Shakespeare has become a serious passion of mine in the
last decade or so, and I frequently pick up more books related to his works.
Also, I often receive them as gifts, which always makes me happy. Here are
notes on the books I’ve read recently.
William Shakespeare’s The Taming Of The
Clueless by Ian Doescher – Author Ian Doescher began retelling the
Star Wars films as if they’d been
written by William Shakespeare, and after the success of those books, started
branching out to other films. The Taming Of The Clueless is obviously an
adaptation of the 1995 film
Clueless,
itself a loose adaptation of Jane Austen’s
Emma.
It is presented in iambic pentameter, and contains lots of playful references
to Shakespeare’s plays. For example, Cher refers to Cordelia’s lines when she
says, “They have begot thee, bred thee, loved thee; thou/Return those duties
back as are right fit” (p. 17). And on the next page, Ian Doescher refers to
“the green-ey’d monster,” from
Othello.
The character Travis delivers a play on Hamlet’s most famous soliloquy: “And
sleep – and by sleep to say we end/The horrid grades our work is heir to” (p.
26). His teacher soon continues the reference: “If ye would shuffle off this
mortal coil,/You must postpone ‘til second period” (p. 26). And in the first
dialogue between Cher and Josh, we have something like the back-and-forth
between Katherine and Petruchio, as the book’s title suggests. Cher later uses
Henry V’s lines when she says, “When I have match’d my racket to these balls,/I
shall, indeed, by heaven, play a set” (p. 56). Cher also echoes Polonius’
advice when she says, “give thy thoughts no tongue,/Nor any unproportion’d
thought its act./Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar” (p. 74). Travis
borrows from Puck’s final speech: “If my blunder has offended thee,/Soon Travis
shall restore amends, Cher” (p. 76). As you might recall, the film
Clueless contains a
Hamlet reference, when Cher corrects Heather regarding which
character says “To thine own self be true,” and so that references is found in
these pages as well. Josh later quotes
The
Merchant Of Venice: “Thy quality of mercy is not strain’d” (p. 121). Tai
refers to
Love’s Labour’s Lost when
she says, “Canst sparkle still the right Promethean fire” (p. 148). I
appreciate that Ian Doescher takes an opportunity to poke fun at lizard woman
Kellyanne Conway by calling a fabrication “facts alternative” (p. 139). This
book was published in 2020.
William Shakespeare’s Tragical History Of
Frankenstein by Ian Doescher – I then read another of Ian Doescher’s
adaptations. While most of the adaptations he’s written were based on films,
this one is based on Mary Shelley’s novel rather than on one of the many
Frankenstein movies. As with his other
adaptations, this book contains plenty of references to lines from
Shakespeare’s plays. For example, Victor Frankenstein says, “O let me not be
mad, not mad, sweet heav’n/Keep me in temper: I would not be mad!” (pages
24-25), echoing King Lear’s lines. The Monster quotes Hamlet, saying, “Words, words,
words” (p. 33). The Monster also borrows words from
The Tempest: “You taught me language; and my profit on’t/Is, I know
how to curse” (p. 38). In the play, those words are spoken by Caliban, making
them a perfect choice for the Monster, for he is a sort of Caliban, isn’t he?
The Monster borrows from
Hamlet again
when he says, “I should have taken arms against a sea/Of troubles and destroy’d
my very self” (p. 40). Of course, “Or to take arms against a sea of troubles”
comes from Hamlet’s most famous soliloquy, which begins with the line “To be or
not to be,” a question the Monster seems to be struggling with as well. The
Monster also takes inspiration from
Romeo
And Juliet, saying “Thou art a Frankenstein, in sooth? A lad/By any other
name would smell more sweet” (p. 48). Alphonse borrows lines from Polonius: “I would
find out the cause of this effect,/Or rather say, the cause of this defect,/For
this effect defective comes by cause” (p. 77). Victor also borrows from
Hamlet when he says, “Alas, I am hoist
by my own petard” (p. 88). And then soon after that, Victor says, “To resist
the many thousand shocks/That flesh is heir to” (p. 94), playing on a line from
Hamlet’s famous soliloquy. There is quite a bit of
Hamlet in this book, for the Monster later says, “‘tis a
consummation/Devoutly to be wish’d” (p. 127), which interestingly completes the
line that Victor began on that earlier page. This book was published in 2020.
