Shakespeare Rools!
I had a really cool realization on the weekend when I was asked to help my daughter with a Shakespeare assignment.
Who, what, when, where and why - other than Shakespeare - has been a constant in *our* education system other than Shakespeare?
That's right, other historical fads may come and go with the politics of the times, but Shakespeare remains a constant educational touchstone.
The incredible thing, too, as I discovered, was how much fun it was to pass on all that I knew about the themes in Shakespeare. And I was amazed (as you would be, too, no doubt) by how much I could remember about who's who - especially in the tragedies.
The particular play in play was MacBeth - NOT a play I studied in any great depth, but when my daughter wondered aloud about which scene to dissect, I immediately piped up "Out damn spot!". And proceeded to argue my case quite forcefully as to why Lady MacBeth's descent into madness, consumed as she was by guilt and remorse for what she had done, is one of the most tragic scenes of the tragic scenes of Shakespeare's tragedies.
And there were... five?
The fact that I came to that realization - that it's one of the best scenes in Shakespeare - only in the moment of my retelling of her desperate attempt to wash off the phantom stain of sin, made it all the more sweet. It also reminded me of why I liked Shakespeare way back when I studied it - because women have great parts in his plays. Which I thought was pretty cool for the times until I remembered - aha! - Elizabeth I was Queen!
Which, quite naturally, caused me to opine that women on top - obviously - bring out the best in men below.
It all fits when you put it just so - doesn't it?
But oh how backward we are in these modern times, eh? I mean, contrast Shakespeare's plays to Hollywood's movies and notice the very obvious lack of good roles for women in these modern times. The best movie I've seen in a while, "Children of Men", basically had the role of women reduced right down to one woman's fertility. And I doubt the actress who played that role made anywhere NEAR the money she would have made playing a hooker with a heart of gold in something else.
In fact, I can't imagine, even though over 50% of law school students (graduates?) are women, a Hollywood movie entrusting the delivery of the modern equivalent to, oh, say... "The Quality of Mercy" - to an actress. Unless it was by an uptalking blond bombshell who graduated Harvard Law School - shocking everybody in the world with her bubblicious brains, in spite of her blond bombshellness and bouncing boobies.
It really is kind of disgusting how cutesy backward pop culture is, if you ask me. I mean, there's humour fodder there in terms of mockworth, but, well, watch Saturday Night Live, sometime. Talk about cheap laughs. If you don't follow the shallowest news of the tartiest pop culture scene in the United States - you won't get any of the jokes. Without the cultural reference points (Britney sans undies and O.C. death scenes) - they aren't funny.
Which explains why I haven't laughed at Saturday Night Live in about... oh... say... 25 years.
Still, it is heartening to know that if it were to take on Shakespeare, there would be however many generations there are alive watching who would all get the joke. That's pretty cool, when you really stop and think about it. Even the Bible - maybe especially the Bible - isn't as well known as Shakespeare by generations upon generations of students from the width and breadth of the English language education system.
King LEER, anyone?
Anyway, it was interesting, too, how the characters come alive again when one is put in mind of them. We even had a hilarious discussion of riddles and what constitutes a riddle when I gave away the surprise ending - MacDuff revealing himself to be "not of woman-born" - and killing MacBeth.
Ooh. That must've been sum freaky. Thinking you're invincible and then -
Of course, I probably couldn't re-read any of the plays. Shakespearean English is just too much for me to be bothered with now. Just surfing through the book looking for old quotes to wow and amaze my friends and family with for years to come gave me eyestrain.
Anybody know any good movie re-makes I could rent instead?
