The · Shakespeare · Challenge

Well, now is a good time to reflect on the month that was the Shakespeare Challenge. There are three acknowledged winners (zanovar, rjdotorg and juniormonkey) but there might be other unsung heroes of play-reading madness. I'm interested to know how the other challengers went. Some, I think, might be still going, and others might have abandoned while their sanity was still going strong. In any case, it would be fun to have a record of who got how far.

Personal notes:
Reading all the plays of Shakespeare in a month was a really crappy idea. I'm sorry. I wasn't really able to savour the magnificence of the writing, nor dwell on the nitty-gritty of character portrayals. If this isn't bad enough, I feel as though all the plots have melded into one megaplot in my head and I can't quite remember which plotline and which character belongs in which play.

On the other hand, I have now read all the plays of Shakespeare. I have given myself a pretty good overview of the majority of Shakespeare's corpus, and I can think about most of the plays in outline if not in detail. With any luck a might be able to pick up allusions that I wasn't able to pick up before.

Anyway, please feel free to reply to this posting and tell us how you went!

R

All 37 plays of Shakespeare are read -- third past the post, but still well within the time limit. At one point this month I had entertained the idea of following up the Shakespeare Challenge with the Sonnets, Venus and Adonis, The Rape of Lucrece, A Lover's Complaint, The Passionate Pilgrim and The Phoenix and Turtle; but to be honest I'm all Shakespeared out. Perhaps later on in the holidays... For now I think I'll tell WordPress that "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare" is READ... and get back to my Lonely Planet.

1 Henry VI, Part II READ!
2 Henry VI, Part III READ!
3 Henry VI, Part I READ!
4 Richard III READ!
5 Comedy of Errors READ!
6 Titus Andronicus READ!
7 Taming of the Shrew READ!
8 Two Gentlemen of Verona READ!
9 Love's Labour's Lost READ!
10 Romeo and Juliet READ!
11 Richard II READ!
12 A Midsummer Night's Dream READ!
13 King John READ!
14 The Merchant of Venice READ!
15 Henry IV, Part I READ!
16 Henry IV, Part II READ!
17 Much Ado About Nothing READ!
18 Henry V READ!
19 Julius Caesar READ!
20 As You Like It READ!
21 Twelfth Night READ!
22 Hamlet READ!
23 The Merry Wives of Windsor READ!
24 Troilus and Cressida READ!
25 All's Well That Ends Well READ!
26 Measure for Measure READ!
27 Othello READ!
28 King Lear READ!
29 Macbeth READ!
30 Antony and Cleopatra READ!
31 Coriolanus READ!
32 Timon of Athens READ!
33 Pericles READ!
34 Cymbeline
35 The Winter's Tale
36 The Tempest
37 Henry VIII

Four plays and four days to go.

Have finished As You Like It, am about to start on Twelfth Night. Meanwhile, have found the following in a school edition of That Scottish Play:

William Shakespeare: Macbeth

by Mary Holtby

This is the life of Mac the Knife
whose fate was foretold by witches:
They said he'd be King, so he and his wife
worked out the possible hitches.
When good King Dunc in sleep was sunc,
they thrust him through with a dagger,
And although poor Mac was blue with funk
he carried it off with a swagger.
The King was dead, the princes fled,
and the kingdom Mac's for the taking,
But Banq's for the chop since the witches said
his sons were kings in the making.
The thugs are slow off the mark, and so
they half-complete their mission,
But enough to make Mac's party go
when he sees Banq's apparition;
This bloodstained ghost upsets the host
but makes him even keener
To put his enemies on toast,
and take them to the cleaner.
The witches bluff him with some stuff
which is truthful yet deceiving;
His target is now the tough Macduff,
who's off to England, leaving
his wife and chicks to cross the Styx,
fit tidings to incite him
To end the tyrant's testy tricks,
so he joins the prince to fight him.
Meanwhile the Knife observes his wife
parade, out-out-damn-spotting --
Curses the shadow-play of life,
such pointless parts allotting.
Now branches hood his foes -- not good
for Mac, who, white as linen
Recalls what's said of Birnam Wood
advancing to Dunsinane.
Still he won't run -- no woman's son
slays this predestinarian...
Macduff explains he isn't one
(a posthumous Caesarian);
His sword goes smack through poor old Mac --
alas for realm and riches!
It's better to endure their lack
than put your trust in witches.

I promised yesterday I would deliver
some more appertinent verses on the subject
which swallows all my waking hours: Shakespeare.
Alas, upon the reaching of fifteen,
(the number of the plays that I have read)
I have the slightest mental indigestion
for iambically arrangéd pentameters.
However I find my fluency is improved
in words that now are lexically dead
like "eke" and "ere" and "an" (not as an article
but rather something meaning like an "if")
But as for "honorificabilitudinitatibus",
found in Act Five of old Love's Labour's Lost
("the state of being able to achieve honours"
according to the venerable Wikipedia)
the gastric juices of my brain are weak,
and rather disinterested by the verbal challenge.
(For those who find such geekish sesquipedalia
of more than just a squeamish passing interest,
be known to you that words such as this one
which pop up only once in written record
are "hapax legomenon" sometimes hight.)
Particularly so far I hath enjoyed
The Comedy of Errors for the best,
but as for Shakespeare's ninth, Love's Labours Lost,
the plot is tedious, though the relentless quibbling
be very clever, it is not redeemed.
Also I felt the sixth play, Titus Andronicus,
was lacking the poetical elan
that usually we associate with Shakespeare
but as for the frequency of bloody outrage,
murder, rapine, pillage and alike
there can be few theatrical creations
providing of such blood-and-gorish value.
Thus will I bring this posting to an end
and hope that everyone fares well in health.
In parting, may I suggest that for a reading
upon the Voice O'er Internet Protocol
we choose a play with which most are familiar
like Hamlet, King Lear or the Scottish play,
and after choosing, we should pick a date,
that best enables our mutual convenience.
Hoping that Shakespeare has you much in thrall
as I, I send best wishes to you all.

Henry VI x 3 (Henry XVIII?)
Richard III
Comedy of Errors
Titus Andronicus
Taming of the Shrew
Two Gentlemen of Verona
Love's Labour's Lost
Romeo and Juliet
Richard II
Henry IV, Part I
Henry IV, Part II
14 plays completed by 12/12/05

You can see my progress page here anytime.

A more meaty post tomorrow. Now, bed. :)