Shakespearean Character Spotlight: Gonzalo

Point One: Hurricane Gonzalo has recently battered Bermuda the British Isles.

Point Two: The random number generator I use to select which Shakespearean character I am going to feature in my weekly spotlight selected Gonzalo... from The Tempest...

Conclusion: Random number generators have sick and inappropriate senses of humor, and are also Shakespeare aficionados. I apologize.

Gonzalo is so Good and Honest and Kind that you sometimes want to smack him around a bit, but then you feel guilty about thinking such evil thoughts about such a Good and Honest and Kind person.

Tune in on Friday for Crispin's Day Special!

Shakespearean Character Spotlight: Peter Bullcalf

Today our Shakespearean Character Spotlight random number generator alights upon a sturdy and morally-flexible country lad from Gloucestershire. 

As far as Falstaff's recruits go, Bullcalf is all well and good, and really drives home the point that FALSTAFF HAS NO MORALS, in case you hadn't realized that already. However, I've always been much more fond of his fellow recruit, the woman's tailor Francis Feeble. More on him later, I'm sure... 

Shakespearean Character Spotlight: Smith the Weaver

It's time for another Shakespearean Character Spotlight! After featuring a couple of prominent heroines, we're back to taking a closer look at the unwashed masses of background characters. Meet Smith the Weaver!

Among Jack Cade's followers, poor Smith the Weaver very much plays second fiddle to the ore flamboyant Dick the Butcher, who gets to say the famous "kill all the lawyers" line. Nobody remembers Smith's "toasted cheese" line. Poor old Smith.

In case you're wondering what is around Smith's neck, it's supposed to be a scarf. He wove himself a little scarf. 

Shakespearean Character Spotlight: Desdemona

The random number generator has hit upon another major character for this week's Shakespearean Character Spotlight! Today we take a look at Desdemona.

The vast majority of Shakespeare's female characters are strong and powerful, which is why I give the more insipid women like Hero such a hard time. I was quite prepared to run roughshod over Desdemona for meekly putting up with an obviously irrational husband who emotionally and physically abuses her. However, the more I thought about it the more I realized Desdemona is actually quite spunky. She (understandably) loses it a bit in the last act, but up until then she is admirably froward. 

Of course, my favorite character in Othello is Emilia, but more on her later...

Shakespearean Character Spotlight: Hero

The random number generator has finally hit upon a major character for our third Shakespearean Character Spotlight installment! Today we'll be taking a closer look at Hero:

I'm probably being a bit harsh to poor Hero. She doesn't do anything wrong and weathers her trials and tribulations with good grace and dignity. But really... everybody agrees that the play should have ended like this:

(Historical note: I drew that comic before I started this website. As you can see, I quickly discovered that I could save a lot of time by not fully drawing arms, bodies and clothes. You might call it laziness. I call it streamlining.)

Shakespearean Character Spotlight: Chorus

It's time for the second installment of my very-ongoing Shakespearean Character Spotlight series! Today the random number generator has picked out a Chorus for closer inspection, but it's probably not the Chorus you're thinking of. No, it's not that other one either. It's (drumroll please) the Chorus from Troilus and Cressida!

I want to start a campaign to reintegrate "orgulous" into contemporary speech. Start using it today! I suggest trying out the phrase "Don't be so orgulous, man." 

Shakespearean Character Spotlight: Francisco

Welcome to the first installment of what will probably be a very-ongoing series: Shakespearean Character Spotlight! Each week (or, more accurately, whenever I happen to run out of other material) I will be randomly selecting one of Shakespeare's speaking characters, regardless of part size and importance, and presenting a profile of him or her. 

(In case you're interested, I'm using this list of characters as furnished by Open Source Shakespeare, which is an excellent online Shakespeare resource that you should definitely check out.)

Today's character is.... *runs random number generator* ...Francisco from Hamlet!

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how Francisco manages to miss almost all the action of Hamlet, and thus is one of the few characters who is probably still alive at the end of the play. Way to go, Francisco!

One down, 1223 to go!