Shakespeare contributed more phrases and sayings to the English language than any other individual - and most of them are still in daily use.
Here's a collection of well-known quotations that are associated with Shakespeare. Most of these were the Bard's own work, but he wasn't averse to stealing a good line occasionally and a few of these were 'popularised by' rather than 'coined by' Shakespeare.
A countenance more in sorrow than in anger
A dish fit for the gods
A fool's paradise
A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse
A plague on both your houses
A rose by any other name would smell as sweet
A sea change
A sorry sight
Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety
Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio
All corners of the world
All that glitters is not gold / All that glisters is not gold
All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players
All's well that ends well
CLICK HERE to learn the meaning and origin of these and many other Shakespeare's quotes.
1- CHOOSE ONE QUOTE, COPY AND PASTE IT BELOW AND SAY WHY IT IS YOUR FAVORITE.
2- DO YOU REMEMBER WHICH OF THESE QUOTES WERE MENTIONED IN SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE?
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
SKAKESPEARE IN LOVE - Week 2
For your delight...
References to Shakespeare's work
The main source for much of the action in the film is Romeo and Juliet. Will and Viola play out the famous balcony and bedroom scenes; like Juliet, Viola has a witty nurse, and is separated from Will by a gulf of duty (although not the family enmity of the play: the "two households" of Romeo and Juliet are supposedly inspired by the two rival playhouses). In addition, the two lovers are equally "star-crossed" — they are not ultimately destined to be together (since Viola is of rich and socially ambitious merchant stock and is promised to marry Lord Wessex, while Shakespeare himself is poor and already married). There is also a Rosaline, with whom Will is in love at the beginning of the film.
Many other plot devices used in the film are common in various Shakespearean comedies and in the works of the other playwrights of the Elizabethan era: the Queen disguised as a commoner, the cross-dressing disguises, mistaken identities, the sword fight, the suspicion of adultery (or, at least, cheating), the appearance of a "ghost" (cf. Macbeth), and the "play within a play".
The film also has sequences in which Shakespeare and the other characters utter words that will later appear in his plays:
On the street, Shakespeare hears a Puritan preaching against the two London stages: "The Rose smells thusly rank, by any name! I say, a plague on both their houses!" Two references in one, both to Romeo and Juliet; first, "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet" (Act II, scene ii, lines 1 and 2); second, "a plague on both your houses" (Act III, scene i, line 94).
Backstage of a performance of The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Shakespeare sees William Kempe in full make-up, silently contemplating a skull (a reference to Hamlet).
Shakespeare utters the lines "Doubt thou the stars are fire, / Doubt that the sun doth move" (from Hamlet) to Philip Henslowe.
As Shakespeare's writer's block is introduced, he is seen crumpling balls of paper and throwing them around his room. They land near props which represent scenes in his several plays: a skull (Hamlet), and an open chest (The Merchant of Venice).
Viola, as well as being Paltrow's name in the film, is the lead character in Twelfth Night who dresses as a man after the supposed death of her brother.
At the end of the film, Shakespeare imagines a shipwreck overtaking Viola on her way to America, inspiring the second scene of his next play, Twelfth Night, and perhaps also The Tempest.
Shakespeare writes a sonnet to Viola which begins: "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" (from Sonnet 18).
Shakespeare tells Henslowe that he still owes him for "one gentleman of Verona", a reference to Two Gentlemen of Verona, part of which we also see being acted before the Queen later in the film.
Christopher Marlowe appears in the film as the master playwright whom the characters within the film consider the greatest English dramatist of that time — this is accurate, yet also humorous, since everyone in the film's audience knows what will eventually happen to Shakespeare. Marlowe gives Shakespeare a plot for his next play, "Romeo and Ethel the Pirate's Daughter" ("Romeo is Italian...always in and out of love...until he meets...Ethel. The daughter of his enemy! His best friend is killed in a duel by Ethel's brother or something. His name is Mercutio.") Marlowe's Doctor Faustus is quoted repeatedly: "Was this the face that launched a thousand ships/ And burned the topless towers of Ilium?"
The child John Webster who plays with mice is a reference to the leading figure in the Jacobean generation of playwrights. His plays (The Duchess of Malfi, The White Devil) are known for their blood and gore, which is why he says that he enjoys Titus Andronicus, and why he says of Romeo and Juliet when asked by the Queen "I liked it when she stabbed herself."
When the clown Will Kempe (Patrick Barlow) says to Shakespeare that he would like to play in a drama, he is told that "they would laugh at Seneca if you played it," a reference to the Roman tragedian renowned for his sombre and bloody plot lines which were a major influence on the development of English tragedy.
Will is shown signing a paper repeatedly, with many relatively illegible signatures visible. This is a reference to the fact that several versions of Shakespeare's signature exist, and in each one he spelled his name differently.
