Nothing Like a Friend...

A common theme in Shakespeare's comedies is "Friendship." Whether it be the characters in A Midsummer's Night's Dream, with Lysander and Demetreus and Hermia and Helena, or Claudio and Don Pedro, with cousins Beatrice and Hero in Much Ado About Nothing, it seems that "friendship" gets amusingly side-tracked in the scheme of things.

I especially enjoyed the true to life situations in Much Ado About Nothing leading to Beatrice's and Benedick's union, where their dear friends stepped in to make them realize their love for each other. Without the help of their fellow schemers, excuse me, friends, love would have been lost for 'Bea' and 'Ben.'

Which brings me to another thought. I like how Shakespeare uses simple ideas for the action, for his characters, that have been present in people throughout history. Childish play and ridiculous skirmishes between friends have been happening, forever. To see these characteristics in the adults in many of Shakespeare's comedies brings truth, as well as enjoyment, to the reading of his plays. Beatrice's and Benedick's name calling and exagerated hate for each other reminded me of two school kids fighting. I recognized the "lingo" and knew right away that they were in love! ...Linda

Poll Results - Weird Sister Folklore

Well, it seemed that most of you picked the three Weird Sisters as your favorite set of characters among other iconic Shakesperian creations. Even Puck with his trickery, Caliban with his feral nature and Shylock with his miserly stature could not stand up to the power of the three. I know I could have added more characters to the poll, with several other memorable Shakespeare personas, but I was merely testing the feature itself.

The witches are probably the most memorable icons in Shakespeare lore, with "Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble!" popping in most people's minds.

The word "weird" was derived from "wyrd," which meant "fate" or "future." "Weird" has been commonly used ever since the performance of Macbeth to describe something out of place or simply uncanny. The presence of the Weird Sisters was not a new concept during Shakespeare's time, as they have thrived through the world of Old Norse mythology.

These three sisters have left their mark (and magic) on popular culture. There is a folk group known as Three Weird Sisters. They work in the filk genre, which deals primarily with themes of science fiction and fantasy. In the novel Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, there is an all male rock group known as the "Weird Sisters" who perform during the Yule Ball.

It seems that the witches will not stop casting their spells to facinate fans of Shakespeare and folklore for quite some time. Till then, I posted a new poll of which couple is the best in Much Ado About Nothing. Who will prevail? Is it Benedick and Beatrice, with their vicious quips to one another? Or is it Claudio and Hero, in which the tragedy and comedy of the play alter their character development?

- Kristopher

Shylock and Anti-semitism

Shylock was initially written in as a stereotypical character, close to a state of villainy. But as the play progresses, he becomes more of a tragic figure, being cornered like an animal. Shylock is simply dubbed "the Jew," especially by everyone's favorite extrovert, Gratiano. Jessica runs off with her Christian lover, Lorenzo, deepening his wounds further.

This can attribute to the harsh treatment the Jews received during the Renaissance. At the time, lending money was the only career that Jews could attain. From the dominant Christian standpoint, money lending was considered a "sin," and this lowered the status of Jewish people even further. Even though anti-semitism has decreased in Europe, it still runs rampant and elsewhere in the world.

The influence of Shylock and Shakespearian themes have introduced the new term known as "shylocking." To label someone as a "shylock" is to call him or her a "loan shark." A "shylock", simply put, is a person who lends money at a rate that would make the patron throw the hat down and yell a series of curse words. "Shylock" has popped up in the movie Get Shorty and even "a pound of flesh" has shown up on tongues as a way of getting revenge.

In irony, though Shylock has been portrayed as the stereotype on how people viewed Jews in the day, he is a character that for a while controlled Shakespeare's pen. Whether Shakespeare was or was not anti-semitic, he could not directly portray actual injustice done on Jews because of the intense hatred that flooded through his period, save for Shylock's speech about prejudice aimed at him.

Below is a scene from a clip of 2004's The Merchant of Venice, with Al Pacino presenting Shylock's most famous speech, and possibly the most famous speech from Shakespeare's writings. Bringing the video onto this post was not as difficult as I made it out to be, as I just went to "Edit Html" which allowed the video to be set.

- Kristopher