Any Shakespeare Scholars?

[brogine]

Let me be frank. I am, at best, a middlebrow - at least re the humanities, although I have always loved language.
It’s hard for me to get through a play, let alone truly appreciate
the subtext.
But I have been deeply moved by scenes I’ve run across here and there.

If you have tears, prepare to shed them now.

Hence away! now all is well.
One aloof stand sentinel.

Lear
Be your tears wet? Yes, faith. I pray weep not.
If you have poison for me, I will drink it.
I know you do not love me; for your sisters
Have, as I do remember, done me wrong.
You have some cause, they have not.
Cordelia
No cause, no cause.

Jack shall have Jill;
Nought shall go ill;
The man shall have his mare again,
And all shall be well.

I could go on, but not for too long. Which brings me
to my point. I’m hoping to find a large collection of
such juicy bits to enjoy.
The best I could do with our San Francisco Public
Library has been a couple of books of scenes for
aspiring actors. Limited and unsatisfying.

I thank you for reading this, and hope you may
have helpful suggestions. Stephen Waldman

[Slava]

I be not a scholar, but I do like Sonnets 94 and 147. Especially the parting shots.

[brogine]

I knew you would have the decency to respond, with or without the probably-nonexistent information.
Having recently rewatched Topsy Turvy, I got a copy of the playscript of The Mikado from the library. Great reading. Especially if one’s heard the music.
All the best.

[brogine]

I must add this: two very different films which incorporate - briefly but to stunning effect - scenes from Lear. The Carer, If I Were You.

Apparently, there are a few of the latter title. I meant the Canadian film, with Marcia Gay Harden.

[bnjtokyo]

You could build your own collection of favorites by getting a book of famous quotations from the library, reading through some of the quotations there, looking them up on the internet or elsewhere and printing them out for fuller context. My book of quotations has fifteen pages of Shakespearian quotes, starting with "Mine eyes smell onions; I shall weep soon" (Alls Well That Ends Well, Act V, scene 3) and ending with "Item, I give unto my wife my second best bed" (his will).

[brogine]

Thanks for the suggestion.
What I’ve found most affecting are several scenes in King Lear
(See my previous post in this thread.)
For sheer lyrical beauty, the forest scenes in A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Titania and the fairies. Almost forgot Puck! There’s a recording of Mendelssohn’s famous incidental music with spoken and sung excerpts which is nothing less than divine.

[brogine]

And here’s another film, and of another sort yet.
The Dresser. And, interestingly, both Brian Cox (The Carer) and Anthony Hopkins (The Dresser) have both portrayed Lear on stage with prestigious British companies.

Just found out - the version with Hopkins was a BBC television production. There was a film, some thirty years earlier, with Albert Finney. Don’t believe he was ever Lear, but he was with the Royal Shakespeare Company.