Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard

Shakespeare needed to steal his stories from somewhere.

We just did All's Well That Ends Well, but did you know Shakespeare nicked the plot from Boccaccio's Decameron? The Decameron is foundational work of Italian and Renaissance literature. A set of short stories by turns savage, funny, and bawdy.

But it's not just men writing short stories in the Renaissance. Marguerite, Queen of Navarre, gave it a go with the Heptameron. And would you believe her tales are punchier, bloodier, and darker than Boccaccio's?

Join us to discuss the Decameron (Day 3, Tale 9) and two tales from the Heptameron.

Sources:

Giovanni Boccaccio, The Decameron, Penguin.

Marguerite, Queen of Navarre, The Heptameron,

Helena loves Count Bertram, but fears he'll never love a commoner. She's right. 

We're in the Kingdom of France, and the King is dying of disease. None of his doctors can help, but Helena's dead doctor dad left her a special medicinal formula. In exchange for saving the King's life, the King will let her choose any man she likes for a husband. She chooses her childhood friend Count Bertram. Rather than marry a commoner, Bertram runs away to war. Can Helena snare her man?

Is all well in "All's Well"? Join Michael and Sophie to find out!

Make sure to subscribe and share this podcast! Comments and questions can be sent to shakespeare.pals@gmail.com

Sources: 

The Oxford Shakespeare: All's Well That Ends Well (Oxford University Press)

Shakespeare: The Critical Heritage, edited by Brian Vickers (Routledge)

Shakespeare's the boss of English literature. Homer's the boss of Western literature!

After the Trojan War, lying Odysseus is running a bit late to return home. But he has a good excuse! Gods and goddesses are getting in his way, throwing cyclopses, sea monsters, comely sorceresses at him.

Is the foundational text of Western literature a ripping yarn? Join Michael and Sophie to find out!

Make sure to subscribe and share this podcast! Comments and questions can be sent to shakespeare.pals@gmail.com

Sources:

The Odyssey, Homer (trans. Emily Wilson), W. W. Norton & Company.

It's the Trojan War! And young love is in the air.

Shakespeare loves him a classical reference, so here's his love story set in the Trojan War. The Trojan nobles Troilus and Cressida love each other, and they manage to tie the knot. Unfortunately, Cressida's father defected to the Greek side, and he has Cressida brought to the Greek camp with him. Can Troilus and Cressida's love survive this? 

Is this play a tragedy, or more of a parody of the Greek myths? Join Michael and Sophie to find out!

Make sure to subscribe and share this podcast! Comments and questions can be sent to shakespeare.pals@gmail.com

Sources: 

The Arden Shakespeare: Troilus and Cressida

Shakespeare: The Critical Heritage, edited by Brian Vickers (Routledge)

A bawdy sex farce Restoration style... by a woman!

Virginia Woolf said that, "All women together ought to let flowers fall upon the tomb of Aphra Behn, for it was she who earned them the right to speak their minds." Does that raise your expectations a little too high for this sex comedy? Probably.

But anyway Aphra Behn gives us a fast-paced story of an Italian noblewoman who does not want to marry a prince, her sister who does not want to become a nun, and an Englishman who'll shag anything that moves. You've guessed it, we're bringing back the explicit tag for this one.

Join Michael and Sophie for Aphra Behn's The Rover!