SHAKSPER 2000: "Comparisons are odorous"

From: Hardy M. Cook (editor@ws.bowiestate.edu)
Date: 11/30/00 

The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 11.2195  Thursday, 30 November 2000

[1]     From:   Sean Lawrence <seanlawrence@writeme.com>
        Date:   Wednesday, 29 Nov 2000 09:06:50 -0800
        Subj:   Re: SHK 11.2180 Re: The Merchant of Florida

[2]     From:   Hardy M. Cook <hcook@bowiestate.edu>
        Date:   Thursday, November 30, 2000
        Subj:   Re: SHK 11.2180 Re: The Merchant of Florida


[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Sean Lawrence <seanlawrence@writeme.com>
Date:           Wednesday, 29 Nov 2000 09:06:50 -0800
Subject: 11.2180 Re: The Merchant of Florida
Comment:        Re: SHK 11.2180 Re: The Merchant of Florida

To give a slightly less parochial air to these parallels between
politicians and Shakespeare characters, one might note that Jean
Chrétien has taken to referring to "scars on my political body".  This
from the man who entered the Pearson cabinet with aspirations of
becoming a tribune of the people (according to his biographer), and who
just last night beat the barbarians back from the gates of power.  He
seems, in fact, to be acting the part of Coriolanus, but keeping his
hubris in somewhat better control.  That's also where the parallel
ends:  Aline is no Volumnia, and Chrétien is unlikely to ally himself
with Canada's enemies, in order to march on Montréal with a conquering
army, though I suppose we could say that Canadians themselves are a
conquering army in Québec, or that it's all a metaphor for foreign
investment, if bloody-minded enough.

But that's just the problem:  these parallels provide an index of our
bloody-mindedness, rather than a true commentary on the candidate.  We
could reverse the comparison of Gore to Richard III, for instance:
maybe he's more like Edward IV, politically dying, but trying to assure
peace to the realm in his insistence upon democratic principles.  Or
like Prince Hal, trying to beat back the an incoherent regionalist, used
by his family for political ends, equipped with a lousy human-rights
record and a cavalier attitude towards the environment, and that Gore's
beating back Hotspur in favour of a morally equivocal, politically
exhausted father-figure.  No doubt other parallels could be found with
other characters.  In the end, these parallels are just a matter of
trying to associate characters we don't like to politicians we also
don't like.  Since both sides of the metaphor are manipulable, the
parallel itself is just a round-about way of stating our own views, but
while avoiding the demands which a more appropriate discipline like
political science would impose.

Cheers,
Seán.

[2]-------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Hardy M. Cook <hcook@bowiestate.edu>
Date:           Thursday, November 30, 2000
Subject: 11.2180 Re: The Merchant of Florida
Comment:        Re: SHK 11.2180 Re: The Merchant of Florida

Even though I am not particularly interested in this thread and would
not mind it going away, I did find an interesting Opinion piece by Mary
McGrory in today's Washington Post.
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4760-2000Nov29.html>.
Here is how it begins:


History Without Shakespeare
By Mary McGrory
Thursday, November 30, 2000; Page A03

In "Richard the Second," Shakespeare's version of a 14th-century power
struggle, the two rivals for the crown take hold of it on either side
and Henry Bolingbroke says to his deposed cousin the king, "I thought
you had been willing to resign."

That's the way George W. Bush feels about Al Gore. What difference does
it make that he really won the votes in Florida, and really won the
election? Gore's last flimsy hope is that he will find a Florida judge
to take his side in a state where Bush's brother and a nakedly partisan
secretary of state are in charge.
And this is how it ends:

While Bush does what he is told by his courtiers, Gore broods over the
fate of every dimpled chad in Florida. He can tell you exactly how 5,000
applications for absentee ballots in Seminole County were tampered with
by Republicans. But he can't tell you how he can claim the crown he
truly believes is his--or how he really feels about what is happening to
him. Where is Shakespeare when we need him?

(c) 2000 The Washington Post


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