William Shakespeare

[Harry's Cat]

It's Shakespeare’s Birthday & Death Day today
Although records were scarce in 1564 the church register at Holy Trinity in Stratford-Upon-Avon shows him being baptised in 26th April 1564 and the usual wait of 3 days to baptise a child gives us the convenient date of 23rd April (also St Georges Day!)

We can be sure that Shakespeare died on his 52nd Birthday on 23rd April 1616, having retired from the London Stage around 3 years earlier.
Today, nearly400 years later, his plays are performed and read more often and in more nations than ever before. In a million words written over 20
years, he captured the full range of human emotions and conflicts with
a precision that remains sharp today. As his great contemporary the
poet and dramatist Ben Jonson said, "He was not of an age, but for all
time."

Happy St Georges Day!!!!!!!!!!!!

[death_hag_slag]

its so crap in this country that we aren't allowed to be patriotic unless there is a sporting event going on..we should celebrate like the Irish do with St Patricks day and make a big day of it.....

[Harry's Cat]

Quite right

Just because i'm really rather proud to be English doesn't mean that i dislike any other race. if i want to wave my George Cross please indulge me.

[death_hag_slag]

yes, if you want to be patriotic it must mean you're racist!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



grrrr and grrrr some more

[SheBoss]

Thanks, Harry for this thread. I minored in English Lit in college and have always loved Shakespere's work. "Othello" being my favorite. Maybe I identified with the killing and ghosts. I was a Death Hag before I even knew what that was!

[Harry's Cat]

Thanks, Harry for this thread. I minored in English Lit in college and have always loved Shakespere's work. "Othello" being my favorite. Maybe I identified with the killing and ghosts. I was a Death Hag before I even knew what that was!

Titus Andronicus is a death Hags Dream (making a mother eat a pie made with the remains of her son!)

Unfortunately many people hear Shakespeare and have a mental block refusing to enjoy. But if you give a plot synopsis of each of the plays to anyone they will think "WOW what an excellent film" then you tell them itâ??s Coriolanus or Othello their reaction is "oh really"

I love the plays and the sonnets and the poetry of it all and I am a Stratfordian as I do believe that the Son of a Warwickshire Glover with less education that a nobleman could create a body of work that is still admired 400 years later. (I could go on but I wonâ??t bore you any longer)

[tarsier]

I'll likely be called a light weight but I always preferred his comedies to tragedies. Even in his tragedies the fools ruled.

[cindyt]

Love Shakespeare, love the tragedies much. I also minored in English lit in collage, but was in love with the bard from high school. My faves are Julius Caesar and Romeo and Jullet, Hamlet.

[Philliefan]

Any performances on dvd that you would recommend?

[MagnusDippytack]

Here is a newly discovered contmporary portrait of Shakespeare. He is portraying a character in a play because men of his low staure were not allowed to wear swords in public, even in portraiture, unless they were an actor!

[Harry's Cat]

Wow Excellent pic
i havn't seen that one before where is the website with any info on it?

[Harry's Cat]

Love Shakespeare, love the tragedies much. I also minored in English lit in collage, but was in love with the bard from high school. My faves are Julius Caesar and Romeo and Jullet, Hamlet.

I must admit the History Cycle is my favourite. 10 plays (some say 11)
We must remember that our perception of Richard III is really down to Shakespeareâ??s Characterisation of him in his play.
the Tudors (Henry VII) Ousted the House of York (Richard III)from power at the Battle of Bosworth in 1483 and William Shakespeare was writing for Henrys granddaughter (Elizabeth I) so the character of the Evil Tyrant was born!!!!

MY favourite is always going to be Taming of the Shrew
I love Catherine.

[MbalmR]

I'm fascinated by Shakespeare. I can't really comprehend the depth of his talent. I majored in English in college, and of course, there was the mandatory class for Shakespearian study. One theory trotted out is that Shakespeare never even wrote any of his plays or sonnets, LOL. Some also theorized that he was actually a woman. At any rate, I enjoyed Richard III--we used to refer to it as "Dick 3" when discussing it in our study group.

