Shakespeare

Is /lit/ reading/watching Shakespeare? What is your favourite play? Just went to see Othello myself, great acting and is one of my favourite plays by him. Bard thread Lainons

>>2696 I probably should read some of his works, given that I'm very into the occult and esoteric. One of the things I've heard about Shakespeare is that he was really Sir Francis Bacon, who was a Rosicrucian initiate. The plays are supposed to incorporate themes from that in them. I don't know if that's true or not, but it would be neat to find out.

Shakespeare is interesting but mostly meh for me. I am a much bigger fan of classical pieces, Orpheus, Medea, various old fashioned bard tales turned thesbian tradition. My favorite play ever though? "The Knights" by Aristophanes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Knights

>>2698 I'm no scholar, but my bet is on "not true". Bacon was indeed brilliant, but most of those not-Shakespeare theories are put forward by people who think anyone without a background in nobility would be too stupid to write the plays we attribute to Shakespeare. This in spite of the fact that he had a respectable education and was part of the emerging middle class that had money to spend on things like the education that he had. Here's a somewhat overwrought counterargument: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3uYipLshD4

The thing about Shakespeare is that his works really aren't supposed to be read. I think this was probably the result of a well-meaning attempt to get kids exposed to the works but had the effect of making people hate them. At least in my case I didn't really appreciate him until later in life and the majority of people I know would probably try to escape someone with a book of Shakespeare. The video is about an hour, but maybe if someone explained Shakespeare this way people would dive into the plays and sonnets a bit more. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OT965MVTXeo

>>2702 We read one of his plays every year the last four years of school and had to do papers on them too so I see your point. We got to watch videos of each of them at least but they were motion picture versions, not recordings of stage plays. Most students hated it all except that there were boobies in the Romeo & Juliet movie (9.5/10 boobs at that). I found that I really liked reading it all but only out loud. I liked the rhythm of it a lot more than the stories themselves.

Blakes 7 used to steal characters from Shakespeare. Kerr Avon was transparently Hamlet, Vila was the jester from The Twelfth Night, Dayna Mellenby was Miranda from The Tempest, and I think I remember Stephen Greif saying in a commentary track that he based his portrayal of Travis on one of the Richards, maybe Laurence Olivier as Richard III.

>>2725 That's pretty cool actually. I missed all that stuff when I watched the series apparently. I don't think it was intentional but in Deadwood when Al is constantly talking to the severed head of a Sioux warrior he keeps in a box, I kept thinking of Hamlet talking to Yorick's skull.

>>2698 I'm not entirely sure where the idea of Shakespeare and Francis Bacon being the same got started, but I read a chapter on the subject from Manly P. Hall's "Secret Teachings of the Ages". I've posted the link below if you want to read it. It's a horrible chapter. I use the word "horrible" because it does nothing to lay down evidence of this idea. It just starts off with something to the effect of "...but it's so obvious!" and then just continues on from there. This is the problem with the whole debate on authorship. There really hasn't been any compelling evidence on Shakespeare being Bacon or DeVere or anyone other than the man from Stratford-Upon-Avon. As a result, those who challenge the true authorship do little more than scoff of people who don't believe them, insult Shakespeare as a fool who could not have possibly written his works and generally ignore the need for supporting evidence. I actually met a fellow who was like this. He would go on about how Shakespeare was actually an uneducated dullard and when I pointed out that Shakespeare was neighbors with the first publisher of his plays, or that the school Shakespeare went to was actually stocked with respected teachers, he would just pause, say "whatever" and continue on as if I hadn't said anything. It was very irritating. Anyway, here is the link if you're interested: http://www.sacred-texts.com/eso/sta/sta41.htm