June
Shakespeare Electronic Conference, Vol. 5, No. 0545. Monday, 20 June 1994. (1) From: Sean Lawrence <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. > Date: Sunday, 19 Jun 1994 15:38:23 -0300 Subj: Re: SHK 5.0541 Shakespearean Disney (2) From: Larry Schwartz <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. > Date: Sunday, 19 Jun 1994 19:46:44 -0500 Subj: Re: SHK 5.0541 Shakespearean Disney (3) From: Patricia Gallagher <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. > Date: Sunday, 19 Jun 1994 22:33:50 -0500 (CDT) Subj: Shakespearean Disney (4) From: Milla Riggio <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. > Date: Sunday, 19 Jun 1994 23:41:48 -0500 (EST) Subj: Re: SHK 5.0541 Shakespearean Disney (1)---------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Sean Lawrence <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. > Date: Sunday, 19 Jun 1994 15:38:23 -0300 Subject: 5.0541 Shakespearean Disney Comment: Re: SHK 5.0541 Shakespearean Disney Regarding parallels with The Lion King: What about Morgan, et. al, in Cymbeline? They seem to form a sort of academy that the heirs (Posthumous and Imogen) pass through and learn from. I don't know what Imogen learns, but Posthumous seems at least partially redeemed in my eyes by his association with these foils to the poisoned court. Anyway, just my 2c worth. Sean Lawrence. (2)---------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Larry Schwartz <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. > Date: Sunday, 19 Jun 1994 19:46:44 -0500 Subject: 5.0541 Shakespearean Disney Comment: Re: SHK 5.0541 Shakespearean Disney Today's (6/19) NYTimes' Arts & Leisure section has a front-page, above-the-fold story about "The Lion King," addressing its Shakespearean parallels, as well as its suitability for children. As Joe Bob Briggs would say, "check it out!" Larry Schwartz, Humanities Librarian North Dakota State University (3)---------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Patricia Gallagher <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. > Date: Sunday, 19 Jun 1994 22:33:50 -0500 (CDT) Subject: Shakespearean Disney I saw "The Lion King" last week, and there are allusions to "Hamlet". In fact, the NY Press commented on it before the film opened (and I believe the Disney Organization is confirming the Shakespearean influence). I do think that, while there might be some loose referencing to Henry IV, Part, I, it is a stretch. The companions are not evil, and in fact, aid Simba in his attempt to recover his throne. By the way, a few years ago, I was with a very young (3 and 1/2 years old) friend of mine, and I wanted to watch a version of "Hamlet" that was airing on PBS. I explained the plot to her, in advance, as the story of a man whose father was killed by his uncle. That the uncle then married the man's mother, and that, as a result the man didn't like his uncle at all. She accepted that plot summary (brief as it was), watched the story with me (we explained Ophelia when we got to it), and the next day was the only child in her nursery school who knew who Shakespeare is. Patricia E. Gallagher (4)---------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Milla Riggio <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. > Date: Sunday, 19 Jun 1994 23:41:48 -0500 (EST) Subject: 5.0541 Shakespearean Disney Comment: Re: SHK 5.0541 Shakespearean Disney To Lynn Parks: The front page of today's Arts and Leisure section of the NY Times is headlined "A Bambi for the `90's Via Shakespeare" and contains a story about the "Hamlet" animated film THE LION KING. The point is to defend the film against those who think the death of the father too brutal for young eyes. But your point is clearly made as well. Best, Milla Riggio
Shakespeare Electronic Conference, Vol. 5, No. 0544. Monday, 20 June 1994. (1) From: Robert S. Cohen <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. > Date: Sunday, 19 Jun 1994 09:32:57 -0700 (PDT) Subj: Re: SHK 5.0542 Q: Similarities (2) From: Sean Lawrence <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. > Date: Sunday, 19 Jun 1994 15:33:49 -0300 Subj: Re: SHK 5.0542 Q: Similarities (3) From: David Joseph Kathman <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. > Date: Sunday, 19 Jun 94 18:28:14 CDT Subj: Re: SHK 5.0542 Q: Similarities (4) From: W. L. Godshalk <GODSHAWL@UCBEH> Date: Sunday, 19 Jun 1994 20:12:36 -0500 (EST) Subj: Similarities (1)---------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Robert S. Cohen <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. > Date: Sunday, 19 Jun 1994 09:32:57 -0700 (PDT) Subject: 5.0542 Q: Similarities Comment: Re: SHK 5.0542 Q: Similarities And sunglasses in place of the handkerchief. Arise, black vengeance, from the hollow hell. (O.J. the hell-o). (2)---------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Sean Lawrence <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. > Date: Sunday, 19 Jun 1994 15:33:49 -0300 Subject: 5.0542 Q: Similarities Comment: Re: SHK 5.0542 Q: Similarities Where's the "history of spousal abuse" in Othello? It seems altogether alien and, to Desdemona at last, utterly surprising when it occurs. That said, it's a pretty interesting comparison. Cheers, Sean Lawrence. (3)---------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: David Joseph Kathman <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. > Date: Sunday, 19 Jun 94 18:28:14 CDT Subject: 5.0542 Q: Similarities Comment: Re: SHK 5.0542 Q: Similarities I applaud E. H. Pearlman's trenchant observation of the similarities between O. J. Simpson and Othello. These parallels are much too striking to be the result of coincidence; we all know Samuel Schoenbaum was off his rocker when he said that "life and art are full of cunning parallels". Thus, I think we should acknowledge the inevitable conclusion: O. J. Simpson wrote *Othello* (or at least the parts that weren't written by Erich von Daniken). Dave KathmanThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (4)---------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: W. L. Godshalk <GODSHAWL@UCBEH> Date: Sunday, 19 Jun 1994 20:12:36 -0500 (EST) Subject: Similarities Elihu Pearlman forgot the the "suicide" theme in his list of similarities. Oscar Wilde told us that life imitates art, but I find this particular instance too sad for my usual frivolity and quips. Sadly, I remain, Bill Godshalk
Shakespeare Electronic Conference, Vol. 5, No. 0543. Sunday, 19 June 1994. (1) From: Linda Woodbridge <LWOODBRI@UALTAVM> Date: Thursday, 16 Jun 94 15:45:40 MDT Subj: SHK 5.0476 Q: Iachimo in a Box (2) From: Lonnie J Durham <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. > Date: Saturday, 18 Jun 1994 07:50:43 -0500 (CDT) Subj: Prospero, Miranda (3) From: William Godshalk <GODSHAWL@UCBEH> Date: Saturday, 18 Jun 1994 20:30:30 -0500 (EST) Subj: Re: SHK 5.0540 Re: Bottom, Titania, Sex (1)---------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Linda Woodbridge <LWOODBRI@UALTAVM> Date: Thursday, 16 Jun 94 15:45:40 MDT Subject: Q: Iachimo in a Box Comment: SHK 5.0476 Q: Iachimo in a Box Bill Godshalk -- you recall my being "skeptical" about your Iachimo-in-a-box -- actually, I rather like the idea, and I can also visualize a staging of *A Chaste Maid in Cheapside* where, in the rather camp scene in which Moll Yellowhammer and Touchwood Junior rise from their coffins, the actors could pop up like jacks-in-the box--it would suit the tongue-in-cheek aura of this "resurrection," I think. Cheers! Sincerely, Linda Woodbridge (2)---------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Lonnie J Durham <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. > Date: Saturday, 18 Jun 1994 07:50:43 -0500 (CDT) Subject: Prospero, Miranda Thanks to those who have so quickly and generously responded to my question about one approach to *The Tempest*. I don't mean to mount an elaborate defense of my remarks, but I would like to respond to some of the early questions before the discussion (if it continues) becomes too complex to handle. First, John Cox's trenchant reminder of the "character" problem: You are right; Prospero has no psychology, but you and I do, and so had Shakespeare. Thus, the configuration of elements (especially when taken together with the example of *Lear*) becomes the mandala for a meditation upon the relationship between a daughter and her father and the development of a grammar of motives appropriate to the circumstances provided by the text. Some considerations for that meditation: there is no sign of a mediating mother. The father is extremely skeptical of the society into which he is sending his beloved daughter, especially so, given the background mourning of Alonzo for the daughter HE has lost to the greater world. Powerfully implicit is the enormous temptation to keep her in isolation to himself. The perversity of such a choice (and Miranda's sexual maturity) are signalled by Caliban's attempted rape. Throw in whatever "historicizing" one wishes to this configuration, we still have but a mandala. Piers Lewis's question about "evidence" in the text pointing to the transformation of Caliban into Prince Ferdy: being an old Barberian (C.L., that is) I have always paid close attention to the elements of "disorder" that allow for the drift of identities and the need (and possibility) for all kinds of redefinitions--the dream-world setting of hallucination and illusion; the revolt of underlings, death by water, etc.--but especially the humiliation of the powerful: making Ferd take Cal's place in the menial tasks of water and wood fetching. I.e., Ferdinand is made to take on Caliban's identity. Sexuality is transformed from attemted rape into the elaborate dance of courtship, with all the inhibitions attending the symbolic barrier of virginity. And finally, to Phyllis Rackin's comment: "I wonder how Edenic a world w/o prohibitions against rape would be for rape victims." Precisely. Civilization and its Discontents all over again. The persistence of rape across cultural and historical boundaries argues the necessity for the protection of women from men by powerful symbolic and physical restraints, thus laying the ground for the subordination and possession of women by their protectors. Our present struggle is to make this fatal configuration seem less inevitable, less dependent upon irrational taboos and more available to reason and personal identification: "I, too, am victimized by such attacks upon human dignity." Pray God deliver us from the inchoate rages and compulsions that we have recently taken to calling "the rape culture" (in hopes of making it seem more available to social therapies) and into a new era of tender mutuality (but my hopes are not very high). In MY Shakespeare, visiting the monster in the underworld is always the first step toward release from fear and resentment into compassion and generosity. In other words, recognition does more for us than repression ("I know you all, and will for a while [time?]