Shakespeare...
 

Here is a call out to all of you fans of the Bard....

What are top five favorite Shakespeare play?

And why?

I'll start...

Hamlet--murder, ghosts, insanity

Macbeth--muder, ghosts, greed

King Lear--power, grateful child, ungrateful children

Antony & Cleopatra--pagentry, war, lust

The Tempest--shipwreck, possessive father, magic

What sayeth thou???

PS--My "least" favorite (Henry IV because of that widely misunderstood line about killing all the lawyers.)

Taming of the Shrew: a rich obedient wife :rolleyes:

Midsummer's Night Dream: farcical, capricious, tragically flawed nature of both man and gods. Man made in his image, indeed.

Are we talking best to see performed or best to read? I loved Macbeth and Twelfth Night. Macbeth is a fantastic production to stage and gives itself to the dramatic in every respect. Twelfth Night is funny and accessable in a way that makes even the uninitiated love it. Its just a really good time.

My favourites to read were Lear and Measure for Measure. When I saw Lear performed I enjoyed it but Measure for Measure left me disappointed. Perhaps it was the director's interpretation, but I just didn't enjoy it at all.

I can't stand Shakespeare ... :mad:

Not everyone can.

But when you realize that the stuff he wrote wayyyyyyyyyy back then is still applicable today, then one must admit to his genious, even though one may not stand him.


Just look how many adaptions of his works there are (both recent and not so recent).

West Side Story -- Romeo and Juliet

Throne of Blood -- Macbeth

Just to pick two examples....

I say I better get busy and read some Shakespeare else abandon all claim to being an educated man. Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet are the only ones I've read and that was decades ago.

Loreena McKennitt, sort of a new age singer and harp player, and an outstanding one, IMO, has a song on her CD "The Visit," with lyrics taken from Shakespeare's play "The Tragedy of Cymbeline, King of Britain." It's quite a song. I was so impressed, I put it on the program for my Dad's funeral in '00 with my family's approval.

One older lady said it brought her to tears. Here 'tis:

Cymbeline (the song title as well)

Fear no more the heat o' th' sun
Nor the furious winters' rages;
Thou thy worldly task hast done,
Home art gone, and ta'en thy wages.

Golden lads and girls all must,
As chimney-sweepers, come to dust.

The sceptre, learning, physic, must
All follow this and come to dust.

Fear no more the frown o' th' great;
Thou art past the tyrant's stroke.
Care no more to clothe and eat;
To thee the reed is as the oak.

The sceptre, learning, physic, must
All follow this and come to dust.

All lovers young, all lovers must
Consign to thee and come to dust.

If you ever get a chance, rent Laurence Olivier's Hamlet. It is awesome.

Another reason why I like King Lear -- I have three daughters. I told my youngest that she reminded me of Cordelia and she was OK with it, until she read the play and realized that Cordelia dies at the end (along with Lear). :(

See that irresistable movie 'Shakespeare in Love' with Joseph Fiennes, Gwynneth Paltrow and even Ben Affleck, and then try his sonnets.

I can't stand Ben Affleck :(

Goethe rules! :D

DER ERLKÖNIG

Wer reitet so spät durch Nacht und Wind?
Es ist der Vater mit seinem Kind;
Er hat den Knaben wohl in dem Arm,
Er faßt ihn sicher, er hält ihn warm.

Mein Sohn, was birgst du so bang dein Gesicht? -
Siehst Vater, du den Erlkönig nicht?
Den Erlenkönig mit Kron und Schweif? -
Mein Sohn, es ist ein Nebelstreif. -

"Du liebes Kind, komm, geh mit mir!
Gar schöne Spiele spiel ich mit dir;
Manch bunte Blumen sind an dem Strand,
Meine Mutter hat manch gülden Gewand."

Mein Vater, mein Vater, und hörest du nicht,
Was Erlenkönig mir leise verspricht? -
Sei ruhig, bleibe ruhig, mein Kind;
In dürren Blättern säuselt der Wind. -

"Willst, feiner Knabe, du mit mir gehn?
Meine Töchter sollen dich warten schön;
Meine Töchter führen den nächtlichen Reihn
Und wiegen und tanzen und singen dich ein."

