William Shakespeare is peerless in literature, drama and poetry. His plays are often a difficult read, though, even for native English speakers. This has contributed, I feel, to an oversight and under-appreciation for the wisdom he has offered for centuries. So in ST! I endeavor to engage, entertain and educate a modern day audience.
I still don’t know how something I scribbled in a hurry at 3am got so many notes in the space of a day? Shakespeare is clearly too awesome. I spelt “bated" wrong, awk :) Someone said this looks like a serial killer’s notebook, which made me laugh a lot. They’re not wrong, I’ve been a sleep deprived zombie lately.
An educational publisher recently asked me if they could print this scribble in a textbook, so I needed to rescan it to send them a better image. I erased the “i" from “bated breath" and also replicated it digitally, for anyone who has trouble reading my messy handwriting (myself included!) Feel free to use accordingly.
Thank you to every single one of you who has reblogged/shared the post. It has almost reached 70,000 notes and it makes me happy to see that. The fact of the matter is, every time this image has been shared, the chances that somebody will learn something which they didn’t already know increases. Many people are put off by classic literature because the language is foreign to them. They can read the words, but they don’t understand them. This might discourage them from pursuing it further. So I’d like to think you haven’t simply reblogged an image on the internet. You might be responsible for opening the door of curiosity for somebody else. [emphasis added]
As Mahatma Gandhi said: Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever :)
To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.
Save me and hover o'er me with your wings,
You heavenly guards!—What would your gracious figure?
...
Do you not come your tardy son to chide,
That, lapsed in time and passion, lets go by
The important acting of your dread command?
O, say!
Not a whit. We defy augury. There’s a special providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, ’tis not to come. If it be not to come, it will be now. If it be not now, yet it will come—the readiness is all. Since no man knows aught of what he leaves, what is ’t to leave betimes? Let be.
Hamlet says this to dismiss Horatio's suggestion that he should reject the fencing duel against Laertes. The reason is that it is useless to defy God's will and purpose, while 'we defy augury", meaning that he doesn't believe in bad omens, because they are just spurious signs that do not truly come from God. "The fall of a sparrow" is a reference to Matthew 10:29 where Jesus assures his disciples of divine providence: "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father". It is interesting to compare it with the proverb "Man proposes, God disposes", which is usually said to comfort our friends when things don't always work out as planned. Note that Hamlet here doesn't really express whether he believes things would work out in his favor or not, but simply that he should be ready and do his part, just like the "man proposes" part in the proverb, and leave the rest at God's disposal.
"If it be now, 'tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come" basically means that if something is or isn't supposed to happen (according to that special providence), it will or will not happen no matter whether it is a good or bad thing. Nobody except God would know when everything is supposed to happen.
This is a defining moment for Hamlet. Now he is a man of faith and conviction, in contrast to the man he was before who was constantly in doubt.
I'd like to believe that Shakespeare will be popular long into the future, but of course interest will wax and wane. If I remember correctly, Shakespearean plays and the Bible are among the most read in English. So interest isn't likely to wane dramatically anytime soon!
Imagine Shakespeare rendered into disco. Hard, isn't it. Yet, this Alec R. Costandinos masterpiece was my introduction to "Romeo and Juliet," and the beginning of a long love affair with Shakespeare!
Moreover, I began memorizing passages from his plays, and would recite them everywhere - in the car, in my bedroom, at the library. Beginning with the opening sonnet (Chorus) of "Romeo and Juliet," just so I could sing along with this Costandinos' piece!
Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life,
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Doth with their death bury their parents̓ strife.
The fearful passage of their death-marked love
And the continuance of their parents̓ rage,
Which but their children̓'s end, naught could remove,
Is now the two-hours̓ traffic of our stage;
The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.
Then, the sonnet to open Act II:
Now old desire doth in his death-bed lie,
And young affection gapes to be his heir;
That fair for which love groan'd for and would die,
With tender Juliet match'd, is now not fair.
Now Romeo is beloved and loves again,
Alike betwitched by the charm of looks,
But to his foe supposed he must complain,
And she steal love's sweet bait from fearful hooks:
Being held a foe, he may not have access
To breathe such vows as lovers use to swear;
And she as much in love, her means much less
To meet her new-beloved any where:
But passion lends them power, time means, to meet
Tempering extremities with extreme sweet.
If you were a teenager 15 years ago, your definitive Romeo and Juliet were definitely Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes. If you were a teenager 25 years before that, you were all about Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey from the 1968 version of the story. Now this Tumbl'd and Twitter'd generation of teens is getting their own tragic love story, with this new adaptation of Romeo & Juliet starring up-and-coming youngsters Hailee Steinfeld (an Oscar nominee forTrue Grit a few years back) and Douglas Booth.
Romeo and Juliet are the eternal youthful couple - impassioned and impetuous - so I never tire of them. Here are productions I've seen:
Goodman Theater (Chicago). The director set the play in Chicago's Little Italy neighborhood, early 20th century. Instead of a knife, the lovers used a gun in the end ... brutal.
American Ballet Theater (Chicago). "Romeo and Juliet" in ballet was fabulous, and it gave me better insight on Mercutio's dark humor.
Shakespeare Globe (London). I was on a business trip, and flew in on Sunday afternoon. The concierge said there was only standing room left for the show that evening. For £5, no problem.
I am of the Franco Zeffirelli era, and especially fond of the performance of Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey. Still, this latest production looks worth watching.
But what matters, I think, is that our young people learn about "Romeo and Juliet" from the text itself and come to appreciate their timeless story.
The more I think about it, the more I see how rich and complex the issues of death are in "Hamlet." From dealing with the murder and the ghost of his father; to losing Ophelia; to agonizing over his desires for revenge; and, in the end, to accepting fatalistically the fact of his mortality.
This seal impression dates from the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603) and bears the impression of a skull surrounded by a legend which states ‘N.R. MEMENTO MORI’ (‘remember that you will die’).
The seal bearing the impression of a skull does not necessarily indicate status, but rather a philosophical perspective of life. Seals bearing the motto ‘Memento Mori’ were commonly used in Tudor England to remind people of their fragile mortality and to encourage them to pray and to be more pious; the idea strongly emphasises the Christian concept of divine judgement.