ControversyThe writers of Shakespeare in Love were sued in 1999 by Faye Kellerman, author of the book The Quality of Mercy. Kellerman claimed that the story was lifted from her book, a detective novel in which Shakespeare and a cross-dressing Jewish woman attempt to solve a murder. Miramax derided the claim of similarity as "[an] absurd...publicity stunt".[5][6] After the film's release, certain publications, including Private Eye, noted strong similarities between the film and the 1941 novel No Bed for Bacon, by Caryl Brahms and S J Simon, which also features Shakespeare falling in love and finding inspiration for his later plays. In a foreword to a subsequent edition of No Bed for Bacon (which traded on the association by declaring itself "A Story of Shakespeare and Lady Viola in Love") Ned Sherrin, Private Eye insider and former writing partner of Brahms', confirmed that he had lent a copy of the novel to Stoppard after he joined the writing team,[7] but that the basic plot of the film had been independently developed by Marc Norman, who was unaware of the earlier work.
Read more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakespeare_in_love
References to Shakespeare's work
The main source for much of the action in the film is Romeo and Juliet. Will and Viola play out the famous balcony and bedroom scenes; like Juliet, Viola has a witty nurse, and is separated from Will by a gulf of duty (although not the family enmity of the play: the "two households" of Romeo and Juliet are supposedly inspired by the two rival playhouses). In addition, the two lovers are equally "star-crossed" — they are not ultimately destined to be together (since Viola is of rich and socially ambitious merchant stock and is promised to marry Lord Wessex, while Shakespeare himself is poor and already married). There is also a Rosaline, with whom Will is in love at the beginning of the film.
Many other plot devices used in the film are common in various Shakespearean comedies and in the works of the other playwrights of the Elizabethan era: the Queen disguised as a commoner, the cross-dressing disguises, mistaken identities, the sword fight, the suspicion of adultery (or, at least, cheating), the appearance of a "ghost" (cf. Macbeth), and the "play within a play".
The film also has sequences in which Shakespeare and the other characters utter words that will later appear in his plays:
On the street, Shakespeare hears a Puritan preaching against the two London stages: "The Rose smells thusly rank, by any name! I say, a plague on both their houses!" Two references in one, both to Romeo and Juliet; first, "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet" (Act II, scene ii, lines 1 and 2); second, "a plague on both your houses" (Act III, scene i, line 94).
Backstage of a performance of The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Shakespeare sees William Kempe in full make-up, silently contemplating a skull (a reference to Hamlet).
Shakespeare utters the lines "Doubt thou the stars are fire, / Doubt that the sun doth move" (from Hamlet) to Philip Henslowe.
As Shakespeare's writer's block is introduced, he is seen crumpling balls of paper and throwing them around his room. They land near props which represent scenes in his several plays: a skull (Hamlet), and an open chest (The Merchant of Venice).
Viola, as well as being Paltrow's name in the film, is the lead character in Twelfth Night who dresses as a man after the supposed death of her brother.
At the end of the film, Shakespeare imagines a shipwreck overtaking Viola on her way to America, inspiring the second scene of his next play, Twelfth Night, and perhaps also The Tempest.
Shakespeare writes a sonnet to Viola which begins: "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" (from Sonnet 18).
Shakespeare tells Henslowe that he still owes him for "one gentleman of Verona", a reference to Two Gentlemen of Verona, part of which we also see being acted before the Queen later in the film.
Christopher Marlowe appears in the film as the master playwright whom the characters within the film consider the greatest English dramatist of that time — this is accurate, yet also humorous, since everyone in the film's audience knows what will eventually happen to Shakespeare. Marlowe gives Shakespeare a plot for his next play, "Romeo and Ethel the Pirate's Daughter" ("Romeo is Italian...always in and out of love...until he meets...Ethel. The daughter of his enemy! His best friend is killed in a duel by Ethel's brother or something. His name is Mercutio.") Marlowe's Doctor Faustus is quoted repeatedly: "Was this the face that launched a thousand ships/ And burned the topless towers of Ilium?"
The child John Webster who plays with mice is a reference to the leading figure in the Jacobean generation of playwrights. His plays (The Duchess of Malfi, The White Devil) are known for their blood and gore, which is why he says that he enjoys Titus Andronicus, and why he says of Romeo and Juliet when asked by the Queen "I liked it when she stabbed herself."
When the clown Will Kempe (Patrick Barlow) says to Shakespeare that he would like to play in a drama, he is told that "they would laugh at Seneca if you played it," a reference to the Roman tragedian renowned for his sombre and bloody plot lines which were a major influence on the development of English tragedy.
Will is shown signing a paper repeatedly, with many relatively illegible signatures visible. This is a reference to the fact that several versions of Shakespeare's signature exist, and in each one he spelled his name differently.
