Wednesday, August 08, 2007




I’m suddenly attracted to Shakespeare again. It’s like falling in love all over again. He’s an integral part of English literature. Can’t comment about whether he is the best but yes, many of his plays are very relevant even today. Many perform and read his plays even today, eve after 400 years! That is quiet a feat I must say.

I borrowed King Lear and Macbeth from the British Cou
ncil yesterday. All my Lear and Macbeth sessions in college came back to life. Relived old memories, scene after scene. The quotations, the explanations, the debates…

Although Shakespeare wrote about kings, queens and princes, they had a certain common faults and tribulations like every other person, making it easy to relate to them, even after innumerable ‘thous’ and ‘thys’. King Lear's pride, Othello's jealousy or MacBeth's ambition or just plain misunderstandings; these are emotions one may fell at any point in time.

The best part of his plays is that he makes you think after you’ve heard and seen a story unfold. To act in a Shakespearean play or an adaptation has been a dream for many actors and actresses. Even the smallest character is as significant as any of the leads.

I liked the way Omkara shaped up. One decent adaptation of Shakespearean play set in modern times. Maqbool too is said to be an amazingly dark movie. Haven’t seen it though.

4 comments:

Bharath Hemachandran said...

:P

I hate Shakespeare. True the stories of the plays are really nice, but I just can't bear to read stuff that is not in plain English. A bit anachronistic for me.... his works.

Balaji said...

:)...Nice to know you are enjoying the plays...

Can't help by laugh at Bharath's comments...

cure for ennui said...

hey balaji! nice to have a regular visitor! the language although loafty, is in line with what was spoken then...we can't really complain about that. It's the story, the charaters, the emotions they feel, that connect. I do agree that it could be quiet an ordeal to decipher the meaning as you read on.

Bharath Hemachandran said...

They should change it to how ppl speak now then. What a waste of time trying to figure out what ppl a few centuries back spoke... it's not like they were speaking about anything important.