Happy Halloween! (Costume pics inside!)

For years we’ve discussed Shakespeare Halloween costumes, and I’ve never done one myself.  This year I decided to change that, and hit on the idea earlier this month when I spotted one of those “evil Jester” costumes.  “Perfect!” I thought, “I’ll write up a nametag referring to myself as a fellow of infinite jest, and hang a stuffed Piglet from my back to represent Hamlet, whom I hath borne upon my back a thousand times.  I’ll be Yorick!”

Mission accomplished.

“…a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy.”
“he hath born me on his back a thousand times….”

Piglet, Prince of Denmark
How’d it go?  I didn’t expect too many people to get it, of course.  I got a lot of “Joker” and “Evil Jester.”

A few people read my nametags and just smiled and said, “Oh, ok!” but I don’t think that helped them.

One lady did in fact guess it! She turns to her husband and says, “He’s Hamlet’s friend, you know, the court jester, the guy whose skull he finds in the cemetary and he talks to it?”

What I did not expect was that my costume could end up insulting.  Picture this, a random somebody comes up to me and says, “Ok, so, what are you supposed to be? Why is Piglet hanging from your back?”  So then I say, “You know that scene in Hamlet where he picks up the skull and says ‘Alas, poor Yorick…’ and this poor schmoe looks at me and says, “…no.”  Awkward!  Then he inevitably turns to one of the other guys in the crowd and says, “Guess I was absent that day,” and get a laugh.  Wrong crowd. 🙂

I did tell people repeatedly, “I don’t expect anybody to get it, I did this for the fans of my web site.”  Hope y’all dig it!

P.S. – I know that when I wrote up the idea originally I said that the costume had a harlequin pattern, but when I got it home it was what you see above.  I think the costume comes in two different styles because at my kids’ Halloween party I definitely saw diamond harlequin pattern version.

Contested Will

Simon and Schuster recently sent me the paperback edition of James Shapiro’s Contested Will, which addresses the very timely authorship question. 

Since I clearly have not had time to read it, I’m reporting long-time contributor Carl Atkins’ guest review that he did for us back in December 2010:


I was actually pleasantly surprised. It was much more readable
than I expected. I had read his “1599: A Year in the Life of William
Shakespeare” and found it to be rambling, disjointed, and filled with
conjecture, so I was not expecting good things from a book about such a
difficult subject. Yet “Contested Will” is, for the most part, tightly
written, well structured, straightforward, factual without being too
dry, and absorbing. It details the history of the authorship
controversy, interestingly laying the blame on one of the most renowned
Shakespeare scholars, Edmond Malone. He notes that Malone, frustrated at
being unable to uncover any documents to help flesh out the biography
he hoped to write about Shakespeare, began to look to the plays for
biographical references. This opened the door for anti-Stratfordians to
launch their only means of attack.

If the book has any fault
it is only in spending a bit too much time detailing the course of the
Oxfordian cause. I found myself getting a bit bored by the end of that
section. But only a bit.

It is a testament to Shapiro’s
cool-headedness that he spends two-thirds of the book discussing the
(circumstantial) evidence against Shakespeare’s authorship and ends with
27 pages debunking it.

What is most impressive is that
Shapiro does not come across as someone with an axe to grind, or as a
scornful elitist. He actually sounds like someone who is presenting the
evidence for all to see. He makes no pretense about what side he is on,
but he makes the evidence very clear.

I did not think I would
like a book about the authorship question because I do not think it is
an important question. But this book is more about understanding the
history of the authorship question than about resolving the controversy.
That is a more interesting topic. This is a book I would recommend to
all interested in Shakespeare. It is fun to read.

Our Position on “Anonymous”

A month ago I asked, How should we deal with Anonymous?  In general, other than some assorted Twitter chats, I’ve not said much.

But today it opens, and it’s come to my attention that people (students in particular) may show up here looking for a counter argument.  So I wanted to use this space not necessarily just to present my own position, but to give you readers the opportunity to offer yours as well.

This is a movie, made for entertainment value, made not by academics for the purpose of proving an academic theory, but my moviemakers for the purposes of entertaining you enough to make money.  In this sense it is exactly the same as Shakespeare in Love.

The primary difference is that one movie was made by people who know, love and respect Shakespeare and his works, and were completely open with the fact that their movie was pure fiction. Anonymous wants you to believe that some of it is real.

Personally I don’t think that anybody involved with the actual making of the movie cares one way or the other about Oxfordian theory.  I think that any statements Roland Emmerich (the director) or others make to the press are just glorified trolls, drumming up interest in their project.  I think that the minute the movie is out of the theatres, no one will ever speak of it again.

What troubles me is the idea that there are classrooms where teachers are presenting this movie to their students as if it has any academic merit at all.  If you are a student and your teacher wants you to see this movie, you are almost certainly in one of the following situations, so act accordingly:

* Your teacher actually believes this theory and is trying to convert you.  This is a very dangerous place for a teacher, and is the exact same kind of thinking that would have you learning that we didn’t land on the moon, or that cavemen rode dinosaurs. The freedom to question things does not in any way legitimize the alternate theory you may come up with.

