One of my more interesting and even startling discoveries while working on this project was the realization that Shakespeare, in so many interesting and often surprising ways, wholly invades our everyday life, well…every day and in (almost?) every way. The size and scope of this ubiquity still baffles me, the way this one individual is institutionalized into our culture (world culture?) to a level surpassing anyone (anything?) else. It’s quite amazing actually, if you think about it (check out this excellent (although dated) New York Times article if you don’t believe me. It does a good job discussing this idea).
And for some reason I really love seeing the guy everywhere, like a literary uber-where’s waldo. It’s great, seeing the Bard’s pop up in some random advertisement during the ballgame or on a highway billboard, or hearing a friend say, almost word for word, a quote from one of the plays, without even knowing it. There’s something almost subversive in this heightened awareness, like being on the inside of an inside joke, and I can almost feel the Bard next to me, sort of jabbing my ribs with his elbow, pointing and laughing at some sign, picture, commercial, or whatever and saying quietly: Do you see that? Ha! (and yes, given what little we know about the guy, he would probably be more surprised at this than I, for sure).
So I love it, this omniscience. And trust me, I’m not crazy (at least not about this), it happens every day. The dude’s everywhere. The guy redefines ubiquity.
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