/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.15177241]

It's Shakespeare's birthday, /lit/. Say something nice about him!

[Anonymous No.15177248]

A*glo nigger, I hope your descendants are getting raped by a pack of feral pakis. this will be the fate of every A*glo

[Anonymous No.15177256]

>>15177241
The deepest thinker in human history

[Anonymous No.15177274]

>>15177241
Dislike him. A formidable mediocrity.

[Anonymous No.15177280]

>>15177241
He was redpilled about heeb moneylenders

[Anonymous No.15177283]

>>15177241
white washed version, original shakespeare was black

[Anonymous No.15177352]

>he thinks /lit/ reads literature
Thread will die at twenty posts tops

[Anonymous No.15177359]

>>15177241
He's the 2nd best writer in history.

[Anonymous No.15177362]

>>15177241
King Lear is perhaps the bleakest and most thorough tragedy ever written, congrats bro.

[Anonymous No.15177378]

>>15177359
based

[Anonymous No.15177406]

>>15177359
>>15177378
Insult the good bard again and I will skullfuck and sodomize you

[Anonymous No.15177419]

I just read Julius Caesar today. Fucking incredible. Which should I read next. I have Othello, Lear, Merry Wives of Windsor, and a couple others comedies I can’t remember (at work rn).

[Anonymous No.15177420]

>>15177406
I said something nice about him, you colossal pillow-biting autist.

[Anonymous No.15177428]

>>15177419
Lear.

[Anonymous No.15177435]

>>15177428
Thy will be done. I’ll start it tomorrow probably.

[Anonymous No.15177477]

>>15177419
Reading merry wives before the henriad seems wrong to me

[Anonymous No.15177490]

>>15177241
>his death day as well
F
Trivia: Sir Thomas Browne also died on bday October 19

[Anonymous No.15177494]

>>15177477
I don’t really know much about this stuff. The only Shakespeare I’ve read since High School are Julius Caesar the other day and Midsummer a couple months ago. By the way, does Shakespeare have any other plays with a lot of folkloric elements like in Midsummer?

[Anonymous No.15177500]

>>15177490
>death day is the same as birth one
it's the most /lit/ way to go out.

[Anonymous No.15177545]

>>15177494
Merry wives is a spinoff play written for the most popular character of the henriad, falstaff. It's probably a good idea to read the henriad first
>By the way, does Shakespeare have any other plays with a lot of folkloric elements like in Midsummer?
The tempest and macbeth are your best bets

[Anonymous No.15177556]

Let's try to recite monologues from memory.

O my offence is rank it smells to heav'n
it hath the primal eldest curse upon't a brother's murder
pray can i not, though inclination be as strong as will
my stronger guilt defeats my strong intent
and like a man to double business bound
i stand in pause where i should first begin
and both neglect
what if this hand were thicker than itself in brothers blood?
is there not rain enough in the sweet heavens to wash it white as snow?
whereto serves mercy, but in this twofold force
to be forestalled ere we come to fall
or pardoned being down
then i'll look up, my fault is past
but, o, what form of prayer could serve my purpose?
forgive me my foul murder? that cannot be
for i am still possessed of the effects for which i did the crime
my crown, mine own ambition, and my queen
may one be pardoned and yet retain the offence?
in the corrupt current of this world, offense's gilded hand may shove by justice
and oft tis seen the wicked prize itself buys out the law
but tis not so above, there is no shuffling
there the crime lies in its true nature
and we ourselve compelled even to the teeth and forehead of our faults to give in evidence
what then? what rests? try what repentance can
what can it not? and yet what can it when one can not repent
oh wretched state, oh bosom black as death
oh limed soul that struggling to be free art more engaged
help angles, make assay. bow stubborn knees
and heart with strings of steel, be soft as the sinews of a newborn babe.
all may be well.

My words fly up, my thoughts remain below
and words without thoughts ne'er to heaven go

[Anonymous No.15177651]

>>15177556
Don't expect me to remember the exact sentence structure
To be or not to be, that is the question: Whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing, end them. To die, to sleep; no more. And by sleep to say we end the heartache and thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to. Tis consummation devoutly to he wished, to die, to sleep; to sleep, perchance, to dream. Ay, that's the rub; for in this sleep of death, what dreams may come, when we shuffle off this mortal coil, must give us pause. There's the respect that makes calamity of so long a life
And that's all i've been able to remember

[Anonymous No.15177665]

why was hamlet so indecisive?

[Anonymous No.15177669]

>>15177665
It's fundamentally what separates the story from Taken

[Anonymous No.15177691]

Thomas Middleton's birthday was 5 days ago

[Anonymous No.15177692]

>>15177665
Because hamlet didn't really care, he had completely rejected life by act 3. Every show of love and compassion he does is faked.

[Anonymous No.15177700]

>>15177691
Academia's tool to defame shakespeare

[Anonymous No.15177715]

>>15177665
He doesn't trust that God's judgement is fair. He fears death because he doesn't have faith that he will be saved, and he avoids killing Claudius while he prays, in spite of knowing of his guilt, because he hopes that by delaying the execution he can guarantee Claudius goes to hell. The most notable part of Claudius' couplet after Hamlet leaves is that it shows us if Hamlet had had faith in God's ability to judge the guilty, Claudius would most certainly have been punished accordingly and the tragic end wouldn't have come about.

