Shakespearean Character Spotlight: Desdemona

The random number generator has hit upon another major character for this week's Shakespearean Character Spotlight! Today we take a look at Desdemona.

The vast majority of Shakespeare's female characters are strong and powerful, which is why I give the more insipid women like Hero such a hard time. I was quite prepared to run roughshod over Desdemona for meekly putting up with an obviously irrational husband who emotionally and physically abuses her. However, the more I thought about it the more I realized Desdemona is actually quite spunky. She (understandably) loses it a bit in the last act, but up until then she is admirably froward. 

Of course, my favorite character in Othello is Emilia, but more on her later...

Spot the Rogue Plot Element (Cymbeline Edition)

I occasionally get asked what is my favorite play. This is, of course, an almost impossible question for me to answer, but I must declare primary allegiance to the history plays, which first ignited my passion for Shakespeare and thus will always occupy the first chapter of my heart (with the exception of Henry VIII, which is, in all honesty, kind of boring.)

However, one play that I am inordinately fond of that often gets overlooked is Cymbeline. If you've never heard of Cymbeline, don't worry. You're not alone. It is one of the most obscure Shakespeare plays and is very rarely performed. This is a pity, as it is, essentially, a "Best Of" compilation of all of Shakespeare's greatest cliches and dramatic tropes. Here, take this quick quiz and see how you do:

There are more ludicrous plot elements that I had to leave out for time's sake, but you get the general idea. Cymbeline is not really a comedy, but is definitely not a tragedy. It's more of a riotous melodrama, and its final scene is probably my favorite single scene in all of Shakespeare. 

No, there aren't any dinosaurs in Cymbeline. However, I am sure that if Shakespeare had known about dinosaurs, he would have figured out how to squeeze in one or two of them.

There also aren't any drug-dealing biker gangs in Cymbeline, but don't tell Ethan Hawke that. 

Shakespearean Character Spotlight: Hero

The random number generator has finally hit upon a major character for our third Shakespearean Character Spotlight installment! Today we'll be taking a closer look at Hero:

I'm probably being a bit harsh to poor Hero. She doesn't do anything wrong and weathers her trials and tribulations with good grace and dignity. But really... everybody agrees that the play should have ended like this:

(Historical note: I drew that comic before I started this website. As you can see, I quickly discovered that I could save a lot of time by not fully drawing arms, bodies and clothes. You might call it laziness. I call it streamlining.)

Premature Burial

So, this is a recurring issue in the Shakespearean canon:

I know Elizabethan medicine wasn't exactly state-of-the-art, but I'm constantly appalled at how readily people jump to conclusion of "Oh no, she's dead, let's dump the body somewhere" after someone falls over. Then again, these are the same people who say "You know, it's remarkable how you, a boy, look exactly like a girl, but are, in fact, totally a boy".

What I'm saying is that Shakespeare's characters are criminally unobservant. That's what I'm saying. 

Shakespearean Autocorrects, part 1

I've been glued to the couch for the past four days with a horrible cold. That's my excuse for the following comic.

Tadaaaaaaa....

Shakespearean Character Spotlight: Chorus

It's time for the second installment of my very-ongoing Shakespearean Character Spotlight series! Today the random number generator has picked out a Chorus for closer inspection, but it's probably not the Chorus you're thinking of. No, it's not that other one either. It's (drumroll please) the Chorus from Troilus and Cressida!

I want to start a campaign to reintegrate "orgulous" into contemporary speech. Start using it today! I suggest trying out the phrase "Don't be so orgulous, man." 

King John's Unfavourite Things

The lovely Ladies of Angiers up at the Stratford Festival have been getting ready to audition for next season's production of The Sound of Music:

Naturally this made me wonder what a King John themed version of The Sound of Music would look like. Here is the result:

I expect it to be ready for an off-Broadway tryout in time for next season.

Shakespearean Character Spotlight: Francisco

Welcome to the first installment of what will probably be a very-ongoing series: Shakespearean Character Spotlight! Each week (or, more accurately, whenever I happen to run out of other material) I will be randomly selecting one of Shakespeare's speaking characters, regardless of part size and importance, and presenting a profile of him or her. 

(In case you're interested, I'm using this list of characters as furnished by Open Source Shakespeare, which is an excellent online Shakespeare resource that you should definitely check out.)

Today's character is.... *runs random number generator* ...Francisco from Hamlet!

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how Francisco manages to miss almost all the action of Hamlet, and thus is one of the few characters who is probably still alive at the end of the play. Way to go, Francisco!

One down, 1223 to go!