In school, we were asked to read Romeo and Juliet, but I always dismissed it as romantic drivel. Adding to my disinterest, it wasn't even in English, so I felt I was missing out on its subtleties, making the experience even less enjoyable in my opinion.

Fast-forward ten years, and for some inexplicable reason, I found myself drawn to a beautifully bound edition of the play in one of my town's quaint stores. Intrigued, I decided to give it another chance, this time accompanied by the 1997 BCC rendition. To my surprise, I was totally captivated by the story and its characters, and I felt EVERY big emotion through my body, which I'm not used to with movies; I hadn't realized its depth and brilliance until that moment.

I'm eager to explore more of Shakespeare's works. It's remarkable how our perspectives can shift over time, isn't it?

EDIT: I should add that watching the 2019 rendition of King Lear has also fed my interest on Shakespeare.

For my English class, I have to present a debate arguing how the men did not win, but I think they won, as Petruchio successfully tamed Katherine.

Are there any instances where the men “didn’t win?”

There are a lot of researches pointing out that the number 3 carries a significant meaning in Macbeth (three witches, the witches constantly repeating things three times, etc.).

I’m wondering if the number 2 has any significance in the play since I also noticed some patterns (some two knocks in the porter scene, the witches sometimes repeating things two times: show me show me, a drum a drum).

I am trying to work in a Shakespeare quote into my Matron of honor speech fory best friends wedding coming up. What are some of your favorite shorter quotes about love

I’m in the Australian equivalent of American AP English or whatever you learn Shakespeare in. We’re reading and picking apart othello and I have no idea what’s going on, I’m going to have to drop the class if I don’t pass the next assignment, can someone please explain the general plot and the underlying ideas. I trust in you guys

I want to watch King Lear for the first time and Ian Mckellen is my favourite actor of all time but I'm unsure which of his two versions of the play to watch. I have access to both so it's more a question which one is the better adaptation.

Which version would you recommend and why?

My school is announcing the next play next week and here are the hints we’ve been given:

-it’s a Shakespearean comedy

-it contains a single slap. No stage combat

Anyone have a clue on what it could be?

My initial guess was twelfth night but now I’m not so sure after the “single slap” hint. And we know for a fact it’s not Romeo and Juliet & probably not Much Ado About Nothing since our director doesn’t like repeating plays so close together. Any guesses are welcome!!! Help a girl out!!

Edit: we asked chat gpt and we’re down to Taming of the Shrew and Twelfth Night. Keep in mind our administration is very homophobic lol

I'm the tech director for a small Shakespeare Festival in the midwest. We are a little unorthodox in that we typically record our plays and post them in our entirety (started mostly as an archival thing, but evidently a lot of students seem to find it very helpful). Recently one of our videos received a copyright strike and was removed from YouTube. The notification failed to identify what content was being claimed to have been used, instead simply saying “Info available on request. For more information about this removal request, email copyright@youtube.com.”.

I sent an email as directed, and received no response; about a month later I reached out to YouTube Support via chat, and they said they would try to escalate the issue, but they couldn't get any more information on what was claimed to have been used.

I decided to reach out to the claimant since the copyright notification included their information as well. They responded fairly quickly, but the response appeared to me to be either really poor english or really cryptic. The response was also listed as coming from "Archetype Publishing" and I've pasted it below.

Greetings,

It's about the Playwright, it would enable youtube usage for previews.

As in, the Book Market has collected against the copyright.

Attached is authorized book listing, notices will likely be sent out in or before summer requesting payment.

Julien Coallier

They also included an (atrociously formatted) attachment that was just a listing of a lot of Shakespeare Plays with links to books published by this Julien Coallier/Archetype Publishing (eg this copy of A Winters Tale) . The attachment also referenced a website https://www.williamshakespeareplaywright.org/

From what I can tell, this person is basically just publishing all of Shakespeare's plays as their own "edited version" of the plays, and then trying to trick unsuspecting theater departments into paying for their "License Packages". Then they abuse YouTube's copyright system by issuing a takedown request, and they are small enough to fly under YouTube's radar.

