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/lit/ - Literature

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17321099 No.17321099 [Reply] [Original]

was Shakespeare a hack for never producing anything original? all he did was steal plots and translate them.

>> No.17321132

>>17321099
I suggest you don't bother reading him

>> No.17321139

>>17321099
My god, you may as well bitch at Goethe because he didn't invent Faust.

I was just reflecting on how unforgettable almost everything Shakespeare ever wrote is. I mean, take this bit from Hamlet; it's not even particularly famous as Shakespeare soliloquies go, but it's still nearly flawless:

Witness this army of such mass and charge
Led by a delicate and tender prince,
Whose spirit with divine ambition puff’d
Makes mouths at the invisible event,
Exposing what is mortal and unsure
To all that fortune, death and danger dare,
Even for an egg-shell.

Shakespeare's mastery of style was so absolute that even a passage like this doesn't leap out as among his most memorable work.

>> No.17321220

>>17321099
The idea of originality is a spook.
Also, notice how in the vast majority of cases nobody gives a single fuck about the works that Shakespeare imitated/adapted. Shakespeare obviously did something special with them.

>> No.17321475

>>17321099
He was quite a genius in his adaptations, but when he tried to be original, he really did show lack of general knowledge.

>> No.17321502

The same can be said of Chaucer, the same can be said of Homer even. The question is if he did it well, was it enjoyable and skillful? I don’t see anything wrong with standing upon the shoulders of giants and reformulating something into a more beautiful form.

>> No.17321511

There is nothing new under the sun

>> No.17321685

>>17321099
Yeah he's literally the product of an anglo lobby