Sign in with Facebook
It's Shakespeare Week on Goodreads!
But, soft! What light through yonder internet browser window breaks? It's our Shakespeare Week celebration on Goodreads—and you, fair reader, are invited!
April 23 is the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare's death. To mark this momentous anniversary, we're pulling out all the stops for the Bard this week—just take a look at our logo! We'll be featuring Shakespeare-themed quizzes, book lists, writing prompts, and games. In addition, amazing authors who have written books based on the Bard's plays are taking your questions about comedy and tragedy…and everything in between. (Bonus points for questions in iambic pentameter.)
To kick off the festivities, we asked six authors to write a deleted scene from one of the Bard's plays. (Check them out below!) On Tuesday, we helped you answer the question, Which Shakespeare play should I read next?; on Wednesday, we took a look at famous book titles based on Shakespeare lines; and on Thursday, we investigated the writers who influenced Shakespeare. What's up next? Come back to find out!
Ian Doescher, author of William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope:
Jasper Fforde, author of the Hamlet-inspired Something Rotten:
Margaret Atwood, author of Hag-Seed, a retelling of The Tempest:
Malorie Blackman, author of the Othello-inspired Chasing the Stars:
Elizabeth Nunez, author of Even in Paradise, a retelling of King Lear:
Christopher Moore, author of Fool, a retelling of King Lear:
Now it's your turn! Write your own deleted scene from a Shakespeare play in the comments and follow us on Facebook and Twitter for #ShakespeareWeek updates.
Comments Showing 101-150 of 201 (201 new)
Deleted scene from Romeo and Juliet"Dost thou think the light of dawn will shine upon their minds?"
Romeo sponged upon the calf's blood staining his colors. "The fairest light shines from you, sweetest Juliet. Neither of our families shall ever be the wiser that the wool of the sheep be pulled before their eyes."
Juliet melted into his arms like wax before a fire. Together they watched the tumbling shore from their southbound carriage.
Chelsea wrote: "I'm not sure I want to brave my own deleted scene, but here's my hasty attempt to answer which of the six is my favorite in Shakespearean sonnet form.To Bard, who makes us laugh and makes us cry..."
Excellent scenes! Also, excellent responses!"The beauty that is born here in the face
The bearer knows not, but commends itself
To others' eyes, nor does the eye itself
That most pure spirit of sense, behold itself
Not going from itself, but eye to eye opposed
Salutes each other with each other's form."
Achilles, Act 3, Scene 3 of 'Troilus and Cressida'
Joseph wrote: "A figure dressed in black, wearing a black mask, breathing heavily.FIGURE: Hamlet!
HAMLET: What spirit is this?
FIGURE: Hamlet!
HAMLET: Pray, spirit, what art thou? Answer me!
FIGURE: Thy fa..."
I loved Hamlet. In my sophomore drama class we had to memorize a phrase from one of Shakespeare's plays. I picked Hamlet and still over 20 years later remember the part...
Enter Hamlet.
Hamlet. To be, or not to be- that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them. To die- to sleep-
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to. 'Tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die- to sleep.
To sleep- perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub!
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause. There's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life.
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
Th' oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despis'd love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of th' unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? Who would these fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death-
The undiscover'd country, from whose bourn
No traveller returns- puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry
And lose the name of action.- Soft you now!
The fair Ophelia!- Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins rememb'red.
This is so cool! I'm about to begin reading my very first Shakespeare book for school this week.
Joseph wrote: "A figure dressed in black, wearing a black mask, breathing heavily.FIGURE: Hamlet!
HAMLET: What spirit is this?
FIGURE: Hamlet!
HAMLET: Pray, spirit, what art thou? Answer me!
FIGURE: Thy fa..."
Absolutely love it!
Chess wrote: "(I'd just like to apologize for the groan factor before hand... Sorry...)Macbeth
Act IV, Scene I
A cavern. In the middle, a cauldron.
[Thunder. Enter the three Witches.]
FIRST WITCH; Thrice th..."
Made me smile!
Petra X wrote: ""Romeo Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? I have something to tell you?"Romeo who is hiding from Juliet says to himself, "That nursemaid already told me she was pregnant. That's what she wants to t..."
That's a good one. Made me spit soup on my computer. :D
Luiza wrote: "Megan wrote: "Can we all agree to read one of his plays on Saturday?"I'm loving the idea!"
Samantha wrote: "Romeo who is hiding from Juliet says to himself, "That nursemaid already told me she was pregnant. That's what she wants to t..."That's a good one. Made me spit soup on my computer. :D ..."
Thank you. And your comment made me snork my coffee.
I would like to comment on how people are mentioning Cervantes and Charlotte Brontë. Both Cervantes and Brontë deserve remembrance and recognition, they do, but you are hard pressed to find another author (the only other one I can think of is Rumi) who has as much as a global presence and a daily presence as Shakespeare.
