Results 1 to 30 of 33

Thread: Young Fortinbras...gives this warlike volley

Hybrid View

Previous Post Previous Post   Next Post Next Post
  1. #1

    Default Young Fortinbras...gives this warlike volley

    What are our favorite Shakeperean plays? Of course, I'm more interested in the histories, tragedies and historic-tragic. If you answer Romeo & Juliet, fine, but I'll be inclined to slap you

    For all-time favorite, I'm torn between Henry V and Hamlet.

    For favorite interpretation, I'm overwhelmingly inclined to pick Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet (1996).


  2. #2
    Bopa Member Incongruous's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Location
    H.M.S Default
    Posts
    2,647

    Default Re: Young Fortinbras...gives this warlike volley

    Henry V is too bawdy for me.
    I prefer Macbeth. Oh the horror!

    Sig by Durango

    Now that the House of Commons is trying to become useful, it does a great deal of harm.
    -Oscar Wilde

  3. #3
    Nascent Veteran Member Tiberius of the Drake's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Location
    on the Lido.
    Posts
    615

    Default Re: Young Fortinbras...gives this warlike volley

    I like Titus Andronicus. full of blood, gore, violence, and murder. just like modern television!
    "Something can be done, by careful analysis, to sort out truth from propaganda and legend. But this is where the real difficulties begin, since each student inevitably selects, constitutes criteria, according to his own unconscious assumptions, social, ethical or political. Moral conditioning, in the widest sense, plays a far greater part in the matter than most people- especially the historians themselves-ever realize."
    -Peter Green

  4. #4

    Default Re: Young Fortinbras...gives this warlike volley

    does anyone know wher you might get audio versions of shakespeare plays for free on the internet?

  5. #5
    Member Member Didz's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2000
    Location
    Bedfordshire UK
    Posts
    2,368

    Default Re: Young Fortinbras...gives this warlike volley

    The Merchant of Venice, the film made of it was also brilliant.
    Didz
    Fortis balore et armis

  6. #6
    " Hammer of the East" Member King Kurt's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Location
    The glorious Isle of Wight
    Posts
    1,069

    Default Re: Young Fortinbras...gives this warlike volley

    At the risk of being slapped I would say Romeo and Juliet

    I studied it for O level and really got into the play at that time. It has a great story and is most certainly not some form of 16th century chick flick. It has a superb set of characters including my all time favourite Mercutio who gives my favorite speech - the Queen Mab speech

    "O, then, I see Queen Mab hath been with you.
    She is the fairies’ midwife, and she comes
    In shape no bigger than an agate-stone
    On the fore-finger of an alderman,
    Drawn with a team of little atomies
    Athwart men’s noses as they lie asleep;"


    This sweeping speech starts with a beautiful discription of this fairy figure, but as the speech continues, the mood becomes darker as the evil side of Queen Mab emerges. By the end the romantic illusion is shattered as she is described as:

    "Sometime she driveth o’er a soldier’s neck,
    And then dreams he of cutting foreign throats,
    Of breaches, ambuscadoes, Spanish blades,
    Of healths five-fathom deep; and then anon
    Drums in his ear, at which he starts and wakes,
    And being thus frighted swears a prayer or two
    And sleeps again. This is that very Mab
    That plaits the manes of horses in the night,
    And bakes the elflocks in foul sluttish hairs,
    Which once untangled, much misfortune bodes:
    This is the hag, when maids lie on their backs,
    That presses them and learns them first to bear,
    Making them women of good carriage:
    This is she—"


    The play has all aspects of life - comedy, tradegy, life, love, death - plenty of death with many characters being killed during the course of the play.

    As for a good version - there are many - I quite liked Franco Zeffirelli's version, even if it did leave a few bits out. My favourite is Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet which captures the passion of the whole play excellently.

    So, why not put preconceptions aside and give it a look - I'm sure you will enjoy it - but then I love most of the Bard's work, probably loving Macbeth and Hamlet nearly as much as Romeo and Juliet.
    "Some people say MTW is a matter of life or death - but you have to realise it is more important than that"
    With apologies to Bill Shankly

    My first balloon - for "On this day in History"

  7. #7

    Default Re: Young Fortinbras...gives this warlike volley

    Well technically its not shakespeare but it is based off two of his best characters

    Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead.
    Tho' I've belted you an' flayed you,
    By the livin' Gawd that made you,
    You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din!
    Quote Originally Posted by North Korea
    It is our military's traditional response to quell provocative actions with a merciless thunderbolt.

  8. #8

    Default Re: Young Fortinbras...gives this warlike volley

    Quote Originally Posted by Jkarinen
    Well technically its not shakespeare but it is based off two of his best characters

    Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead.
    ???


    Speaking of Hamlet, I love Kenneth Branagh's version. Does anyone else have any feelings about his literary license of taking it from the 12th century to the 19th century? I personally have no qualms about it since I think it was so well produced; just wondering if anyone else had feelings on this?


  9. #9
    Gangrenous Member Justiciar's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    Stockport, England
    Posts
    1,116

    Default Re: Young Fortinbras...gives this warlike volley

    12th? I though hamlet was set in the 4th-5th century? Meh. I don't mind people playing with Shakespeare's work. It's ultimately about the stories, rather than facts. They all seem to translate pretty well.
    When Adam delved and Eve span, Who was then the gentleman? From the beginning all men by nature were created alike, and our bondage or servitude came in by the unjust oppression of naughty men. For if God would have had any bondsmen from the beginning, he would have appointed who should be bound, and who free. And therefore I exhort you to consider that now the time is come, appointed to us by God, in which ye may (if ye will) cast off the yoke of bondage, and recover liberty. - John Ball

  10. #10
    Camel Lord Senior Member Capture The Flag Champion Martok's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2002
    Location
    In my own little world....but it's okay, they know me there.
    Posts
    8,257

    Default Re: Young Fortinbras...gives this warlike volley

    Quote Originally Posted by King Jan III Sobieski
    Speaking of Hamlet, I love Kenneth Branagh's version. Does anyone else have any feelings about his literary license of taking it from the 12th century to the 19th century? I personally have no qualms about it since I think it was so well produced; just wondering if anyone else had feelings on this?

    I don't mind at all. But then, I'm an unabashed fan of all of Branagh's Shakespeare film adaptations -- he has a knack for bringing the Bard's works to life like no one else. Much Ado About Nothing is my personal favorite, but I also have Hamlet (which is a close second for me), Othello, and Henry V.
    "MTW is not a game, it's a way of life." -- drone

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
Single Sign On provided by vBSSO