Essays and Notes
Blind Fortune
Read the NoteIn The Merchant of Venice (2.1.23) the Prince of Morocco introduces the theme of blind Fortune, which plays in the fate of Antonio’s merchandise on the seas. It also plays into the question of being born a Christian or a Jew, fair-skinned or dark hued. The theme of fortune is also central to As You Like It (1.2.31),
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Plagiarizing Himself
Read the NoteShakespeare often reused images and metaphors, stealing from himself. The simile in Friar Lawrence’s musing from Romeo and Juliet,
And in their triumph die, like fire and powder,
Which as they kiss consume.
is echoed in the metaphor of the third quatrain of Sonnet 73.
In me thou see’st the glowing of such fire
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
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Video: Jonjo O’Neill as Richard III
Read the NoteJonjo O’Neill as King Richard III, in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s 2012 production
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Status of Women
Read the NoteCelia and Rosalind engage in an intellectual discourse on questions that might today be expressed as: “Is it better to be born talented or lucky?”, “Is it our genetic code or our environment that most shapes us?”, “Are women by nature or by misfortune disadvantaged in their status compared with men?” When Celia and Rosalind use the word natural, as in “Nature’s natural”
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