[Harry's Cat]

We went accross to Stratford (-upon-Avon, not to be confused with Stratford East London where the 2012 Olympics are going to be!!) on Saturday and you can barely get in to Holy Trinity Chuch because many Many people still lay flowers at the alter for this Birthday / Death day (23rd)
it was a lovely day warm & sunny and the smell of the flowers was devine.

Stratford is a great place to visit so if you're close give it a go
http://www.stratford-upon-avon.org/

[midnitelamp]

did'nt Will and one of his partners have a licensed fencing school?

[MagnusDippytack]

Harry's cat,
I don't have a link, this image was sent to me by a college Lit professor friend of mine. There was a story recently that a well known portrait of Shakespeare turned out to be contemporary and the Yahoo reporter said it was the only one. The professor friend of mine said nonsense (or bullocks to you chaps) and said this was another contemporary picture published in the book KINGS & QUEENS OF BRITAIN by Charles Phillips. My professor friend also told me "Shakespeare needs to be seen on stage and not read from a book".

I have a jpeg of what was said to be Shakespeare's life mask but it has been subsequently proven otherwise (the materials for the mask did not exist until a 100 years later).

About the "Shakespeare didn't write that material, someone else did under his name" thoery, I don't believe it. Mark Twain had a third grade education as did Abraham Lincoln who wrote the Gettysburg Address.

I do, however, suscribe to the theory that Shakespeare had a hand in writing the King James version of the Bible. The story is that Shakespeare took the dry translatoins from the scholars and whipped it up into some of the greatest prose in the English language.

On the death hag side, Shakespeare had a mania about not being exhumed. His epitaph is only a plea not to dig him up. He was almost exhumed in 1846 to examine the remains, but the lady who recieved permission, chickened out at the last moment.

[Harry's Cat]

The "curse" on his grave reads as follows!

Good friend for Jesus sake forbeare,
To dig the dust enclosed here.
Blessed be the man that spares these stones,
And cursed be he that moves my bones.

As I said in an earlier posting I see no reason why a man with an average education could not still be a genius. The eliteists want us to believe that only high education produces such great talent!

There is so little known about his private life. Particularly between his Marriage to Ann Hathaway when he was 19 and she was 27 & Pregnant!!! (Go Will!!)
Historians try to fill in the gaps with speculation that he fought in the Spanish war, he was a Poacher, and ran away with a visiting band of players.
Then he arrives on the scene in London’s Theatre as an actor, progressing to Dramatist & Playwright.

There are documents which tell of his dodgy dealings over property deals in the late 1590's, by which time he had earned enough to have a coat of arms produced for his family (Proving at last that he and his father were Gentlemen!) and he purchased the largest house on Henley St in Stratford.

Magnus
I agree with your chum, the professor, don’t read the plays, you must hear or, better still watch them. They were not designed to be read they should be EXPIRENCED.

BTW the word you're looking for is Bollocks (Which is quite a rude one in England!) It means testicles (Just in case you didn't know)

[MagnusDippytack]

You mean my Sex Pistols album had a testicle reference on it? Perish the thought.

Also in Julius Caesar, two characters hear the town clock chime at midnight, when there were no clocks in existance at the time portrayed.

[SheBoss]

Titus Andronicus is a death Hags Dream (making a mother eat a pie made with the remains of her son!)

I love the plays and the sonnets and the poetry of it all and I am a Stratfordian as I do believe that the Son of a Warwickshire Glover with less education that a nobleman could create a body of work that is still admired 400 years later. (I could go on but I wonâ??t bore you any longer)

I'm going to the bookstore tonight to find Titus! Thanks for the recommendation! Do go on - English lit is never boring to me.

Love Shakespeare, love the tragedies much. I also minored in English lit in collage, but was in love with the bard from high school. My faves are Julius Caesar and Romeo and Jullet, Hamlet.

Small world, Cindy!

the Tudors (Henry VII) Ousted the House of York (Richard III)from power at the Battle of Bosworth in 1483 and William Shakespeare was writing for Henrys granddaughter (Elizabeth I) so the character of the Evil Tyrant was born!!!!

MY favourite is always going to be Taming of the Shrew
I love Catherine.

