13th Night: Malvolio's Revenge

Poor old Malvolio really does get the short end of the stick. Yes, he's the most stuffy of stuffed shirts, but he's so dreadfully earnest when he thinks his love for Olivia might be requited. And then he gets put through the wringer by Sir Toby and his band of ruthless henchmen, and finally is embarrassed in front of the entire population of Illyria. I think we'd all like to see how his promised revenge turns out.

Check out my other Shakespearean cartoons here!

Apologies to my regular readers for not having posted a cartoon last Friday. The holiday season has me running around like a frantic, lost bunny. Happy Holidays to everyone! 

Nerf Archer

Due to early exposure to Errol Flynn's The Adventures of Robin Hood, I have always been an absolute sucker for archery. This only intensified when I was subsequently exposed to Shakespeare and learned it was good English and Welsh longbows that won the greatest battles of the Hundred Years' War. 

Next to the great yew longbows, the stupid piece of mass-produced plastic junk with its patronizing pink decoration that I brought in to the office this week looked like an insult to the noble profession of archery. But now I can't stop shooting the darn thing. In my mind, I am now Robin Hood. I am the captain of a company of archers with Henry V at Agincourt. I am Katniss Everdeen.

I am also a menace. My office will never be the same again.

The Wars of the Roses: Knock Knock Joke Edition

My apologies for today's late and meager installment. I have been extremely distracted by the impending holidays and all the various errands and tasks that revolve outward from the 25th of December like tentacles on an octopus.

Also, my apologies to anyone who tried to access the site yesterday and were unable to. Apparently Squarespace (my hosting service) is suffering from a series of denial-of-service attacks. Hopefully that will be cleared up soon.

Anyways, here is a very quick summary of the Wars of the Roses, for those of you who don't feel like reading all three parts of Henry VI. I covered the highlights.

A Comprehensive Guide to Shakespearean Cross-Dressers

Obviously, as all female roles were played by men in Elizabethan times, there were technically a lot more cross-dressers in Shakespeare, but these are the ones that cross-dressed in the context of a play. Viola and Rosalind are the really plum roles, but one of my personal favorites is Innogen from Cymbeline. She is really put through the metaphorical wringer. Special mention to Julia, who exclaims "O ME UNHAPPY!" and then faints dramatically, which, if you're going to faint, is the way to do it. 

Larry's Henry and Me

I must have been exposed to Shakespeare earlier than this - I have a vague recollection of a Midsummer Night's Dream production at the Stratford Festival involving a giant hibiscus - but Olivier's Henry V remains my earliest concrete Shakespearean memory. I loved it instantly. I remember feeling a bit disappointed when I later found out that Henry V was, in fact, comparatively well-known and performed rather a lot. I liked feeling that it was my secret. 

License to Kill

I have no idea why I decided to do this. It seems like a good idea at the time. Anyways, there's my stick figure rendition of Richard III, complete with hunchback. 

In other news, I saw an encore screening of the RSC's production of Richard II starring David Tennant last night, and it was phenomenal. They did the old "Aumerle turns out to be Richard's murderer" switcheroo, which always seems a bit forced to me, but otherwise it was spectacular. The production itself is re-opening today in London. I would say "go get tickets", but that's impossible, so instead I'll stay "wait for the DVD to be released", which, happily, is going to happen at some point.

Richard II: One Page Summary

Maybe you don't have time to read my epic 27-page stick figure rendering of Richard II. That's fine. I understand. However, you have absolutely no excuse not to read my one-page summary of Richard II. 

And that wraps up my Richard II coverage! Next week I will be returning to my usual Monday-Wednesday-Friday update schedule, as completing three pages a day nearly drove me up the metaphorical wall. To all those who started following this blog during Richard II, I must warn you that I will occasionally cover non-Shakespearean topics. If that makes you really agitated, I suggest you subscribe to my Shakespeare-Only RSS feed, which will conveniently filter out all non-Bardic material. 

Richard II, part 10

Richard II
Dramatis Personae | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5
Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10

Two weeks and 27 panels later, we have finally reached the end of Richard II! Let's wrap everything up now. If you don't remember what happened yesterday, I'll give you a hint: Richard died. 

And there we have it! But before we go, I'd like to do the obligatory death/marriage tally for Richard II. Generally it's agreed that if a lot of people die, it's a tragedy, and if a lot of people get married, it's a comedy. This doesn't really take the histories into account, where a lot of people die just because that's what tends to happen in history. But, just for the sake of numbers, let's take a look:

And there we have it, folks! Thanks to all of you who joined me for this romp. Stay tuned tomorrow, as I will be posting a one-page summary of the entire play for anyone who was too lazy to stumble through my rambling 27-page scene-by-scene epic narrative. 

Richard II
Dramatis Personae | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5
Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10