Shakespeare’s Bawdy, The Sequel

Apparently there are still undiscovered sex references in Shakespeare’s works. Heloise Senechal, working on a new edition of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Complete Works, says that she’s used “computer techniques” to find previously unrecognized double entendres. Apparently they’re hoping to go for a more realistic appreciation of Shakespeare’s time in their footnotes. They’ll emphasize the base nature of the work to get away from the idea that it was all high class.

I don’t know what sort of computer techniques she’s using, exactly, but the rules seem pretty obvious, and completely Freudian (although he came later): anything longer than it is wide is a phallic symbol, and any reference to “hole”, “gap”, or any other sort of space where one might want to put something is…..well, I run a family blog here. Although it appears Shakespeare was a bit more generous in his descriptions of the ladies, as you’ll often discover that food references (pie, “fruit dish”, etc…) are also a common one, and often when speaking of birds he was referring to ladies of, shall we say, low morals.

Technorati Tags: Shakespeare

I agree with Charlie’s Mum: WAAANNNTT

From a blog called Charlie’s Mum over at Live Journal I find OnePage Books. What do they sell? How about a poster containing the entire text of your favorite Shakespeare play? Pretty cool. She says it’s $300 at Amazon, but I think she misread it as I see the link for $39.99.

I just moved my office downstairs to the basement addition. I wonder if I have any free wallspace left? Hmmmm….

Technorati Tags: merchandise, Shakespeare

Shakespeare for Kids

Shakespeare — Wherefore Art Thou?: The Washington Post has this interesting article up about how Shakespeare can be just as appealing to kids as adults, citing lines like “creeping like a snail unwillingly to school” from As You Like It. Apparently the Folger Library’s current exhibit, “Golden Lads and Lasses”, is all about how Shakespeare’s writing has been changed for kids over the centuries. There are toys, games, books, CDs…finger puppets, comic books, Barbies…

Love it. My daughter’s not quite four yet and it pains me that I can’t share Shakespeare with her quite yet (though I have tried). The Tempest is still “The story about the girl on the island,” but every time we try to get into any more depth than that she gets confused by all the characters. Disney needs to do a Tempest movie :).

Gotta love this quote from Paloma, a sixth-grader: “Macbeth is my favorite,” she said. (She read the adult version of that one.) “It’s really cool. There are witches and prophecies and fighting and stuff. And the strongest character is a lady — Macbeth’s wife. Girl power!”

Someone’s got to explain to that girl about the whole guilt theme and exactly what it did to Lady Macbeth’s “strength” 🙂
Technorati Tags: macbeth, Shakespeare

A Shakespeare Pun Contest? Nice.

The First Post is holding a contest to find “your best Shakespeare pun to create an advertising slogan for a well-known brand or product”. Prizes include a bottle of champagne and a genuine Ye Olde Feather Quill from Stratford-upon-Avon.

When I wrote for my company newsletter I would title articles things like “Now is the winter of our web content” and “Lord what tools these portals be”, but I suppose those are a little too geeky for this crowd :). I’ll have to work on my broader audience puns.

Technorati Tags: contest, Shakespeare