I finished Shakespeare's first historical play and plan to read all

Would that be King John?




Peace.

...Then get me his non-union Mexican equivalent!-§

In college honors English, we were told to read four books just to get to know those over the summer.

Gilgemesh
Iliad
Odyssey
Aeneid

I think this is it. These are called epics, which were long poetry prose that used to be sung. My C must be from finishing the fist book over the summmer. Things were complicated, but we got tests based on writing skills. We discussed the books in class some.

These might be Latin, but they still take place in Turkey or around there, those random Eurasian inland countries maybe something like that. They are way BC or something. It would be interested to know what royalty BC was like. I mean I'm talking could be a million BC, I don't remember.

These long poems are written in verse I think.

Christina Barrett
127.proboards.com

I have read all of those in the course of my life. They are a must for anyone interested in language. I'd recommend that you take a look at Dante's Inferno, Beowulf, Medea, and Oedipus Rex as well, just to name a few.

But, back to Shakespeare.....

The histories are a great read(though I'm generally of the opinion that Shakespeare wrote plays and that's they way they should preferably be experienced). I remember in particular from King John the scene where the executioner is to kill to young prince. The dialogue they exchange is one of the highlights, if not the highlight of the play.

My personal favorite history is Henry IV pt.i. Having the characters of Falstaff, Prince Hal, Hotspur, Glendower, Bardolph, Nym, and Pistol all in one play is hard to match, but there are great moments to be had in all the histories, undoubtedly.

After that, Richard III would probably be my next favorite.

Have you read any Shakespeare other than King John?




Peace.

...Then get me his non-union Mexican equivalent!-§

I feel so refreshed I read another few pages, almost halfway done with Shakespeare's second historical play.

In school we read Macbeth, and in Talented Theater we acted as witches. In Talented Theater we read A Midsummer Night's Dream and I accompanied with Talented Music the senior play, just songs added to the real play to keep things going. They did A Midsummer Night's Dream for their senior play, and I was a junior, third year in high school. We read Romeo and Juliet in eighth grade, and I was in honors English.

I watched Shakespearian plays when I was 9-11 for free when we lived in the nation's oldest city. They seemed like historical comedies. I remember the one where the guy comes out in striped stockings|socks. I don't know which of his plays was that. I think all they did was Shakespeare, but there was an annual play reenacting the founding of the oldest city. So, it was about the Sapnish there.

I remember Falstaff and Pistol etc. I'm glad you're so cultured. We read some other big plays in Talented Theater: The Glass Menagerie and A Streetcar Named Desire. I had heard of those already. I remember learning about Chekov, as well as some others.

We did read "Beowolf" when I was in high school, my second year but in the third level of English. I also got Dante's Inferno and was interested in his ones on Heaven and Purgatory. I was in a hurricane and probably don't have these. We read "Pilgrim's Progress," as well, my second year.

I just wish I got in gifted. I was tired when I took the gifted test and missed it by a point. I also wish I tried out for Talented Theater and dance team my first year. There was this cute boy whose best friend died. So, he went to our school a year and then moved away for good. He came from the city, New Orleans. He used to be up at Spock.com, but I don't see him this time. I wonder if the website changed; there are less results it seems, too, though.

King John was good. I recorded some funny parts of Richard II. I got tired, only recorded two, but here's a good one of the two:Line 85

No misery makes sport to mock itself.
Since thou dost seek to kill my name in me,
I mock my name, great King to flatter thee.Christina Barrett
127.proboards.com

No misery makes sport to mock itself.
Since thou dost seek to kill my name in me,
I mock my name, great King to flatter thee.

Yeah, that's a great scene, and a great speech by John of Gaunt. He uses his illness and impending death as license to speak freely and frankly to Richard about his failings as a king. Wise words that Richard foolishly chooses to ignore.

Richard has a fantastic speech in act V, where he realizes, too late, his foolishness. You'll know it when you get to it. It contains the famous line:

I wasted time, and now doth time waste me.

I just might have to re-read these histories myself. You've got me thinking about them.

By the way, the guy you remember being "cross gartered"(wearing striped stockings)is probably Malvolio from the play Twelfth Night, which is my favorite of Shakespeare's comedies.




Peace.

...Then get me his non-union Mexican equivalent!-§

I agree. "Henry IV (Parts I and II)" are the best of Shakespeare's history plays. The Falstaff character is perhaps Shakespeare's greatest achievement (big statement I know when putting him up against Lear and Hamlet).

They are plays about friendship and companionship, and Hal's dismissal of Falstaff at the end is terribly sad and always put me off "Henry V". I like to think that latter play was written more for his patrons. I'm sure "Henry IV" was much more fun to write.

Incidentally I don't recall Nym or Pistol appearing in "Henry IV Part 1". The main man in Falstaff's gang there was Poins, who was Hal's big mate, and Falstaff's hangers-on are Bardolph, Peto and Gadshill.

Pistol may be in "Part II" and he's certainly in "Henry V". Isn't Nym from "The Merry Wives Of Windsor"?

Correct you are. Pistol doesn't come in until H4 pt. ii and Nym not until H5. My memory conflated the texts and characters of Prince Hal's saga.

All the more reason to reacquaint myself with those plays.




Peace.

That had not occurred to us, Dude.-§

..is to watch the BBC series from the late 70s and early 80s.
I recently bought this set from the UK (because the Region 2 versions--unlike the region 1 versions--have subtitles). The idea of watching the plays unfold, while having the full and faithful texts on the screen, really enhances the whole experience. In this way, you can read the play (on the screen) while hearing the sound and dramatic phrasing of the word play, poetry, and story dialog dramatically delivered. So, one gets the whole experience at once--though I have watched them several times. I watched them this way in the historical sequence (started with Richard II and ending with Richard III).
It wasn't until I watched them in this way that I realized that I was basically watching Shakespeare's version of the War of the Roses play out--from its beginning to its end. And it shed light on such subjects as:
How did Henry IV dethrone Richard II?
What problems plagued Henry IV's reign?
What did Henry V do to make himself more popular than his father had been?
Why was Henry VI such a wimp and what role did his wife, Margaret, play in the war between the Houses of Lancaster and York?
Richard III is a much better play if you are introduced to the characters in Henry VI, Part 3. In fact, the later play might have been called Edward IV as easily as Henry VI, Part 3. Another great thing about watching this series is that the actor playing the major roles remain the same from play to play, and you get a sense of the depth and breath of the family saga that plays out on stage through these plays.

Another version of these plays is the BBC (black and white) series from the early 60s. However, as good as the acting is in this series, these plays are somewhat condensed and, therefore, less faithful to the full Shakespeare texts.