Hamlet--1 (shall i strike at it with my partisan?)

The ground-rules I laid down for earlier plays have to hold even more strongly for Hamlet. More has been written about this play than any other piece of literature, except the various sacred texts. I am trying to think about it without fear and trembling, but this isn't all that easy. I do not propose that I am going to say anything particularly new about the play, nor do I pretend that I'm even going to say anything that is really worthy of the play. But, I'm going to do it anyway. Maybe I'm being too hard on myself. People have done such weird things with this play, setting it in all kinds of time periods, all kinds of places: corporate Hamlet (Ethan Hawke, you are guilty), Oedipal Hamlet, outer space Hamlet, gay extravaganza Hamlet, Hamlet in coat and tails (I think this is a really popular one), Japanese Hamlet, communist Hamlet, Hamlet as a woman, hip hop Hamlet, and Hamlet combined with the musical Oklahoma (I know for a fact that this last one is real, having known the woman who did the adaptation). So, how out of line can Downtown Books Hamlet really be?

I've read the first scene. There are a few things to notice, here. We open with guards, probably military, patrolling the castle Elsinore at night. I think when most people think of Hamlet, they think of a depressed, moody guy. If they're more familiar with the play, they might also think of this depressed guy acting crazy. Then they think of to be or not to be and how smart and "deep" Hamlet is. My Hippolyta from when I was in Midsummer surely hopes that her future husband is as wise as Hamlet (though if she read the play, I very much doubt that she'd want to marry the guy who tortures Ophelia into madness). But our first images in the play are martial.

Francisco, Marcellus, and Barnardo are keeping a strict watch. Horatio tells us later in the scene that this is because of a deal that Old Hamlet (our Hamlet's dad) had made with Old Fortinbras (the dead king of Norway and our Fortinbras' father [Scandinavians apparently weren't too creative with their naming]) that whoever won in a hand-to-hand fight would get a portion of the other's land. Old Hamlet won, but now that Old Hamlet and Old Fortinbras are dead, young Fortinbras wants the land back and is prepared to take it by force. Interestingly, young Fortinbras isn't the new king of Norway. His old infirm uncle is. Again, Scandinavians apparently did things a little differently. So, they're keeping watch to prepare for an invasion, while workers build ships and cannons 24-7.

This covers the longest speech in the first scene, given by Horatio while on the watch. We're preparing for war. Then, the ghost of Old Hamlet shows up, in his full armor, just kind of stalking around and occasionally looking offended. What picture we get of Hamlet's dad from the play shows us two activities that he apparently loved: sex and war. Despite the fact that his wife just married his brother, it looks to us like he's more concerned with the war part, here, as he is in full armor.

The play will also close with the military. I won't say too much about that in case you are reading it and don't know how it ends (but really, I will spoil everything eventually), but the last word is famously "shoot." I think it'll be worthwhile to remember throughout the play that there is this martial frame, even if Hamlet seems pretty un-soldierly, despite Fortinbras' claims at the end.

Antony and Cleopatra--4

Antony died on the bus this morning, Cleopatra died at lunch over some cheese and really really crusty bread. It's amazing what Shakespeare does to Antony towards the end of this play. We don't see much of him in his glory, but we hear reports of how he hasn't completely lost it yet. And then he does completely lose it. He even bungles his own suicide. It is sad.

That unremarkable post last night was on the theme that should feature tonight, the three act dirge for Antony. But, I already, Act 4 Antony-like, bungled that theme, so tonight I'll just talk briefly about the kinds of power at work in this play. Caesar has the calm, bureaucratic, irresistible kind of power that is soulless and infuriating and does win the day, not only in ancient Rome, but all the time. It's kind of like the power of the military industrial complex.

Cleopatra has the word-power, the Humbert Humbert power, only not evil, the F. Scott Fitzgerald power. And, it's combined with the Marilyn Monroe power.

Antony's power is a kind of primeval volcanic power, not controllable, even by himself. Sure, it lies dormant in Egypt for a while, being drunk all the time, having sex with Cleopatra. Then it erupts. Only, eventually, it kind of self-explodes.

Hmmm, what about the power of Enobarbus, Maecenas, etc? God, I hope its a good power, and a strong power. Because we're the follower people. They are us in that they represent our point of view in the play, they give us a way into the play. But also because, you know, historical parallels, socio-economic parallels. I don't think that anyone reading this blog really qualifies as one of the pillars of the world (I apologize if any of you are).

So, okay, Enobarbus kills himself. The other follower guys fade into the background. This doesn't bode well for us. Everyone commits suicide except Caesar. Bureaucracy, soullessness, wins out.

On that bright note, tomorrow we go to Hamlet, which promises also to be cheery.

Antony and Cleopatra--3

This is a very long play. Acts 3 and 4 have somewhere around 15 scenes. They are very short, but there are still lots of them. Reading in Act 4 all day today. We're moving towards Antony's death. It has felt like he's been dying for somewhere around 18 scenes, but he keeps fighting.