..."--or however that goes.) Regression to a symbolic madness or savagery may be the condition for the reinvention of a failed system of restraints. Oh, and about Ferdinand supposedly cheating at chess: I think there are much too many indicators of his capacity for selfless affection to consign him already to the pack of cynics to whom Miranda is being delivered. But enough blabber from me. Thanks, all, for the lovely conversation. Lonnie (3)---------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: William Godshalk <GODSHAWL@UCBEH> Date: Saturday, 18 Jun 1994 20:30:30 -0500 (EST) Subject: 5.0540 Re: Bottom, Titania, Sex Comment: Re: SHK 5.0540 Re: Bottom, Titania, Sex Topic: "Enforced chastity" again I think that Don Foster may be misreading "enforced chastity" as "forced chastity," i.e., rape. I take Titania at her word: "enforced chastity" means "forced to be chaste." Bevington's note (3.1.195) gives both readings, but comments: "Titania at this moment is hardly concerned about chastity." I agree, and Titania sees the moon as weeping for all those maidens who must remain virgins. The tradition of the chaste moon is turned upside down. Yours, Bill Godshalk
Shakespeare Electronic Conference, Vol. 5, No. 0542. Sunday, 19 June 1994. From: E. H. Pearlman <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. > Date: Saturday, 18 Jun 1994 07:52:39 -0600 (MDT) Subject: [Similarities] Has anyone yet noted the similarities between Othello and O. J. Simpson: black male and white woman, history of spousal abuse, murder of wife and friend, claims he loved his wife "too much," etc? E. Pearlman
Shakespeare Electronic Conference, Vol. 5, No. 0541. Sunday, 19 June 1994. (1) From: Lynn A. Parks <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. > Date: Fri, 17 Jun 1994 09:08:19 CST Subj: Shakespearean Disney? (2) From: James Nielson <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. > Date: Friday, 17 Jun 94 12:35:37 PST Subj: How many authors had Lady Macbeth? (1)---------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Lynn A. Parks <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. > Date: Fri, 17 Jun 1994 09:08:19 CST Subject: Shakespearean Disney? My son, upon recent emancipation from the hospital, received from a friend a boxed set of Disney's "The Lion King" action figures. On the back of the box was a synopsis of the movie's action. It seems a good king has a young son and an evil brother. The evil brother kills the good king and usurps the throne. The young son, now in danger, leaves the court for the backwoods, where he is tutored by good-hearted but low-class characters (including a warthog). When matured, the son returns to confront the usurping uncle. I could not help but think of parallels with _Hamlet_ and _I Henry IV_ while reading the synopsis. Am I stretching things too far? Has anyone seen the movie yet? Happy viewing, you parents, Shakespeareans, and Disney fans! P.S. I tried to tell my son the story of _Hamlet_, so that he would have a framework for viewing the movie, but I had trouble boiling it down to a three-year-old's sensibilities. (2)---------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: James Nielson <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. > Date: Friday, 17 Jun 94 12:35:37 PST Subject: How many authors had Lady Macbeth? My colleague Rob Holton has been giving some thought to the authorship question and it seemed to me that his take on it demanded some consideration. I am sending along the most recent and lapidary statement of his view that I have received from him. P.S. Michael D. Bristol at McGill has a paper on the Knights essay "HOW MANY CHILDREN HAD LADY MACBETH." I don't believe it is in print anywhere yet, but he might be willing to share it with you. (Arthur Quilted-Couch) Since von Daniken was the only one smart enough to understand that true high points of our culture are gifts from aliens, the question _must_ then arise: how did he know? Only one explanation is possible. Von Daniken himself is a member of this vastly superior and highly advanced alien race! No other explanation holds up! And in his (its) own quiet way, that's what he's been trying to tell us all this time. Now, this has a very direct bearing on the authorship question of course. At the very least, von Daniken is related by blood to the author of the so-called "Shakespeare" plays. At the very least! And, given the possibility (nay, the probability) that this highly developed alien species possesses a longevity undreamt of in this quaint hinterland of the universe, is it not possible/probable too that von Daniken himself--who has after all shown himself to be so aware of human life forms-- IS THE TRUE AUTHOR OF THOSE PLAYS!!! No other explanation holds water! At last this "shakespeare" chicanery can be halted. The question now becomes one of disseminating this explosive information. And how will von Daniken react to being unmasked? Since he is one of Them, anything is possible. I think we ought to proceed carefully on this.