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Cobbe Portrait of William Shakespeare
Tag Archives: King Lear
“We look back at Shakespeare and regret our absence from him because it seems an absence from reality.”
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
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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
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“Who besides Shakespeare can continue to inform an authentic idea of the human?”
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
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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
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“Only a little let him fall before me,/That I may tell my soul, he shall not have her.”
The Two Noble Kinsmen Act Three By Dennis Abrams Act Three: Separated from the royal party while out celebrating May Day, Arcite is suddenly confronted by Palamon. The two argue over Emilia once again, before agreeing to fight a duel … Continue reading
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Tagged A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act Three, Arcite, As You Like It, Emilia, entertainment, friends, Hamlet, Jailer's Daughter, John Fletcher, King Lear, Knight’s Tale, language, literature, Ophelia, Palamon, Palamon and Arcite, Shakespeare, The Schoolmaster, The Two Noble Kinsmen, Theseus, Twelfth Night, William Shakespeare, writing
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“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.”
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
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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
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“A sad tale’s best for winter. I have one/Of sprites and goblins.”
The Winter’s Tale Act Two, Part Two By Dennis Abrams ————————— G. Wilson Knight had a special feeling for Shakespeare’s late plays, and his writings helped to bring added attention to them. This, from his The Crown of Life: ‘But … Continue reading
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Tagged Act Two, Apollo, Christian, drama, entertainment, G. Wilson Knight, Hermione, jealousy, King Lear, language, Leontes, literature, Macbeth, Mamillius, pagan, Polixenes, Shakespeare, The Winter's Tale, William Shakespeare, writing
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“Imogen is one of the great women of Shakespeare or the world.”
Cymbeline Act One, Part Two By Dennis Abrams ——————————– From Harold Bloom first, whose dislike for the play I find rather bewildering: “Cymbeline begins with a conversation at court between two unnamed gentlemen, one a stranger, thus allowing Shakespeare to … Continue reading
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Tagged act one, Cloten, Comedy, Cymbeline, drama, Hamlet, history, history play, Imogen, James I, King Lear, language, late play, literature, Macbeth, Posthumus, Posthumus Leonatus, Shakespeare, tragedy, tragicomedy, Wicked Stepmother, William Shakespeare, writing
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He holds her by the hand, silent.
Coriolanus Act Five, Part One By Dennis Abrams ———————————————————– Act Five: Meanwhile, Rome is desperate to win back its savior, so first Cominius, then Menenius, are sent out to persuade Coriolanus to return. Both fail, but Virgilia, Volumnia, Valeria and … Continue reading
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Tagged Act Five, Aufidius, Caius Martius, Caius Martius Coriolanus, Coriolanus, drama, Elizabethan theater, Elizabethan tragedy, Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth, mother, name, names, nature, politics, Roman Republic, Rome, Shakespeare, titus andronicus, tragedy, Volumnia, William Shakespeare, writing, Young Martius
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“I banish you…There is a world elsewhere.”
Coriolanus Act Three, Part One By Dennis Abrams —————————————————– Act Three: Coriolanus is about to be invested when the tribunes gleefully and triumphantly inform him that his popularity has evaporated. Furious, he declares that the people don’t deserve him, at … Continue reading
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Tagged Act Three, banishment, Bolingbroke, Coriolanus, drama, Elizabethan tragedy, history, King Lear, language, literature, Mark Antony, Noble Menenius, Plutarch, Roman Republic, Rome, Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare, Shakespearean sisters, tragedy, voice, Volumnia, William Shakespeare, writing
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“Shakespeare has no illusions. To have judged the world will not result in the world being changed.”
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
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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
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“Indeed, this is probably the most difficult play in the canon, and it prompts one to think again about the problems it must always have set audiences and readers.”
Coriolanus Act One, Part Two By Dennis Abrams ————————————————————— From Garber: “Coriolanus’s powerful mother, Volumnia, clearly dominates her dutiful son, who is free and independent on the battlefield but subservient to Volumnia in all private and political concerns. In the … Continue reading
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Tagged act one, Coriolanus, drama, Elizabethan tragedy, history, King Lear, language, literature, Roman Republic, Rome, Shakespeare, tragedy, Virgilia, Volumnia, William Shakespeare, writing
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The Play's The Thing 