--- In [email protected], "Patrick Gillam" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Judy, I agree with your analysis below. Reminds me of my MIU second > year literature course with Rhoda Orme-Johnson. > > I recently listened to "Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became > Shakespeare," by Stephen Greenblatt. It was a terrific blend of > scholarship, history and literature. At once it made Shakespeare > more of a man, and more of a miracle.
Thanks, Patrick, I just put this on my Amazon list. Miracle is right. Impossibly brilliant > > After finishing the book I watched "Shakespeare in Love." Great fun. > It captured many of the points made in Greenblatt's work. > > > > --- In [email protected], "authfriend" <jstein@> wrote: > > > > --- In [email protected], Duveyoung <no_reply@> wrote: > > <snip> > > I'm quite a wonderful person, by most standards, but > > > remember that Shakespeare ended the "what a piece of work is man" > > > soliloquy with "Why it appears no other thing to me than a foul and > > > pestilent congregation of vapors." > > > > Well, not exactly. Here's the speech (not a > > soliloquy; he delivers it to Rosenkrantz and > > Guildenstern, explaining that King Claudius > > has sent for them to try to jolly him, Hamlet, > > out of his depression): > > > > I have of late,--but wherefore I know not,--lost all my > > mirth, forgone all custom of exercises; and indeed, > > it goes so heavily with my disposition that this goodly > > frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory; this > > most excellent canopy, the air, look you, this brave > > o'erhanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted with > > golden fire,--why, it appears no other thing to me than a > > foul and pestilent congregation of vapours. What a piece > > of work is man! How noble in reason! how infinite in > > faculties! in form and moving, how express and > > admirable! in action how like an angel! in apprehension, > > how like a god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of > > animals! And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of > > dust? Man delights not me; no, nor woman neither, > > though by your smiling you seem to say so. > > > > In other words: He's very clear--remarkably clear-- > > that it's not that he's suddenly realized that the > > earth is really nothing but a "congregation of > > vapours," or that other people have no more value > > than dust. He's not passing judgment on the earth > > and human beings, he's saying there's something > > wrong *with him* that he can't take pleasure in > > their magnificence. > > > > It's a perfect description of the experience of > > clinical depression (say I, having also > > experienced it). > > > > Hamlet's not the only Shakespearean character > > who gives a good account of depression. Here's > > Macbeth: > > > > Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow > > Creeps in this petty pace from day to day > > To the last syllable of recorded time. > > And all our yesterdays have lighted fools > > The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! > > Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player > > Who struts and frets his hour upon the stage > > And then is heard no more. It is a tale > > Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, > > Signifying nothing. > > > > I had a minor epiphany awhile back thinking > > about this soliloquy, and how it might be > > performed very differently: not as a descent > > into despair, but as an awakening, as a sudden > > realization of Self, of liberation. > > > > Here I've been going through all this agony > > of guilt and fear, and--it's meaningless! > > What have I been beating my head against the > > wall for? I'm not this walking shadow, this > > poor player strutting and fretting, and I > > never was. > > > > I envision the actor starting out sunk in > > utter misery. But by the time he gets to > > "It is a tale told by an idiot," he begins to > > get it. And after "signifying nothing," he > > breaks out in a peal of astonished, joyful > > laughter. > > > > Macbeth, the serial murderer, goes from the Dark > > Night of the Soul to emergence into the Light > > in ten lines. > > > > What a genius, that Shakespeare. > > >