I've submitted several counter notifications to YouTube in an attempt to get the video reinstated, but YouTube simply says "Thank you for your counter notification. Unfortunately, it's unclear to us whether you have a valid reason for filing a counter notification, so we won't be able to honor your request." so they're not even notifying the claimant that we would like to begin legal proceedings.

I've submitted a second email to youtube asking for them to identify the specific copyrighted work claimed to be infringed (a legal requirement as part of a DCMA takedown, which it seems we have been denied).

I feel bewildered by this whole thing, I'm fairly certain we are in the right here, but I can't even get YouTube to tell us what the content was that we are supposed to have misused. Am I missing something here? I haven't been able to find anything about this person other than listings on Amazon and Barnes & Noble, so I'm fairly confident they're not a real person, just a troll reselling public domain material.

​

MacBeth in darkest night does walk,

He begs the stones to silence keep;

Besotted guard hails him to halt,

MacBeth the thrust does make so meek.

Let devil shineth light below,

See angels scream and quake above;

King Duncan martyr home does go,

MacBeth reports to his belov’d.

“You fool,” says she, “you fail’d to smear the guards?

Need I do all ‘round here for your success?

The King should I be, would plans go unmarred!”

Our Lord does slink before her righteousness.

The world perpetual cleav’d to strife,

When man doth shrink ‘fore manly wife.

***

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I had to create a school report for Mark Antony's Character etc. (From Julius Caesar). I misspelled Antony as Anthony and this is a written project so striking with pen would look bad and this project is decently important. Is Anthony correct? or should I rewrite my project.

this year my literature play is hamlet and i want to watch one of the movies to better my understanding of the play, which adaptation would be best. if there are any movies that follow the text 1to1 that would be best, any other things that could help me prepare would be appreciated.

I was recently watching King Lear (2018) and Ran (1985). In Ran, the film changes the daughters to the sons, so I got curious about this.

In those times, story point of view, it'd make more sense for the king to bestow his kingdom to his sons, but instead Shakespeare chose to have daughters. I have no problem with it, nor I am being sexist about it, but I was just wondering is there any specific reason for this creative choice?

Hi all! I'm not very familiar with Shakespeare or many of his plays, and I haven't read A Midsummer Night's Dream BUT I am attending a birthday party with that theme. It's encouraged to get dressed up to match but I don't really know what that would entail. Does anyone have suggestions of what would fit this or what you might do? I have looked online but without having read it, I'm really not sure what would be appropriate.

Hi everyone, I'm planning to go to Oxford and London in November. I generally like visiting museums and historical places and I am also into Shakespeare. I looked up how long it would take to get to Stratford-Upon-Avon, it would take about two hours by train to get there from Oxford, and was wondering if it would be worth spending a day there in November? I read somewhere that some attractions are closed during the winter months, so I'm also wondering what would be open in November?

Also, as a side note to visiting Shakespeare-related places in London - I'm aware that the Globe Theatre doesn't perform in the winter months, but rather in a covered theatre. Is the Globe still open for visits?

Many thanks in advance!

Has anyone gotten to see this? I was lucky enough to get tickets to a theatre playing the filmed play yesterday. I really enjoyed it.

Ralph Fiennes was a wonderful Macbeth, though a companion noted maybe the progression into madness wasn't marked enough as he showed some hints of madness pretty early on-- maybe too early on, and I might agree with that. Indira Varma playing Lady Macbeth had a good balance of tenderness and hardness. I also found Ben Turner's performance in IV.iii particularly compelling.

Thoughts?

I realize you may think the suggestion of the Secret Five Act Structure is ridiculous, and that's okay. However, that's not the question. Even if you disagree with the premise, do you believe Sonnet 43 provides evidence for those that do?

(NOTE: The Secret Five Act Structure is the idea that 154 sonnets break into 11 sections of 14 [11x14=154], where each sonnet functions as a line within a larger sectional sonnet. The first three sections form Act 1. Sonnet 43 (14x3+1) is the first poem of Section 4 and Act 1. Hence, it has the responsibility of creating a new narrative arc.)

If you need a refresher, here's Sonnet 43 (or 4.1):

When most I wink, then do mine eyes best see,
For all the day they view things unrespected;
But when I sleep, in dreams they look on thee
And, darkly bright, are bright in dark directed.

