topic was limited to reading 2 or 3 plays in school.

You got me!

[silentwarrior]

8. so was mine

[Aristus]

11. It's never too late to start studying Shakespeare.

Watch some of the movies, or see a local production. It's much more enjoyable seeing them than reading them...

[Denninmi]

12. Clearly true.

Very hard to follow with the archaic language.

Perhaps I'll give it a go some cold snowy night very soon.

[sarge43]

15. Yup. Will didn't write his plays to be read.

They were meant for a full blooded performance.

Aristus may disagree, but some films to start with.

McKellen's Richard III, Branagh's Henry V, and Fiennes' Coriolanus. I've always thought Will may have been a soldier for a short time or knew some and listened to them very carefully. No writer had a better ear for what people really mean, not what they think you want to hear.

[Aristus]

16. I agree 100% with the Ian McKellen 'Richard III', and I love the Branagh 'Henry V'.

I haven't seen Coriolanus, but, hey, give it a try.

I don't necessarily agree that Shakespeare had been a soldier. A lot of anti-Stratfordians have posited that Shakespeare couldn't have written the plays attributed to him because there is so much knowledge reflected in the plays that a provincial from Warwickshire would not have had access to: medicine, law, the military, royal court behavior and manners, etc.

I agree with the premise put forth by a novelist (I forget now just who) who stated that Shakespeare very likely put in small tidbits of information about a wide range of subjects here and there in his plays that gave the illusion of vast, comprehensive knowledge, but may have been no more than the sum total of his knowledge of the subject. The novelist concluded by stating: "I do that sort of thing all the time in my writing."

Also, since it was very likely that Shakespeare was educated at Stratford's public school as a child, it's important to remember that the curriculum at the school was exceptionally rigid by today's standards, included Greek and Latin, astronomy, mathematics, and philosophy, and ran from 6 in the morning until 6 in the evening, 6 days a week. Shakespeare was not an uneducated bumpkin, and if he possessed a curious mind, would have sought out knowledge anywhere he could get it, including the libraries of his noble patrons.

[sarge43]

17. No argument. Much of the anti-Statfordian nonsense is mere snobbery.

It's the equivalent of contending Lincoln couldn't have written those magnificent speeches because he hadn't been to Harvard. We know he was entirely self educated, but geniuses can do that.

Country was what most of the English of the time were. Urban was the exception, not the rule. Even a deep dish East Ender could walk for an hour and be in the country.

Will soaked up knowledge like a sponge; like any working writer everything and everyone was potential source material. Just saying, if he didn't take the Queen's shilling, he knew soldiers and heard what they had to say. Hal, Falstaff, even Iago (a vicious step on anyone careerist) speak as clearly today as they did then.

Will's father wouldn't have been granted a coat of arms if he hadn't been a Tudor gentleman, ie gentry aka middle class.

[love_katz]

9. Love your posts, Aristus.

Let's hope we never have to meet his ilk ever again.

Thank you, and the Bard, for the smiles.

posted by luv_mykatz

[Aristus]

10. Hey! You re-registered!

Was it just to change your name? Cause I like your user name either way...

[Aristus]

13. Kick for Sunday.

[sarge43]

14. Snerk and concur. n/t