What Was Shakespeare Talking About?

How many of you out there are fans of Shakespeare?  It’s not that I am NOT a fan, it is more that I struggle to understand a lot of the old English verbiage in his writings and plays.  While it could be said I am just an idiot, the fact that most students at some point are forced  to buy Cliff Notes to explain what the heck is being said,  tells me I am far from alone.

I think, overall, most of us understand the basic plot lines.  Romeo and Juliet, for example:

Boy loves girl.
Girl loves boy.
Girl’s family and boy’s family hate each other.
Juliet fakes her death
Romeo isn’t a good fact-checker (there was a plan after all!)
Romeo kills himself
Juliet wakes up and figures out how dumb Romeo was (again, he didn’t follow the plan)
Kills Herself
The End

(Did you know that Shakespeare based this on an actual couple that lived in Verona, Italy in 1303? Supposedly, Shakespeare learned of the story by reading a poem written by Arthur Brooks in 1562 called   “The Tragical
Historye of Romeus and Juliet” .)

Why am I even bringing up Ole William, you ask? Well, I am having a couple of thoughts on the subject of love today.

Thought Number One:
Love is blind, and lovers cannot see, The pretty follies that themselves
commit.
 The Merchant of Venice, Act 2 Scene 6

Forty-one years ago, TODAY,  two teenagers, much to the chagrin of their parents, teachers and pretty much everyone that knew them,  got married.  Yeah, I know…crazy, clueless, teenagers…got married.

 So, despite the shaking noggins, the naysayers, and the doubting Thomas’s and Thomasina’s, our hapless teens did get married.

They made a little home for themselves. Well, strictly speaking they made lots of little homes for themselves with all those 21 corporate moves.

 And they had a little princess and a little prince to add a little spice to their lives.

Thought Number Two:  More than a few of Shakespeare’s quotes were lost on me.