tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3450626869303471458.post382523014844840393..comments2024-02-20T21:53:17.168-05:00Comments on The Spirit's Sword: Shakespeare's Darkest PlayBearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01201581440686945990noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3450626869303471458.post-50270742560014514452013-04-27T09:50:00.871-04:002013-04-27T09:50:00.871-04:00That is an interesting possiblity. There is no on...That is an interesting possiblity. There is no one left to reunify the fractured country, and none of the men on stage are up to the task, so it is left to the man off the stage, the new king, to heal the fracures of the past and bring the island of Britain back into the unity it should have had.Bearhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01201581440686945990noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3450626869303471458.post-30071594113997229692013-04-25T20:51:11.597-04:002013-04-25T20:51:11.597-04:00Shakespeare's Lear begins by dividing his king...Shakespeare's Lear begins by dividing his kingdom and removing himself from it, in the process dividing his family, willing to divide word from sense, and finishes by falling to pieces himself. It seems to have been written somewhat after the Union and the accession of King James VI/I; or, to put it another way, after the death of Elizabeth I. I can imagine it might have been urged somewhat by desire to cast Union in a way as less-terrifying-than-the-other-thing, or a now-safe criticism of Henry VIII's divorcive and divisive and self-sundering policies.<br /><br />And of course, as you note elsewhere, there was Burbage...Belfry Bathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00514867101036143597noreply@blogger.com