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/lit/ - Literature

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17001846 No.17001846 [Reply] [Original]

Take the scene in Hamlet where the acting troupe arrive at Elsinore. The actors almost certainly represent Shakespeare's own acting company. Rosencrantz remarks that this company is enjoying less prestige of late, due to an "eyrie of children" who have taken to the stage, and supposedly carried away "Hercules and his load".

Now, this is a masterfully ironic swipe at Shakespeare's friend and rival Ben Johnson, who worked with an acting group of children - 'The Children of the Chapel' - in 1600 and 1601, when Hamlet was staged. Hercules' load is, of course, the Globe, which is also the name of the theatre where Hamlet played to packed audiences. These audiences must have roared with ironic approval at the notion that Ben Jonson's children had stolen the show, disproved by their own mass attendance.

It's remarkably little-known nowadays. I'm sure there is some sort of Marxist criticism which reads the children as symbolising exploitation of the proletariat or some other such drivel.

>> No.17001850
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17001850

>>17001846

>> No.17001907

Literal who

>> No.17001921

>>17001846
That's really cool! Where can I learn about stuff like this regarding Shakespeare?

>>17001850
Cringe, one can love Spanish lit and Shakespeare.

>> No.17001981

>>17001921
There are plenty of companion guides to Shakespeare - Harold Bloom's "Poem Unlimited" essays alerted me to the Johnson reference, which I'd never encountered before. I'd highly recommend Jonathan Bate's "The Genius of Shakespeare". He truly was a genius, and I have a better understanding now of how his works can be read and re-read ad infinitum. Many claim they would take the complete works of the bard to a desert island, but few would be able to say why. I now understand why.

>> No.17001987

>>17001921
>Cringe, one can love Spanish lit and Shakespeare
Based

>> No.17001992

>>17001981
>I now understand why.
Why?
Quick rundown, please.

>> No.17002084

>>17001992
I don't have the skills to condense the books I've read into a concise 4chan post. Maybe over a longer succession of posts, or in a conversation. His genius is a combination of innovation, aesthetic beauty, insight into the human condition, and countless tiny decisions made in his plays which make them so ripe for re-reading. The Genius of Shakespeare is very cheaply obtainable through Amazon and is a quick and easy read, I'd recommend it. (He also refutes Tolstoy's main quibbles).

>> No.17002115

>>17001992
Check out daddy Bloom's rundown

https://youtu.be/jrDAkFqCEqw