We're reading Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet at school right now! Cool logo. :)
Megan wrote: "I would like to comment on how people are mentioning Cervantes and Charlotte Brontë. Both Cervantes and Brontë deserve remembrance and recognition, they do, but you are hard pressed to find another..."You're absolutely right in many ways, although... Shakespeare has been translated into "over 100 languages" (according to the British Council) and Don Quijote alone into "over 140" (Cervantes Institute). And I'd be surprised if more people had actually read or even seen an adaptation of anything by either of them compared to those who have actually read or seen an adaptation of Jane Eyre. So....
"For God's sake, let us sit upon the ground
And tell sad stories of madwomen in the attic"
and
"But, soft! What knight at yonder windmill tilts?
It is he of the sad countenance, and Rocinante is his mount"
are my contributions to the deleted scenes fun :-)
Pip wrote: "But, soft! What knight at yonder windmill tilts?It is he of the sad countenance, and Rocinante is his mount"
｡ﾟ( ﾟ^∀^ﾟ)ﾉ彡☆ Nice!! ∑d(≧▽≦*)
Pip wrote: "Megan wrote: "I would like to comment on how people are mentioning Cervantes and Charlotte Brontë. Both Cervantes and Brontë deserve remembrance and recognition, they do, but you are hard pressed t..."I have to say that you're right as well, at least I know that I agree on the Cervantes point. I know next to nothing about the global spread of C. Brontë's work, or even references to it in my daily life. Cervantes has had a wonderful tradition of being translated and reworked and indeed his work has inspired many adaptations of Shakespeare's work (most notably the "lost play" Cardenio which Shakespeare most likely [i.e. knowing Shakespeare probably] based on Cervantes's own work). However, statistics are tricky and only work for the sampling unit. Therefore, translations of Shakespeare are less than the translations of Cervantes, but as far as adaptations go these are not always direct translations and are probably not included (same is the case for Cervantes). There are also multiple translations of works in one language. Additionally, you have periods of influence. Take, for instance, Nasser's Cairo (and even Sadat's). Margaret Litvin has argued that the English play Hamlet was not, in fact, the most influential version of the Hamlet for Arab artists living in Cairo, but the Russian film Hamlet (or Gamlet, 1964). Litvin also argues that before this, Alexandre Dumas's adaptation of Hamlet (which includes a happy ending) is the version Tanyus 'Abdu based his 1901 translation on and called it Shakespeare's version. While Hamlet has since been translated into Arabic by different authors, I would argue that the mere translation of a work (including Cervantes's) is hardly a measure of the impact the work.
At the end of the day, though, I have studied the global spread of Shakespeare in a way that I have not studied the global spread of Cervantes. Additionally, I cannot argue that we should not be honoring and remembering Cervantes, only that it makes sense that we are honoring and remembering Shakespeare. Shakespeare has not only been translated into numerous languages, but is adapted and continues to be adapted into many languages for many contexts including English. I use the case study of Sulayman Al Bassam's play Al-Hamlet Summit which was first written in English and performed in Edinburgh, then translated into Arabic (as a collaborative effort, which has a interesting story to it) for a performance in Tokyo, and re-worked (re-translated?) in English in the published version I read. It does not take place in Denmark, but in an unnamed Arab state dealing with the precursors of war and draws on the contemporary knowledge of the audience. Vishal Bhardwaj's film Haider (2014) is a telling of Hamlet in Kashmir. The Tempest has been reworked and adapted as a part of post-colonial literature (e.g. Aimé Césaire's Une Tempête). The classic novel Mawsim al-Hijra ila ash-Shamaal (A Season of Migration to the North) by Tayeb Salih draws on much of Othello overtly and covertly. Lastly, Shakespeare is also referenced in our lives (e.g. the use of "To be, or not to be" in news articles, memes, jokes, etc).
If anyone has input on Cervantes and Brontë (and obviously Shakespeare because I am not a Shakespearean and I cannot and do not claim to know everything) I would love to come back to this forum and read and/ or discuss new points.
shakespeare and i share a birthday
Joseph wrote: "A figure dressed in black, wearing a black mask, breathing heavily.FIGURE: Hamlet!
HAMLET: What spirit is this?
FIGURE: Hamlet!
HAMLET: Pray, spirit, what art thou? Answer me!
FIGURE: Thy fa..."
You made my day !!!!
THANK YOU !
While it isn't a deleted scene from one of Shakespeare's plays, I thought this would be the appropriate place to share a little something I wrote a few years ago in college. We had an assignment in creative writing class called "An Experiment in Voice" where we had to write instructions about doing something everyday, e.g. how to brush your teeth, but using the "voice" of someone famous- a celebrity, character from a book, tv show or movie, etc. This is what I came up with. Putting on Contact Lenses with William Shakespeare
Hath thine eye in all its beauty seeth no light?
Alas! Great is the woe of thou
Who seest not the world in its full glory.
But hark! Plague thyself no more!
For man doth devise a marvelous instrument-
The miniscule spectacles.
I shall tell thee how to lay the divine spectacles
Upon thine ailed eyes!
Takest one spectacle from the curious
Aqueous stuff whence it layeth,
Placest it atop thy digitus secundus,
Bringest thy hand a small distance
From thine ailed eye and usest thy
Digitus medius to delicately tug
The lower lid of thine eye.
