Wait, You're Doing What Now?

"Paradox" merits a link just for the magnitude of the task she's set herself (as an independent study, no less).  She's writing a Shakespearean style play about the Bard's life, based on the connections between his life and his works.  She's got the dynamics of his marriage from Richard III, and now she's on Merchant of Venice having seen a book entitled "Shylock and Shakespeare."

She then launches into a comparison of Portia to women in the church of Latter Day Saints, and a lengthy discussion of her own thoughts on her (someday) LDS marriage.  Quite an intriguing post.

Good luck!

Lincoln, Shakespeare or Jesus?

From The Advocate in Louisiana comes this interesting letter looking at the common confusion of quoting Shakespeare, Lincoln and the Bible.  It caught my eye because while discussion of Shakespeare vs the Bible is quite common, I don't often hear Lincoln thrown in there.  As a matter of fact I had no idea that Lincoln was a Shakespeare fan (apparently Macbeth was his favorite play, and John Wilkes Booth had played Macbeth).

Unlike many articles on the subject, however, the author does not answer any of his "Who said it first" questions.  So you're not going to learn anything new.  As a matter of fact the whole letter is actually written by a commitee member for the Lincoln Bicentennial. 

Mrs. Shakespeare and the Sonnets

http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/classics/story/0,,2150903,00.html

[via An Alternate Kettle of Fish]

Interesting (and lengthy) article all about Anne Hathaway, better known as Mrs. Shakespeare.  What's her story?  More to the point, what's her relationship to the sonnets?  After all, we've spent 400 years talking about whether Shakespeare was gay, and who the Dark Lady was, but rarely do we have any glimpse into Shakespeare's relationship with his own wife.  The author of the article, Germaine Greer, wonders under what circumstances Hathaway first saw the sonnets (remember they were published in 1609 but some where written as much as 20 years prior).  Her theory is that she was given a copy after they were published, and not by Shakespeare.  What happens next?

Very interesting glimpse into a subject not typically covered in the usual Shakespeare biography.