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William Shakespeare: The Complete Works by
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sologdin
is on page 993 of 1344
Macbeth
In the broadest strokes, we might describe the story here as the witches act ultra vires, against the will of Hecate, to engineer the destruction of the Scottish aristocracy and importation of English forms of governance. The play highlights the familiar problem of interpreting the interior of a person from their exterior--Macbeth is too paranoid, whereas Duncan is like Lear, too trusting.
— 58 minutes ago
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In the broadest strokes, we might describe the story here as the witches act ultra vires, against the will of Hecate, to engineer the destruction of the Scottish aristocracy and importation of English forms of governance. The play highlights the familiar problem of interpreting the interior of a person from their exterior--Macbeth is too paranoid, whereas Duncan is like Lear, too trusting.
sologdin
is on page 967 of 1344
Timon of Athens
Famous veteran is over generous and, like Lear, fails to recognize flattery--the same study as in Hamlet and regarding the attempt to read exterior signs on a person for their interior belief. His descent into hostis humani generis is contrasted with actual bandits and a Diogenean cynic philosopher. Here NB the wilderness does not cure the problems of the polis.
— 21 hours, 39 min ago
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Famous veteran is over generous and, like Lear, fails to recognize flattery--the same study as in Hamlet and regarding the attempt to read exterior signs on a person for their interior belief. His descent into hostis humani generis is contrasted with actual bandits and a Diogenean cynic philosopher. Here NB the wilderness does not cure the problems of the polis.
sologdin
is on page 941 of 1344
History of King Lear
This collection made the decision that the Q and F versions of Lear are not reconcilable and thus amount to two plays rather than variants of one. So here is the Q version; F follows later in the volume. I note that the comic multi-adultery of Falstaff in MWW is here played straight--the tragic result is emblematic of conflating oikos and polis, which is this text's focus.
— Mar 05, 2026 06:35AM
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This collection made the decision that the Q and F versions of Lear are not reconcilable and thus amount to two plays rather than variants of one. So here is the Q version; F follows later in the volume. I note that the comic multi-adultery of Falstaff in MWW is here played straight--the tragic result is emblematic of conflating oikos and polis, which is this text's focus.
Kyria
is 20% done
Used as stand-in for Werewolf: The Reckoning - The Book of Hungry Names, same amount of pages.
— Mar 04, 2026 03:10AM
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sologdin
is on page 907 of 1344
Othello
Always marvelous. This time through, I'm seeing Iago as a prototype politics of ressentiment right populist figure. He resents an educated foreigner promoted over him by another foreigner who happens to be dark-complected and married to a local woman. It's the normal nihilistic recipe of Trump-voter concerns, with fears of other religions, miscegenation, purported elitism in expertise, and so on.
— Mar 03, 2026 10:38AM
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Always marvelous. This time through, I'm seeing Iago as a prototype politics of ressentiment right populist figure. He resents an educated foreigner promoted over him by another foreigner who happens to be dark-complected and married to a local woman. It's the normal nihilistic recipe of Trump-voter concerns, with fears of other religions, miscegenation, purported elitism in expertise, and so on.
sologdin
is on page 871 of 1344
Measure for Measure
Perhaps my favorite play of his, this one takes on anti-theatrical puritan writings and eviscerates them. We see it in the spectacle created out of sacrament in the duke's disguise but also in the stage-managed creation of Angelo's lust by means of a theater of chastity during an official court appeal. The defense of theater s a general institution couldn't be stronger.
— Feb 28, 2026 07:21AM
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Perhaps my favorite play of his, this one takes on anti-theatrical puritan writings and eviscerates them. We see it in the spectacle created out of sacrament in the duke's disguise but also in the stage-managed creation of Angelo's lust by means of a theater of chastity during an official court appeal. The defense of theater s a general institution couldn't be stronger.
sologdin
is on page 842 of 1344
Sir Thomas More
A collaboration, this play presents More's handling of the insurrection of 1517 (xenophobic riots) via cosmopolitan reasoning, then moves to his refusal to sign the king's articles, as a matter of conscience. It strikes a balance between the limits of popular sovereignty and royal prerogative. It's a mess, and wasn't licensed in its time for fear of inciting more nativist riots.
— Feb 27, 2026 07:44AM
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A collaboration, this play presents More's handling of the insurrection of 1517 (xenophobic riots) via cosmopolitan reasoning, then moves to his refusal to sign the king's articles, as a matter of conscience. It strikes a balance between the limits of popular sovereignty and royal prerogative. It's a mess, and wasn't licensed in its time for fear of inciting more nativist riots.
sologdin
is on page 811 of 1344
Sonnets, 'The Lover's Complaint,' &c.
No. 126 marks the end of the sonnets addressed to the idealized youth, and then we get grotesque realism regarding the 'dark lady.' 126 itself is incomplete, a disruption of the form that matches the content, say. It's tempting to read the paired 'Lover's Complaint' back into the sonnets as a sort of key, insofar as it is nuanced and the sonnets are laden with grievance.
— Feb 25, 2026 10:11AM
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No. 126 marks the end of the sonnets addressed to the idealized youth, and then we get grotesque realism regarding the 'dark lady.' 126 itself is incomplete, a disruption of the form that matches the content, say. It's tempting to read the paired 'Lover's Complaint' back into the sonnets as a sort of key, insofar as it is nuanced and the sonnets are laden with grievance.
