“Transposing Shakespeare’s tragedy from medieval Scotland to feudal Japan, director Yukio Ninagawa created a breathtaking world filled with samurai, kabuki witches, a highly expressive cherry tree, and a moving musical score of Buddhist chant and western classical music. This revival, the last production directed by Ninagawa before his death in 2016, transforms the Bard’s brutal tale of greed, ambition, and revenge into a poetic meditation on the ephemeral nature of existence.”
i can’t stop fucking thinking about my english prof talking about the queer historical significance of the word “sweet” as a deliberate indicator of homosexual love and how that relates to both edward ii and gaveston, as well as hamlet and horatio. so, because shakespeare was likely totally knowledgeable about codes that queer men were using (cos like duh obvs), the inclusion of “sweet prince” at the end of hamlet is in all likelihood a completely deliberate indication that hamlet and horatio were in love
i’m???? so gay for literature and history lmao
my good sweet honey lord????
I WROTE A WHOLE PAPER ON THIS SHIT IN DOCTOR FAUSTUS HIT ME UP LITERALLY ANY TIME YO.
yknow if romeo had just Cried on juliets corpse for a couple hours instead of drinking poison Right Then they would have been Fine
The moral of the story is: always take time to cry for a few hours before making important decisions.
So I’m more or less being facetious here, but this is actually a thing.
Hamlet is genre savvy. Hamlet knows how Tragedies work, and he’s not going to rush in and get stabby without making absolutely certain he’s got all the facts.
Except once he thinks he has all the facts – once he’s certain that it really is the ghost of his father and Claudius really did kill him, he rushes in and stabs the wrong guy, which starts a domino line of deaths and gets Laertes embroiled in his own revenge tragedy and ultimately results in the deaths of nearly every character other than Horatio.
That’s the irony and the tragedy of the story. Hamlet knows his tropes and actively tries to avoid them, and the tropes get him anyway. It’s inevitable, the tropes are hungry.
I want a sticker that says the tropes are hungry so I can put it on my laptop
i met a scholar once who said that tragedies aren’t about a silly “flaw” or anything, it’s about having a hero who’s just in the wrong goddamn story
if hamlet swapped places with othello he wouldn’t be duped by any of iago’s shit, he’d sit down & have a good think & actually examine the facts before taking action. meanwhile in denmark, othello would have killed claudius before act 2 could even start. but instead nope, they’re both in situations where their greatest strengths are totally useless and now we’ve got all these bodies to bury.
If you’re thinking of visiting the Globe this summer, you might like to know that Swan has launched A Midsummer Night’s Dream afternoon tea. Inspired by the play and worthy of the fairy queen herself, the tea is available Monday to Saturday from 11.30am – 3.30pm, and Sundays from 2pm – 3.30pm.
The tea is served on bespoke crockery reflecting the themes of the play, specially designed by illustrator Annika Wester. Take a look.
the romeo&juliet lesbian au you never knew you needed
s t a r r i n g – samira wiley as juliet; kimiko glenn as romeo; nicole beharie as mercutio; chadwick boseman as the prince of verona; john boyega as paris; rinko kikuchi as benvolio; ken watanabe as montague; naoko mori as lady montague; lupita nyong’o as tybalt; idris elba as capulet; renee elise goldsberry as lady capulet
Solutions Without Problems 