The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 16.1554  Monday, 19 September 2005

[1] 	From: 	Abigail Quart <
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	Date: 	Saturday, 17 Sep 2005 12:46:11 -0400
	Subj: 	RE: SHK 16.1543 Performing Angelo

[2] 	From: 	Abigail Quart <
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	Date: 	Sunday, 18 Sep 2005 05:02:52 -0400
	Subj: 	RE: SHK 16.1543 Performing Angelo

[3] 	From: 	Larry Weiss <
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	Date: 	Saturday, 17 Sep 2005 14:08:44 -0400
	Subj: 	Re: SHK 16.1543 Performing Angelo


[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From: 		Abigail Quart <
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Date: 		Saturday, 17 Sep 2005 12:46:11 -0400
Subject: 16.1543 Performing Angelo
Comment: 	RE: SHK 16.1543 Performing Angelo

With all due respect to Mr. Perlstein, nothing in the script justifies 
his fanciful reading that the Duke knew Isabella's family or travel 
plans.  Nothing.

As to Isabella's initial meeting with her brother, of course it's comic. 
She walks in the door and he instantly repudiates every word he's agreed 
to with the Duke. He is NOT prepared for death. He now tries to wheedle 
his sister out of her favorite toy, her virginity. It's normal brother 
behavior with hell high stakes. That alone would make it comic.

[2]-------------------------------------------------------------
From: 		Abigail Quart <
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Date: 		Sunday, 18 Sep 2005 05:02:52 -0400
Subject: 16.1543 Performing Angelo
Comment: 	RE: SHK 16.1543 Performing Angelo

With respect to Julia Griffin, 14 years makes the Duke what? a tottering 
32 if inherited at 18? 35 if they wouldn't let him touch anything till 
he turned 21? He has been a crappy ruler for the duration of his reign. 
It makes more sense if he took over when he was extremely young. He 
wasn't elected. All that was required was that his natural supervisor, 
his father, drop dead. Had the Duke's father been alive after his son 
was 14 or 15, there's no way that young man would not have been married 
already because Papa would have set up the deal. Logically, the Duke 
MUST have inherited young.

As for "to lie in cold obstruction and to rot," dear me. That is 
certainly terrifying. "Mommy! If I can't have an iPod, I will DIE! And 
wormy bugs will get in my coffin and eat out my eyes and it's all 
because I can't have an iPod! And it's YOUR FAULT!" Kids may not know 
the meaning of "hyperbole," but they sure know how to use it. Yes, 
Claudio's telling Isabella the truth but he is also using it to get what 
he wants. The definition of teenager is someone who dramatizes what he 
really feels.

[3]-------------------------------------------------------------
From: 		Larry Weiss <
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Date: 		Saturday, 17 Sep 2005 14:08:44 -0400
Subject: 16.1543 Performing Angelo
Comment: 	Re: SHK 16.1543 Performing Angelo

I cannot see the Duke as particularly young.  Remember the trouble 
Shakespeare made for himself when he cast Burbage as a young athletic 
prince.  He had to go through all sorts of contortions in the final act 
to rectify his age and explain his ability to win a fencing match from a 
fit and talented opponent.

After Hamlet, all Shakespeare's male leads were middle aged or older or, 
at best (as in the cases of Macbeth and Leontes of the first half of the 
play) of indeterminate age -- Duke Vincentio, Othello, Lear, Macbeth, 
Antony, Coriolanus, Timon, Pericles (except in the Wilton scenes), 
Leontes, Prospero, Henry VIII.   Cymbeline might be an exception, but 
there really is no male lead.  As for TNK, WS was not responsible for 
most of it.

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