Creepy Things in Shakespeare

'Sup guys,

Who is this, you are probably asking.  I know.  You have forgotten me.  That is fair and just.

But in recompense I bring you Halloween stuffs!  Is that quality or what? (Please don't say, 'or what')

Ahem.

We all know there are many creepy things in Shakespeare, but I prefer the more obscure ones - the side notes that get glazed over and just accepted out of hand, rather than the grander, "I'm baking your sons into a meat pie and you're going to eat it!" kind.  Although now that I say it aloud, that one sorta always wins.  So suck it, Game of Thrones! Shakespeare did it first!

Don't be proud of that, Khaki.

Okay anyway! I bring you two vurry creepy moments for your... enjoyment I guess.  Ugh. Weirdos.

1. Macbeth is full of little creepy asides - eye of newt and toe of frog - it's just a creepy, crawly play.  But the weirdest bit, for me, comes in Act 2 scene 4 when the men are discussing the unrest and unnatural state of Scotland.  The sun doesn't rise on time, an owl kills a falcon, and weirdest of all, Duncan's noble steeds turn wild on each other and became cannibalistic.  What in the world, you crazy horses? That is terribly creepy in my book.

ROSS

And Duncan's horses—a thing most strange and certain— 

Beauteous and swift, the minions of their race, 

Turn'd wild in nature, broke their stalls, flung out, 

Contending 'gainst obedience, as they would make 

War with mankind. 

OLD MAN 

'Tis said they eat each other. 

ROSS

They did so, to th' amazement of mine eyes.

2. Oh Titus Andronicus. You are a nasty play.  Much smaller perhaps, than baking someone's sons, but for some reason this one really sticks with me as horrid.  Aaron the Moore confesses to doing many terrible things, such as pitting friends against each other, raping maidens, setting barns on fire and telling the owners to put it out with their tears, and worst of all (just my opinion, mind you) admitting to digging up the bodies of the recently deceased and leaving them on their friend's doorsteps, with notes that basically say, "I am dead, how dare you be happy."

“Oft have I digg’d up dead men from their graves,

And set them upright at their dear friends’ doors,

Even when their sorrows almost were forgot;

And on their skins, as on the bark of trees,

Have with my knife carved in Roman letters,

‘Let not your sorrow die, though I am dead.’”

—  Aaron (Titus Andronicus, Act V scene i)

....Can we just.... wow.

Also, if you'd like another good Halloweenie play, I recommend Richard III. That is one slimy dude.  Murders children, woos women whose husband and father he killed. That'd do it!

Enjoy your October, erebody!

Q: Is She Still Complaining about Old English?

A: Yes.

At least, I'm pretty sure I have complained here in the past about how people think Shakespeare wrote in Old English.  And how, in fact, he did not. (Just in case I haven't mentioned it a spajillion times, let's go over it again, yes?)  What he wrote in is called Early Modern English, which is much closer to Modern English than it is to Old English - though there are differences in pronunciation and no small number of examples of words who's meanings have changed in 400 years (imagine!).

Goodness gracious, if I haven't prattled on about it here, I am certain it's because I thought I prattled previously.

Anyway! I bring this up because there is this excellent piece written by Thijs Porck, an actual professor of Old English, and he takes Shakespeare's lovely sonnet 18 and translates it into Old English, because he too was sick of people being WRONG.

You gasp: "Being WRONG on the Internet? Does that happen, Khaki?! Truly?"
It sure does, fair reader. It sure does. And I have become that sucker who is here to try and fix it.

Anyway, let's compare!

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate:

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

And summer's lease hath all too short a date:

This is the original, and it has a great example of certain words being pronouced differently - tying in my awesome point from earlier.  In these lines, it's clear that 'temperate' and 'date' rhyme, though in nowadays they do not (and the audience oohs and aahs).

Now!  Let's look at these four lines translated into Old English:

Sceal ic þē gelīcian tō sumeres dæge?

Þū eart luflīcra ond staþolfæstra.

Rūge windas sceacað þrīmilces dȳrlinge blōstman

Ond sumeres lǣn hæfð eall tō lȳtelne termen

That... is different, yes?  When those who are FAR more talented than I am read Old English aloud, it is quite pretty.  But I will not dare to try; that is not my expertise, even a little bit.  I took but a single Chaucer class in grad school.

The one thing I will point out, however, is that our old buddy thorn (þ) shows up here.  Do you remember?? Do you remember when I ranted about Ye, as in Ye Olde?! And it was just the letters þ and e combined, and not a Y at all!  Psh, what am I saying, of course you remember.

So what is the lesson we've learned today?  Probably just that I like to beat a dead horse.  

In my defense, it doesn't seem dead enough yet.

If you'd like to read more about this from an actual Old English expert, you can find the rest of the translated sonnet, and more detail here at the Dutch Anglo-Saxonist blog.  It's an excellent source for Old and Middle English, as well as the history of the English language.  

Basically he is pretty rad.

Alan Rickman, You Were a Gift to Screen and Stage

A terribly sad thing has come to pass.

Alan Rickman has passed away at the age of 69.  I am not usually one to get wrapped up in celebrity deaths, though there have been a few that have hit me harder than expected.  But Alan Rickman's passing feels like a quiet injustice to the best faculties of my heart.

Antony in
Antony and Cleopatra

Aside from being a gifted actor in most every role he had, Alan Rickman was also an appreciator of the Bard.  All I can do, in my small way, is to pay tribute here to a man who furthered the rich culture of Shakespeare in our world.

Achilles in
Troilus and Cressida

Alan Rickman studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and there studied Shakespeare.  He was also a performer in the Royal Shakespeare Company, and appeared in adaptations of Antony and Cleopatra, As You Like It, Troilus and Cressida, as well as the 1978 TV movie of Romeo and Juliet.

