It's as if Shakespeare was so enamoured by Rosalind that he tried to create another version of her for this play. Viola too is a female who disguises It's as if Shakespeare was so enamoured by Rosalind that he tried to create another version of her for this play. Viola too is a female who disguises herself as a man to achieve her ends. Gender disguise is a big part of the plot device as Shakespeare once again brings his wisdom to bear on sexual identity. There are other new versions of some his old characters here too. The drunkard Sir Tony Belch has a Falstaffian vibe. Antonio with his hopeless homoerotic yearnings mirrors Antonio in The Merchant of Venice. The fatuous self-admiring Count Orsino with his whiff of misogyny but eventual apotheosis is a familiar male peacock. The aspiring social climber Malvolio is a new character and the most complex. Shakespeare gets us to laugh at the sado-masochistic cruelty to which he is subjected. It's an uncomfortable experience as we're laughing at an act of bullying, discrimination, exclusion. Shakespeare turns us into a member of a mindless mob. Finally Feste is one of Shakespeare's best fools. This is a madcap play but rich in poetry and prophecy. ...more
The wealth of fascinating detail makes this a compelling read. That and the fact it's excellently written.The wealth of fascinating detail makes this a compelling read. That and the fact it's excellently written....more
Lots of first hand accounts of the glider pilots, paratroops and other personnel who took part in the operations the night before D-Day. It's admirablLots of first hand accounts of the glider pilots, paratroops and other personnel who took part in the operations the night before D-Day. It's admirable that these accounts have been preserved for posterity. As a book though it tends to be very repetitive as the experience inside every glider is almost identical. It's more compelling after the landings when the missions are varied. ...more
I think the crossdressing Rosalind might be the easiest female character in all literature to fall in love with. (Other contenders off the top of my hI think the crossdressing Rosalind might be the easiest female character in all literature to fall in love with. (Other contenders off the top of my head? Tolstoy's Natasha, Kitty and Anna Karenina, Woolf's Rhoda, Emily Bronte's Cathy.) She's up there with Hamlet and Falstaff as one of the Shakespeare's most richly complex, compelling and soothsaying characters. She makes this play one of the most magical achievements in the history of the world. ...more
Power corrupts - this is the explored theme in Julius Caesar. There's a straightfoward dramatic tension early on as we wait for the plot to kill CaesaPower corrupts - this is the explored theme in Julius Caesar. There's a straightfoward dramatic tension early on as we wait for the plot to kill Caesar play out. Complexity is fed in when Shakespeare makes it difficult for us to know where our sympathy should lie. On the surface Mark Anthony is the good guy and Brutus the Judas. But both are depicted in moments where the roles subtly shift. There's no fool and only one female character and both are missed....more
The story of the sixty-year battle between Christians and Muslims for control of the Mediterranean culminating in the epic sea battle at Lepanto. ObjeThe story of the sixty-year battle between Christians and Muslims for control of the Mediterranean culminating in the epic sea battle at Lepanto. Objectively it's a five star book - well written and tremendously well researched. However, I never quite found it as engaging as it should have been. I'm reading the same author's book about Venice's rise and fall as a maritime power which I love a lot more. It's often in the detail that a book succeeds or fails in hooking you. The detail in the Venice book is somehow more intimately revealing of the unfolding stories....more
Probably the least inspired and enamouring of Shakespeare's comedies. Apparently Queen Elizabeth I asked him to write a play showing Falstaff in love Probably the least inspired and enamouring of Shakespeare's comedies. Apparently Queen Elizabeth I asked him to write a play showing Falstaff in love and this is the result. In other words, it's a royal commission and you can sense the bard's heart isn't quite in it. The magnificently larger than life Falstaff in the two Henry IV plays is reduced to a caricature of his former self....more