[Anonymous No.15177716]

>>15177669
>>15177692
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNcN5f3vwro
wtf are you talking about?

[Anonymous No.15177738]

>>15177716
Easily Schwarzenegger's most underappreciated film

[Anonymous No.15177749]

>>15177556
All the world is a stage, and the men and women merely players. They have their exits and entrances, and one man in his time plays many parts. His act being seven ages. At first, the infant, mewling and puking in the nurse's arms. And then the school boy, with satchel and shining morning face, creeping like snail unwillingly to school. Then the lover, sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad made to his mistress's eyebrow. Then the soldier, full of strange oaths and beard like the pard, seeking the bubble reputation, even in the canon's mouth.

That's the furthest I can go, I forgot the rest

[Anonymous No.15177752]

Hamlet is just a pussy jacques

[Anonymous No.15177758]

>>15177716
Anon was referencing a BBC sketch
https://youtu.be/9YeCpHoy9EQ?t=1419

[Anonymous No.15178239]

>>15177665
Let's see what Peter O'Toole and Orson Welles have to say on the subject:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smMa38CZCSU&t=7s

[Anonymous No.15178310]

>>15178239
If tolstoy was lear, Orson welles was falstaff. He even has the lying shit part nailed down

[Anonymous No.15178341]

>>15178310
Interestingly enough, Welles views Falstaff as a kind of hero character, which I always thought was fascinating:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHyKbnw734Y

[Anonymous No.15178367]

>>15178341
Is there any doubt that Welles just made up whatever he thought the most interesting response to a question would be? I don't there's any consistency to his answers except that they're always a little controversial.

[Anonymous No.15178423]

>>15178367
Yeah he's absolutely a shit-stirrer. I think that's part of why I enjoy him so much, but it also makes it hard to take him seriously sometimes.

I do think he has a point about Shakespeare being "nostalgic" and being concerned with the loss of innocence in England. And that Chaucer was concerned with it as well. Actually I can't think of a single major English writer or poet who doesn't treat on this idea, all throughout the history of English letters. Even back in the fucking Middle Ages, you had English writers lamenting the loss of a "better, purer" England that seems to have stopped existing a decade or so before their own time.

[Anonymous No.15178467]

>>15177241
something nice about him

[Anonymous No.15178470]

>>15177665
I don't know.

[Anonymous No.15178478]

>>15178423
It must be reiterated: Welles was falstaff. He lied, he stole, he cheated, but there's something right about him, something that draws people in

[Anonymous No.15178565]

>>15177241
I'm not sure there has been a better female character than Cleopatra. Happy for someone to prove me wrong, but I just don't see it.

Also, fuck these modern reinterpretations that shit all over Shakespeare's intentions. I saw a version of Ant&Cleo in stratford that was adapted for the Haitian Revolution, which in theory sounds interesting, but it fucking SUCKED. Anthony was a lecherous old man, and Cleopatra was basically a child. They did everything possible to make Anthony into a total joke/pedophile. They even tried to squeeze a laugh out of his death speech for God's sake. I've never been more angry at a play before.

[Anonymous No.15178579]

>>15177241
You don't know that today is his birthday, only his christening date was recorded

[Anonymous No.15178588]

>>15178565
SUBVERSION OF EXPECTATIONS LMAO

[Anonymous No.15178618]

>>15178565
Molly Bloom

[Anonymous No.15179178]

>>15178565
That's extremely common with the Tempest, but that play sucks to start so it's hard to care

[Anonymous No.15179492]

>>15179178
The Tempest doesn't suck, I think it's underrated. Let's not forget that it's understood to be Shakespeare's farewell to the stage.

Now my charms are all o'erthrown,
And what strength I have's mine own,
Which is most faint. Now, 'tis true,
I must be here confined by you
Or sent to Naples. Let me not,
Since I have my dukedom got, and pardoned
The deceiver dwell in this bare island by your spell.
But release me from my bands,
With the help of your good hands.
Gentle breath of yours my sails
Must fill, or else my project fails,
Which was to please. Now I lack
Spirits to enforce, art to enchant,
And my ending is despair
Unless I be relieved by prayer,
Which pierces so that it assults
Mercy itself, and frees all faults.
As from your crimes would pardoned be,
Let your indulgence set me free.

[Anonymous No.15179537]

>>15178565
Lmao in the texts Cleopatra makes a comment about how she envisions a future where her story will be put on stage, and Antony will be portrayed as a drunk and Cleopatra as a young boy.

[Anonymous No.15179633]

>>15177419
>I just read Julius Caesar today. Fucking incredible. Which should I read next.

Maybe, Shakespeare's take on the transformation of Rome, post-Caesar, into an empire -- Antony and Cleopatra. Or his take on early Rome, some 200 (?) years before Caesar -- Coriolanus.

Or consider remarks in pic related* -- i.e., read Hamlet, as Shakespeare's attempt to improve on the shortcomings of JC.