A very sad line, Antony, talking about Caesar disrespecting him: he thinks of me as what I am, and not what I have been. It's true. Antony is on the decline when the play starts, and we continue seeing him decline further as the play goes on. Cleopatra does not give off that feeling of decline.

A long, glorious decline of a beautiful demi-god. I don't want to do the sunset analogy here. Not sure what might fit. Supernova, watched from earth, where it happens kind of slowly. I don't know. Brando, who actually played Antony, who is now a complete weirdo and has been on his way there for a long time, but did The Godfather, Last Tango in Paris, other stuff as he went.

The play is heartbreaking and I hope that you'll try it.

I think that I'll finally finish it tomorrow. This weekend Hamlet is on, so get a copy, seriously.

Antony and Cleopatra--2

Through Act 3 now. I do feel a little bit closer to the characters now. It's not so much that Antony has opened up: he stays removed. Rather, the underlings have opened not only the world of the play, but also the luminaries who would seem necessarily to be in the forefront of the play. Such isn't always the case. If I were an actor and were in this play, I would want to play Enobarbus, Antony's friend and follower, who has all the life even of Antony and Cleopatra, but with more earthiness.

I think this is something that is going on throughout the play. We get access to the big-shots (Antony, Caesar, Cleopatra, even old Lepidus) and to the world of the play through the followers of the big-shots. Enobarbus delights in his conversations with Octavius' backups and with Antony, but also when he speaks up in front of Octavius. He's the major character who isn't a politician in the play and can speak his, and our, mind.

But Cleopatra also opens up a little bit. She is famous for being a seductress, who conquered the true pillars of this world: Caesar (the dead one), Antony, and Pompey (the dead one). And she seduces us. Even if we don't get close to her, we are fascinated, we are enthralled. It's nice to be captivated like this by a Shakespearean character who isn't a villain. Cleopatra is more interesting than Richard III, though maybe not than Macbeth.

Antony and Cleopatra are very lusty, which leads to one of the more natural links between Shakespeare and life that I've had on this blog. On Friday, an entire high school class came into the bookstore on a field trip. The kids were rambunctious, loud, having fun, causing us all kinds of problems. Our building was built in the 1870's and has been remodeled a lot of times. It's got all kinds of nooks and hidden corners, even hidden rooms. It's a very cool place, built for ghost hunting or a The Third Man final finish to a detective story. Imagine the Viennese sewer system filled with books.

So, it's time for the kids to leave and two of them are missing. One of my coworkers, L the former seminarian who was asked to leave a conservative Lutheran seminary because he kept wearing a cassock to class and genuflecting on the floor during chapel services, volunteered to go look for them. And, he found them--in flagrante in the music room.

L walks into perhaps the grossest room in the store, where the roof leaks have not at all been fixed, and finds two kids having sex in the last aisle. L clears his throat and says "Your class is leaving. So, uh, I guess you're staying for a while then?"

Great story, right? A few minutes after telling it to me, L ruminates, then says "I wonder if he actually inseminated her."

Antony and Cleopatra--1

Read Act One of Antony and Cleopatra today. It's good. I feel like I offer that comment on most of the plays. It's a strange play, though. Bloom says that all the characters in this play are performing all the time. I think that's true. At least, I think that might explain why it's hard to really get inside any of the characters. There aren't any soliloquies in Act One and there aren't really any private conversations, either. There's always a group onstage.

I think it must be kind of tough to write characters this big. In Julius Caesar, Caesar has a relatively small role and Antony is still young--still becoming the Antony of legend. That probably makes him a little bit easier to work with.

Basically, Antony is lolling around Egypt, having sex and fighting with Cleopatra, who must be kind of old, since we know that she also had sex Julius Caesar and Pompey. Eventually, Octavius (now Caesar and soon to be Augustus) asks Antony for help in fighting Antony's wife, who is leading an army nominally on Antony's behalf. Antony is too busy with Cleopatra to respond. His wife dies. Antony and Octavius (hereafter Caesar) meet up to make up.

I have more pressing concerns on my mind tonight, though. Today a guy came into the bookstore where I "work," immediately yelling. He's crazy. He says "Ok, say you and your friend have something going on. And it's private business, you know? And it's a secret. And then he goes and tells your girl, and before you know it, they've put you up for dope!"

This is not a story that could go anywhere. This is a story that has already been anywhere. What is the private business? It sounds like sex, but if it isn't dope, the story doesn't seem to make sense. Twenty minutes later, he dropped on me that this friend had sent him to prison to twenty years for dope. This because his friend was part of a secret Milwaukee city government conspiracy that shuttles $8 billion of coke every year to South Milwaukee. But when the victim was a paralegal, he discovered a clause that all minorities get money at 3% interest to improve their neighborhoods. So, all kinds of corporations invested in his name. So, now he's a millionaire, but can't get the money, because it's in bonds and the computers won't let him have it. The government is offering to pay him off for his silence, but that would implicate him when they do get investigated. Oh, and the corporations are involved.