Shakespeare’s Tragedies: All That Matters
by Michael Scott – This book focuses on the four big tragedies:
Hamlet,
King Lear,
Macbeth and
Othello, with a chapter dedicated to
each of those plays. In the chapter on
Hamlet,
Scott writes, regarding Ophelia’s line about violets, “Violets were thought by
the Elizabethans to be able to cure melancholy” (p. 22). Drawing a connection
between Hamlet and Ophelia regarding madness and the deaths of parents, Scott
writes, “Hamlet has put on a disposition of madness following the Ghost’s
revelation of the manner of his father’s death, while Ophelia is portrayed as
going mad due to her father’s death” (p. 22). Regarding religion, Scott writes:
“Distortions of the sacraments appear throughout the play. In Catholicism a
sacrament is an outward sign of inward grace. So what does the distortion signify?
Ophelia, for example, is not cleansed by the water of baptism but drowns in
water. Her death is proclaimed as being ‘suspect’ by the Church and she is not
allowed to be buried in consecrated ground. At the end of the play, the wine in
the communion cup, which in the sacrament of the Eucharist Catholics believe is
transformed into the actual blood of Christ, is transformed into a deadly
poisonous drink” (p. 35). Then in the chapter on
King Lear, regarding Lear’s dividing of the kingdom, Scott writes: “this
episode is not a competition, since as soon as Goneril has spoken, the king
gives her her land and as soon as Regan has spoken he gives her her land. This
exchange is telling, however, in that Lear is asking his daughters to measure
something, to render into crass sensory terms something that is immeasurable.
You cannot quantify love, and in this staged competition we are invited to
support Cordelia against her garrulous and, it turns out, deceitful sisters”
(p. 47). Scott also writes, about Lear: “Shakespeare depicts Lear as having the
power to construct not only his own reality, but reality per se. Because he has
authority, everyone has to conform with the order, the ceremony, the games, the
tests that he creates. But Cordelia will not conform; she is a woman who
resists, her resistance attracting sympathy since Lear is clearly wrong in what
he is doing” (p. 48). In the chapter on
Macbeth,
regarding the historical context of equivocation and treachery, Scott writes: “The
Gunpowder Plot was not the first attempt on the new king’s life. In 1600 the
Scottish Earl of Gowrie had attempted to assassinate James while the king was
Gowrie’s guest. Thus there was a real-life parallel to the assassination by
Macbeth of the king who was lodging under his protection” (pages 66-67). And in
the chapter on
Othello, regarding
racism in Elizabethan and Jacobean society, Scott writes, “One of the events
celebrations James I’s wedding in Oslo (1589) had four black men dancing naked
in the snow in front of him and his queen, Anne of Denmark; the men
subsequently died of the cold. Black people were servants, entertainers,
prostitutes” (p. 84). And regarding some elements that are left unknown, Scott
writes: “For example, what has led up to Desdemona’s elopement? What has her
father done to encourage the relationship between her and Othello? Who is
Bianca? What is her relationship with Cassio? In short, we are asked to go
through the same process of evaluating evidence as Rodorigo, Brabantio, Cassio
and finally Othello” (p. 95). Michael Scott also touches upon
Romeo And Juliet before the end of the
book. This book was published in 2015.
