Act V is a whirlwind of resolved plotlines that wasn’t so much satisfying as kind of irritating. Silvia makes her escape into the great, dark woods only to encounter every other character from the play and secure a happy ending for herself and all her friends. The whole thing was just too convenient and, IContinue reading “All Nice and Tidy”
Tag Archives: Drama
Proteus is not fooling anyone
We begin Act IV in the woods between Milan and Verona. Valentine and his trusty man Speed are waylaid by a group of outlaws. Valentine tells the would-be robbers that he has no money because he was exiled by the Duke of Milan. When asked what his crime was, instead of telling them it wasContinue reading “Proteus is not fooling anyone”
Fickle Proteus
I will say this for ol’ Bill, his stories move fast. We go from a very simple setup in Act I to a fairly complicated plot in Act II. Valentine is revealed to be just as susceptible to love as the friend he derided at the start of the play. Proteus is proven to beContinue reading “Fickle Proteus”
Yeah, I’m not buying it
Unsurprisingly, I didn’t find The Taming of the Shrew to be terribly funny or particularly good. It was a play about demeaning and gaslighting women into subservience, dressed up as a lighthearted farce. In a word, offensive. This is not to say that I was raging up and down my room, shouting at a long-deadContinue reading “Yeah, I’m not buying it”
Shrew tamed
The fourth act of The Taming of the Shrew was troubling for me. Katharina finds herself married to a pretty terrible guy who is using psychological and physical torture to break her of her independent will. I may be viewing this play from modern eyes, making it difficult to see the humor in Petruchio’s abusiveContinue reading “Shrew tamed”
No, Petruchio is the worst
The second act was relatively short, but it sure packed in a lot of terrible behavior from most of the characters in the play. We see a little domestic violence, a non-consensual betrothal, and a dipstick of a father at his wits’ end. Everybody is lying to each other to suit their own ends andContinue reading “No, Petruchio is the worst”
Is Katharina the worst?
The first act proper of The Taming of the Shrew is nearly as complicated as the last comedy I read, only this time it’s not quite so exasperating. I like that some of the characters are a little likeable this time around, giving us a point of focus in this rather complex plot. The titularContinue reading “Is Katharina the worst?”
So, what’s an Induction?
When sitting down to read The Taming of the Shrew, I assumed it would follow the same five act structure as all the other plays thus far. Imagine my surprise when I opened up the play and instead there was an Induction before the first act. In fact, in the Dramatis Personae, there is aContinue reading “So, what’s an Induction?”
As bad as it gets
I can’t say I’m surprised at the dark ending Titus Andronicus treated me to, but that didn’t make it any less disturbing. Here at the end, we have a very poor attempt at subterfuge, the most unrepentant villain I have ever seen, and murders heaped upon murders. The act starts with Lucius hanging out withContinue reading “As bad as it gets”
The Goths are coming!
The Andronici begin to get back on their feet here in Act IV. I’m all for death and misery in a tragedy, but I was starting to wonder what else could go wrong for Titus without actually killing him. Turns out the destruction of his family and the betrayal of the country he has servedContinue reading “The Goths are coming!”
Hey, Shakespeare! 