2 small bits of trivia - Rumor abounded at one time that Shakespere was really Elizabeth I (my favorite ruler, BTW)

Heath Ledger's "10 Things I Hate About You" (teen comedy pic but actually pretty cute) was based on Shakespere's "Taming of the Shrew".

[Harry's Cat]

You'll never listen to "Holidays in the sun" again without that image

how about this for a long lasting influence
If you cannot understand my argument, and declare "It's Greek to me", you are quoting Shakespeare; if you claim to be more sinned against than sinning, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you recall your salad days, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you act more in sorrow than in anger, if your wish is father to the thought, if your lost property has vanished into thin air, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you have ever refused to budge an inch or suffered from green-eyed jealousy, if you have played fast and loose, if you have been tongue-tied, a tower of strength, hoodwinked or in a pickle, if you have knitted your brows, made a virtue of necessity, insisted on fair play, slept not one wink, stood on ceremony, danced attendance (on your lord and master), laughed yourself into stitches, had short shrift, cold comfort or too much of a good thing, if you have seen better days or lived in a fool's paradise - why, be that as it may, the more fool you, for it is a foregone conclusion that you are (as good luck would have it) quoting Shakespeare; if you think it is early days and clear out bag and baggage, if you think it is high time and that that is the long and short of it, if you believe that the game is up and that truth will out even if it involves your own flesh and blood, if you lie low till the crack of doom because you suspect foul play, if you have your teeth set on edge (at one fell swoop) without rhyme or reason, then - to give the devil his due - if the truth were known (for surely you have a tongue in your head) you are quoting Shakespeare; even if you bid me good riddance and send me packing, if you wish I were dead as a door-nail, if you think I am an eyesore, a laughing stock, the devil incarnate, a stony-hearted villain, bloody-minded or a blinking idiot, then - by Jove! O Lord! Tut, tut! for goodness' sake! what the dickens! but me no buts - it is all one to me, for you are quoting Shakespeare.

[SheBoss]

How utterly amazing! Wow is all I can say! Thanks for the info, Harry.

[Harry's Cat]

[quote=SheBoss;239197]I'm going to the bookstore tonight to find Titus! Thanks for the recommendation! Do go on - English lit is never boring to me.


While your in there look out for King Lear also
Eyes gouged out Betrayal and all you need for a cosy night in
even some dodgy names to play with

there is a good BBC Production of King Lear you may be able to buy from BBC website (I Think that Paul Scholfield is Lear and it was made in around 1970)

there was a film of Titus recently with Anthony Hopkins but it didn't get V good reviews. I haven't seen it but I may go on to AMAZON and buy it to see if it's any good.

Elizabeth I
there was also a rumour that Will was the Love Child of Liz I and Sir Frances Walsingham!

[Harry's Cat]

How utterly amazing! Wow is all I can say! Thanks for the info, Harry.

makes me smile that "What the Dickens" is one of Shakespeare's When Dickens was one of our great Victorian Writers also!

[MagnusDippytack]

To elevate the level of this discussion, Shakespeare used the word "puke".

When I get home I'll share some more elevated quotes from old Bill.

I am embarrased to disclose I didn't know what Bollocks meant, I thought it was the American equivilent of "bullshit".

When I was about ten I was called a "dildo" by a kid on the bus and I didn't know what the true meaning was. I started calling many kids that name. I thought it meant "idiot" When I called a cousin a dildo in the middle of a family reunion I was forced to leave the scene by my father holding me by the ear. He wouldn't tell me what it meant, but I knew not to say it anymore.

[Harry's Cat]

He also invented many other words including ZANY, COMPROMISE, BUZZER and SKIM MILK.
The English language owes a great debt to Shakespeare. He invented over 1700 of our common words by changing nouns into verbs, changing verbs into adjectives, connecting words never before used together, adding prefixes and suffixes, and devising words wholly original.

While the word Bollocks directly refers to testicles (BTW Shakespeare didn’t invent that one, it's a good old ANGLO SAXON word - about 800 years before we meet our hero!) it is used as a kind of Bullshit reaction.
For example
Bob says: "I think Manchester United ate the Greatest Football team on Earth!!!"
Fred (who is a devoted Arsenal Fan) Replies “BOLLOCKS!”