* Your teacher is working off of free educational materials that were distributed along with the movie.  Think about that.  The company that made the movie sent out “educational” materials hyping their movie. Because that couldn’t possibly be a biased source.  So head home and tell your parents *that*.  “My teacher is telling us exactly what the movie company told her to say! Next month we’re learning about the historical accuracy of Shrek’s friends the talking donkey and the sword-fighting kitty.”

* Your teacher wants to teach you the value of questioning “established” fact, and make up your own mind.  I can live with this, this is a good thing to teach.  This is not a good WAY TO TEACH IT, since it’s been made pretty obvious that the motivation here is to make an entertaining movie and not to tell an accurate story.  If you want to teach about the existence of the authorship question, there are many other documentary films to use.

For the record, I don’t think that Shakespeare was a god among men who wrote perfect plays every time he picked up a pen. I’m quite happy with the theory of collaboration, and have no problem with the idea that there’s plenty of Fletcher and Middleton and others mixed in with his work.  That’s not what the authorship question is about.  The authorship question starts with the idea that Shakespeare could *not* have written the works, because of who he was. And then goes about trying to find candidates to fit who they feel earned the right to be considered for authorship.

In conclusion?  If your teacher is trying to teach you to question authority and to consider alternate theories, I can’t argue against that. It’s a good thing.  If your teacher is trying to argue that this particular theory *is* true, because of what this movie says? Then you are being taught poorly, and your teacher is precisely the authority that you should question. Make up your own mind, but be sure that you’ve got good sources for your information first.

For more information from people who *do* have the academic cred to speak intelligently on the topic, I’ll point you to Blogging Shakespeare, the site run by the Stratford Birthplace Trust.  They’ve put out a free e-book on the subject. Look around the site while you’re there, you’ll also find the 60 interviews that they did with experts in the field.

Ok, I’ll let someone else talk.  This is not the post for debating my position – if you have a different one, post it.  I’d like anyone who comes here to read a variety of opinions.  I’ll disclaim right up front saying that I WILL REMOVE ANYTHING WITH PERSONAL ATTACKS OR OTHER FLAME-WAR GENERATING COMMENTS.  Post your opinion and let it stand for itself. Links allowed.

Ask Your Joss Whedon Much Ado Questions HERE!

Ok, so, this has the potential to be highly exciting. Through the magic of Twitter I crossed paths last night with Brian McElhaney, who is part of the cast Joss Whedon’s Much Ado : The Movie and one half of the comedy duo BriTANicK.  (The other half being Nick Kocher, who is also in the movie.)

“Can I interview you?” I immediately asked.

“Joss said yes, so yes!” he wrote back.

Wicked awesome.  (It just dawned on me that I’m now one step away from Joss Whedon. I wonder what that makes my Kevin Bacon number? 😉 )

So, hit me with your questions!  I’ll compile and send them over for both Nick and Brian to answer.  What do you want to know?  The faster we can make this happen the more of a scoop we get ;).

UPDATE – Please note!  We are asking questions of Brian and Nick, not Joss.  I see some questions directed at, well, the director.  Unless Brian and Nick have a direct line to the man and plan on funneling some questions over, you’ll need to keep questions in the realm of what they themselves can answer.

UPDATEDQuestions closed!  I’ve batched up and reformatted questions as best I can, and sent them off to Brian and Nick.  If you want to make sure you see their answers the best way is to either follow us on Twitter or Facebook.

A Chip Off The Old Uncle Claudius

Here’s a random thought that came to me while waiting for my wife’s car at the shop (yes, again – don’t buy a VW Routan.)

Of the few things we know about old King Hamlet, we know that he fought Old Fortinbras in honorable one-on-one combat.  True?

Claudius, on the other hand, is a sneaky backstabber who poisons King Hamlet in his sleep, and then later not only tries to pawn off his dirty work on England, but when that fails, he manipulates Laertes into doing it.  Claudius isn’t much for facing his enemies.

So, then, where does Hamlet fall on that family tree?

Thinking Claudius to be behind the arras, he doesn’t exactly say “Come out and face me,” now does he? He blindly runs him through and hopes for the best.

Then, later? When he finds out about Rosencrantz and Guildenstern’s secret mission to have him killed (a mission they didn’t even know about), does he do them in? Nope – a little trickier with the note and he, too, lets England do his dirty work.

It is only in his final rage (panic?) that he murders Claudius in front of everybody.  An unarmed Claudius, mind you.  Granted, Claudius didn’t exactly deserve a fair fight after everything he did, but still. You’d like to think that the good guy at least attempts to win a fair fight (I’m thinking Romeo/Tybalt – Romeo didn’t sneak up on him, he came straight at him).

Kind of makes you wonder whether Hamlet’s more like his dad’s brother, than his dad.