King Lear: Finale – Exeunt, with a Dead March

Previously on King Lear – Edmund had begun to get in trouble for his fucking, the King had gone so mad he had regained some reason, met up with Cordelia again but likely to be captured and Edgar, though no longer a fop, is still a sweetheart. We re-enter the fray with Edgar leaving Gloucester

King Lear: Part 4 – “It smells of mortality.”

Previously on King Lear – Daughters are bitches, man loses eye, Poor Tom’s-a-cold, Edmund has fucked, may be fucking and will fuck again, Lear went mad, shouted at the weather that’s how Shakespeare lets us know it’s set in England and how we have any of this without Shakespeare having stained his pages with his

King Lear: Part 3 – Gimme Your Best Shot!

We left, of course, on ‘Reason not the need…’ which I think is as apt a subtitle for King Lear as anything else. In my opinion the entire play is a group of savage apes playing at civilisation in a desperate attempt to stave off acknowledging the fact that they are all the ‘basest beggar’.

King Lear: Part 2 – Reason Not the Need

Previously on King Lear – A man decided to cut a crown into three pieces and divide it amongst two people, because that made sense at the time. The King of France is a baller who managed to pick up a free woman, and Burgundy is a tosser. Kent disagreed with Lear being disagreeable so

King Lear: Part I – In Defence of Bastards

I figured I’d follow on from Romeo and Juliet with King Lear for a couple of reasons. One, it is the Shakespeare play I consider my favourite and with which I am most acquainted and two, I think it is the one that best contrasts with the outright comical stupidity of the ‘tragedy’ of Romeo

Romeo and Juliet – Shakespeare’s Finest Comedy

“For never was a story of more woeThan this of Juliet and her Romeo. Exeunt” So ends this play of the harsh and horrible nature of the true love of a 13 year old girl to a young man of uncertain age but we’d guess somewhere between 16-20. You see where I’m going, here? At

The Curious Idiot’s™ Introduction to Shakespeare

It’s inevitable, isn’t it? I mean I speak English as my first language so at some point or another I am going to talk about Shakespeare. Even if English wasn’t my first language Shakespeare is taught all around the world and is often considered the pinnacle of English literary accomplishment. Point 1 – Shakespeare isn’t