tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post3191178604635772456..comments2024-03-27T03:19:11.216-04:00Comments on Assistant Village Idiot: Not Understanding Shakespeare - AgainAssistant Village Idiothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01978011985085795099noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-87068238531118828942021-11-06T18:55:57.457-04:002021-11-06T18:55:57.457-04:00This list 21,000 visits to my profile https://www....This list 21,000 visits to my profile https://www.blogger.com/profile/01978011985085795099 Assistant Village Idiothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01978011985085795099noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-43081751465325836572021-11-06T18:52:16.293-04:002021-11-06T18:52:16.293-04:00Thank you. Something must be wrong, as I have bee...Thank you. Something must be wrong, as I have been on since 2005 and lots of peoople have looked at that profile. there must have been a reset to zero for a bizarre reason.<br /><br />Pick you topics and enter it in the search bar. I started as a psychblogger, moved to discussing culture and various American Tribes, spend a fair bit of time on pointing out bad reasoning, provide updates on prehistory, genetics, and linguistics, and through it all extract quotes from CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien I feel are applicable to current events. I try to be humorous, but I am irritable and cranky too often.Assistant Village Idiothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01978011985085795099noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-88646044554577950552021-11-06T18:20:37.020-04:002021-11-06T18:20:37.020-04:00How is it possible you've been on bloggers sin...How is it possible you've been on bloggers since 2016 and nobody's even looked at your profile. You have two profiles views now and they're both me. I went to a different browser to see if the counter was working. You are both funny and gracious. What a great combinationwhitneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01339343160301118530noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-31732704763341219922021-11-05T20:43:29.372-04:002021-11-05T20:43:29.372-04:00Graciously said.Graciously said.Assistant Village Idiothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01978011985085795099noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-22734942137180796112021-11-05T20:24:42.775-04:002021-11-05T20:24:42.775-04:00OK, I stand corrected, please accept my apology. ...OK, I stand corrected, please accept my apology. But I think you might have clarified that in the beginning, because I'm definitely not that hoity-toity, and would not have ventured thusly.Ugalygirlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12275256219608201811noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-48461269344208850072021-11-05T20:16:57.684-04:002021-11-05T20:16:57.684-04:00I'm going to be irritated here. I was a Theat...I'm going to be irritated here. I was a Theater major and Medieval literature was one of my minors. I know the context. I don't need it explained to me. I played Gloucester in <i>King Lear.</i> I mentioned the words because those words, those key words, are not understood by modern audiences even in print without notes, and never live, even with trained actors. I think I addressed that expressly. I don't think you honestly considered the argument here. McWhorter is a professional linguist at Columbia and was interviewing a theater professor in the discussion. I'm betting they also understood the context.Assistant Village Idiothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01978011985085795099noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-69962933157093527862021-11-05T20:13:32.046-04:002021-11-05T20:13:32.046-04:00Instead of risking hell for damaging a masterpiece...Instead of risking hell for damaging a masterpiece or two, consider reading "Macbeth: A Novel" by A.J. Hartley and David Hewson. They retell the story, and prove that a great story can still be wonderful absent iambic pentameter. There's a really good Audible version also.Ugalygirlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12275256219608201811noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-79082714739531738642021-11-05T20:05:57.680-04:002021-11-05T20:05:57.680-04:00Just no. Isn't modern life just dreary enough ...<br />Just no. Isn't modern life just dreary enough without adding the bastardization of Shakespeare to our sins?. You have chosen two of the most difficult, brilliant and complex plays--they were written to be performed with actors providing the context (that would be in written form in a novel). I dont think its the words your having trouble with--its the lack of context. But here's a rough translation for you:<br /><br />Edmund: <br />"Nature made me as good as anyone else, actually better. So the hell with stupid social customs that would deny me that to which I am entitled by my natural fabulousness. Because my mother wasn't married to my father? Do I look like some soyboy living in my parents' basement? I'm going to get what I deserve, and will kill any MF in my way."<br />Edmund is a totally hot badboy--the two evil sisters go demented over him... he's every girl's hot dream. I should know.<br /><br />As for Macbeth, he's is just going through all the really good reasons that he should not commit murder. He really does NOT want to do this. Context is that he's been a GOOD MAN all his life in every way. He's suddenly exposed to some customized big-time evil that's so weird that he can't process it. Unfortunately, he has told his crazy-really-hot wife about it (he gets to be king), and she is now a dog with a bone.<br /><br />There are easier texts to start with, particularly the funny ones, maybe.. The Merry Wives of Windsor? Funny, funny story.<br />Ugalygirlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12275256219608201811noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-5031710608927147542021-10-19T08:46:33.969-04:002021-10-19T08:46:33.969-04:00Perhaps there a bit of irony in that foreign langu...Perhaps there a bit of irony in that foreign language speakers often can get more meaning out of translations of Shakespeare than all but the most educated English speakers from the original. Schlegel's German translation even maintains iambic pentameter.Zachrielhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16081260898264733380noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-86058214668569196392021-10-19T07:35:24.866-04:002021-10-19T07:35:24.866-04:00I usually find this complaint overdone when speaki...I usually find this complaint overdone when speaking of reading Shakespeare, though conceding it almost always benefits from the clarifying occasional footnote. In performance, hoo boy is it harder. Although I admit to not always being able to hear and decipher every word in any live performance of anything, Shakespeare's archaicism does make it worse. Here performers who know their job make all the difference with their emphases, gestures, and the wider context, but even then it's guaranteed I will miss something that might not be very important but still, missing it is a loss.<br /><br />You early provide an example that struck me as particularly interesting, even if in print rather than performance, by citing Edmund's "stand up for bastards" speech. The word "curiosity" in "curiosity of nations", I think, does throw the modern reader off. One thing that struck me is that I might not have been so thrown if the sentence had been formed around the adjective "curious". I am curious [heh] as to where the line is between two notions:<br /><br />Ever fewer people are familiar with the usage of "curious" to mean "peculiar", instead of "inquisitive".<br /><br />Sufficient people are still broadly aware of that usage but it is now rare enough in everyday speech that it does not readily come to mind when described as "curiosity".<br /><br />I'd definitely fall in the latter camp. I even wonder whether Shakespeare was here using a normal turn of phrase for his time or if this would have been seen as wordplay, even then.random observerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02348644823854777418noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-39454855960341123802021-10-18T23:00:44.285-04:002021-10-18T23:00:44.285-04:00The problem is finding someone with the chops to d...The problem is finding someone with the chops to do the tweaking. And tweaking poetry is especially hard.<br /><br />I thought it was Theodore Dalrymple who wrote of seeing Shakespeare played in Zulu(?) to a fascinated audience who loved the drama, but a quick search suggests that my memory is slippery.<br /><br />It's possible to klunk up an adaptation. I griped about Durband's version--it needlessly changed connotations and read very badly.<br /><br />And then there's <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Family_Shakespeare/F0HOAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PP7&printsec=frontcover" rel="nofollow">https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Family_Shakespeare/F0HOAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PP7&printsec=frontcover</a>jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01792036361407527304noreply@blogger.com