7/11/21 review of the play Love's Labor's Lost, by William Shakespeare

Here is the link to my July 11, 2021, Twitter thread review of the play Love's Labor's Lost, by William Shakespeare.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

4/11/21 review of the film Chimes at Midnight, directed by Orson Welles

Here is the link to my April 11, 2021, Twitter thread review of the film Chimes at Midnight, directed by Orson Welles.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

1/18/21 Julius Caesar's assassination in Shakespeare's play

Here is the link to my January 18, 2021, Twitter thread discussion about the assassination of Julius Caesar in Shakespeare's play -- written partly due to really bad anxiety I was having ahead about President Biden's inauguration, following the terrorists attack on the US Capitol.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

1/28/20 review of the play Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare

Here is the link to my January 28, 2020, Twitter thread review of the play Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

1/3/20 comparison of William Shakespeare's and Dan Jones's characterization of King John

Here is the link to my January 3, 2020, Twitter thread discussion about William Shakespeare's King John versus the King John depicted by historian Dan Jones in his book on the Magna Carta.

I don't think I totally agree with everything I've said in this thread. And, also, while I definitely don't agree with everything Dan Jones has said over the years, I also really don't think I was being fair to him in this thread.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

12/3/19 review of the play The Winter's Tale, by William Shakespeare

Here is the link to my December 3, 2019, Twitter thread review of the play The Winter's Tale, by William Shakespeare.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

12/2/19 review of the play Cymbeline, by William Shakespeare

Here is the link to my December 2, 2019, Twitter thread review of the play Cymbeline, by William Shakespeare.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

12/1/19 review of the play King John, by William Shakespeare

Here is the link to my December 1, 2019, Twitter thread review of the play King John, by William Shakespeare.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

11/18/19 listing of the plays I called Shakespeare's "sex work trilogy"

Here is the link to my November 18, 2019, Twitter thread of the threads reviewing the three plays I'd decided to call Shakespeare's "sex work trilogy" -- Measure for Measure, Pericles, and Timon of Athens.

I'm not totally sure I think this idea of mine was thought through very well -- when you consider, for instance, that Henry IV, Part 1, can essentially be seen largely to have taken place within a brothel; that a play like Taming of the Shrew can, in the relation between Christophero Sly and the boy hired to play his girlfriend, be considered to deal with sex work (say, as a kind of escort service); and probably numerous other examples I'm not considering right now.

While the three plays in what I call Shakespeare's "sex work trilogy" absolutely discuss prostitution, a lot of Shakespeare's works touched on the subject -- and with sympathy, at the very least.

As people say all the time, the stage and sex work are historically closely related. This shows quite well in Shakespeare's plays. And I think that someone who considers sex work as work, as a valid profession, could do well to do an analysis of the role of sex work in Shakespeare's plays.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

5/18/19 review of Shakespeare's play Timon of Athens

Here is the link to my May 18, 2019, Twitter thread review of the play Timon of Athens, by William Shakespeare.

Twitter's platform has twisted each of my threads through 2018 and 2019 out of chronological order. This thread is affected, but is still moderately coherent. My apologies.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

5/17/19 discussion about the authorship of Shakespeare's plays

Here is the link to my May 17, 2019, Twitter thread discussion about the constantly questioned authorship of Shakespeare's plays.

This thread says pretty much everything I wanted to say. However, I will try to make one aspect a little clearer.

I argue that critics often try to push authorship of certain parts of Shakespeare's plays onto other (often shadowy and nebulous) authors because those aspects of Shakespeare's plays are so morally ambiguous.

Shakespeare has historically been recognized as the greatest writer in the English language. Because of this, it's also been necessary for people to see him as promoting normative morality. However, Shakespeare's plays don't push this normative morality. So when they don't, critics conveniently claim that those parts of Shakespeare's plays weren't "really" written by Shakespeare.

People can -- and I hoped they would -- see a similarity here with the idea of "listening to the woman."

The only women in society who get listened to are the ones who say they were violated -- because society still sees women as being capable only of being violated -- nothing else. So when women say they weren't violated in certain sexual situations, society claims that that part of their narrative was -- like those pesky parts of Shakespeare's narratives -- "written by somebody else."

In a similar sense, people say sex workers can't really be raped, because sex work is already "rape for pay." However, sex workers are often subject to rape, violence, and violation. People don't' listen to their stories, because their stories don't fit the accepted narratives of normative sexuality and morality.

A really good book that questions this conventional mindset is We Too: Essays on Sex Work and Survival, Edited by Natalie West, with Tina Horn.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

5/16/19 review of Shakespeare's play Troilus and Cressida

Here is the link to my May 16, 2019, Twitter thread review of Shakespeare's play Troilus and Cressida.

Twitter's platform has twisted each of my threads through 2018 and 2019 out of chronological order. This thread is affected, but is still moderately coherent. My apologies.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

5/13/19 review of Shakespeare's play All's Well That Ends Well

Here is the link to my May 13, 2019, Twitter thread review of Shakespeare's play All's Well That Ends Well.

Twitter's platform has twisted each of my threads through 2018 and 2019 out of chronological order. This thread is affected, but is still moderately coherent. My apologies.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

5/8/19 review of Shakespeare's play Pericles, Prince of Tyre

Here is the link to my May 8, 2019, Twitter thread review of Shakespeare's play Pericles, Prince of Tyre.

Twitter's platform has twisted each of my threads through 2018 and 2019 out of chronological order. This thread is very affected, and is only somewhat coherent. My apologies.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

9/11/18 review of Measure for Measure, by William Shakespeare

Here is the link to my September 11, 2018, Twitter thread review of Shakespeare's play Measure for Measure.

Twitter's platform has twisted each of my threads through 2018 and 2019 out of chronological order. This thread is affected, but is still mostly coherent. My apologies.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

9/2/18 discussion of reframing the drama of Taming of the Shrew

Here is the link to my September 2, 2018, Twitter thread discussion about how the drama of Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew is reframed in the film Kiss Me Kate and the Bolshoi's performance of the ballet of Taming of the Shrew.

Twitter's platform has twisted each of my threads through 2018 and 2019 out of chronological order. This thread is affected, and is only somewhat coherent. My apologies.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

5/27/18 discussion about Mercutio from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

Here is the link to my May 27, 2018, Twitter thread discussion about the character of Mercutio from Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet.

Twitter's platform has twisted each of my threads out of chronological order through 2018 and 2019. This thread is affected, and is a little incoherent. My apologies.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

5/26/18 review of Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare

Here is the link to my May 26, 2018, Twitter thread review of William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet.

Twitter's platform has twisted each of my threads through 2018 and 2019. out of chronological order. This thread is affected and is somewhat incoherent. My apologies.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.