[MagnusDippytack]

In one of Shakespeares plays (Henry V?) Falstaff complains to his landlady that while passed out on a bench in her establishment, Falstaff claims that someone stole a gold ring from his clothes. To which the landlady replies that the only ring in Falstaff's clothes was a "Copper ring" aka anus or "ring-piece" to the Brits.

[Harry's Cat]

Falstaff actually Dies in Henry V and his death is spoken of but he has no lines.
He appears in the Henry IV parts I & II and the Merry Wives of Windsor. The line you suggest is in 1 Henry IV act III scene III

â??Seal-ring of my grandfather's worth forty mark. Hostess, O Jesu, I have heard the prince tell him, I know not, 85. how oft, that ring was copper! ...â?�

Yes you are quite right
He calls the Hostess a thief so she calls him a ring-piece
Even the insults are poetic!!!

I'll post the whole scene in a moment

[Harry's Cat]

King Henry IV, Part I, Act III, Scene III

ACT III SCENE III Eastcheap.
The Boar's-Head Tavern.
Enter FALSTAFF and BARDOLPH
FALSTAFF Bardolph, am I not fallen away vilely since this last action? do I not bate? do I not dwindle? Why my skin hangs about me like an like an old lady's loose gown; I am withered like an old apple-john. Well, 5 I'll repent, and that suddenly, while I am in some liking; I shall be out of heart shortly, and then I shall have no strength to repent. An I have not forgotten what the inside of a church is made of, I am a peppercorn, a brewer's horse: the inside of a 10 church! Company, villanous company, hath been the spoil of me.
BARDOLPH Sir John, you are so fretful, you cannot live long.
FALSTAFF Why, there is it: come sing me a bawdy song; make me merry. I was as virtuously given as a gentleman 15 need to be; virtuous enough; swore little; diced not above seven times a week; went to a bawdy-house once in a quarter--of an hour; paid money that I borrowed, three of four times; lived well and in good compass: and now I live out of all order, out 20 of all compass.
BARDOLPH Why, you are so fat, Sir John, that you must needs be out of all compass, out of all reasonable compass, Sir John.
FALSTAFF Do thou amend thy face, and I'll amend my life: 25 thou art our admiral, thou bearest the lantern in the poop, but 'tis in the nose of thee; thou art the Knight of the Burning Lamp.
BARDOLPH Why, Sir John, my face does you no harm.
FALSTAFF No, I'll be sworn; I make as good use of it as many 30 a man doth of a Death's-head or a memento mori: I never see thy face but I think upon hell-fire and Dives that lived in purple; for there he is in his robes, burning, burning. If thou wert any way given to virtue, I would swear by thy face; my oath 35 should be 'By this fire, that's God's angel:' but thou art altogether given over; and wert indeed, but for the light in thy face, the son of utter darkness. When thou rannest up Gadshill in the night to catch my horse, if I did not think thou 40 hadst been an ignis fatuus or a ball of wildfire, there's no purchase in money. O, thou art a perpetual triumph, an everlasting bonfire-light! Thou hast saved me a thousand marks in links and torches, walking with thee in the night betwixt 45 tavern and tavern: but the sack that thou hast drunk me would have bought me lights as good cheap at the dearest chandler's in Europe. I have maintained that salamander of yours with fire any time this two and thirty years; God reward me for 50 it!
BARDOLPH 'Sblood, I would my face were in your belly!
FALSTAFF God-a-mercy! so should I be sure to be heart-burned.
