Utopia by Thomas More

Utopia by Thomas More
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was an impressive attempt at imagining a perfect society considering this book was written in the early 1500's. I mostly liked its anti-consumerist bent. A lot of it is dated by the era of the author though.

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Richard II by William Shakespeare

Richard II by William Shakespeare
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I found this one to be the most straightforward of Shakespeare's War of Roses plays that I've read so far. ( I previously read the three parts of Henry VI.) It was much easier to follow the action, though it was not the most interesting play. The entire scene with Duke York trying to turn his own son Aumerle in seemed a bit unlikely.

"GAUNT:
O! but they say the tongues of dying men
Enforce attention like deep harmony:
Where words are scarce, they are seldom spent in vain,
For they breathe truth that breathe their words in pain.
He that no more must say is listen’d more
Than they whom youth and ease have taught to glose;
More are men’s ends mark’d than their lives before:
The setting sun, and music at the close,
As the last taste of sweets, is sweetest last,
Writ in remembrance more than things long past:
Though Richard my life’s counsel would not hear,
My death’s sad tale may yet undeaf his ear.”

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King Henry VI, Part 3 by William Shakespeare

King Henry VI, Part 3 by William Shakespeare
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Finally read part 3, although not as good as Part 1 and 2. It's a lot of war, politics, and intrigue without the delightful details that set apart Part 1 and Part 2. Probably enough war, politics, and intrigue these days in real life to suffice for all of us lately.

Love free classics on Kindle though! I know it's only hour 15 of the readathon, but it's bedtime. No promises I get up early enough to finish another one. #readathon

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Love's Labour's Lost by William Shakespeare

Love's Labour's Lost by William Shakespeare
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This play has some of my new favorite quotes, including this scene:

BIRON: ... What is the end of study? let me know.
FERDINAND: Why, that to know, which else we should not know.
BIRON: Things hid and barr'd, you mean, from common sense?
FERDINAND: Ay, that is study's godlike recompense.

But it's mostly silliness. The King is courting a princess. His lords are courting her maids. There are some other characters that are even worse. There's some clever and funny stuff but overall, not one of my favorite plays. By the end, I felt just like Biron who says in the final scene, "That's too long for a play."

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The Discourses by Niccolò Machiavelli

The Discourses by Niccolò Machiavelli
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Mostly discusses the benefits and management of a democratic state. A significantly more moral read than The Prince. Makes the argument that despite the sentiment popular in the 1500s, rule by the masses, while imperfect, is preferable to autocratic rule. It his belief that democracies that fail become anarchies, but current experience seems to point to oligarchy at best or tyrannies at worst.

Machiavelli spends a fair amount of time discussing how religion can help or hinder the democratic state. Interesting stuff worth considering.

His high-mindedness falls apart at the end though. He says it's acceptable to do anything to save the free state. So even a democratic Machiavelli remains Machiavellian.



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The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli

The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

When people say blanket feel-good things (especially with regards to politics) like "people are fundamentally good" I think, have you lived in this world? Have you at least read some books?

This is a difficult book to rate because Machiavelli does a good job of explaining how autocratic power was attained and kept in the 1500s. 5 stars for that. I took 3 stars off for the immoral horror of the advice given. I didn't take all the stars as a nod to the fact that it is a valuable book to read in terms of understanding the historical context of political manipulation.

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Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare

Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This play is extremely violent and as a result, it's very difficult to push through. The characters are one-dimensional in a way that is unusual for Shakespeare. However, if you're a lover of Quentin Tarantino's movies you might love this play.

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Henry VI, Part 2 by William Shakespeare

Henry VI Part II by William Shakespeare
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow! So much action and intrigue! We finally get to meet Henry the Sixth. He was just a baby in Part 1, and he's still fairly innocent in Part 2. There's a tension between the fact that he's not the rightful ruler according to the laws of inheritance, and that he's the wisest, gentlest, most just of all the people in the play (well in addition to Gloucester). Also I love the (albeit late) introduction of Cade! He's a cross between comic relief and a scary reminder of what's gong on in our current election.

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The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare

The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I didn't particularly like it. It didn't seem clever or funny or otherwise interesting with the exception of the wife. Also thought it was interesting that it was set in an ancient Greek city that's in modern day Turkey (Ephesus).

Do we have Shakespeare to thank for all those Twin movies of the 1980's?

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Henry VI, Part 1 by William Shakespeare

Henry VI, Part One by William Shakespeare
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this historical play. I particularly enjoyed how bad ass Joan of Arc was, and the very moving scene between Talbot and his son urging each other to flee from certain death.

