Twins and clowns: Now there's a combination

[lareinenoire]

First, a shortish report on last night, when I joined cisic and sadcypress for a production of The Comedy of Errors at Baltimore Shakespeare Festival.

Comments

[a_t_rain]

This, naturally, led me to spend most of the evening wondering what sort of failure of logic led to that state of affairs.

I had a vague impression that Aegeon re-named the twins whom he brought up to memorialize the ones who were lost at sea, but I couldn't find this stated explicitly in the text, so maybe I'm mixing it up with Plautus.

I think I've mentioned that there are twins named "Quintara" and "Quinterra" enrolled in my remedial comp class for next semester, so apparently this sort of logic!fail is still alive and well. (Also, I have a "Chasiti" and a "Chasity" in the same class, but luckily they do not seem to be twins, or siblings of any sort. It's going to be an interesting semester...)

[lareinenoire]

I had a vague impression that Aegeon re-named the twins whom he brought up to memorialize the ones who were lost at sea, but I couldn't find this stated explicitly in the text, so maybe I'm mixing it up with Plautus.

Ah, that does make more sense. But it still doesn't answer the question of why Antipholus of Syracuse was so utterly baffled by what happened to him in Ephesus when he came to Ephesus to look for his brother. Possibly it is just that Antipholus is not the brightest bulb in the box.

And that is epic logic!fail. I will grant, my sister and I have names that rhyme, but we are six years apart and that was partly my fault because I had some input in picking out her name. ;)

[angevin2]

Antipholus is clearly not as smart as Viola. She gets it (although it helps that Antonio actually calls her Sebastian, I suppose). ;)

[tiggerbone]

I'm skipping the hero/heroine, villain/female villain categories for the moment because that will take some thought and I am at work.

I think you are right in that Falstaff is not a clown. I tend to link him with Mercutio. They were necessary in the beginnings of both of their stories, but they both had to die in order for things to progress. Could Prince Hal have become King Henry if Falstaff had lived?

As for Feste, ah! dear Feste. How I love that cruel maniac. But my favorite clown remains the merry wanderer of the night, Robin Goodfellow, aka Puck.

I once played him in a little production of A Midsummer Night's Dream in New Mexico. In the scene where he is first introduced, I got to seduce (a quite lovely) fairy. Good times. :)

[lareinenoire]

Oooh, fun! I didn't know you did Midsummer in New Mexico; I bet you were a great Puck.

I think you are right in that Falstaff is not a clown. I tend to link him with Mercutio. They were necessary in the beginnings of both of their stories, but they both had to die in order for things to progress. Could Prince Hal have become King Henry if Falstaff had lived?

See, I would argue that Hal was already well on his way regardless of Falstaff, and that although Falstaff was a distraction, Hal was well aware that he'd be abandoning him sooner or later. But my reading of Hal is not a very sympathetic one, so I can see where minds may differ.

That being said, comparing him with Mercutio is really interesting. They're both complete pragmatists -- Falstaff's attitude towards honour in many ways mirrors Mercutio's toward romantic love. Now I must go and chew on this some more. ;)

[tiggerbone]

That being said, comparing him with Mercutio is really interesting. They're both complete pragmatists -- Falstaff's attitude towards honour in many ways mirrors Mercutio's toward romantic love. Now I must go and chew on this some more. ;)

Please do! I have been tempted to do an analysis and comparison of their characters and their relationships to their main characters for quite some time, but sadly I am out of practice in my scholarly pursuits when they do not pertain to my work.

And thank you. I enjoyed being Puck very much. I would love another chance to play him someday.