The following is from a song in Shakespeare’s play, The Tempest. Full fadom five they Father lies, Of his bones are Corrall made; Those are pearles that were his eyes, Nothing of him that doth fade, But doth suffer a Sea-change Into something rich, and strange: Burthen: ding dong. Hearke now I heare them;… [Read More]
“The Rarer Action”: Patience vs Passion – Reflections of Shakespeare & Montaigne
Though with their high wrongs I am struck to th’ quick, Yet with my nobler reason ‘gainst my fury Do I take part: the rarer action is In virtue than in vengeance. That passage is from Shakespeare’s Tempest, V.i 25 – 28, spoken by Prospero. Eleanor Prosser, in her essay “Shakespeare, Montaigne, and The Rarer… [Read More]
How to Hit Your Next PR? Believe in Yourself – Macbeth: Quote of the Day
Art thou afraid To be the same in thine own act and valour As thou art in desire? Wouldst thou have that Which thou esteem’st the ornament of life, And live a coward in thine own esteem, Letting ‘I dare not’ wait upon ‘I would’, — Lady Macbeth, in Macbeth. In other words, will you… [Read More]
Shakespeare vs the Poverty of Convention: Sonnet 130
My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun; Coral is far more red, than her lips red: If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head. I have seen roses damasked, red and white, But no such roses see I in her cheeks; And… [Read More]
Daggers in the Sky: Macbeth & the Problem(s) of Correlation
“Macbeth did not murder Duncan because he saw a dagger in the air: he saw the dagger because he was about to murder Duncan.” — A.C. Bradley Suppose you notice a correlation between two (or more) things or events. The two most common mistakes you’re likely to make are: Believing there is a causal connection… [Read More]
Gollum & Caliban in Shakespeare’s “The Tempest”
The following quote is from Robert Browning’s monologue “Caliban upon Setebos”, reflecting upon the character Caliban in Shakespeare’s The Tempest: Himself peeped late, eyed Prosper at his books Careless and lofty, lord now of the isle: Vexed, ‘stitched a book of broad leaves, arrow-shaped, Wrote thereon, he nows what, prodigious words; Has peeled a wand… [Read More]
Never Go Full Shakespeare: How Hamlet (Should Have!) Got ‘er Done
Today’s episode of the Iron Samurai podcast begins with a quotation from William Shakespeare’s Hamlet:1 … What is a man If his chief good and market of his time Be but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more. Sure, he that made us with such large discourse, Looking before and after, gave us not… [Read More]