while reading romeo and Juliet the past few days, i noticed a strange phenomenon- while the majority of the page of the play seems like lyrical, elegant Shakespearean verse, some of the footnotes seemed more akin to our latest science unit; puberty and the endocrine system. that is to say, just when i thought that Shakespeare was like one big poem, with characters and scenes, it turns out that will was also quite eager on the dirty joke. for instance: (and this isn't even a joke)
Mercutio:
if love be rough with you be rough with love
what is he suggesting????
so it makes me ask this question: at the time, was Shakespeare considered inappropriate? because if so, isn't it a bit strange that one of the most read authors of all time, whose work is a big part of literary education, made some jokes worthy of the boys bathroom? (I'm not saying that will S. wasn't also the master poet that he was, but that he was, erm, many sided.) if a contemporary of Shakespeare's went to the future and saw him much everyone loved him, would they be surprised?
but how can we predict what will still be popular in 100 years? because i feel like that's another thing that a great book, or play, or even movie has. Staying power. it has to have, as they say, withstood the test of time.
can we predict which books will still be around in 100 years? what do YOU (I assume ms. rear and maybe one bored classmate) think?????
really interesting questions, clara! also, in re: shakespeare's dirtiness, what's interesting is how *coded* and subtle his dirty jokes are. if you catch on to them, you catch on to them. if he was accused of being inappro, he could just feign innocence. . . the true power of the double entendre!
ReplyDeletei don't know if we can predict with certainty the books that will last, but we can probably narrow it down. there are too many random factors involved. . . during shakespeare's time, people probably thought christopher marlowe the superior playwright. but does superior equal popular?