MacTrump by Ian Doescher and Jacopo
Della Quercia – I’ve had this book for a while, but put off reading it
because I needed a break from all things Trump. However, it seems that until
he’s in prison, we’re not going to get that break. And I figured, hey, if in
this book he ends up like Macbeth, then there’s a happy ending, so I finally
did read it. The messenger in this story is named McTweet, and McTweet actually
begins the first scene with something akin to the beginning of Jacques’ famous
speech, but also playing on a line from Macbeth’s “Tomorrow and tomorrow and
tomorrow” speech. The names take form closer to characters from the plays. For
example, Barrack O’Bama becomes Banquo O’Bama. Pelosi becomes Prosperosi. There
is a fool named Fooliani, which is perfect. Stormy Daniels becomes Tempest
Daniels, and FOX News becomes Pox Network. The soldier’s line “All hail Lady
MacTrump – third wife, first lady” (p. 19) made me laugh. Lady MacTrump has a
secret crush on O’Bama, which of course makes complete sense, and in a
soliloquy she speaks of how Trump is jealous of O’Bama, and, as you might
guess, she uses the phrase from
Othello,
“the green-ey’d monster” (p. 40). There is also a reference to the nude photos
that Melania Trump posed for. There are even references to Trump’s incestuous
relationship with Ivanka: “MacTrump loves her beyond a father’s love” (p. 20),
and to the
Access Hollywood tape. And
there is a reference to Trump’s father being in the KKK. The book plays on
Trump’s obsession with the size of his crowds, and gets into his desire for
total authoritarianism, also poking fun at the gross stupidity of his followers
and at Kellyanne Conway and her alternative facts. Stephen Miller becomes
Gorgamiller, a monster who rises through the trap door. It is Ivanka who plays
the role of Lady Macbeth, urging Trump to action, to fire Comey: “So screw your
courage to the sticking place” (p. 70). She is the one who schemes. Like King
Lear, Trump wants to hear from his children how much they love him: “Which of
you shall we say doth love us most?” (p. 126). Rather than wiping blood from
her hands, Lady MacTrump tries to scrub the words “I verily don’t care. Do
you?” from her clothes, a really nice touch. This book contains illustrations,
including one of Sean Spicer hiding behind a bush.
MacTrump was published in 2019, yet in it MacTrump plans on facing
Biden in the 2020 election.
Antic Fables: Patterns Of Evasion In
Shakespeare’s Comedies by A.P. Riemer – The title of this book comes
from a line Theseus delivers in
A
Midsummer Night’s Dream, and in the book’s preface, that line is discussed,
with focus on the word “antic,” compared with the Q1 reading of “antique,” and
how not only language has changed, but so too cultural attitudes. In the first
chapter, Riemer writes, “Shakespeare continues to be a staple of what might
still be regarded as the popular theatre because his comedies have escaped the
ravages of time” (p. 4). Riemer continues, “In his comedies, the lack, on the
whole, of specific reference to contemporary society and manners ensures
concentration on other theatrical and poetic possibilities, so that even where
particular plays deal with actual situations and people (as is the case,
possibly, in
Love’s Labour’s Lost),
these plays are less explicit in their subject-matter and are therefore better
able to survive” (p. 4). A little later in that first chapter, Riemer writes,
“Where the theatre is concerned, it is clear that audiences took as much
aesthetic pleasure from the performance as from the material performed” (p. 13).
Regarding Love’s Labour’s Lost, Riemer writes: “We are unable to say what
Shakespeare ‘means’ by the play because all attempts to make it directly
relevant to the
real world of the
late sixteenth century (or of the twentieth century, for that matter) are
blocked by the smiling insistence that this is no more than a sport. A refusal
to allow itself to be taken solemnly, while offering itself with great
seriousness, is a characteristic of the rather odd manner of comedy Shakespeare
practised” (p. 22). Regarding
Measure For
Measure, Riemer writes that the play can be viewed “in part at least, as a
technical exercise – an experiment in exploring how far a comedy is able to
tolerate emphasis on brutality, greed, lasciviousness, and on the complicated
means of arriving at the anticipated happy ending, without shattering the mould
of comic conventions” (p. 39). Regarding the characters who aren’t able to take
part in the happy endings of the plays, Riemer writes: “The chief
distinguishing feature of the characters excluded from happiness is that they
are incapable of loving or are incapable of attracting love. Their capacity is
often only for self-promotion and for the indulgence of mercenary or
materialistic desires. By comparison, even those, like Claudio and Posthumus,
who are guilty of a lack of trust and readily believe the slanders against
their mistresses’ virtue, are saved because they are loved and because they
adhere to an ideal of love, no matter how much their foolishness compromises
their belief” (p. 62). Regarding a theme of
A
Midsummer Night’s Dream, Riemer writes, “Love is frenzy; love is conflict.
