Some thoughts on Shakespeare

So a couple of days ago my roommate David and I were talking about Shakespeare, who really is very good in spite of all the people who say he really is very good (as opposed to, for example, William Faulkner, who really is pretty dreadful in spite of all the people who say he really is very good).

Now, I started reading Shakespeare on my own in middle school; during recess, I’d sit in a corner of the playground with Macbeth, which probably explains a great deal abou why I m the way I am today. Though that’s a whole ‘nother subject altogether.

Anyway, the part the folks don’t seem to get about William Shakespeare is that the man was the Quentin Tarantino of his time. The way we teach Shakespeare in high school literature class is absolutely awful; we suck the joy and fun and off-color humor right out of him.

I have visions of lit classes 300 years hence subjecting Quentin Tarantino to the same sort of academic savaging:

“Now, class, today we’re going to be discussing the symbolism of the wallet owned by the hit-man Jules. His wallet had ‘Bad Mother Fucker’ written on it. As we discussed yesterday, the word ‘bad’ in the English of the time meant something that was of inferior quality, but it also had a vernacular meaning of something that was especially good, or dangerous. Today, I’d like us to turn our attention to this dual meaning, and how Mr. Tarantino played on the juxtaposition of the two meanings of the word ‘bad’ in the slogan written on the wallet.

“Tonight, when you go home, I want you to write a 600-word essay about the meaning of the two hit-men’s conversation about foot rubs in the beginning of the movie. Pay particular attention to what their conversation says about gender roles and assumptions during the late 20th century. Compare and contrast the view of gender and gender roles in the line where Jules says ‘Now look, maybe your method of massage differs from mine, but, you know, touchin’ his wife’s feet, and stickin’ your tongue in her Holiest of Holies, ain’t the same fuckin’ ballpark, it ain’t the same league, it ain’t even the same fuckin’ sport’ to the ideas about gender and gender roles later when the character Jody tells the hit-man Vincent that her tongue ring is ‘a sex thing. It helps fellatio.'”

38 thoughts on “Some thoughts on Shakespeare

  1. I did a compare and contrast paper in an English class once using Frosty the Snowman and Pulp Fiction in character analysis.

    I couldn’t think of what in hell to write, jokingly dared me to write the paper, and I did. I got an A.

    Unfortunately, I’ve lost any copies I had in a computer crash some years ago. Pity, as I would like to re-read that.

  2. I did a compare and contrast paper in an English class once using Frosty the Snowman and Pulp Fiction in character analysis.

    I couldn’t think of what in hell to write, jokingly dared me to write the paper, and I did. I got an A.

    Unfortunately, I’ve lost any copies I had in a computer crash some years ago. Pity, as I would like to re-read that.

  3. permission to metaquote?

    By the way, if you like Shakespeare, I highly recommend a book called Ink and Steel. Shakespeare, Fae, Elizabethan politics and hot gay sex. It’s good. 🙂

  4. permission to metaquote?

    By the way, if you like Shakespeare, I highly recommend a book called Ink and Steel. Shakespeare, Fae, Elizabethan politics and hot gay sex. It’s good. 🙂

  5. Shakespeare, who really is very good in spite of all the people who say he really is very good

    Did you just say this same thing recently, because I know I read this recently, word-for-word.

    Either that or I am becoming psychic, which would be cool, but highly unlikely.

    • Deja vu all oaver again

      He said it before, recently.

      “I’ve always been a fan of William Shakespeare, who really is very good in spite of all the people who say he really is very good (unlike, for example, F. Scott Fitzgerald, who really is pretty mediocre in spite of all the people who say he really is very good).”

  6. Shakespeare, who really is very good in spite of all the people who say he really is very good

    Did you just say this same thing recently, because I know I read this recently, word-for-word.

    Either that or I am becoming psychic, which would be cool, but highly unlikely.

  7. Deja vu all oaver again

    He said it before, recently.

    “I’ve always been a fan of William Shakespeare, who really is very good in spite of all the people who say he really is very good (unlike, for example, F. Scott Fitzgerald, who really is pretty mediocre in spite of all the people who say he really is very good).”

  8. Ha. Exactly! Shakespeare was entertainment for the unwashed masses, not the high-brow shit educators make it out to be today. Untangling the language and catching the dirty jokes was supposed to be fun, not an academic chore.

    Praise Bob!

  9. Ha. Exactly! Shakespeare was entertainment for the unwashed masses, not the high-brow shit educators make it out to be today. Untangling the language and catching the dirty jokes was supposed to be fun, not an academic chore.

    Praise Bob!

    • I remember my best friend and I in the 10th Grade reading the opening scene from Romeo and Juliet one lunch hour and friends rolling around laughing at gags like “I’d cut off their heads.” – “Yeah, their maidenheads.”

      They wouldn’t believe it was Shakespear.

      A few months later we had to get parental waivers to watch the Polanski McBeth.

  10. I remember my best friend and I in the 10th Grade reading the opening scene from Romeo and Juliet one lunch hour and friends rolling around laughing at gags like “I’d cut off their heads.” – “Yeah, their maidenheads.”

    They wouldn’t believe it was Shakespear.

    A few months later we had to get parental waivers to watch the Polanski McBeth.

    • Wow, I got Metaquoted? I had no idea!

      Also, welcome aboard! Barbara has an LJ at , but it hasn’t been updated in more than a year. David used to have an LJ, but it’s been deleted for quite some time. I have no clue of Raven’s around or not.

  11. Wow, I got Metaquoted? I had no idea!

    Also, welcome aboard! Barbara has an LJ at , but it hasn’t been updated in more than a year. David used to have an LJ, but it’s been deleted for quite some time. I have no clue of Raven’s around or not.

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