Quote Shakespeare
It’s easy for me to Quote Shakespeare, it’s like a hobby of mine.
“The edge of war, like an ill-sheathed knife,
No more shall cut his master.”
Shakespeare’s King Henry the 4th in Henry 4, pt 1 (1.1.17–8)
And that’s why we read the classics.
Shakespeare’s revisionist history, Henry IV, part 1 – probably was first a stand alone play, but the introduction of Sir John Falstaff ushered in a new device, and arguably one of Shakespeare’s most enduring wits.
In chronological order, though, Richard 2, then much time before the Henry 4 parts 1 & 2, then skip one for Henry 5.
That’s just the “Best reasonable guess” as to the order of the plays, per reconstructed Elizabethan Era (theatre) records.
Sometime in the next year or two, I’m planning on using the final paragraphis of Henry 4, pt. 2 as a series of entry introductions. That play, Henry 4, pt 2, it has a narrator, called, “Rumors” who introduces and concludes the idea of the play, basically, delineating some plot for the story.
It was the chorus for Henry 5, that was the one, first time I saw it, chills.
So the chorus or “Rumors,” serve as narrative bookends, helping stitch together the history plays, and making room for Falstaff in Merry Wives (of Windsor). The unverified rumor is that the Queen requested that one. Anecdotal evidence, not admissible in a court of law.
My innate tendency to quote Shakespeare earned me a place marker of, “Sometimes Kramer thinks he was Shakespeare in a past life,” and that’s one of those flippant expressions that has never died.
There’s a good piece of popular culture material, almost academic, about which words and phrases started, were first recorded, by Shakespeare.
“By Jove,” that’s a funny bit when it’s delivered live.
Pink Cake
Pink Cake is a commonplace book.
ISBN–13: 978–1434805751
A Commonplace Book (full text PDF & cut quotes PDF)