#shakespeare asks

1, 9, and 20 for the Shakespeare asks! 😃

thank you for sending this in, Kena! im doing alright, hope you are too!! <3

1. What’s your hamartia? Your tragic, fatal flaw? (Pride, arrogance, ambition, vanity, jealousy, rebellion, etc.)

ehehehe probably pride. it takes A LOT for me to admit that im not fine, that i need help, and even more to ask for any help. im 98% sure it's gonna bite me in the ass (and bite me good) one day.

2. Do you believe in ghosts?

YES! 100%. i don't know if they're spirits who are stuck in this world or something else, but i wholeheartedly believe there are entities that we can't always see or hear or feel around us. i've been told the building i live in has a lot of 'ghosts', and it doesn't really bother me. we kinda just... coexist and mind each other's business also i've got some pretty fun ghost stories myself but that's a whole nother thing lolll

20. Favourite Shakespeare quote? Favourite play?

Hello friend! 💜 goodness this took me far too long to reply to!! Sorry about that!

23) “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, / Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” What unexplainable thing do you want an answer to?

How much of the world are we missing due to not having the proper sensory equipment? Is there some sort of extra sensation that we could experience? What sensation could that be? How could we ever even imagine it? How do other living things experience the world? And, if we can’t ever experience it like them directly through mimicking their sensory styles, how can we best feel for them? Project our empathy onto their conception of the world?

That’s like. A whole lotta questions that I want an answer to, but they’re all kind of in the same field of inquiry, so I’m counting it as one.

20. Favourite Shakespeare quote? Favourite play?

I LOVE Much Ado About Nothing. I really really love it. I want to be Beatrice when I grow up. Hamlet’s also WONDERFUL.

Favorite quote: “We know what we are, but not what we may be.” —Hamlet

18. What Greek God or mythological figure do you see yourself the most in?

Probably Hestia or Athena. I’ve also my fair share of adoration for architecture and homesteading like Hestia, and I relate to her general vibe. I think at my core I’m closer to Athena though. Whenever the inevitable question of godly parentage came up in childhood (thanks Riordan), I’d always put myself in cabin six simply because I LOVE planning things. I am CONSTANTLY planning things and strategizing. All the time. About everything. This is also called overthinking and anxiety.

22: My choice: And this our life, exempt from public haunt, / Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, / Sermons in stones, and good in everything. / I would not change it.” Do you ever feel the urge to escape civilisation? To return to a place, wild and feral?

Constantly!! Literally all the time!! This is my DREAM.

I’ve been really struggling with my depression, sorry for the delay here.

So: Banquo and Hermione! We know now that spending time with kids when they’re young is REALLY important, but that wasn’t a value when most of the plays are set. Most of the young kids, when they show up, show up for a special moment. But Hermione and Banquo are present for everyday events. Hermione puts Mamilius to bed! She listens to his stories! It’s a normal domestic scene - but not normal for the time! And I think that makes it really sweet and special. 

I. What is your best experience with Shakespeare in school? 

II. What is your worst experience with Shakespeare in school? 

III. Tell me about a production that blew your mind. 

IV. Which of Shakespeare’s imaginary or fictionalized locations would you visit? 

V.  What’s your favorite rarely performed play? 

VI. What’s the most heartbreaking Shakespearian death? 

VII. Pick a play to re-imagine in a different genre and medium. 

VIII. Who’s that one minor character you adore? 

IX. Have you ever seen Shakespeare performed in translation? 

X. Who are your favorite Shakespearian couple? 

XI. What’s your favorite non-Shakespeare Shakespeare retelling? 

XII. Would you rather play a lover or a tyrant? 

XIII. What’s the weirdest production you’ve ever seen? 

XIV. Cheesy joke or overused bit of stage business you never get tired of? 

XV. Recommend a Shakespeare-related book. 

28. dream Shakespeare role to perform?

Already answered! (I tagged the answered Shakespeare asks so they're easier to find)

34. overrated Shakespeare play or quote?

I'm gonna do play: I think Hamlet is overrated which is so funny because I just said it's my favorite but at this point it so often gets done just because it's popular and famous and makes money without any genuine love and joy. And also it's everywhere and overshadows so many other wonderful plays.

38. what’s your favorite work based on a Shakespeare play?

hi darling! i love your url! xx

5. “Now doth time waste me”–describe your favorite way to spend a day when you don’t have any pressing obligations or commitments

oh man, that basically never happens bc ya boi has so many responsibilities and also severe anxiety, so i’m pretty much never relaxed!

that said, tho, my ideal days are usually the days when i’m at a viking festival; that feeling of waking up in a tent when the sun rises, surrounded by my friends, getting up when it’s all cold and damp and there’s a bit of mist in between the many tents because the sun is up but not warm yet, having porridge for breakfast sat around the fire, and then spending the day looking after the camp, playfighting with friends, doing impromptu archery competitions, chatting to visitors and telling them about vikings, having dinner together in the great hall after the festival closes for the day, everyone getting drunk and singing old folk songs together, and having that feeling of shared history and culture; a sense that we all come from the same earth, the same origin, and that despite the millennia that separates us, for one evening we’re together -- then, late at night, falling into bed, asleep between my best friends, drunk and tired but happy, content, and excited to do it all again the next day.

that’s a bit weird, maybe, but i love it so much!

7. “Some bloody passion”–what makes you angry? 

this one is really difficult to answer because i rarely get, like, actually angry-angry; i get annoyed all the time, but it’s pretty rare that i find anything that’s actually worth the energy of getting angry, you know?

i guess, being patronised pisses me off; treating me like an idiot or a child; pretending to be my friend and then telling everyone how much you hate me; authority figures forgetting that they have to be objective in all things; being deliberately misunderstood when trying to make a point; people who mistreat my friends and family

but yeah, no, i rarely get, like, explosively angry (anymore; i was a very angry kid, used to get into physical fights and shit, which is why i took up boxing to have a physical outlet for my anger -- then i got depressed and since then the anger has mostly disappeared)

II. What is your worst experience with Shakespeare in school?

There really weren’t any awful ones, although I did have a semester in undergrad where I read Merchant for two different classes and one of my profs did an amazing job and the other...did not.

VIII. Who’s that one minor character you adore?

I have a fondness for those minor characters who exist in tragedies to provide comic relief - the Gravedigger in Hamlet and the murderers in Richard III come to mind. Also the servant in Lear who turns around and stabs Cornwall, for some reason.

XV. Recommend a Shakespeare-related book.

Well, if you haven’t read @m-l-rio‘s book If We Were Villains, then you definitely should. I’m actually in the process of rereading it for the sixth or seventh time, and it’s still amazing. 

Romances: Is there anyone you truly love right now, and will you describe them?

There are a few friends I truly love and then my significant other with whom I am truly in love. He’s amazing and understands some of the things I go through. He’s the first person I want to talk to when something goes right or wrong or whatever. We met in high school but dated a couple years after. We’ve been together for two years. He likes Star Wars and video games. He likes hockey. And we have tickle wars. I’m so truly in love with him. He’s one of my best friends and I’m so happy with him. We have our differences sometimes but I wouldn’t trade him for the world.

I also truly do love my best friend. She’s a fiery hufflepuff and we both love adventures and quite a bit of the same things. Photography, witchcraft, some of the same fandoms. We’re both super passionate about our beliefs. We have our differences and some things have changed, but I still love her a whole lot.