It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s astounding how we use expressions without realizing where they come\u00c2\u00a0from. At parties, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s easy to impress others by attributing whatever\u00c2\u00a0quotation we use to either of two sources. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s likely you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be right much of the time if you invoke 1) the Bible, or 2) Shakespeare.<\/p>\n
You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve heard people insist \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Well, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sure to be in the Bible; the Bible\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s\u00c2\u00a0such a big book, after all.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d But nothing or nobody is cited more often than\u00c2\u00a0Shakespeare.<\/p>\n
Let me explain:<\/p>\n
The funniest cartoon I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve ever read \u00e2\u20ac\u201d one what doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t begin with, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153A\u00c2\u00a0skeleton walks into a bar and says, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcI\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll have a beer . . . and a mop,\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u201d\u00c2\u00a0consists of very few words. In this cartoon, a man inside a hidden prompting\u00c2\u00a0box on the stage of a famous playhouse whispers to the solo actor in\u00c2\u00a0Elizabethan garb: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153. . . or not to be.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d That is the question.<\/p>\n
And the best quip I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve heard deals with those whose fortune has come easily:<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153He was born on third base but he thinks he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hit a triple.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
The Shakespeare prompt ranks alongside some of the more famous, terse\u00c2\u00a0quotations throughout the ages, including:\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153To be or not to be\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u201d Shakespeare;<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153To be is to do\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u201d Socrates;<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153To do is to be\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u201d Jean-Paul Sartre; … and the one we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re most familiar<\/p>\n
with:<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Do be do be do\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u201d Sinatra.<\/p>\n
But back to Shakespeare:<\/p>\n
Often, with little relevance to the meaning communicated in the play, people\u00c2\u00a0invoke lines from Hamlet, as in, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Frailty, thy name is woman\u00e2\u20ac\u009d; \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Get thee to\u00c2\u00a0a nunnery\u00e2\u20ac\u009d; \u00e2\u20ac\u0153To thine own self be true\u00e2\u20ac\u009d; \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The play\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the thing\u00e2\u20ac\u009d; \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Good\u00c2\u00a0night, sweet prince\u00e2\u20ac\u009d; \u00e2\u20ac\u0153There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the rub\u00e2\u20ac\u009d; \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Conscience does make cowards of us\u00c2\u00a0all\u00e2\u20ac\u009d; \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Neither a lender nor a borrower be\u00e2\u20ac\u009d; \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The rest is silence\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Something\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s rotten in the state of Denmark.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Even some terse dialogue amazes people. For example, after the Prince of\u00c2\u00a0Denmark runs his sword through Polonius, the king soon after asks about\u00c2\u00a0Polonius\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s whereabouts. Hamlet\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s answer: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153At supper.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Not where Polonius\u00c2\u00a0eats, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153but where he is eaten. By worms.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Yet, the prince is never charged\u00c2\u00a0with the crime of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Polonius assault.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Some say that each time they re-read Shakespeare, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s like reading an\u00c2\u00a0entirely new play.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Scenes, actions, connections, consequences and nuances that went unnoticed\u00c2\u00a0the first time show up the next. And as a fan of Shakespeare (we toured the\u00c2\u00a0castle to which Hamlet referred in the play and which served as the setting\u00c2\u00a0for a recent filming of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hamlet\u00e2\u20ac\u009d), I remain addicted.<\/p>\n
My impression as a high school reader of the Bard\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s works was in the\u00c2\u00a0over-emphasis on the plot. We were drilled on \u00e2\u20ac\u0153What happened first? Then\u00c2\u00a0what happened? And how did the play end?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe we were challenged\u00c2\u00a0to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153taste\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the play, and were thus unable to see the forest for the trees,\u00c2\u00a0or the play for the scenes.<\/p>\n
