The Two Noble Kinsmen


So I read a lot of nonfiction, and I decided it would be good to read some classics as well. So I thought to myself, I should read or reread all of Shakespeare's plays. I started off with the two Noble Kinsmen. The story opens with three queens begging a king for revenge. This part is quite dramatic, and I think the actors in the version of the play that I listened to were quite good. But the actual plot of the play is so ridiculous that I did not expect its dark ending. Who's the King goes off to war, and he wins, and he captures a bunch of people. Two of which are cousins who are put in the same prison. They then impress everyone around with their intelligence, good manners and all around nobility. Then disaster strikes. A beautiful woman walks outside their window. Within 5 seconds, they each claim to love that woman and attempt to murder each other. Their claim is so ridiculous, but in the world of the play they are presented as being the most noble men and that this woman must make the horrible choice of choosing one or the other even though she loves them both even though she was not aware of being looked at, at all. I know that was a ridiculous sentence. This is a ridiculous play. I had a friend in University who was studying English literature with me. And we were taking a Shakespeare course together, and we were reading Romeo and Juliet. And she was so offended that Romeo and Juliet fall in love with each other within seconds and ultimately end up dying. She couldn't believe that this was possible. It so offended her that she actually changed her major. But in that play, Romeo and Juliet are 13 or 14 years old. They may not have been in love, but it's possible that they believed they were. But in this play, how is it even remotely possible that a woman falls in love with two men without even knowing of their existences. How is it possible that two grown men with a strong relationship fall in love with a woman without even talking to her. How is it possible that the woman is forced to choose between these two, cannot, and then they decide to have a mini War with the Victor winning her hand in marriage. I'm not sure if Shakespeare meant this as a kind of over the top lady, or whether he or the audience really thought that this was a tragic love story. I think, to modern eyes, this is obviously a farce. So if you go into it with that in mind, it will be enjoyable.  Leverton Review 3/5


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Language Update 02/08/2023

  Language Level Vocab Grammar Pronunciation Speaking Listening Writing Reading English native native native native native native native native Polish B? Clozemaster lvl 4 Duo 1.6 Krynatorium https://www.fluentu.com/blog/foreign-language-penpal/ https://lingua.com/polish/reading/ Spanish B? Cloze lvl 2 Duo 2.18 https://studyspanish.com/pronunciation News in Slow Spanish Language flower French Cloze lvl 1 Duo 1.2 https://www.austincc.edu/hguillor/ News in Slow French https://lingua.com/french/reading/ Ojibwe app pod https://ojibwe.net/stories/winter/ Korean Cloze lvl 1 Duo 1.6 pod https://storykorean.com/stories?beginner German Cloze lvl 1 Duo 1.2 pod https://lingua.com/german/reading/ Dutch Cloze lvl 2 Duo 1.1 pod https://lingua.com/dutch/reading/ Danish Cloze lvl 1 Duo 1.1 pod https://lingua.com/danish/reading/ Czech Cloze lvl 2 Duo 1.1 pod https://lingua.com/czech/reading/ Icelandic Cloze lvl 2 pod Italian Cloze lvl 1 Duo 1.1 pod https://lingua.com/italian/reading/ Portuguese Clo...
Read more

Go Fact Yourself

Image
  This is a trivia show for the podcast age. It is unique from other game shows in that the guests actually pick the topic that they want to be asked about, and usually they have an expert who is connected to the topic to decide if the player got the answers right. The players are usually people from the entertainment industry, so they know how to keep an audience entertained.  4/5
Read more

Scout's Honor: The Secret Files of the Boy Scouts of America

 This is not a particularly well done documentary, but I think it is a very important story. It's the story of how the Boy Scouts of America hid abuse from parents and the authorities. It's also the story of how an immensely powerful organization is using bankruptcy proceedings to evade justice. It's also the story of how an organization can claim on the one hand that it doesn't have any problems with abuse and on the other blame any problems it does have on homosexuals. Because, the logic goes, if they can keep homosexuals out of the organization, they can keep abusers out. But that does not make any sense whatsoever. Just think about the logic of that argument for one second, and you'll see how flimsy it is. It's an important story, as I have said, but I think the history of it is much better detailed in a podcast serious called behind the bastards. So if you want it better understanding of this topic you would do better to listen to that podcast about the fou...
Read more