Enter Hostess How now, Dame Partlet the hen! have you inquired yet who picked my pocket?
55
Hostess Why, Sir John, what do you think, Sir John? do you think I keep thieves in my house? I have searched, I have inquired, so has my husband, man by man, boy by boy, servant by servant: the tithe of a hair was never lost in my house before. 60
FALSTAFF Ye lie,
hostess: Bardolph was shaved and lost many a hair; and I'll be sworn my pocket was picked. Go to, you are a woman, go.
Hostess Who, I? no; I defy thee: God's light, I was never called so in mine own house before. 65
FALSTAFF Go to, I know you well enough.
Hostess No, Sir John; You do not know me, Sir John. I know you, Sir John: you owe me money, Sir John; and now you pick a quarrel to beguile me of it: I bought you a dozen of shirts to your back. 70
FALSTAFF Dowlas, filthy dowlas: I have given them away to bakers' wives, and they have made bolters of them. Hostess Now, as I am a true woman, holland of eight shillings an ell. You owe money here besides, Sir John, for your diet and by-drinkings, and money lent 75 you, four and twenty pound.
FALSTAFF He had his part of it; let him pay.
Hostess He? alas, he is poor; he hath nothing.
FALSTAFF How! poor? look upon his face; what call you rich? let them coin his nose, let them coin his cheeks: 80 Ill not pay a denier. What, will you make a younker of me? shall I not take mine case in mine inn but I shall have my pocket picked? I have lost a seal-ring of my grandfather's worth forty mark.
Hostess O Jesu, I have heard the prince tell him, I know not 85 how oft, that ring was copper!
FALSTAFF How! the prince is a Jack, a sneak-cup: 'sblood, an he were here, I would cudgel him like a dog, if he would say so.
Enter PRINCE HENRY and PETO, marching, and
FALSTAFF meets them playing on his truncheon like a life How now, lad! is the wind in that door, i' faith? 90 must we all march?
BARDOLPH Yea, two and two, Newgate fashion.
Hostess My lord, I pray you, hear me.
PRINCE HENRY What sayest thou, Mistress Quickly? How doth thy husband? I love him well; he is an honest man. 95Hostess Good my lord, hear me.
FALSTAFF Prithee, let her alone, and list to me.
PRINCE HENRY What sayest thou, Jack?
FALSTAFF The other night I fell asleep here behind the arras and had my pocket picked: this house is turned 100 bawdy-house; they pick pockets.
PRINCE HENRY What didst thou lose, Jack?
FALSTAFF Wilt thou believe me, Hal? three or four bonds of forty pound apiece, and a seal-ring of my grandfather's. 105PRINCE HENRY A trifle, some eight-penny matter. Hostess So I told him, my lord; and I said I heard your grace say so: and, my lord, he speaks most vilely of you, like a foul-mouthed man as he is; and said he would cudgel you. 110
PRINCE HENRY What! he did not?
Hostess There's neither faith, truth, nor womanhood in me else.
FALSTAFF There's no more faith in thee than in a stewed prune; nor no more truth in thee than in a drawn fox; and for womanhood, Maid Marian may be the 115 deputy's wife of the ward to thee. Go, you thing, go Hostess Say, what thing? what thing?
FALSTAFF What thing! why, a thing to thank God on.
Hostess I am no thing to thank God on, I would thou 120 shouldst know it; I am an honest man's wife: and, setting thy knighthood aside, thou art a knave to call me so.
FALSTAFF Setting thy womanhood aside, thou art a beast to say otherwise. 125
Hostess Say, what beast, thou knave, thou?
FALSTAFF What beast! why, an otter.
PRINCE HENRY An otter, Sir John! Why an otter?
FALSTAFF Why, she's neither fish nor flesh; a man knows not where to have her. 130
