Which came first, Midsummer Night’s Dream or Romeo and Juliet? Is the first a spoof on the second or the second a tragic expansion of the first? I look at both sides.
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Tag Archives: William Shakespeare
Shakespeare’s Deep Dive into Explosive Sexual Desire
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Charlie Chaplin, Comedy, Midsummer Night's Dream, Much Ado about Nothing, Romeo and Juliet, Taming of the Shrew, tragedy Leave a comment
Much Ado about Male Insecurities
The men in Much Ado about Nothing are obsessed with cuckoldry. Out of the play, however, arises a revolutionary vision of how male-female relationships could be.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Cuckoldry, Marriage, Much Ado about Nothing, Pete Hegseth, Relationships, Taming of the Shrew, toxic masculinity Leave a comment
Is Taming of the Shrew about Male Fragility?
Perhaps Taming of the Shrew is less about taming shrews and more about male fragility. That would restore some of Katharina’s dignity.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Male fragility, Much Ado about Nothing, Pete Hegseth, toxic masculinity Leave a comment
At 12 I Fell in Love with Taming of the Shrew
In which I explore why I love Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew when I was 12.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Merchant of Venice, Sexism, Taming of the Shrew, Twelfth Night Comments closed
The Right Attacking Empathy? Read King Lear
Rightwing groups have started attacking empathy itself, which literature fosters. Ayn Rand would approve but not Shakespeare.
Rosh Hashanah: The Light You Seek Hides in Your Belly
This Piercy Rosh Hashanah poem builds a poem about forgiveness and renewal from the image of a dark moon.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Head of the Year", Marge Piercy, Midsummer Night's Dream, Rosh Hashanah Comments closed
Harry Kane as Henry V Redux
In which I compare England transcendent goal scorer Harry Kane to Shakespeare’s Henry V.
What to Make of the Resurgence of Macho
With Pete Hegseth’s over-the-top exhibition of macho, I look at the history of literary cuckold jokes, which reveal the anxieties of insecure men.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged As You Like It, Canterbury Tales, Christopher Marlowe, Country Wife, cuckold jokes, cuckolds, cuckservatives, Doctor Faustus, Donald Trump, Geoffrey Chaucer, Miller's Tale, Othello, Pete Hegseth, William Wycherley Comments closed