"We get it, Will, you hate women." This is the most liked review of The Taming of the Shrew on the site. It's the lazy response to the surface gloss o"We get it, Will, you hate women." This is the most liked review of The Taming of the Shrew on the site. It's the lazy response to the surface gloss of the play. Truth is you'd have to possess a pretty unsophisticated sense of humour and an inability to grasp the subtleties of irony to like this statement. Or else seen a production of the play in which the director was guilty of these shortcomings. Much Ado, in common with all the preceding comedies shows plainly how Shakespeare had a great deal more respect and admiration for women in many regards than he did for men. For him a woman's feeling had more integrity and virtue in it and her sense of reality was more developed. His men, on the other hand, are often duplicitous, tyrannical, changeable and shallow. My feeling is Much Ado is a play better seen staged than read. It has a lot of vitality to discharge but the plot devices are lame. The evil character who causes all the mayhem little more than a talking head. It's only real point of interest is the philosophical sparring between Beatrice and Benedick, a contest in which once again the female come out on top. I think you can say it's marriage Shakespeare doesn't like - both Beatrice and Benedick are adamant they will never marry - but he is enamoured of the part psychology plays in the rituals of male-female courtship. ...more
If you read The Merchant of Venice as a nightmare or even a madcap fantasy of Shylock it acquires a lot of the sense it doesn't have as a comedy. BecaIf you read The Merchant of Venice as a nightmare or even a madcap fantasy of Shylock it acquires a lot of the sense it doesn't have as a comedy. Because the Merchant of Venice with the squalid mire of antisemitism it depicts isn't very funny. And Shylock is its towering character despite having far less lines than those given to all the frivolity of the love triangle between Antonio, Bassanio and Bianca. His capitulation to become a Christian at the end would also cease to be so ineptly out of character. It's true all the central Christian characters in the play are unpleasant - Antonio likes to spit at Jews, Bassanio is little more than a gold digger and even Bianca who Shakespeare probably initially intended to be the play's pivot is ultimately mean in her public humiliation of Shylock - but only Shylock's unpleasantness is murderous and ultimately whatever degree of irony Shakespeare intended was lost and Shylock, like Dickens' Fagan, became the stock-in-trade Jewish bogeyman of Nazi propaganda. Painful to say but this play, taken literally, as things tend over time to get taken in the popular imagination, is Shakespeare's contribution to the Holocaust....more
A lot of madcap identity swapping surrounds the central theme which is the marriage contract. Once again Shakespeare shows how much more respect he haA lot of madcap identity swapping surrounds the central theme which is the marriage contract. Once again Shakespeare shows how much more respect he has for women than men in terms of their grasp of reality. The play is loaded with irony. Shakespeare has a lot of fun sending up the crowd-pleasing misogyny which was a feature of his first few plays. Kate, the shrew, we feel isn't tamed at all except in the etiquette of outward show. By the end of the play she's worked out how she will be able to control her over-excitable husband. The scenes with Petruchio and Kate are all compelling. Otherwise though the characters in this play are rather forgettable and there's no great poetry....more
As a rule the more first-hand accounts a history book contains the more likely it is to draw me into its narrative. I want to hear the voice of peopleAs a rule the more first-hand accounts a history book contains the more likely it is to draw me into its narrative. I want to hear the voice of people who lived through the experiences documented. The overview perspective, the impersonal big picture can be interesting in and of itself but can also resemble the soulless chore of housekeeping in its quest for tidiness. The best parts of this book are when we hear the voices of the people of the time. For example a story of how five Christian slaves escaped captivity in Algiers by building a boat and carrying it to the shore in parts where they assembled it is narrated first hand by one of the protagonists. It was slaves the pirates mostly sought. Despite the majority of the pirates being Muslim there are though no Muslim voices in the book. One thing I learned was that Algeria was the first country to ever declare war on the USA....more
Perhaps the least successful of Shakespeare's plays so far. It feels like this was mostly written at the beginning of his career. Firstly, the women aPerhaps the least successful of Shakespeare's plays so far. It feels like this was mostly written at the beginning of his career. Firstly, the women are caricatures. It's been fascinating reading him chronologically because after the completion of his early plays it became clear an immense admiration for women was awakened in him which was missing before. This gave his writing new depths of psychology, conflict and comedy. But back to King John. There's little if any of the word play comedy which was to become one of his signature themes, there's an excess of crowd pleasing melodrama and the design is slipshod and lacking in artistry. Only the character of the bastard, the invented illegitimate son of Richard the Lionheart, enlivens it. He's like a forerunner of Shakespeare's most memorable characters because unlike everyone else in this play, mostly talking heads, he is charged with a rich and compelling inner life which is more riveting than the play itself. ...more