Mein Vater, mein Vater, und siehst du nicht dort
Erlkönigs Töchter am düstern Ort? -
Mein Sohn, mein Sohn, ich seh es genau:
Es scheinen die alten Weiden so grau. -

"Ich liebe dich, mich reizt deine schöne Gestalt;
Und bist du nicht willig, so brauch ich Gewalt."
Mein Vater, mein Vater, jetzt faßt er mich an!
Erlkönig hat mir ein Leids getan! -

Dem Vater grauset's, er reitet geschwind,
Er hält in den Armen das ächzende Kind,
Erreicht den Hof mit Mühe und Not;
In seinen Armen das Kind war tot.

Even Will made a passing reference to them...
 

In the Merchant of Venice......

Porsche: "The quality of Mercedes is not strain'd":grin:

Are you sh****** me?! Are those exact words in there? :D

Well...it is "Portia" not "Porsche". But the pronunciation is the same. And Mercedes is a very old Spanish girl name. The story goes that when Daimler and Benz were seeking financing, a wealthy man agreed to come up with enough money to get them going, providing they named the car after his daughter, Mercedes. So instead of driving a Daimler-Benz, we have a Mercedes-Benz.

Here's how it happened
 

Gottlieb Daimler and his close collaborator Wilhelm Maybach pooled their ideas and patents.So closely were they integrated that even Dr.Siebertz,official historian of Mercedes-Benz was unable to say who thought of what.
It does seem the credit for the first Mercedes car should go to Maybach,for when it was being developed from the original 24hp "Phoenix Daimler",a rather heavy and dangerous car,Daimler was a dying man.

Emil Jellinek,banker/consul for Austria-Hungary,was an immensly wealthy but not very successful amateur racing motorist,ordered the entire production for a year on condition that the new model was called after his daughter Mercedes.
He was an excitable little man who usually wore a panama hat and a pince-nez,but he was also capable of a gesture in the grand manner.He enquired how many could be built in the first year and,upon being told approximately 35,wrote out one check to pay for the lot.
He then proceeded to sell them all to his wealthy friends at a fine profit which showed that it was not entirely by luck that he was a successful banker.

Mercedes' daddy was a wealthy French businessman. He fancied himself some sort of car racer (rich guy, too much time on his hands, takes up car racing as a hobby). He also liked to do weird things like race up a hill to see how fast his cars wold make it up the hill.

Here is more from Wikipedia:

In 1899, DMG automobiles built at Untertürkheim (a city district of Stuttgart) were raced successfully by Emil Jellinek (1853-1918), an automobile enthusiast and dealer. He had the name of his daughter, Mercedes, painted on the automobiles for good luck. Wanting faster race cars, it was Jellinek who spurred the development of the seminal 1900 DMG model that would be the first of the DMG Mercedes series, bearing the name of his daughter.

After suggesting some design specifications, he promised to purchase thirty-six of the new DMG model if Maybach would name the new 35 hp engine contained in it the Daimler-Mercedes engine. A contract of five hundred and fifty thousand marks was made for these new models. Within weeks he contracted for thirty-six of another DMG model with 8 hp engines. He was granted an exclusive concession to sell the new DMG automobiles in Austria-Hungary, France, Belgium, and USA.

Carl, I like McKennitt's lyrics.

Guido :D I have a hard time comprehending, let alone liking Goethe!

But...he was a lawyer who preferred writing to practicing law, so I guess he was not all bad.

And the rest is history... :wacko:

I'll bet you'd like that album. The lady can sing, I'mo tell you what.

I found the passage in a book of Shakespeare's plays. She didn't have to change it much.

Here are some of the other words in that passage which she put in her album liner notes:

Fear no more the lightning flash,
Nor th' all-dreaded thunder stone;
Fear not slander, censure rash;
Thou hast finished joy and moan.
All lovers young, all lovers must
Consign to thee and come to dust.

No exorciser harm thee!
Nor no witchcraft charm thee!
Ghost unlaid forbear thee!
Nothing ill come hear thee!
Quiet consummation have,
And renowned by thy grave!