Mojo, The Bard, & Me

 Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

I say, we will have no more marriages; those that are married already, all but  one, shall live; the rest shall keep as they are.

 

Hamlet

Hamlet                            Act III, Scene i,  Line 150

 

Yes, Hamlet. This is the famous scene (heck, most of the scenes in this play are famous) that begins with the To be, or not to be soliloquy and then goes into Hamlet talking to Ophelia whilst Claudius and Polonius eavesdrop.

Now the thing is, most of this conversation between Hamlet and Ophelia is steeped in nuance, double-entendres, and you-name-it's. In other words, Good luck trying to understand it!

Okay, I’ve come to a conclusion, I’m not smart enough to appreciate much of Shakespeare. Yes, I said it; but hear me out.

I started reading Harold Goddard’s The Meaning of Shakespeare recently. I’ve got three of these kind of books: Goddard, Harold Bloom, and Marjorie Garber. Each of them begins by talking about Will and his writing and then goes into discussing the plays one by one. Each of the three authors discusses the plays in, more or less, chronological order, with the goal of showing not only how the plays are related, but how Will progresses in his writing career. Each of the authors considers Will a genius.

I have yet, and probably never will, read any of these books in entirety, end to end. Generally, I’ll read the chapter on one particular play or another, or maybe the chapter on one play in each of the three books; and even that can be a struggle.

The problem is that as I read, it feels like each of these authors knows every line of every play by heart. As such, they are able to understand and interpret each little nuance to a degree impossible to a mere mortal like me. It almost feels, sometimes, like I’m trying to understand a paper written by a chemist. Even if I had a basic understanding of chemistry and the periodic table (which I don’t), I’m not going to be able to understand a paper written by a chemist who is intimately familiar with all, or most, of the laws of chemistry and how they relate to each other. Capeesh?

So, what to do? Yes, what to do?

Well, I have thought that my blog is a good alternative to the Harolds and Marjorie for this exact reason. It’s written by a mere mortal, me, who does not have this superhuman understanding of Will’s works. I probably have a bit more knowledge of his works than the average human, but probably no more than the average bardophile. And because of that, my blog is more understandable (and relatable?). Certainly it would be much too simple to interest the aforementioned trio (two of which are dead anyway, and I doubt the third one cares much about my blog), but perhaps not too simple for the average high school English teacher or garden variety bardophile; maybe even a total Shakespeare neophyte or two, like Ron or Mike. 

And so, that’s how it be, or not be.

Pete reading Harold Goddard: Ummmm....