A stick-figure Shakespeare comic by Mya Lixian Gosling
Let's face it... Shakespeare isn't always easy to understand, due in large part to all the archaic Elizabethan words he uses. Fortunately, it's not too hard to decode. Here are some fun words that crop up repeatedly in Shakespeare...
Moooooooooooooooiiiiieeeeeettyyyyyy.....
It's St. Patrick's Day! Let's get to know Shakespeare's only Irish character a little better, shall we?
The Irish get short shrift in Shakespeare. There are tons of Welshman floating about, and several valiant Scotsmen, but poor old Macmorris is the only representative of the Irish.
The Ides of March are on Sunday!
Poor old Soothsayer. He never quite manages to get his message across.
Also, the Roman calendar is really confusing.
This line from Hamlet always makes me smile:
Of course, a "beaver" in this case is actually the hinged visor of a helmet. But that's not nearly as entertaining.
Oh Pericles. You're such a wonderfully bizarre play.
In case you haven't seen Pericles, it starts out with the noble Prince Pericles visiting the kingdom of Antiochus, whose beautiful daughter is up for grabs to whoever can solve a mysterious riddle. Of course, if you get the riddle wrong you die. That's the way these things usually work.
Seriously, Antiochus, that's the best riddle you could come up with? I defy you to write a riddle about an incestuous father-daughter relationship that is more obvious than that.
Tomorrow the RSC is live-broadcasting their production of Much Ado About Nothing! (They're calling it Love's Labour's Won and are presenting it as a sequel to Love's Labour's Lost, but it's still definitely Much Ado About Nothing.) To celebrate, here's a guide to all you need to know about the play!
Check out my other All You Need To Know About [Insert Play Here] guides!
By now we've all heard the news that Leonard Nimoy has died. As a Star Trek fan, this is, of course, terribly saddening, but fortunately there is so much to celebrate about Nimoy's life and work. Here is my own painfully inadequate tribute:
As I was drawing this comic, I stumbled across a now much-shared letter that Nimoy wrote in response to a biracial girl asking him for advice. It just goes to show what an absolutely top-class human Nimoy was.
Live long and prosper, everyone.
This coming Sunday, the first of March, is St. David's Day! Poor old St. David doesn't get nearly as much international acclaim and love as his hard-drinking Irish counterpart does, but among Shakespearean circles his feast day is heralded for primarily one reason. And that reason is...
Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Sant Hapus!