*E.A.J. Honigmann, Shakespeare: Seven Tragedies; The Dramatist's Manipulation of Response

[Anonymous No.15179653]

>listening to BBC radio play while reading along with hamlet.
Is this the best way to experience Shakespeare? You get the performance aspect while also using imagery like when reading novels.

[Anonymous No.15179753]

>>15179653
Performing it yourself while doing different voices for the different characters

[Anonymous No.15179761]

>>15179178
The tempest is shakespeare's best play

[Anonymous No.15180613]

>>15177406
Based Catullus

[Anonymous No.15180828]

>>15178565
>I'm not sure there has been a better female character than Cleopatra
based. To me she made almost every other female character in literature dull in comparison.

[« Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ » !d.IEVzCIA2 No.15182301]

>>15177241
Can anyone please tell me what the letter and numbers in the upper left hand of the painting signify? I have spent time trying to figure it out and have been unsuccessful. Hints as well would be appreciated thanks.

[Anonymous No.15182307]

It would be cool if his birthday were 4/20 instead

[Anonymous No.15182338]

>>15182307
Perhaps you can find someone who was born on that day and put them forward for one of the "True Shakespeare" conspiracy theories

[Anonymous No.15183662]

>>15177428
>Fut! I should have been that I am, had the maidenliest star in the firmament twinkled on my bastardizing.
Wow, thank you for this recommendation, mate. I’m really enjoying this so far.

[Anonymous No.15183698]

>>15177477
oh it's the order guy
>don't read this before that or youll nya nya nya nya

>>15177419
just enjoy whatever you read next, I assure you, all of the plays, although they are deeply connected, they are deeply independent, and can be enjoyed, understood, and taken seriously, without knowledge of any other play

[Anonymous No.15183996]

>>15183698
You sound like a faggot

[Anonymous No.15184091]

>>15183996
have you ever noticed that every other midwit retard like you is chronically obsessed with what order things are read in and what is required before what, this is the autistic mode of coping with a mind that is incapable of understanding

[Anonymous No.15184114]

>>15183698
He should read the Henriad first because Merry Wives sucks ass and bastardizes Falstaff.

[Anonymous No.15184115]

>>15184091
A major faggot

[Anonymous No.15184725]

Based as fuck.
>Sonnet 20
woman's face with nature's own hand painted,
Hast thou, the master mistress of my passion;
A woman's gentle heart, but not acquainted
With shifting change, as is false women's fashion:
An eye more bright than theirs, less false in rolling,
Gilding the object whereupon it gazeth;
A man in hue all hues in his controlling,
Which steals men's eyes and women's souls amazeth.
And for a woman wert thou first created;
Till Nature, as she wrought thee, fell a-doting,
And by addition me of thee defeated,
By adding one thing to my purpose nothing.
But since she prick'd thee out for women's pleasure,
Mine be thy love and thy love's use their treasure.

[Anonymous No.15184781]

>>15182301
Latin ætat definition: Adjective (not comparable) 1. Aged; at the age of

At the age of 34

[Anonymous No.15184881]

>>15177241
ah shit, nice. i should read something of his today/this weekend. i was just despairing the other day that i haven't read all his works just yet.

[Anonymous No.15185674]

Has anybody here read Measure for Measure? I've heard that it's one of the few comedies that rises to the level of the tragedies.

[Anonymous No.15185750]

>>15179537
I mean that's obviously a meta-reference to shakespeare's time where young boys played women, but yeah, antony was genuinely a drunk piece of shit, so they got that bit right at least

[Anonymous No.15186588]

>>15177500
52 weeks in the year
52 cards in the deck
52 years in Shakespeare's life, exactly.

[Anonymous No.15186707]

>>15185674
It's one of his late problem plays, aka too complex for the denizen's of /lit/

[Anonymous No.15186815]

>>15180828
Dido is 10* better than Cleopatra.

O that I had a charm to keep the winds
Within the closure of a golden ball;
Or that the Tyrrhene sea were in mine arms,
That he might suffer shipwreck on my breast,
As oft as he attempts to hoist up sail!

[Anonymous No.15186826]

It's not his fucking birthday. We only know when he was baptized you retard.

[Anonymous No.15186847]

>>15177556

Lincoln was of the opinion that this speech was greater than the “To be or not to be”.

[Anonymous No.15187522]

>>15178341
When comparing Falstaff to all the grades of crook out there, his motive has rare purity or singleness: He does it only to provision himself, and not at all to deprive someone else for a public or private gloat. It's a difference never lost on Lucio whatever mating arrangement of means and ends are on view in the Duke's darkening regime, so a switch I sometimes imagine is him poaching on the Henriad sans pistol, for a tavern run-in with his fat kin, whereupon winning losses to the other wit ensue.

[« Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ »FF77B0C0-3690-4CB1(...) No.15188169]

>>15184781
Thank you!

[« Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ » !cRNgVnwd4. No.15188177]

>>15184781
Thank You for the help!

[Anonymous No.15188384]

>>15177241
Today is also CIA's birthday.

[Anonymous No.15189134]

>>15179178
Shut your whore mouth.