Tag: Drama

Timon of Athens by William Shakespeare

Never has misanthropy been so eloquently expressed. Timon’s reversal of fortune serves as a cautionary admonition to our craving for material prosperity, as well as a cynical lesson on the fickle nature of men. The cynic Apemantus emerges as the wisest character in this story of riches to rags, yet even he is not spared …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2010/04/24/timon-of-athens-by-william-shakespeare/

Measure for Measure by William Shakespeare

I found this play strangely moving and thought-provoking. The legally enforced sexual morality that the plot hinges on seems incomprehensible to us today, but more interesting was the way in which Shakespeare pushes the issue of justice vs. mercy. Mercy wins in the end, but only after some improbable twists that suggest that justice in …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2009/03/14/measure-for-measure-by-william-shakespeare/

The Two Gentlemen of Verona by William Shakespeare

When I took Shakespeare in college the professor dismissed this play as silly, but he can’t have been reading the same play. The love story is touching, not just the romantic courtship between the gentlemen and the ladies, but also the friendship between the two gentlemen, and the play is only saved from being a …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2008/11/14/the-two-gentlemen-of-verona-by-william-shakespeare/