Two graphs and six videos and then one more–odds and ends

OK, so I just want to share a couple of things…

First of all, thanks to all of you readers who have made January our best month ever here at the Project. I didn’t think we’d ever match Hamlet, but we have… thanks!

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Secondly, the last few non-podcast blog entries have focused on Othello’s major speeches. In the last one (from Monday), I talked about them in terms of readability. I reexamined the speeches and took into account every speech of his longer than 10 lines. While much of it supports my theory of Iago destroying Othello’s power of expression, there is one outlier speech: Act Four, Scene Two’s “Had it pleased heaven,” spoken to Desdemona.

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As you can see, this speech doesn’t follow the trend in either words per sentence or overall reading grade level. At some point before we put this play to bed at the end of the month, I’m going to need to look at that, I think.

Oh, and one last thing: The Guardian newspaper and website out of the UK, has begun to release videos of major British actors tackling some of the great set speeches out of Shakespeare. Monday saw the release of six:

  • Adrian Lester, Hamlet: ‘To be or not to be’
  • Joanna Vanderham, Romeo and Juliet: ‘The mask of night is on my face’
  • Roger Allam, King Lear: ‘Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks’
  • Eileen Atkins, Othello: ‘I do think it is their husbands’ faults’
  • David Morrissey, Richard III: ‘Now is the winter of our discontent’
  • Ayesha Dharker, A Midsummer Night’s Dream: ‘These are the forgeries of jealousy’

Cool stuff… I can’t wait to see more!

And if that wasn’t cool enough for you, check this out… more from Willful Pictures’ “How Shakespeare Changed My Life” series, another one from Liev Schreiber:

Best part for me is the discussion of Iago (of course–given the current play under study…) and Hamlet…

Enjoy!

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