Recently in a local bookstore, I came across a copy of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Manga Shakespeare:\u00c2\u00a0Hamlet.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d The format of this book piqued my curiosity. It retains the\u00c2\u00a0original plot, about a young man obsessed with getting vengeance on his\u00c2\u00a0uncle, who married Hamlet\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mother after the two apparently conspired to\u00c2\u00a0murder Hamlet\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s father.<\/p>\n
The Manga version sets the scene in the year 2107, adorns the cast in\u00c2\u00a0space-age costumes and occasionally shows a character wearing an iPod-type\u00c2\u00a0ear bud.<\/p>\n
The jazzy version includes all the memorable quotations, but they represent\u00c2\u00a0merely a host of sequential panels, hardly indicative of the Shakespeare\u00c2\u00a0canon.<\/p>\n
Now, everybody remembers Classic Comics, the 25-cent booklets we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d skim in\u00c2\u00a0lieu of reading the full version of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Gulliver\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Travels\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in high school.<\/p>\n
Though much simplified, Classic Comics contain enough character development\u00c2\u00a0to give the tale context and provide a sense of what made up the characters.<\/p>\n
So, often we could show up at Immaculate Conception School and say with a\u00c2\u00a0straight face, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Yes, Sister Mary Nachtmusik, I read all of \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcIvanhoe.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0In spite of its expertly illustrated characters, the Manga version merely\u00c2\u00a0attaches speech balloons to them without providing background. The \u00e2\u20ac\u0153to be or\u00c2\u00a0not to be\u00e2\u20ac\u009d soliloquy of Hamlet, for example, gets grossly truncated in this\u00c2\u00a0version. The extreme condensation might simplify and speed up the reading,\u00c2\u00a0but it also removes much of what gives the play substance.<\/p>\n
A former Highlands colleague, well-versed in matters of the Bard, agrees\u00c2\u00a0that if she hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t already been familiar with the full version of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hamlet,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0reading the Manga rendition would do little to familiarize her with the\u00c2\u00a0play. \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
And let us hope technology doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t facilitate the creation of too many more\u00c2\u00a0eviscerated classics, distilled to the point of vacuity.<\/p>\n
The next thing you know, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hamlet\u00e2\u20ac\u009d will appear in a version of the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153flip\u00c2\u00a0books\u00e2\u20ac\u009d of old, which created the sensation of movement by quickly riffling\u00c2\u00a0through the pages, the way one would shuffle cards.<\/p>\n
Remember those?<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153In the Iraqi culture, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s considered disrespectful to throw a shoe at\u00c2\u00a0someone.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
We heard that pronouncement many times after an Iraqi journalist threw shoes\u00c2\u00a0at George W. Bush, which the president ducked. We wonder: In which culture\u00c2\u00a0is such an act considered respectful? And are we perhaps talking about Nerf\u00c2\u00a0shoes here?<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2<\/p>\n
As soon as I received the new license sticker for my car, I dropped it,\u00c2\u00a0along with the registration, down the driver\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s side window and into the\u00c2\u00a0inner workings of the car. I tried to retrieve it by raising and lowering\u00c2\u00a0the offending window, but all I got was a grinding sound which proved the\u00c2\u00a0car also has a built-in paper shredder.<\/p>\n
Convinced I was the only person on the planet to have lost my license\u00c2\u00a0sticker, I almost panicked, expecting delays, penalties and excessive\u00c2\u00a0paperwork.<\/p>\n
I phoned Vanee Lujan, manager of the local motor vehicle division, who\u00c2\u00a0assured me that for five bucks I could have the sticker replaced.<\/p>\n
Though I was No. 14 in line at the MVD, my wait was only eight minutes, and\u00c2\u00a0the transaction \u00e2\u20ac\u201d handled expertly by a clerk named April Valencia \u00e2\u20ac\u201d took\u00c2\u00a0three minutes.<\/p>\n
I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m impressed!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s astounding how we use expressions without realizing where they come\u00c2\u00a0from. At parties, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s easy to impress others by attributing whatever\u00c2\u00a0quotation we use to either of two sources. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s likely you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be right much of the time if you invoke 1) the Bible, or 2) Shakespeare. You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve heard people insist \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Well, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sure to be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}