Why is shmoop.com even a thing, seriously?
At Windsor Castle, Richard II just wants to chill out and enjoy the benefits of being a king who (almost) everyone thinks has been handpicked by God to rule England. But he can't relax because two seriously angry noblemen have arrived at the castle and want him to play Judge Judy.

THIS HELPS NO ONE.

No Fear Shakespeare translates Olivia's "Most wonderful!" as "How unbelievable!"

I just -

I don't -

Why. Why. Why do they do these things.

I mean, I probably have more feelings about this line than the average person, since one of the reasons I love Twelfth Night so much is that sense of wonder, of the miraculous, that exists in the last scene ( Read more... )

Actual text from A Midsummer Night's Dream:

And I have found Demetrius like a jewel,
Mine own, and not mine own.

No Fear version:

I won Demetrius so easily, as if he were a precious diamond I just found lying around. It’s mine because I found it, but I feel like someone else could easily come and claim it was hers.…what. These lines are about ( Read more... )

A RAGTAG KING

A RAGTAG KING

That is how No Fear Shakespeare 'translates' "A king of shreds and patches." As though anyone uses the word "ragtag" these days for anything other than, say, scrappy underdog sports teams, or motley bands of heroes in lesser fantasy scenarios. Misfits are "ragtag," No Fear Shakespeare ( Read more... )

There is a wrong answer in this Guardian quiz, and it's really annoying me:
Quiz - which Shakespeare characters speak these lines about love?http://www.theguardian.com/stage/quiz/2014/sep/30/quiz-shakespeare-characters-lines-loveRead more... )

In the bookstore today (not my local independent, thank goodness; a B&N I took shelter in while I waited out a rain burst), I saw a No Fear Shakespeare edition of Much Ado About Nothing on display as a movie "tie-in" with the Whedon film. I fantasized briefly about going up to the counter and declaring that edition to be rubbish - I'm sure that ( Read more... )

Not even sure how I stumbled across this, but here's yet another No Fear Shakespeare "translation":

[The immediately preceding line is "The measure done, I'll watch her place of stand..."]

Romeo: And, touching hers, make blessèd my rude hand.

No Fear: and then I’ll touch her hand with my rough and ugly one ( Read more... )

FAIL, I say.

http://nfs.sparknotes.com/twelfthnight/page_220.html

Today I had my tutorial on Twelfth Night (we wound up having to move it back a day, which did not actually help on the ridiculousness front). At one point, I lapsed into Orsino Defense Mode (I'd ( Read more... )

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/shortstack/2008/12/refreshed_classics_abomination.html

(a blog post about No Fear Shakespeare, the new PL translation, and the new Canterbury Tales translation ( Read more... )

Gee thanks, SparkNotes 2009 Everyday Shakespeare Calendar! I could not possibly have figured out what "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players" meant without you ( Read more... )