ControversyThe writers of Shakespeare in Love were sued in 1999 by Faye Kellerman, author of the book The Quality of Mercy. Kellerman claimed that the story was lifted from her book, a detective novel in which Shakespeare and a cross-dressing Jewish woman attempt to solve a murder. Miramax derided the claim of similarity as "[an] absurd...publicity stunt".[5][6] After the film's release, certain publications, including Private Eye, noted strong similarities between the film and the 1941 novel No Bed for Bacon, by Caryl Brahms and S J Simon, which also features Shakespeare falling in love and finding inspiration for his later plays. In a foreword to a subsequent edition of No Bed for Bacon (which traded on the association by declaring itself "A Story of Shakespeare and Lady Viola in Love") Ned Sherrin, Private Eye insider and former writing partner of Brahms', confirmed that he had lent a copy of the novel to Stoppard after he joined the writing team,[7] but that the basic plot of the film had been independently developed by Marc Norman, who was unaware of the earlier work.
Read more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakespeare_in_love
Monday, August 16, 2010
SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE (1998) by John Madden
13 OSCAR NOMINATIONS
7 OSCAR AWARDS
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0138097/awards
Written by...
Marc Norman and
Tom Stoppard
Starring...
Gwyneth Paltrow,
Joseph Fiennes,
Geoffrey Rush,
Colin Firth,
Ben Affleck and
Judy Dench
Queen Elizabeth: Playwrights teach us nothing about love. They make it pretty, they make it comical, or they make it lust, but they cannot make it true.
WRITE
Use some of the words provided below and write a summary for the film (about 120 words).
Shakespeare - young writer - short of cash - inspiration - woman - forbidden - wealthy - playwright - nobel - block(ed) - stage - 16th C - struggle - marriage - romance - plays - queen - actors - debts - nobility - comedy - obstacles - rehearsal - love - audition - dressed up - backstage - disguise - muse
WATCH
Jack Nicholson presenting Gwyneth Paltrow with the Best Actress Oscar® for her performance in "Shakespeare in Love" at the 71st Academy Awards® in 1999.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NG9p1FFwxb0&feature=channel
Harrison Ford announcing Best Picture Winner "Shakespeare in Love" (producers Donna Gigliotti, Marc Norman, David Parfit, Harvey Weinstein, Ed Zwick) - 71st Annual Academy Awards® in 1999
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IP9a10PK54g
Sunday, August 15, 2010
FRIED GREEN TOMATOES - Week 2
Quote...
Ninny Threadgoode: Oh, what I wouldn't give for a plate of fried green tomatoes like we used to have at the cafe. Ooh!
So if you, like Ninny, would give anything for a plate of fried green tomatoes,
here goes a recipe for you to fix some for yourself.
http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/fried_green_tomatoes/
Read some more quotes at
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101921/quotes
Choose one you have particularly liked, paste it ("comments" slot below or e-mail) and say why you have chosen it.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
FRIED GREEN TOMATOES (1991) by Jon Avnet
Written by Fannie Flagg (Novel and Screenplay)
Starring:
Jessica Tandy as Ninny
Kathy Bates as Evelyn
Mary Stuart Masterson as Idgie
Mary-Louise Parker as Ruth
USER REVIEWS at IMDb (www.imdb.com)
A Beautiful Film, 28 October 2004
Author: John Pearce (johnpearce48@aol.com) from England
This is truly a beautiful film.
Well written and superbly acted it tugs at the heartstrings harder than almost any other movie. The way it sets up an obvious story line and then like a gentle roller-coaster suddenly takes you in another direction is unequalled in this type of film.
There are so many points of genuine sadness and whenever you think you have guessed the story you suddenly turn to find an outcome more surprising than you thought.
Major characters die, major characters do not "fall in love" and major characters are not allowed to cop-out; it is as a film should be.
Remarkably well written, produced with care and acted with understatement and love - it is a beautiful film.
Watch it.
John Pearce
For more reviews go to http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101921/#comment
WATCH THE FILM AND ANSWER THE POLL ON THE LEFT.
COMMENT YOUR VOTE IN THE COMMENT SLOT BELOW.
Starring:
Jessica Tandy as Ninny
Kathy Bates as Evelyn
Mary Stuart Masterson as Idgie
Mary-Louise Parker as Ruth
USER REVIEWS at IMDb (www.imdb.com)
A Beautiful Film, 28 October 2004
Author: John Pearce (johnpearce48@aol.com) from England
This is truly a beautiful film.
Well written and superbly acted it tugs at the heartstrings harder than almost any other movie. The way it sets up an obvious story line and then like a gentle roller-coaster suddenly takes you in another direction is unequalled in this type of film.
There are so many points of genuine sadness and whenever you think you have guessed the story you suddenly turn to find an outcome more surprising than you thought.
Major characters die, major characters do not "fall in love" and major characters are not allowed to cop-out; it is as a film should be.
Remarkably well written, produced with care and acted with understatement and love - it is a beautiful film.
Watch it.
John Pearce
For more reviews go to http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101921/#comment
WATCH THE FILM AND ANSWER THE POLL ON THE LEFT.
COMMENT YOUR VOTE IN THE COMMENT SLOT BELOW.
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