I have often not been able to appreciate Shakespeare beyond my reading of his stories adapted for children, demonstrating the naked power of his narrative skill outside what is described as the magnificence of his dramatic poetry, some of which I have been able to appreciate, most of which I have not, in spite of undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in literature, in one of which I have been compelled to read Shakespeare, along with A levels involving Shakespeare from which I have a compelling memory of a teacher's engaging response to a particular Shakespearean line from Anthony and Cleopatra in which a speaker marvels that even the air has left a gap in space, joining the crowd who have gathered at the habour to witness the glorious beauty of Cleopatra in her arrival in Rome, if I recall the context correctly.
From time to time, snatches of Shakespearean lines I have been able to appreciate come to my mind. The most striking for me perhaps is that of Marc Anthony on Caesar's murder, with its memorable beginning, "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears".
I was fortunate to come across Marlon Brando's compelling dramatization of that great speech today, complemented by Brutus' also powerful speech, taking my mind to Brutus eventual death and Marc Anthony's also great speech on seeing his dead body"-All the elements were so mixed in him that nature herself could stand and declare,'this was a man!' ", to give an inexact rendering of its conclusion.
You might also enjoy these videos:
Julius Caesar "Dogs of War" part of Anthony speech
Another great speech is the Biblical example of that by David after his troops defeated and killed Saul and his son Jonathan who had been David's great friend, leading David to curse the mountain where the battle had taken place and to make it anathema to spread news of this tragic victory, part of which goes, "Ye mountains of Shiloa, let there no dew or rain upon you, speak of it not in Ashkelon, lest the sons of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised exult'.
Wonderful parallelism.
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