Don't worry, though, dear reader, they daren't kill him off. I forget why this is.

And apparently I get paid just over minimum wage to listen to this guy and sell him a John Grisham book, which he told me the corporations were trying to keep from him. Every time he goes to Borders, the computers say that there are no copies left in print. And this somehow costs the corporations $14 billion dollars a day on the stock market. The book: Playing for Pizza.

You say, it sounds like fun to listen to this crazy person. Yes, but you forget, my store was robbed at gunpoint not long ago and I'm still a little edgey, even though I was at lunch when it happened. On the whole, I'd prefer that men larger than me act sane while in the store.

But, I've said too much. If this blog is shut down and I mysteriously die at an abandoned construction site over the next few days, then you'll know that the conspiracy is true.

Hamlet begins next week, so that it's done before Ash Wednesday, when certain essentials for reading the melancholy prince may no longer be available.

Julius Caesar--2

I should say a little more about this play. First, Brutus is a very poor tactician. For all his nobility and honor and blah blah blah, he messes up at every turn. The only thing he does successfully is murder Caesar.

Then he lets Antony live, then he lets him speak at Caesar's funeral. This is the "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears" speech, and it leads to Rome turning against the conspirators. Then, he overrules Cassius and fights the decisive battle at Phillipi, which causes their defeat and his death. In short, his incompetence is the reason they all die. But I'm glad he lets Antony live. It's hard to knock a guy for failing to kill enough people.

Oh yeah, and right after they kill Caesar, he comes up with this idea that they should all bathe their hands in his blood and then walk around town crying "Liberty!" I wonder if Bush had to read this play in high school, because that sounds a lot like Mission Accomplished to me.

When I was in high school, we didn't read the whole play. We read the first three acts and then the teacher said: "The last two acts are just battles and aren't worth reading." The uh, the training for teachers is (or at least was 10 years ago) insufficient.

Listen, Hamlet is looming on the horizon. Not yet, but soon. I want you to read it with me, or at least watch the movie. It'll happen within the next couple of weeks for sure, so get to the library, get to the bookstore, set up your Netflix, whatever. Tomorrow, though, I think I'll start Antony and Cleopatra, finish up with Mark Antony.

Geez what a super bowl!

Julius Caesar--1

About four hours on airplanes today, and close to four more stuck in airports. So, I returned to Shakespeare with Julius Caesar and finished it a few miles above and outside of Baltimore. I read Caesar for a few reasons. First, I though several of you would be familiar with it from high school. Second, I kind of wondered why we all had to read it in high school.

I think we had to read it in high school because it's fairly accessible in its language, its plot is straightforward, and its good. Plus, we learn a little about Roman history, even if Shakespeare isn't the best source for historical fact. Oh, I didn't notice a single cuckold joke, which I think make sthis play genuinely unique in all of Shakespeare and surely makes it easier to teach in high school.

The first thing to notice about this play is its ambivalence. Everyone points out that Caesar himself is not a major character. Most, i think, agree that Brutus is the major role, but I can't sympathize much with him. He joins up with a big group of guys and then stabs his best friend, who some traditions hold to be his father. As Mark Antony famously shows, this isn't particularly honorable. Or honourable. And he's so stuffed with his own honourableness.

I just don't have much tolerance for preemptive killing on the basis of a possible-future violation of a political principle. Ahem--topical, eh?

Mark Antony is sometimes pretty appealing, but is ultimately brutish, checking down a list of anti-Caesar people who must be killed. The play goes fast. We don't weep for Caesar, I don't think we rejoice too greatly for Antony and Octavius, and I'm bored with Brutus' moralizing by the time he run into his own sword. Cassius is pretty much a villain, and an interesting one.

The second thing to notice about the play is that poets strangely show up at weird times. After Antony turns the Roman mob (not the mafia) against Caesar's murderers, the mob runs around burning down conspirators' houses and killing the inhabitants. They find a poet who unfortunately shares a name (Cinna) with one of the conspirators. Whey they find this out, they start to kill him, as he yells out "I'm Cinna the poet! I'm Cinna the poet!" over their cries of "Tear him to pieces! Tear him for his bad verses!"

Why put this in? Why a poet?

So, okay, fine--a poet shows up in unfortunate circumstances. But later, things get really weird. Brutus and Cassius, the head murderers, are fighting with each other. They're planning to win back control of Rome with an army they've raised. Buty, they're arguing, blah blah blah in Brutus' tent. Then, out of nowhere, a poet bursts into the tent pleading with them in slant rhyme not to argue. He is immediately chased out and isn't mentioned again. What?!