Winter's Tale

So...was Hermione dead and brought back to life? or was she gone like her daughter and by the power of fairy-tales came back just in time for the happy ending? And why does she come back other than to fulfill the reunion special theme of the romances? I really don't think her husband learned his lesson.  The whole dwelling-near-the-churchyard thing seems more like an outward display of penance meant for the benefit of those judging him rather than the purification of his own soul that we've said comes only from suffering.  In the end, I really don't care because I'm so excited that the magician was a woman.  I love these strong female characters...maybe a term paper idea?

I'm liking these Romances and the way they mix the gory violence of tragedy with the happy endings of comedies.  I don't know if this is because they were written at the end of Shakespeare's career and are a part of the logical evolution of the play to the way we know the novel to be now, mixing a little suffering with the happy endings or if it is just coincidence.  But something tells me there are no coincidences with Shakespeare. Especially when you look at the intertextuality of the plays, making allusions to one another in line with the mythological allusions. 

Cymbeline, Mythology, and the Unwashed Masses

We asked the question of why plays like Cymbeline, and frankly, anything other than the holy trinity of Romeo and Juliet, King Lear, and The Tempest are not taught in schools, and I think it has to do with an unsubstantial foundation in Mythology despite the fact that reading more Shakespeare would remedy this problem.  Yes, Cymbeline is violent and overtly sexual and perverse, but what Shakespeare play isn't? I think it is because students (or teachers) lack the background knowledge or willingness to develop a background knowledge of the less popular plays due to how much you have to have read beforehand to get the inside-joke nature of these allusions.  I personally think that introducing a play as outrageous as Cybeline or Measure for Measure (which is pretty dang violent/sexual as well) to a classroom with the effort made to get the kids to understand what's going on would only make the kids (a few at least) more excited about the Bard. 

In regards to the last 4 plays, I feel like you almost need to read them first to understand some of the earlier ones.  There are several mythological allusions in Cymbeline that would help a reader better understand the archetypes that are in all of the other plays such as the goddess of love and the leo = lion stuff. 

I Will Give thee Bloody Teeth

The introduction to Antony & Cleopatra has a picture of Vivian Leigh (Scarlett O'Hara!) as Cleo so naturally I couldn't help but think of Scarlett (and Elizabeth Taylor) when reading Cleopatra's lines.  It seems as though the female characters are getting increasingly bold as we read these plays.  We saw a hint of it in Rosalind's wit but we haven't seen anything like Cleopatra's love games she plays on poor but not so innocent Antony:

"If you find him sad

Say I am dancing; if in mirth, report

That I am sudden sick." 

Even with the news of his wife's death she mocks Antony for his faithfulness but it only makes him want her more.  She is sexually explicit, pining for Antony and envying the horse he rides while away for "bearing the weight of Antony" and uses her beauty as a weapon to manipulate Antony and to get her way. My favorite line of hers is when Charmian has compared Antony to Caesar, and she basically tells him she's going to punch him in the mouth: 

"By Isis, I will give thee bloody teeth,

If thou with Caesar paragon again

My man of men." 

She's cool, calm, sexy, but if you talk about her man she'll bust your teeth. 

Too bad Antony hasn't turned around yet on some grand staircase and told her "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn." 

Shakespeare really had a firm understanding of manipulative women.  It makes perfect sense today to have these strong female actors playing the feisty Cleopatra, but how did the male actor play her at the time of its publication?  Did he overact like the mechanics in MSND to exaggerate the wiles of a woman, or did he understand like Shakespeare that coolness and subtlety are the tools of a woman's cruelty?

Cordelia and The Fool

After my initial fascination borne from a high school performance of the play, I have read King Lear a few time and each time I find something new or at least a new way of looking at the same words.  I am particularly interested in the characters of Cordelia and the Fool, as well as the suspicion I have heard mentioned that they are in fact the same actor, and who is Lear talking about when he says "my poor fool is hanged" anyway? 

Even though all of the good characters (King of France, The Fool, etc) of the play like her, it is hard to read her motives or to discern how good she is at all. The same can be said about the Fool.  With all of his riddles and songs it is nigh impossible to tell who he is directing his criticism towards or why he is saying it.   Did Cordelia refuse to flatter Lear out of honesty and to put herself apart from the obviously contrived praise of her sisters or is she truly unable to tell him she loves him.  You can't really blame her if this is the case as he is a kind of pompous guy anyway.  Maybe she's just keeping him down to earth the way the fool does.  Like Cordelia, the Fool does not flatter Lear but because he does it indirectly and uses doublespeak he is not faced with any serious wrath.  However, Cordelia remains loyal to the King even after he disowns her, reinforcing the idea that she is his only true ally, but is she doing this out of love for a father or out of being generally virtuous as the King of France sees her.Perhaps by using the same actor for both roles is a way to indicate that each character possesses similar traits and deficiencies.  Both characters see and speak the truth, and are punished for it despite their loyalty.