Then thou whose shadow shadows doth make bright,
How would thy shadow’s form form happy show
To the clear day with thy much clearer light
When to unseeing eyes thy shade shines so?

How would, I say, mine eyes be blessèd made
By looking on thee in the living day,
When in dead night thy fair imperfect shade
Through heavy sleep on sightless eyes doth stay?

All days are nights to see till I see thee,
And nights bright days when dreams do show thee me.

​

Are these interpretations feasible?

1. Day is a reference to Shakespeare's living life, night is a reference to after his death, and sleep is a reference to the secret being undiscovered or in hibernation.
2. "Wink" is a reference to an inside joke.
3. "Unrespected" is a reference to the idea that no one in Shakespeare's time or afterwards fully respected the full quality of The Sonnets.
4. "Darkly bright" references Shakespeare's cunning or secret genius to do this.
5. "Shadows shadow" can be interpreted many ways, most of them support the idea that something hidden that the reader would want to see.
6. "Form form" is reference to structure and form, indicating that understanding 14x11 (knowing that this is first sonnet of Section 4, for example) is key to decoding the secret.
7. "Happy show" is a reference to the idea that his isn't just numerology. Readers will like what they see.
8. "Unseeing eyes" and "sightless eyes" is a reference to people who read The Sonnets without know the structure.
9. The third quatrain is Shakespeare asking the question: How can I say that what I've made is so amazing when its true value will not be understood after I'm gone?
10. The couplet could be interpreted as: Life is death until my secret is seen, and death is life if the future reveals what I've done.

Sonnet 43 begins a 14 sonnet narrative arc about secrets and endless with Sonnet 56, which is very much an apology. Many sonnets in this section are as deep as Sonnet 43. Using the principles of literary criticism, please decide whether or not the ideas listed above are supported by textual evidence from the text.

All feedback is valued.

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In light of the current Kendrick/Drake war of words going on, I thought now would be a good time to post this TIL about the War of the Theatres (dubbed the Poetomachia by Thomas Dekker). I hadn't heard of this until I read something in passing about it the other day. If you're like I was and don't know, this was an absolutely bonkers back-and-forth that took place between 1599-1602, with Ben Johnson on one side and John Marston and Thomas Dekker on the other. (With Thomas Middleton in the J Cole role sort of? I guess?)

These guys fired shots at one another in the form of VERY thinly-veiled references in their plays. They accused each other of being prideful, immoral, hypocritical, you name it. Shakespeare even alluded to it in Hamlet, calling the beef "much throwing about of brains." It got HUGELY popular, as crowds flocked to each subsequent show to see what new insult it might contain. ("Babe wake up, Dekker just dropped!")

Some have called the conflict a PR move though, as the playwrights were allegedly seen toasting each other's wealth at a tavern, and they went on to collaborate on Eastward Hoe. (George Chapman, feat. Ben "BJ" Johnson and J "J-Marz" Marston)

I just thought this was an interesting parallel to the current drama!

It’s the 1957 Japanese adaption film of Macbeth, directed by Kurosawa, staring Toshiro Mifune. I’d like to rant about it a little bit…

Throne of Blood moves so fast that it shakes off many side branches of the play (or only mentions them swiftly), yet I guess that’s the only argument against its brilliance.

That is to say, Kurosawa’s devilish ability to store a picturesque view of the Sengoku period while keeping in touch with the Scottish tale does not surprise me anymore. Mifune conveys the essence of the character like usual as well.

Then we can chat a bit about the use of fog throughout this delicately crafted 1.5 hour masterpiece - it just blends in with the black and white cinematography and turns the movie into one of Kurosawa’s finest paintings.

Though the ending comes as a bit of a twist, the Japanese Macbeth still gets what he deserves and kicks the bucket as he should. I don’t mind it being misaligned with the play, the whole thing wasn’t set in Scotland anyways.

Overall a 4/5 movie, it wasn’t shockingly cinema (felt like Kurosawa could’ve played with the historical context a bit more), but adequately good compared to its numerous counterparts.

Most of my classmates disagree, but I will always stand by this. I think they butchered a great piece of Shakespeare. Thoughts?