I don't usually do summaries of the books I review, but I'm going to do it for this play, mainly to get it straight in my head. It was pretty confusing to me since I didn't remember the chronology of events from studying European history.

England 1422
Henry V died in 1422. His brothers were the Dukes of Bedford and Gloucester. His son and heir Henry VI was still a baby. Bedford went to France to command the army, while Gloucester stayed to rule England until Henry VI is crowned.

Meanwhile in France
At this time there were military setbacks in France, where Charles "the Dauphin" was leading a rebellion against the English. Lord Talbot was the Constable of France, and a heroic English fighter. He's taken captive by the French.

Joan la Pucelle, (Joan of Arc!) convinced Charles to put her in charge of the army because she claimed to have religious visions of how to win the war and because she "proved" this by beating Charles in a one-on-one sword fight with him.

Bedford negotiated the release of Talbot. Joan won the next attack. Talbot and Bedford won the next one.

Wars of the Roses
Richard Plantagenet and the Duke of Somerset had a symbolic fight over red or white roses that's really about two houses of the Plantagenet splitting. Somerset is the red rose (of Lancaster), and Richard is the white rose (of York). Richard lost and was super angry forever.

Edmund Mortimer was a great-great-grandson of King Edward III, and was heir to King Richard II, his first cousin twice removed, but Henry the Fourth seized power from Richard II. Mortimer was imprisoned in the Tower of London, and told Richard Plantagenet that King Henry V had Richard Plantagenet's father (Richard of Conisburgh, grandson of King Edward III) executed. Mortimer said that once he dies, Richard Plantagenet will be the rightful heir to the throne, not Henry VI. Richard was pretty angry about this.

Henry VI Crowned
After Mortimer died, Richard petitioned the recently crowned Henry, who reinstated Richard's title, making him Richard 3rd Duke of York.

Henry then leaves for France, with Gloucester, Exeter, Winchester, Richard and Somerset. The French retook and quickly relost cities. Bedford died, and Talbot took control of the army.

Charles was scared, so Joan persuaded the Duke of Burgundy to stop fighting for the English and switch sides to the French. Henry arrived in Paris, heard about Burgundy switching sides, and sent Talbot to speak to him.

Henry asked Richard and Somerset to stop fighting about red and white roses, and and then chooses a red rose, Somerset's side.

Talbot was caught by the French again. Richard and Somerset were too busy fighting about the roses to save him. The English army was destroyed, and Talbot and his bastard son were killed. This part is super sad.

England Wins Anyway?
Joan was captured by Richard, acted like an angry witch, and then was burned at the stake.

Henry sued for peace. The French pretended to agree to the English terms. Charles is to be a viceroy to Henry. They still wanted to expel the English from France.

Suffolk captured a young French princess, Margaret of Anjou. He was into her. He plotted to keep her as a mistress and marry her to Henry so he can control the king through her.

Entire play available here: http://shakespeare.mit.edu/1henryvi/i...

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The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare

The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

There is a lot misogyny in this play, but it was written at the end of the 16th century so I can forgive it. Here's what I noticed though: the play never says Petruccio strikes Katherina. Katherina, on the other hand, strikes both her very gentle sister Bianca and Petruccio. He never verbally abuses her either, saying only highly positive and romantic things to her. Petruccio does abuse Katherina by not letting her eat or sleep, and I can't defend that manipulation though it might sound like I'm about to try.

Katherina isn't just a general representative "woman." She's especially contrary, belligerent, and violent. All of this being rich, spoiled, and having very kidn family members. Petruccio is mostly interested in her money, but he seems to suspect that if her sister Beatrice is a great beauty and a gentle lady that Katherina also has this in her power. When Petruccio meets her, it seems clear that he appreciates her wit and intelligence but that he means to outmatch her. And he does woo her with his craziness even if this is mostly after their wedding instead of before.

The worst part of the play is Katherina's final speech which is really a lot to stomach. It's difficult to tell if she's deeply in love with Petruccio or suffering from some kind of Stockholm's syndrome. I suspect it's just a happy ending for the men in the audience that want the story to play out like a male fantasy.

Despite the terrible ending, I did enjoy this comedy. I think it was funny and kind of romantic and sexy. I'd be lying if I pretended my feelings about art-- or even real life-- are primarily based on feminism.

Entire play available here: http://shakespeare.mit.edu/taming_shrew/index.html

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A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare

A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This one often looks beautiful when you see it performed because of the woods and the fairies, but the plot is so messy I have trouble concentrating. Poor Hernia and Helena, the play does torture those women in the name of comedy.

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