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The Shakespeare Society

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Can I join please

Richard III and Henry V are my favs, along with Othello, and Merry Wives of WIndsor

Detested Pericles when I saw it at the Globe, and have never really had time for mIDSUmmer nights dream.
I think you should arrange a group trip to RSC complete works season

btw can i join??

Reply 261

spider from mars

Jayjayjay

Macbeth was played by Mr Tumnus :smile:

Really? He's great!

As for my favourite speech, I may have to be dull and go for the "is this a dagger" bit in Macbeth.

Reply 262

La Trampa

oh i loved that one as well lol

Reply 263

spin

che_guevara

What is your favourite speech from Shakespeare?

Mine's Bottom's 'translation' speech in "A Midsummer Night's Dream". Pure genius...

I think that depends upon my mood. I'm in a happy mood at the moment (I get off work at 4 :smile:

) so the following came to mind:

He that hath a beard is more than a youth,
and he that hath no beard is less than a man:
and he that is more than a youth is not for me,
and he that is less than a man,
I am not for him

Beatrice speaking, in Much Ado About Nothing

Reply 264

Helzerel

I loved the scene in Hamlet, between Hamlet and Polonius, where Hamlet pretends to be mad: -
'You sir, are a fishmonger'

Reply 265

Toscar

" i am not in the giving vein today" RIII
"i wasted time and now time wastes me" RII
"i am not of your element" - 12th Night
"oh happy horse, that bears my antony!" -A&C
and finally
"you have met with things dying, I with things new born" Winters Tale

Reply 266

hezzie28

Heyya All,

I have just found this fantastic Shakespeareness. Please let me in =P!!

12th Night does rock me socks completely and we performed it at school last year which was amazing.....

I must admit I do absolutely love the Lady Macbeth speech, however popular it may be. I saw it performed once and could have cried with pain because it was awful!

I am well upset, my Eng group aren't studying any Shakespeare for A2 English. For AS we did Much Ado About Nothing which was fab but now we aren't doing anything!! We are doing Oscar Wilde Lady W's Fan

Hezz xxx

Reply 267

panda11

"To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow; a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing."

Pleeeeeease can I join?

Favourites have got to be King Lear, Macbeth and The Winter's Tale (which I saw performed by an all male cast!!), but I'm stuck in a school where they stick to the comedies in the hope it'll make Shakespeare more "accessible" :frown:

(not that I don't like the comedies, but you can't beat a bit of madness or the stage direction "exit, pursued by a bear" :p:

)

Reply 268

Tyler Durden

panda11

(not that I don't like the comedies, but you can't beat a bit of madness or the stage direction "exit, pursued by a bear" :p:

)

Surely that's the most comic moment in The Winter's Tale though?

Reply 269

panda11

Not in the production that I saw... think it's only really funny on the page.

I see your point, but I didn't mean to imply that "exit... etc" was what I liked best about The Winter's Tale - it's actually the speech by Hermione when she's wrongfully condemned, but that seemed a bit long to quote! :smile:

Reply 270

silence

englishstudent

Surely that's the most comic moment in The Winter's Tale though?

mm just got me thinking what genre that play would fall into. i know it's a comedy in terms of structure, and some comical elements are present (yet there are many of these in the greatest of tragedies, e.g. king lear)..

Reply 271

panda11

silence

I think they're sometimes known as tragicomedies or even the "problem plays".

(comedy in Macbeth too with the porter scene)

Reply 272

Tyler Durden

I've heard The Winter's Tale called a "Romance" before. It's quite different in its "problematic" aspects to something like M4M so I prefer that to lumping it in as a so-called 'problem play'.

Reply 273

panda11

Mmm I'd agree... I'm not keen on the 'problem play' term anyway, it just seems lke labelling something for the sake of labelling.

Reply 274

liverpool

hi have been dircted to this society by someone.

the reason i am here is about the stroy and the famous speech in Merchent of Venice.

i have read the speech by portia and understand it to an extent.

but the question i am struggling on is how PORTIA herself views mercy?

as its her speech i can not really answer it and am having probelms. any help and advice on this topic will be VERY VERY apreciated.

thanks a lot

Reply 275

La Trampa

liverpool

hey guys

could you help him please? coz i haven't done this in years and can't remember a thing. thanks.

to: liverpool

i'm sure you'll get help here or you can check the academic section.good luck :hugs:

Reply 276

Madelyn

panda11

Mmm I'd agree... I'm not keen on the 'problem play' term anyway, it just seems lke labelling something for the sake of labelling.

Well, it's quite an interesting term because of the way it makes you look at the play. I think it's better than 'tragicomedy', in a way, because tragicomedy immediately tries to get you to consider the tragic and comic elements of the play and almost to separate them out, whereas a problem play more sort of encourages you to think about the problem(s), rather than just accepting what appear to be the play's conclusions. And I think tragicomedy has quite a specific meaning, particularly in relation to Italian theatre, which doesn't necessarily apply to the problem plays. But it is quite a modern term (I think it was coined by Frederick Boas in something like 1879, but my exam on Measure for Measure was last week, so now everything I once knew about it is leaking out of my mind), and I think it to a certain extent reflects modern pre-occupations. But it's definitely worth considering 'the problem plays' as a group, which is probably why they're bunched together like that.

Reply 277

Jayjayjay

Portia is obviously a biased judge, wishing to save her husbands life and so on. However she does maintain a sense of propriety and is just in she repays like with like. She uses her intellect to soothe affliction and conflict. Quality of mercy is not strained. Despite dealing with the case fairly (in a way), Shylock still loses everything he holds dear. Perhaps she is not as merciful and as just as she appears to be?

Shylock as the enemy is not seen as deserving of mercy and yet he does not have his very life taken form him as he intended on doing so with Antonio. This could be seen as his getting his just deserts. Reaping what he had sown and punished for his bloodthirsty greed.

I believe she tries not to get too involved and shifts the case in favour of her husband and his companion, so as to save Antonio’s life in retrospect of the debt to be repaid via her husband and so on. Her role is to balance the scale. Giving out what is due to all. Portia steps in where the men went wrong, little do they know her presence at court saved them from the cunning pound of flesh deed. She tricks Shylock just as he tricked those he lent money to.