Oh, yeah

[hils]

Did I read the censored version of the play? Because I do NOT remember Hamlet using the word cunt. LOL!

The play was actually quite rude in places, the old people sitting on one side of me were tutting and the girl on the other side of me gasped when David used the naughty word (ok, I gasped too)

Comments

[notsowise-sage.livejournal.com]

I do believe in the original text of Hamlet, you'll find it was said as "Country matters", by Hamlet, when laying in Ophelia's lap.

Twelfth Night is when old Billy Wobblestick really gets dirty.... spelling it out for all and sundry. Shakespeare though, was renowned for being one of the dirtiest writers around (just look at the subject of his plays), he cared little for people's sensibilities, knowing that they enjoyed being offended (can't say he was wrong, look at the industry Shakespeare's works have become). We don't recognise some stuff as swear words, and some stuff is by common acceptance cut out, where it isn't neccessary in one form or another, to protect our innocent ears.

[hils.livejournal.com]

I'm sure in the version we saw tonight he said something like

'I didn't mean your cunt'

But it's possible with all the shocked noises we just missed him saying 'country matters'

[notsowise-sage.livejournal.com]

The line should really be spoken as

"Cunt " pause "ry matters" - just sneaked into the offend the gentry, but be perfectly innocent all the same.

There's a reason why Shakespeare is the greatest playwright ;)

[whatiusedtobe.livejournal.com]

Seconded! Many people miss those subtleties.

[hils.livejournal.com]

I'm still amused at how it made everyone gasp

[hils.livejournal.com]

Hehe! Well, it worked. LOL!

Yes, his is brilliant

[spikewriter]

I think it's very appropriate that the chapter in Becoming Shakespeare which deals with the Victorian efforts to turn Shakespeare's stories into something uplifting and educational which could be enjoyed by children and young ladies of gentle birth is entitled "Domesticating Shakespeare." Since he's held up as the pinnacle of culture in English literature (or one of the biggest), most people don't realize most of his work was written for a very broad audience.

"Art thou base? Common? Popular?" indeed.

[hils.livejournal.com]

Yeah, and it's really sad because the Shakespeare I learned at school is so different from the Shakespeare I encountered at university. It took me a long time to get my head around the fact that he wasn't the pinnacle of high-brow intellectual literature that I'd thought. LOL!

He made plays for the people, and I say bravo!

[gillo]

"Did you think I meant

country

matters?" is what he said. He just paused a little between syllables. And, yes, Shakespeare intended it that way.

So, did you like it? The wheely chair? (Wheee!)The shattered mirror? The heart-shaped codpiece?

[hils.livejournal.com]

Hehe! Clearly everyone gasped over the second syllable

Yes, I loved it! The wheely chair especially. And Polonius