If you are up for a good Alan Rickman binge-watch tonight (as I am), I also loved him desperately in Sense and Sensibility as the noble and quietly love-struck Colonel Brandon. And of course, there is Die Hard, Truly, Madly, Deeply, Love Actually and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, to name a few.

And for your enjoyment and reflection, I'll end with his moving reading of Shakespeare's 130th Sonnet - coinicdentally my favorite sonnet.  His distinct voice and impeccable diction draw such increased beauty from the words.  It is my favorite rendition of this poem.  Rest in peace; you were an incredibly moving performer, and you will undoubtedly be missed.

(I also fee the desire to note that David Bowie - who also passed this week - included in his final album [Black Star] a re-recording of "'Tis a Pity She Was a Whore,"  which, while not Shakespeare, is taken from a play of the same name by his contemporary, John Ford.  I don't know why I feel the need to note this here, aside from the fact that I feel such a connection to these men through their love of 17th century playwrites; for me personally it deepends the chasm their passing has created in our culture.)

Hamlet, what would you make of this Tumblr sitch?

Here we are again and it's Tumblr day. Is it your favorite day? It is not mine, but I do like it plenty. Today, let's do only Hamlet ones, because everybody loves them some Hamlet.

No, seriously. Tumblr can't seem to get enough of that Danish angst.

XD

I mean... yeah.

Burn! Oh, wait.

I prefer this version immensely.

Well that'll do it for this round of tumblr stuffs!  I do hope you have a lovely time.

The Madness and the Sadness of King Lear

Good day, y'all.  This one's going to be about my feelings regarding King Lear, and thus, it's going to be all over the place.  I'm just going to get that out up front. So let's dive right on in, shall we?

I'd like to share one of my favorite quotes from King Lear.  There are many great quotes to be found, and so many speak to me on a human level.  But the one that chokes me up unfailingly (I am not singular in this), is what Lear says as he cradles the lifeless body of the only daughter who loved him.  These are the final words the mad king speaks before perishing, as his poor heart finally gives out from great sadness.

And my poor fool is hang'd! No, no, no life!
Why should a dog, a horse, a rat, have life,
And thou no breath at all? Thou'lt come no more,
Never, never, never, never, never!
Pray you, undo this button: thank you, sir.
Do you see this? Look on her, look, her lips,
Look there, look there!
Dies

(Act V, Scene iii, 304-309)

"Why should a dog, a horse, a rat, have life,/ And thou no breath at all?" is possibly the most poignant example of grief humanity can express.  The great "Why" of it all.  I once heard a quote along the lines of, "Humans are the only animal to cry, for they alone comprehend the difference between what is, and what might have been."  I cannot remember where it came from, but it comes to mind every time I read or hear Lear's final monologue.

Moreover, Cordelia held the purity and great promise of redemption in her.  The play could have been righted with her return, but it is not meant to be.  Hope dies with her, for Lear.  It is more than just the sharp knife of the youthful dead.  It's suddenness sends the hopeful momentum the play had been gathering into a downward spiral.  For me, the final loss of hope in this scene is what makes King Lear the great tragedy its known to be.  The moment never fails to move me.

I also love hearing different actors' interpretation of Lear's five nevers - "Thou'lt come no more,/ Never, never, never, never, never."  In such plays of great eloquence, it is, for me, the moments of ineloquence that say so much about the characters.  Hamlet has his famous four "O"s before he dies.  Othello falls into repetitive ramblings before fainting...  The men of great monologues have these delightfully poignant moments where their speech fails them at a critical time.  And Lear's five nevers fall like blows of a hammer, sealing Cordelia's fate and Lear's own hopelessness.

Then of course, there's the idea that Lear thinks he sees her breathing as he dies.  "Do you see this? Look on her, look her lips,/ Look there, look there!" What a great touch to add - the mad Lear is certainly hallucinating once more, but perhaps his final breath is one filled with hope, rather than despair.

I could go on and on, but my point is probably something like this: the final scene of King Lear is so devoid of joy that hardly any remember what comes after Lear's death.  The old king's heart just gives out.  That is how this story ends itself - not with murder, but with hopelessness.

  In a play filled to the brim with battles, storms and betrayals - described as too large for the stage upon which it must be performed - the end comes not with a bang, but with a whimper.

Performance in Theatre for a New Audience in Brooklyn.
Michael Pennington as Lear, Lilly Englert as Cordelia 

Moar Tumblr

Good day to you all!  I am back now (orly?) to share more tumblr posts with you.  Perhaps you are thinking that rather than follow a blog that's so spotty on updates, you'd rather just go to tumblr and subscribe to such things as these yourself.  Well FINE! I have no right to be butt hurt about that, but I cannot promise I won't be.

This is a bit dark. Maybe I shouldn't have lead it with.  NO! NO LOOKING BACK! So anyway, in case it was unclear, or you're unfamiliar with Hamlet (and yet still here?! I love you madly for that.), Horatio is the only person left alive at the end of this play.

These are both references to the same Inappropriate Audition Songs meme of people using songs that hit a little too close to home while auditioning for a certain part in a play.

Re-appropriation of the same quote from The Office

TRUTH.

I am just saying this list is legit.

Hugs and kisses, erebody!

I Don't Care if You Think it's Corny

I am not ashamed of myself!

Okay, maybe just a little.  This was sent to me by an old professor, and I just can't get enough of it.  

Yeeepp... I did it again.  Also from said professor.  He was not ashamed and so neither am I!*

*What I am ashamed of is my absence.  Perhaps these posts will start rolling in now? Mmm, we'll see. I am a terrible liar at the best of times.