What Would You Ask Shakespeare?
On Sunday I reported that Shakespeare featured in a list of celebrities that people would most like to bring back from the dead and meet. This fun little story has since got me thinking …
Let’s say it was possible! Let’s say we could bring Shakespeare back and we get the opportunity to ask him one question. What would it be? After mulling it over I’ve reached a question I can stick with:
“Mr. Shakespeare. Are you surprised by the cultural impact of your writing 400 years after your death?”
Sure, Shakespeare was famous in his own lifetime, but I wonder if he had an inkling of his long-term importance. I’d also love to quiz him about Anne Hathaway, writing Hamlet and watch his reaction when I force him to watch Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo and Juliet!
What would you ask if you had such an opportunity? Obviously, we’d all like to talk with him into the early hours – but you’ve got one question! What’s it going to be?
Comments
Freud thought Hamlet cpuldn’t bring himself to kill the king (till the very end of the play) because his unconscious Oedipal desires (intimacy with mother and desire to get rid of father) made him believe he was as guilty as Claudius. Thus if Claudius deserved to die, he did too. What do you think of that as an explanation for Hamlet’s delay and procrastination?
My question, since I know the man’s identity, which is of small consequence in any case, would be a technical one. “Sir, describe to me your rationale for uses of metaphors–specifically, for instance, your plan for overall image strategy and “Antony and Cleopatra”.
I would ask why he felt it necessary to write under an assumed name and what he would like us to know about his real life. “And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain to tell my story.”
Among the characters you created, who was the one you most loved?
Would you spend a day with me, Mr. Shakespeare? And then I’d listen to him talk about his plays, his working-process, his outlook on life, his stories – and then I’d introduce him to the huge impact he’s had on many lifes – not to mention my own.
Shakespeare, Illustrious & Unforgettable Friend: Kindly share w/ us some of ur inimitable, powerful insights about love equating to happiness…& when this is impossible because of profound age differences, is there Hope of transforming & sublimating it into unshakenable, stronger than death, profound Friendship & tenderness?
I would ask the Bard where had he been and what had he been doing during the so-called “lost years.” It would help answer so many other questions about him and his life.
What did you cut during performances, because R&J’s prologue says “for the next two hours traffic” implies some cuts were made & ’cause ain’t nobody going to stand up for four hours with groundlings for Hamlet.
I would like to ask if ‘Two Gentlemen of Verona’ was a working draft of ideas of what would eventually become ‘Cymbeline’, ‘A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream’, ‘King Lear’ and ‘Romeo & Juliet’.
Each of Shakespeare’s works is so very complex, and as a result, have affected so many people on so many different levels, even 400 years after his death. My question is, how did he do it?
The crucial ‘lost years’ question has been posed, so I’d ask the Bard if he believed in witches. His audiences made no distinction between the natural and the supernatural in Macbeth, and I’d like to know if he shared a belief that was widespread in this time.
How many playwrites and authors combined their talents to produce the works we attribute to “William shakespeare”; who were they and how much did each contribute?
I would like to ask W. S. why that inscription is on his tomb suggesting dire consequences if anyone ‘disturbs these bones’