Today I finished one of the hardest modules ever: 'Shakespeare'. Just like that - 'Shakespeare'. Not, 'Shakespeare's King Lear', or, 'The Comedies of Shakespeare' or even 'Shakespeare's Sonnets', no, simply: 'Shakespeare'. So I can claim to be an expert now, haha!
Don't we love him all, our Billy? Maybe I should say beforehand that I love my degree, and that I think it is relevant life in general, just so you know!
Well, anyway, the things you learn in a Shakespeare module. Some of the more random conclusions were
"Women and hankies tend to get lost" (a synopses of Othello)
"Have a chocolate, Shakespeare is dead" (when everyone else celebrates St George's Day)
"Now we have a corpse and two men in a pit" (on Titus Andronicus, which really is like 'Saw', at least the clip I've seen!)
This of course only happens when you are a bit detached from it all, and wake up during a lecture thinking, where has the past half hour gone? But on revising the plays, which I did, and hard!, I actually came to like them.
However, I need to say something now which I couldn't possibly say in my exam (although I was in one of my funny moods when I sat it and really had to restrain myself).
- Now, to the kids among you: the next part will be really boring for you. So I suggest you go away and play a bit, and then come back later. Really boring, I mean, lots of silly words you don't understand, so you'd be much better off doing some kids-stuff. Ok? See you in a bit. -
Right, so they're gone. What I was trying to say is, this Shakespeare is a real genius when it comes to cursing. At least for someone his age, I mean, of his time. I know most people put Shake in the drawer where they keep all those little hearts, dried rose leaves, scented hankies and, if you're really hard-core, caskets with tears you collected.
You know a censored Shakespeare then. Here is a concise list of the foul words I've learnt from him: (yes, I am this weird)
* YOU... foot-landraker!
* YOU...long-staff sixpenny striker
* YOU...mad mustachio purple-hued maltworm (deffo my favourite)
* YOU...burgomaster
* YOU...fat-kidneyed rascal
* YOU...bacon-fed knave
* YOU...grand-juror
* YOU...woolsack
and so on. There's loads, and they're funny!
But this makes me wonder... sometimes I think Shake might well be overrated. I've always said this about the German genuises like Goethe, Schiller and Co. - at least ever since I watched this film based on true facts in which Schiller was portrayed as being high on foul apples when he started writing. This is, quite literally, sick. (although, considering this I've got a bowl of rather sad looking fruit sitting right next to me but this is just different!)
For all those who have read this far, 1.) well done and 2.) I need to add something. Now, you might think, who is this Lena to be criticising the like, best writer of the world??! Well, certainly not someone in the position to (although I was made to do so in my degree, which leads me to the futility of that whole criticising business, but that's another story). But to put things in relation, I would like to point to what I'm doing at the moment. After all, I've written an exam about Shakespeare today. I could have just put all these books away, forget about it and watch some stupid soap. But what am I doing? Writing a blog about Shakespeare. Such is my dedication.
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