Anon lay the miniscule spectacle
Upon thine eye, but dost not blink!
Pullest thy fingers away and
Hast the actions be done anew
Upon the neighbouring ailed eyeball.
Behold! Thou canst see the beauties
Of God's world anew in acute discernment!
This is so cool , and cute ( i love the new Good Reads logo)!!
I guess you know it's also the 400 anniversary of the death of Cervantes, one died the 22nd and the other the 23rd of April of 1616 but in reality they died with more than a week difference because of the use of Gregorian/Julian calendars in Spain and England.
That's exactly what I wanted to point out, Pedro. It would be nice from GR to do at least a mention to the fact of the 400 anniversary of the death of Cervantes Saavedra too, since he was as important writer to the Spanish language as Shakespeare was to English.
Sandra wrote: "That's exactly what I wanted to point out, Pedro. It would be nice from GR to do at least a mention to the fact of the 400 anniversary of the death of Cervantes Saavedra too, sinc..."In fact the one that died 400 years ago is Cervantes , for Shakespeare we have to wait another week at least cause he died the 3rd of May according to Gregorian calendar :-)
What a great idea to celebrated the Bard! I will be reading one of his plays in recognition.
Adorable logo, Goodreads team! I love the new ideas you all continue to spew!
My favorite is Margaret Atwood's deleted scene of The Tempest!
Megan wrote: "I would like to comment on how people are mentioning Cervantes and Charlotte Brontë...I would argue that the mere translation of a work (including Cervantes's) is hardly a measure of the impact the work...."*mike drop*
I have not studied Shakespeare as extensively as you have, but I agree that in my daily life, I encounter references to Shakespeare relatively often, as opposed to rarely with Cervantes and never with Brontë unless directly talking about literature in that period. Granted, I have not lived in a Spanish-speaking country or neighborhood, but at least in terms of internet chatter my stance remains.
It's definitely arbitrary to only go by the number of translations there are for an author. You have made great points about multiple translations in one language and adaptations. Not to mention the frequency in which Shakespeare plays are performed around the world.
Thus while there are many incredible authors out there, we don't have the time to dedicate a week to every one of them, so it makes sense to focus on someone so well known as Shakespeare.
This is so great! I even happen to be taking a Shakespeare class this semester, so this is actually pretty exciting for me. I don't get all the complaints about the logo, it seems nice to me. People just get too grumpy about things. :)
Rosaline: Romeo, Romeo, thou art an idiot, Romeo. Seriously, dude, stop falling madly in love with girls at the drop of a hat. You're totally gonna regret it someday.Romeo: But Juliet is my true heart's desire! My love for her is passionate and true, and her beauty enraptures my soul.
Rosaline: Yeah, but you said that about me literally two days ago.
Romeo: Whatevs. You just don't get it. I'm gonna go see if Juliet will run off with me now, bye.
Rosaline. Well, at least it's not me. God, men are idiots.
You forgot to mention that Shakespeare's 452nd birthday is on the 26th.
A Midsummer Tempest I read this back in the 70's when it was first published. It has on of the best romantic lines from any pseudo-Shakespeare work. When Prince Rupert is trying to be noble and proper to Mistress Jennifer, she complains that he will "ground her fine" with his attitude.Rupert: Thou art to fine for me, but so the sun. God give with spend thrift hand; his will be done.
Pip wrote: "Poor old Cervantes. Poor old Charlotte Bronte."The Bronte sisters are overrated.
Megan: Yep The book (and companion PBS series) The Story of English
by Robert McCrum, Robert MacNeil, make perfectly clear in a chapter about Shakespeare how much we still use the Bard today. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3w2M... (Epic Rap Battles of History: William Shakespeare vs. Dr. Seuss) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOm_2... (Epic Rap Battles of History: Shaka Zulu vs. Julius Caesar) and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9-6I... (complete episode of the PBS series I just mentioned: A Muse Of Fire) are all references to how much we still use Shakespeare today. Granted the PBS stuff is from the early or mid-1980's but...who cares?
This is so strange! I just started reading Macbeth for school! Sweet.
Here's something for ALL of us on Shakespeare Week: http://www.signature-reads.com/2016/0...My God, the Bard's spinning in his grave!
Love this - The logo and the deleted scenes are great! I will be reading Shakespeare on Saturday!
Deleted scenes are lovely!
What an exceptional Idea, I mean Hatts Off for you, keep it up this good work.
This is really incredible! :) All the authors did a remarkable job....two thumbs up!
I would just like to point out that you can in fact rap "Sigh no more, ladies" from Much Ado About Nothing to "Walk this Way" by Aerosmith (with some "hey nonny"s added in for the "walk this way" chorus).
I freaking love Shakspeare. OMG the is so awesome
Ah,Shakespeare. Twas a shame to see you leave the world four hundred years past, for your words were gentle,soft and powerful.
Megan wrote: "Can we all agree to read one of his plays on Saturday?"Or all this week?
Star Wars is really popular with the kids in the area. Maybe this would be a good way to get them into classical literature and plays as well? I should point my director in this direction!