I might compile a top ten of my favourite Shakespeare characters when I've finished reading him. I'm almost certain Bottom will feature. Nothing phaseI might compile a top ten of my favourite Shakespeare characters when I've finished reading him. I'm almost certain Bottom will feature. Nothing phases Bottom. This is the comic triumph of his character. This play is beautifully designed. Most of Shakespeare's plays have a sideshow, usually of a comic nature. Midsummer Night's Dream though is all to the point. I read it's one of his few plays which didn't have a prototype because plot was his one weakness. A Midsummer Night's Dream leaves you wishing he had trusted in his own architectural skills more often. ...more
With regards to global warming I think we're all in a similar predicament to that of the average German when Hitler first rose to power. We're aware oWith regards to global warming I think we're all in a similar predicament to that of the average German when Hitler first rose to power. We're aware of the danger and now and again we witness something first hand which makes us apprehensive. But most of the time the thing of primary importance to us is the localised well-being of our own life. This is one man's attempt to narrate how global warming affects the way he experiences the localised well-being of his own life. To begin with I enjoyed it. It read like a kind of doomsday blog. But it gradually became a little too repetitive and the tone a tad too sanctimonious for me. And getting back to my opening idea there's a sense in the depths of his being he cares more about the construction of his sentences than the weather outside. Neither did I find much food for thought in his biographies of various persecuted mystics who have advocated an alternative path to our western ideal of technological progress....more
The story of an artist trying to fulfil his talent. It began brilliantly. The opening was fabulous. A girl arrives in Paris from the provinces, but heThe story of an artist trying to fulfil his talent. It began brilliantly. The opening was fabulous. A girl arrives in Paris from the provinces, but her train is delayed so there is no one at the station to meet her. She gets caught in a thunderstorm and shelters in a doorway. Here she meets Claude, the artist who offers to put her up for the night in his garret. Thus begins their great love which is poignantly evoked as is Claude's relationship with his art. Half way through as Claude struggles more and more to realize his potential the novel begins to get a bit repetitive. Zola's friends Cezanne and Monet both refused to have anything more to do with him after reading the novel. ...more
Renowned as the greatest tribute to romantic love in literature but how seriously does Shakespeare want us to take Romeo and Juliet's great love? At tRenowned as the greatest tribute to romantic love in literature but how seriously does Shakespeare want us to take Romeo and Juliet's great love? At the beginning of the play Romeo is beside himself with love for another girl. As this infatuation of his serves no dramatic purpose we are urged to interpret it as an aspect of Romeo's character and a key to the play's underlying message. Romeo is a bit of a rake. He's in love with the idea of being in love. In his previous two plays Shakespeare has dramatized the idea that men fall in love with their eyes rather than their hearts. The love of women, he has shown, has more integrity because they are less bewitched by their eyes. The eye, he says, is not a trustworthy instrument for conveying the charge of love. The eye feeds every blast of female beauty into the male's wishful thinking. Juliet is a sublime creation as an adolescent girl. She deserves better than Romeo and his wandering eye. But part of her brilliance as a character is her subjection to the melodrama of adolescence. She can't separate love from eternity, and death features heavily in her discourses. Both Romeo and Juliet have wiser but less generous companions who act as counterpoints. The bawdy irrepressible Mercutio as a character is much more compelling than Romeo. Shakespeare has to kill him off to prevent him stealing the show. Juliet's nurse is also a brilliant character. She has all the weary cynicism of middle age. You sense these two characters represent Shakespeare's true appraisal. At bottom it's not difficult to read Romeo and Juliet as a trenchant and mischievous critique of romantic love. But Shakespeare's genius ensures his underlying mockery of romantic love in no way undermines any of its moving poetic pathos. ...more
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