More Shakespeare!

  by  paul bica 

"What is wonderful about great literature is that it transforms the man who reads it towards the condition of the man who wrote." - E.M. Forster

Hello readers! I'm hoping to purchase a few new books today, but until then I'd like to discuss a few more Shakespeare plays that I've really enjoyed. I figured I'd share these in case you want to take a walk down memory lane for a moment to think "Oh yeah, I remember when I read that one."

King Lear - I read this play during my senior year of high school. King Lear has three daughters and at the beginning of the play he asks the three of them to tell them how much they love him. Cordelia is the only one who doesn't use false flattery and because she is honest and dutiful to her father, she gives him a relatively plain answer. Because he loved Cordelia best and was angered by her lame profession of love he sends her out of his house and divides the kingdom between his other two daughters. He later realizes that neither of them want him around and tries to redeem himself.
A quote from the play: "Nothing will come of nothing: speak again."

Macbeth - I typically don't like plays, stories, or movies with a lot of action and fighting scenes, but I'm a little biased toward this play as I was in it last year! I played a female Ross, which was a lot of fun because I got to wear an army fatigue outfit during the fighting scenes, got to drop my glass in surprise when Macbeth started going crazy at the banquet table, and was one of the few characters who got to stay alive throughout the entire play. Basically, Macbeth receives a prophecy from three witches that he'll become king and then murders the current king to steal the title. Both he and Lady Macbeth start to become paranoid and mad as the play progresses and more murders occur up until the final battle.
A quote from the play: "Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under it."

Merchant of Venice - I read this one last year for my theatre class. Shylock seeks a literal pound of flesh from Antonio, the Merchant of Venice when he fails to pay Shylock the money he owes him. Several characters defend Antonio throughout the play and in the end, Shylock curses his faith.
A quote from the play: "But love is blind and lovers cannot see the pretty follies that themselves commit."


I hope you're all having a wonderful summer and I'm so pleased that we're more than a quarter of the way there to my goal of getting 100 followers before introducing a guest blogger :) Oh! And after commenting on her blog, Tracey Garvis Graves, http://www.traceygarvisgraves.com/, author of On the Island, commented on my post about her book and is now following this blog *gasp*!

If you enjoy some of these posts, please feel free to subscribe to this blog by following it at the bottom of the page. Happy reading everyone!

  by  paul bica