It is also akin to madness, if not madness itself. The Athenian lovers
experience a night of hallucinations; Bottom receives an enchantment which he
recalls merely as a bizarre dream; the frenzy of love humiliates Titania” (p.
72). Regarding
As You Like It, Riemer
writes: “Jaques’s well-known monologue on the seven ages of man expresses
melancholic disillusionment. But its thematic function in the play is peculiar:
it is neither a corrective to the pervasive jollity, nor an instance of
despairing sadness which must be conquered. It is a performance, a bravura
display, both within the fiction of the play and from the point of view of the
theatrical audience” (p. 79). In a later chapter, on
The Winter’s Tale, Riemer writes, “One of the more persistently
irritating puzzles of literary scholarship has been Shakespeare’s apparently
perverse or careless reversal of the settings provided by his source for the
two parts of the action. Greene locates the court of Pandosto, Leontes’s
counterpart, in Bohemia; the place where the foundling child is reared is the
pastoral landscape of Sicily. In
The
Winter’s Tale, these locations are reversed” (p. 180). Regarding the juice
of the magic flower in
A Midsummer
Night’s Dream, Riemer writes, “Puck’s misuse of the drug also has certain
analogies with Renaissance attitudes towards the function of art – he is the
improper practitioner, that figure of insufficient ability, command, authority
or benevolence in whose hands the powerful tools of the artist become
dangerous” (p. 200). Riemer also writes about
Dream: “we laugh at Bottom as he wakes from his enchantment, and we
observe that he reverts soon enough to his former blustering as ‘Bully Bottom’,
yet his reminiscences persuade us that (in some ways) he is a privileged being
– he had heard the mermaids singing. The play makes no moral or social comment
or promise about this achievement; it leads to no greater knowledge or amelioration;
this is no conventionally therapeutic comedy, but it indicates – always within
the jesting decorum of comedy – the type of transitory and tentative emotional
satisfaction the world of art and of illusions is able to produce” (pages
203-204). This book was published in 1980.
Macbeth With Reader’s Guide by Solomon
Schlakman – This book, designed to be used in classrooms, contains the text
of
Macbeth, along with a series of
questions prompting discussion. The play itself is presented on the book’s
odd-numbered pages, while notes on certain lines and words are on the
even-numbered pages. However, the notes are not extensive. In fact, several
pages contain just one or two notes, which seems wasteful. Regarding the phrase
“chance may crown me” in Act I Scene 3, Schlakman notes: “The crown in Scotland
was elective. On the death of the king, the nobles elected someone of royal
blood to succeed, unless the king had specifically indicated his successor, in
which case the nobles were likely to carry out the king’s wish. Macbeth feels
here he would be elected to succeed Duncan, since he is of royal blood and has
distinguished himself” (p. 20). This text uses “scotch’d the snake” rather than
“scorch’d the snake.” The reader’s guide includes a short introduction before
the series of questions. In that introduction, Schlakman writes, “More than the
other plays of Shakespeare,
Macbeth
seems to abound in antithesis and paradox – for a good reason: these related
devices involve the use of opposites and contradictions, and the dramatic
vision that
Macbeth offers is that of
a world in which order, regularity, logic, and conventional and accepted values
have all been overturned and destroyed” (pages 202-203). The book is part of
the Amsco Literature Program, and the text used is that of The Aldus
Shakespeare. This book was published in 1972. The copy I read came from North
High School in Worcester, where my father taught. Interestingly, someone tore
out part of one page of this book, the part containing my favorite speech, the
“Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow” speech.