Hostess Thou art an unjust man in saying so: thou or any man knows where to have me, thou knave, thou!
PRINCE HENRY Thou sayest true, hostess; and he slanders thee most grossly.
Hostess So he doth you, my lord; and said this other day you ought him a thousand pound. 135
PRINCE HENRY Sirrah, do I owe you a thousand pound?
FALSTAFF A thousand pound, Ha! a million: thy love is worth a million: thou owest me thy love. Hostess Nay, my lord, he called you Jack, and said he would cudgel you. 140
FALSTAFF Did I, Bardolph?
BARDOLPH Indeed, Sir John, you said so.
FALSTAFF Yea, if he said my ring was copper.
PRINCE HENRY I say 'tis copper: darest thou be as good as thy word now?
FALSTAFF Why, Hal, thou knowest, as thou art but man, I dare: 145 but as thou art prince, I fear thee as I fear the roaring of a lion's whelp.
PRINCE HENRY And why not as the lion?
FALSTAFF The king is to be feared as the lion: dost thou think I'll fear thee as I fear thy father? nay, an 150 I do, I pray God my girdle break.
PRINCE HENRY O, if it should, how would thy guts fall about thy knees! But, sirrah, there's no room for faith, truth, nor honesty in this bosom of thine; it is all filled up with guts and midriff. Charge an honest 155 woman with picking thy pocket! why, thou whoreson, impudent, embossed rascal, if there were anything in thy pocket but tavern-reckonings, memorandums of bawdy-houses, and one poor penny-worth of sugar-candy to make thee long-winded, if thy pocket 160 were enriched with any other injuries but these, I am a villain: and yet you will stand to if; you will not pocket up wrong: art thou not ashamed?
FALSTAFF Dost thou hear, Hal? thou knowest in the state of innocency Adam fell; and what should poor Jack 165 Falstaff do in the days of villany? Thou seest I have more flesh than another man, and therefore more frailty. You confess then, you picked my pocket?
PRINCE HENRY It appears so by the story.
FALSTAFF Hostess, I forgive thee: go, make ready breakfast; 170 love thy husband, look to thy servants, cherish thy guests: thou shalt find me tractable to any honest reason: thou seest I am pacified still. Nay, prithee, be gone.
Exit Hostess
Now Hal, to the news at court: for the robbery, 175 lad, how is that answered?
PRINCE HENRY O, my sweet beef, I must still be good angel to thee: the money is paid back again.
FALSTAFF O, I do not like that paying back; 'tis a double labour.
PRINCE HENRY I am good friends with my father and may do any thing. 180
FALSTAFF Rob me the exchequer the first thing thou doest, and do it with unwashed hands too.
BARDOLPH Do, my lord.
PRINCE HENRY I have procured thee, Jack, a charge of foot.
FALSTAFF I would it had been of horse. Where shall I find 185 one that can steal well? O for a fine thief, of the age of two and twenty or thereabouts! I am heinously unprovided. Well, God be thanked for these rebels, they offend none but the virtuous: I laud them, I praise them. 190
PRINCE HENRY Bardolph!
BARDOLPH My lord?
PRINCE HENRY Go bear this letter to Lord John of Lancaster, to my brother John; this to my Lord of Westmoreland. Exit Bardolph Go, Peto, to horse, to horse; for thou and I have 195 thirty miles to ride yet ere dinner time.
Exit Peto Jack,
meet me to-morrow in the temple hall at two o'clock in the afternoon. There shalt thou know thy charge; and there receive Money and order for their furniture. 200 The land is burning; Percy stands on high; And either we or they must lower lie.
Exit PRINCE HENRY
FALSTAFF Rare words! brave world! Hostess, my breakfast, come! O, I could wish this tavern were my drum! Exit

