What's Done, Is Done

It’s time to finish this thing. As jolly old Lady Macbeth would say, “what's done, is done.” I must admit that I enjoyed the ride, probably more than I thought I would. I really liked having this blog on the side, as it were, a sideline activity in an area I always wanted explore in greater detail. So, to finish up, I thought I would list some general thoughts and impressions (bear with me…you made it this far):

1) In some ways, this project has done one main thing for me, that is, show me how ignorant I really am on all things Shakespeare. As I have said before, you could spend a lifetime studying one play, or only one act of one play even, which I’m sure countless people have done (without ever “finishing” of course). So, first and foremost, I now know that I know hardly anything, but at least now I can claim to have some sort of clue, which is something more than clueless.

2) Taking the above observation a bit further, I found that Shakespeare, the idea of Shakespeare, is an idea that extends well beyond the boundaries of his plays, so you have to deal with that expansiveness right away, or be swept off. It is a larger-than-life domain, occupying such a huge space in this world that, when you dive into it, you are confronted by what feels like an endless universe. This is both good and bad. You get a really cool sense of almost total artistic vibrancy, which is good. However, it’s almost always coupled with a strong sense of hopeless, down-the-rabbit-hole ambiguity. Beyond the “actual” plays (actual in quotes here because no one can agree about the exact Shakespearean actuality of any of the plays), there are endless myriads of related books, books about books, experts, expert experts, colleges, professors, theaters, actors, directors, movies, movies about movies, movies about plays, plays about movies, websites, discussion boards, blogs, podcasts, and on and on and on. A huge space. Enormous. Navigating it was daunting but, as I realized early on and as with many things in life, it serves you well to keep it simple. Read the play. Watch a version of it. See it live if you can. Get what you get. Move on. That’s Shakespeare, at least for me, and that’s life, at least for us all, right?

3) Concerning the Shakespeare space, I found two main camps dividing this space: the academics and everyone else. Often, I found that these groups were at odds with one another, while overlapping all the time, in various ways, which was an interesting (and sometimes contentious) dynamic. For example, when friendly, uber-knowledgeable professors would give free lectures to non-academics like me, that was good (great even) but when opinions were offered as valid simply because they were coming from behind a degree, that was, well, not so good. There is this scholarly thing going on with the Bard, and a significant (or just overly vocal?) number of non-academics seem put off when confronted by this sort of snobbery. This I think has led to the perception, hopefully limited, that Shakespeare is only for classrooms, which kind of stinks, however limited, because it diminishes the Bard, making him into something he is most certainly not. If any truth has come out of this project for me, any single learning, it is that Shakespeare is most definitely meant for everybody. The depth and breadth of the Shakespeare universe can (and should) accommodate everyone, no problem, with lots of room to spare. It’s the whole point really, this idea of inclusion. It’s what all great art does. No one owns anything and everyone is invited to the party. This should be obvious, but unfortunately it seems to some extent to have been lost in the shuffle.

4) Speaking of obvious, I didn’t realize how much I would learn about Renaissance Theater and the Elizabethan/Jacobean age. I should have expected this but oddly I didn’t. This was pretty cool, getting a real feeling, however slight, of what it was like to sit through a play in the Globe (or Blackfriars) or having an idea, however limited, of what it was like to live in the England of the 1600’s. The life and times of Shakespeare. Now I know more about this, which I like.

5) There is absolutely no substitute for seeing some version of a play. You can’t just read each one and get everything. Not even close. This also should have been obvious, more obvious than anything probably, but for some reason it wasn’t when I first set out (see the name of this blog). Maybe it’s because I’m an introverted reader-type and, to me, words on a page equal books to sit and read alone. Unfortunately for me, this project would have quickly failed in read-only mode (assuming that it hasn’t failed for the billions of other, wholly valid reasons). Without any exceptions, I would have missed a great deal if I had only read each play, so see them all if you can (in a theater, if possible). I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Shakespeare never personally published anything, so nothing was meant for just reading. Everything he produced was for theaters, to act out, in front of real people, live. These were things to be seen and heard, not just read.

6) The daily references to Shakespeare that started popping up everywhere, all day, every day, was an excellent surprise and just so cool. Like I said before, you don’t have to look for them, they just happen. This, probably more so than anything else, showed me the tremendous impact that this one man has had on all of us, in so many ways, expected and unexpected. The dude is everywhere.

7) One of the main goals of this blog was to force me to critically analyze each play through a reasonably coherent blog posting, so as to sharpen my reading and writing skills. I didn’t want to embarrass myself (not sure I succeeded there), so I worked at it a bit. There was (and is) an importance to these entries for me personally, and I treated them seriously. This blog made a forum for discussion (mostly personal, which was fine actually) where I could seek understanding and clarity on a complex thing…and I liked it, a lot actually, all that thinkin’ and figurin’ and stuff. Although I have mixed feelings about the overall quality herein (re-reading some of my entries…oy vey!), I can say with satisfaction that I tried to write well and think intelligently and by trying, have hopefully become better at it. One can dream, eh?

8) All of my posts were written in another document first and then copied into this blog. That document reached 72 pages and about 36,000 words. That’s pretty good. Like half a book almost (but not really). I like that, the idea that I have produced something with volume and substance, at some level, on the side, in off hours. It bodes well for the future in terms of finding the discipline to put something together writing-wise of maybe greater substance and ambition. Oh, and the time frame was almost exactly 19 months, just to fill out this bit on metrics.

9) Except for some notable blackouts, I got a good rhythm going, especially towards the end. The attainable goal I found, with all the other life things going on, was about one and a half plays a month, at most. That felt just about right, like I was moving at a decent pace, not slacking, but also not racing. In the beginning I was definitely moving too fast and I should have paced myself better. Maybe next time (yeah right). Bottom line: Two or three a month is too much, especially when you need to study all those ancillary things like watching the movie, or (and?) seeing the play, or (and?) reading someone’s critical analysis, or (and?) attending a lecture at a library.

10) I advertised this blog lightly, for the most part keeping it to myself and just a few close friends and family. Early on I noticed little to no interest in this thing when I would mention it (For good reason. I’m under no illusions. Who would really want to read some no-name blither on about Shakespeare?). When it did come up (rarely), it would usually elicit the same reaction, which was no reaction, usually just awkward silence. To varying degrees, I almost always got a strange why-would-anyone-do-that vibe or even worse, a feeling that I was being pretentious (a thought that really bothers me). So I stopped talking about it and it worked. Back to normal, but still in business. It’s all good and I get it. Shakespeare can be boring, really boring if you’re not into it, especially if you perceive the whole thing as something you should only be doing in school (see above). And you didn’t like school. I can respect that for sure. Different strokes for different folks (thankfully). It’s what makes the world go ‘round.

11) That being said, for me, this project was great fun. Really. I can’t explain it. It just worked for me. For example, I can say with certainty that, without fail, at any point on any day I could think about something in a given play I was reading, then think about what to write about that given play, turn it all over in my head a few times…and it would make me feel happy. Every time. So there, one of the keys to life: Read Shakespeare and write a blog about it. You’re welcome.

So there it is. Thanks for reading. I really enjoyed this project (did I say that enough?), but it is certainly time to move on. So, adios and farewell, my good old faithful Shakespeare blog, and farewell especially to anyone who followed along! Bard, blog, and readers alike were so good to me that I must end by saying that, unlike this blog, my appreciation is sincerely without end.