Tag Archives: Falstaff

“We look back at Shakespeare and regret our absence from him because it seems an absence from reality.”

Posted on April 10, 2014 by Dennis Abrams

Conclusion to The Play’s The Thing Part Two By Dennis Abrams ———————————- Honestly, I can’t believe it’s over. For two and half years, We’ve been reading and talking and thinking about Shakespeare. And to help bring this to a close, … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged A Midsummer Night's Dream, All's Well That Ends Well, Antony and Cleopatra, As You Like It, Comedy, Coriolanus, Cymbeline, drama, Falstaff, Hamlet, Henry IV, Henry IV Part I, Henry IV Part II, Henry V, Henry VI Parts One Two and Three, Henry VIII, Julius Caesar, king henry iv, King John, King Lear, language, Love's Labour's Lost, Macbeth, Measure for Measure, Much Ado About Nothing, Othello, Pericles, Prince Hal, problem play, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Richard II, Richard III, Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare, sonnet, The Comedy of Error, The Merchant of Venice, The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Taming of the Shrew, The Tempest, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Two Noble Kinsmen, The Winter's Tale, Timon of Athens, titus andronicus, tragedy, Troilus and Cressidas, Twelfh Night, Victor Hugo, William Shakespeare, writing | 24 Comments

“Who besides Shakespeare can continue to inform an authentic idea of the human?”

Posted on April 8, 2014 by Dennis Abrams

Conclusion to The Play’s the Thing Part One By Dennis Abrams It’s hard to believe it’s been two and half years since we started our journey through Shakespeare’s plays. For me, it’s been incredibly educational, fulfilling, inspiring, and downright fun. … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged A Midsummer Night's Dream, Antony and Cleopatra, Cleopatra, Comedy, conclusion, drama, Elizabethan theater, Falstaff, Hamlet, Henry IV, history, king henry iv, King Lear, language, Lear, literature, Macbeth, Prince Hal, romance, Shakespeare, the play's the thing, tragedy, William Shakespeare | 16 Comments

“His purposes here are very enigmatic, he abandons his career-long concern with character and personality and presents a darker, more remote or estranged vision of human life than ever before.”

Posted on March 25, 2014 by Dennis Abrams

The Two Noble Kinsmen An Introduction By Dennis Abrams After the political intrigue of Henry VIII, it would be difficult to imagine a play more different than the one which followed it onto the stage. The Two Noble Kinsmen concluded … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged A Midsummer Night's Dream, Arcite, Chaucerian Talbot Donaldson, drama, Falstaff, Hamlet, Hippolyta, hymen, Introduction, John Fletcher, King Lear, Knight’s Tale, language, literature, Palamon, Pirithous, Shakespeare, The Two Noble Kinsmen, Theseus, Three Queens, tragicomedy, William Shakespeare, writing | 2 Comments

“The Tempest ends, like the other plays in Shakespeare’s last period, in reconciliation and forgiveness. But the ending in The Tempest is grimmer, and the sky is darker…”

Posted on February 25, 2014 by Dennis Abrams

The Tempest Act Four, Part Two By Dennis Abrams —————————- From Auden: “Falstaff’s kingdom is made up of Stephano, Trinculo, and Caliban. Trinculo recalls all of Shakespeare’s earlier clowns, Stephano resembles Sir Toby Belch, and Caliban recollects both Bottom and … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Act Four, Ariel, Caliban, Comedy, drama, Falstaff, Ferdinand, frank kermode, language, literature, Macbeth, masque, Miranda, Othello, Prospero, Rilke, Shakespeare, slave, song, The Tempest, tragedy, W.H. Auden, William Shakespeare, writing | 1 Comment

“Hang there like fruit, my soul/Till the tree die.”

