Once upon a time, I spend a buttload of money on a textbook for a Shakespeare class.
Which I dropped. The class, not the book. Well, I suppose I’ve dropped the book a couple of times, too.
The book I kept. Fast forward to the recent past, I’ve read all of my junk novels numerous times each and am wandering around my apartment looking for something to read. So now I am working my way through Shakespeare’s complete works, including the introductory pages of commentary before the collection and each work.
Yesterday I finished the first play, "Two Gentlemen of Verona." The play is a comedy, and consistent with our conceptions of comedy (and contrary to what your English professor will tell you), there is quite a bit of laugh-out-loud humor. That includes several penis jokes, at least one toilet joke, and a reference to putting someone’s tongue in another’s anus. I knew Chaucer was raunchy, but who knew?
Now I’m getting ready to start every feminist’s least favorite play ever. That is, "The Taming of the Shrew." Not to be confused with "The Taming of a Shrew." A Shrew is basically the same play, with some significant differences. Experts dispute whether A Shrew’s additions were written by Shakespeare or assisted by him. The Shrew is a play-within-a-play, another of Shakespeare’s early comedies. Full comments to follow when I finish.
Until next time, unfortunate reader.