SORRY ALL OF MY spaces have been lost!!!!

[cindyt]

Some believe that William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe were one and the same.

http://www.crimelibrary.com/notoriou...marlowe/2.html

[Harry's Cat]

I had heard that theory too

They were definitely contemporaries, and Iâ??m sure that they were rivals and possibly collaborated (kind of like Paul McCartney writing songs with Mick Jagger if you will)

But I donâ??t hold that they were the same person the metre of their prose is entirely different.

Marlowe was a spy for Walsingham and I believe he was lured to his death and assassinated rather than dying accidentally in a brawl in a tavern. (Because he knew too much â?? or they thought he did)

[cindyt]

I never believed it either. I think there is a certain resemblance and Marlowe was educated, while Shakespeare was not. And after the former was murdered and the latter popped up, some, like that Hoffman man, just could not believe Will could have written all those wonderful plays and sonnets.

I personally believe Shakespeare was able to over come his lack of education by self teaching. He was able to write because he was well read, which increased his knowledge of grammar and prose and rhythm.

A segue: I slowly began losing my hearing and it was finally diagnosed when I was age 15. Those tiny tone receptors of my cochlea were dying.

My hearing continue to decrease, and when I was 30, I woke up one morning to total silence, completely deaf.

Went to the ear doctor, and he came in signing.

"I don't know sigh language," I said. "I read lips."

His jaw fell to his chest, then he said "You're talking! Without so much as a lisp."

He went on to say that he had been an ear specialist for decades and that I was the only person who had slowly lost their hearing who had retained normal speech.

The reason I am able to talk like a hearing person is because I have always been an avid reader. And that is why I never held with those who said Shakespeare was too uneducated to write his plays and sonnets. He was a man of uncommon intelligence and he was a reader, no doubt about it.

[Harry's Cat]

Cindy your story has moved and inspired me.
You are proof that reading is an important part of our development whether we children or adults.

My Grandmother was deaf from the age of about 25 and could only read lips, however her speech was greatly impaired as a result.

[cindyt]

Thank you, Harry.

[MagnusDippytack]

How's this for subliminal Shakespeare. From the 12th Night (Act II, verse 95-100)

Malvolio (holding up a note in his girlfriends handwriting): Be my life, this is my Lady's hand. This be her very C's, her U's, aNd her T's; and thus makes her great P's. It is, in contempt of question, her hand.

Hmmmmmm

[Harry's Cat]

Enjoyed a weekend in Stratford and took some phot's incase anyone is interested
this is a Nokia N95 8GB all singing all dancing wonder camera/phone but doesnâ??t account for the wobbly hand of the photographer â?? sorry!
It just goes to show how a play written 400 years ago can still have the audience rolling in the isles!

[cindyt]

Great pics, Harry! Thanks for sharing.

[Harry's Cat]

If you want to insult someone in a knowing literary manner try using this Shakespearean Insult Generator... literally minutes of fun to be had!
Combine one word from each of the three columns below, prefaced with "Thou":

Column 1 Column 2 Column 3
artless base-court apple-john
bawdy bat-fowling baggage
beslubbering beef-witted barnacle
bootless beetle-headed bladder
churlish boil-brained boar-pig
cockered clapper-clawed bugbear
clouted clay-brained bum-bailey
craven common-kissing canker-blossom
currish crook-pated clack-dish
dankish dismal-dreaming clotpole
dissembling dizzy-eyed coxcomb
droning doghearted codpiece
errant dread-bolted death-token
fawning earth-vexing dewberry
fobbing elf-skinned flap-dragon
froward fat-kidneyed flax-wench
frothy fen-sucked flirt-gill
gleeking flap-mouthed foot-licker
goatish fly-bitten fustilarian
gorbellied folly-fallen giglet
impertinent fool-born gudgeon
infectious full-gorged haggard
jarring guts-griping harpy
loggerheaded half-faced hedge-pig
lumpish hasty-witted horn-beast
mammering hedge-born hugger-mugger
mangled hell-hated jolthead
mewling idle-headed lewdster
paunchy ill-breeding lout
pribbling ill-nurtured maggot-pie
puking knotty-pated malt-worm
puny milk-livered mammet
quailing motley-minded measle
rank onion-eyed minnow
reeky plume-plucked miscreant
roguish pottle-deep moldwarp
ruttish pox-marked mumble-news
saucy reeling-ripe nut-hook
spleeny rough-hewn pigeon-egg
spongy rude-growing pignut
surly rump-fed puttock
tottering shard-borne pumpion
unmuzzled sheep-biting ratsbane
vain spur-galled scut
venomed swag-bellied skainsmate
villainous tardy-gaited strumpet
warped tickle-brained varlet
wayward toad-spotted vassal
weedy urchin-snouted whey-face
yeasty weather-bitten wagtail

[Harry's Cat]

MY personal Favourite is
Thou Yeasty - Half Faced - Clack Dish

[Guest]

I like this one as is:

Thou weedy urchin-snouted whey-face

I need to try to remember that at my next meeting. Theres this one guy that I can't stand........

[pogobean]

Im so very sure he was good in his day, but GET A GRIP PEOPLES, this is now and not then! Sorry 4 the rant but c'mon........

[KMKSouthie2001]

My all-time favorite is "strumpet" (found in act II of Hamlet). It's a 17th century synonym for "prostitute".