Posted on January 2, 2014 by Dennis Abrams

Cymbeline Act Five, Part One By Dennis Abrams ———————————————- Act Five: Deep breath: Convinced that Imogen is dead, Posthumus repents and joins the British side: disguised as a peasant, he saves Iachimo (who doesn’t recognize him). Belarius and his “sons” … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act Five, Belarius, Ben Jonson, Comedy, Cymbeline, Cymbeline King of Britain, drama, Falstaff, god Jupiter, Iachimo, Imogen, language, Last Plays, late play, literature, Macbeth, Posthumus, religion, revenge, romance, Shakespeare, theatrical exit, tragicomedy, William Shakespeare | 2 Comments

“Shakespeare has no illusions. To have judged the world will not result in the world being changed.”

Posted on November 17, 2013 by Dennis Abrams

Coriolanus Act Two, Part Two By Dennis Abrams ————————————– To continue with the great Jan Kott, whose very political/class driven take on the play I find most interesting: “The first confrontation is provided by war. The Volscians have attacked Rome. … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Act Two, Antony and Cleopatra, Coriolanus, drama, Elizabethan theater, Falstaff, Henry IV, Henry V, history, King Lear, language, literature, Roman Republic, Rome, Shakespeare, tragedy, Virgilia, Volumnia, William Shakespeare, writing | 2 Comments

“If the wars eat us not up, they will; and there’s all the love they bear us.”

Posted on November 7, 2013 by Dennis Abrams

Coriolanus Act One, Part One By Dennis Abrams ————————————— MAJOR CHARACTERS Caius Martius, later known as Coriolanus, a Roman patrician Menenius Agrippa, another patrician Titus Lartius and Cominius, generals and patricians Volumnia, Coriolanus’ mother Virgilia, Coriolanus’ wife Young Martius, Coriolanus’ … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged act one, Caius Martius, Cleopatra, Coriolanus, drama, Elizabethan tragedy, entertainment, Falstaff, Hamlet, language, literature, politics, Roman Republic, Rome, Shakespeare, T.S. Eliot, Voscians, William Shakespeare, writing | 2 Comments

“What I have been I have forgot to know.”

Posted on October 20, 2013 by Dennis Abrams

Pericles Act Two, Part Two By Dennis Abrams ——————————————— To continue with G. Wilson Knight’s “The Writing of Pericles”: “The opening of Act II brings us closer than ever before to the Shakespearean tempest; we have, as it were, a … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Act Two, Cleopatra, drama, entertainment, Falstaff, Gower, Hamlet, John Gower, King Simonides, language, literature, Pericles, Prince of Tyre, romance, Shakespeare, shipwreck, tempest, William Shakespeare, writing | 5 Comments

“I am fire and air; my other elements/I give to baser life.”

Posted on October 6, 2013 by Dennis Abrams

Antony and Cleopatra Act Five, Part Three By Dennis Abrams ——————— From A.D. Nuttall’s Shakespeare the Thinker: “Antony leaves cold, dry, military-political Rome for the wet, formless, erotic East (and South), for Egypt, much as Gustav von Aschenbach in Thomas … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Act Five, Antony, Antony and Cleopatra, Cleopatra, Cleopatra Antony, Comedy, drama, Egypt, Egyptian Cleopatra, Elizabethan theater, Falstaff, George Berkeley, Hamlet, history, King Lear, language, Lear, literature, Mark Antony, Octavius Caesar, Prince Hal, renaissance humanism, Rome, Shakespeare, Shakespeare Criticism, tragedy, William Shakespeare, writing | 2 Comments

“I am dying, Egypt, dying; only/I here impórtune death a while, until/Of many thousand kisses the poor last/I lay upon thy lips.”

Posted on September 26, 2013 by Dennis Abrams

Antony and Cleopatra Act Four, Part One By Dennis Abrams —————————————————- Act Four: His challenge of single combat turned down (not surprisingly) by Octavius, Antony prepared for a decisive second battle. Although the omen are not promising – his soldiers … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Act Four, Antony and Cleopatra, Cleopatra, Comedy, drama, Egypt, Enobarbus, entertainment, Falstaff, Hamlet, history, Julius Caesar, language, literature, Mark Antony, Octavius, Octavius Caesar, politics, Pompey, Rome, Shakespeare, Tiber, William Shakespeare, writing | Leave a comment