Status Updates From Complete Works

Henry VIII

Somewhat episodic, packing disparate events into one presentation, perhaps of a piece with the romances. It lacks a central protagonist, but coalesces around episodes wherein we wait 'til the king's pleasure be known'--essentially elevating royal aesthetics to the law of the land--sovereign preference as sovereign decision. Thomas More appears very briefly but is deemphasized, limited to office.

"ADR. Back, slave, or I will break thy pate across.
E. DRO. And he will bless that cross with another beating:
Between you I shall have a holy head."
WHEEZE

"Good sister, let us dine, and never fret;
A man is master of his liberty:
Time is their master, and when they see time,
They'll go or come; if so, be patient, sister."
- 'Comedy of Errors', William Shakespear

"I to the world am like a drop of water,
That in the ocean seeks another drop,
Who, falling there to find his fellow forth (Unseen, inquisitive), confounds himself."
- 'Comedy of Errors', William Shakespear

"According to the statute of the town,
Dies ere the weary sun set in the west."
- 'Comedy of Errors', William Shakespear
Not really sure how this is a comedy and not a tradgedy, but I love it.

"But though thou art adjudged to the death
And passed sentance may not be recall'd."
- 'Comedy of Errors', William Shakespear

A Comedy of Errors
Finished: 25/03/2026

Obviously you could read/watch/perform Shakespeare for a lifetime and still find something new or react to a line, character, or setting in a different way. Ive always wanted to learn more about him and his work because so many artists I respect have such a profound admiration for him. This has been a good start.

The Tempest

Just lovely, of course. As though Shakespeare read Marlowe and said 'nope.' Caliban is a dangerous remainder who does not partake in the resolution; and of course enslaving Ariel is awful. This text in some ways looks at the thought experiment of CoE re: Occam's razor and Quine-Duhem from the other direction. Also: theater as governance.

Sonnets 23-30

A Comedy of Errors
Started: 23/03/2026

Cymbeline

Villainy is defeated so as to bring Britain back within Rome's ambit--it is definitely an odd result. The misogynist gossip about Innogen--that 'her beauty and her brain go not together'--is recognized as true about a different character later--but less about intelligence and more about the familiar shakespearean problem of inferring a person's interior intention from their exterior signs.

Sonnets, 7-22

The first comedy - finally!

Sonnets 1-6, 18