435 Candles

Tomorrow is an important day. No, it's not that the prefrosh are coming (a realization some-what similar to the idea in 1775 that the British were coming). It's not even that it's the second to the last Friday in April and we are finally within striking distance of the end of the year. No, April 23 is significant because it's the Bard's birthday. That's right, folks, William Shakespeare, the man himself, the poet and playwright to end all poets and playwrights, turns 435 tomorrow.

It's been an up and down year for Shakespeare. On the downside, his very identity remains in question. Harper's Magazine this month produced an entire issue on the question of "Is Shakespeare Really Shakespeare?" To those of you wondering who he might be if he's not himself, there is a sizeable group of fans of the Earl of Oxford who claim that a country guy from Stratford couldn't possibly have written all that good stuff. Oxford, on the other hand, though he died before the believed publication dates of several of the plays, was an aristocrat supposedly better equipped to write the kind of masterpieces we have today. On the upside, the majority of legitimate Shakespearean scholars (i.e., the ones who have read the actual texts--including Harvard's Marjorie Garber, who writes for Shakespeare being Shakespeare in Harper's) think Shakespeare was probably smart enough to pull it off.

Also on the upside, despite the identity crisis, Shakespeare's royalties have skyrocketed much as Jane Austen's did a few years ago as every Hollywood producer scrambles to make good on the success of Oscar hit "Shakespeare in Love." To be sure, that comedy misappropriated a few of the sonnets for dramatic purposes, but it brought lines from "Romeo and Juliet" to the screen and was filmed on a set similar to the Bard's old haunt, The Globe Theatre, recently rebuilt in London. "A Midsummer Night's Dream," a serious effort at bringing an entire play of Shakespeare's--lines and all--to the screen is scheduled for release on May 7 (Calista Flockhart/Ally McBeal as Helena seems an odd choice, but Kevin Kline as Bottom may redeem the production).

Meanwhile, the teen comedy "10 Things I Hate About You" is keeping the Bard's spirit alive by basing its plot loosely--very loosely--on "The Taming of the Shrew." Amidst the discussion of Prada backpacks and prom dates, if you listen closely enough, you might hear a few snatches of William's immortal verse. All of which goes to show us that more than four centuries after his first play was performed, Shakespeare stays with us as a writer for all seasons and all topics. With the help of a cool web site from MIT (www-tech.mit.edu/Shakespeare) which allows users to search the entire Shakespearean canon, I found a few particularly apposite words from the bard on some of the news of the week.

.On the conflict in Kosovo (perhaps a question President Clinton should be asked at his next briefing on the topic): "What have you dream'd of late of this war's purpose?" ("Cymbeline").

.On the commemoration of the first battle of the revolutionary war on Patriots Day: "Upon one battle all our liberties" ("Julius Caesar").

.On the brave souls who ran the Boston Marathon: "Forspent with toil, as runners with a race" ("3 Henry VI").

.On the retirement of Wayne Gretsky from hockey, "Hail, great king!" ("Cymbeline").

.On being a Red Sox fan at this point in the season, "For, as the case now stands, it is a curse" ("The Winter's Tale").

.On the prefrosh's opinion of fair Harvard: "What say these young ones?" ("King John").

.On the alumni/ae returning to Harvard yesterday: "Thou know'st that we two went to school together..." ("Julius Caesar").

.On the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study: "A fair name" ("As You Like It").

.On April 23: "It is my birth-day" ("Antony and Cleopatra").

Of course, the Shakespeare search engine I used to find these quotes has a distancing quality because it displays only the line of text in which the word you want appears. It's up to you to click on the link to the whole scene and discover or recall the context of the language. Part of what has kept Shakespeare alive in our society for so long is his eminent quotability in small catch-phrases. It is easy for a politician, a screenwriter or a columnist to manipulate the poet's words for her own purposes. But the genius of Shakespeare lies not just in the elegance of his language but also in his sympathetic understanding of human nature and his psychological depth, all of which are best understood in whole sonnets, whole scenes and entire plays. So tomorrow (and tomorrow and tomorrow), pick up a copy of The Riverside Shakespeare, and read as you like it. Susannah B. Tobin '00 is a classics concentrator in Lowell House. Her column appears on alternate Thursdays.