Day 119: What I Learned: Pericles, Prince of Tyre

Penguin Shakespeare from kobobooks.com

I'm learning that it's no fun to be a female in any of the societies that Shakespeare describes, whether they're versions of his own or versions of other times or places. Women do not come out on top. In this case, one princess is the victim of incest at the hands of her father (which, the audience is assured, is mostly her fault), while another is won in a jousting contest, only to be tossed into the sea in a trunk after she gives birth to her daughter. The daughter, also a princess, is abandoned, ordered to be murdered, captured by pirates then sold into prostitution at a brothel, while everyone argues about who gets to rape her first. It's all kinds of awful.

But don't worry, little Princess Marina (Get it? Because she was born at sea?) is so virtuous and good that she's able to fend off her would-be rapists. Because that's the real lesson here. That if a woman is virtuous enough, she won't get herself raped. And if she DOES get raped, well, you can fill in the blanks about her virtue...

So what did I learn? I learned, once again, FUCK YOU, SHAKESPEARE!

Day 117: Pericles, Prince of TIRES...get it?

litbrick.com

Heh heh. Mike asked me if anyone had ever done a Pericles tire shop and I was all like, "Already got it covered, dude." By "covered" I meant, of course, that I had already discovered this comic by John S. Troutman of LitBrick.com. Sweet.

Day 116: Another 3-hour BBC production...oh goodie

Have you been dying to see a performance of Pericles, Prince of Tyre but are worried that you'd be distracted by high production values or good film quality? Do you have three hours to spare, or are perhaps looking to cure insomnia? Have I got the solution for you! It's the BBC production of Pericles, Prince of Tyre!

You can watch it here or on YouTube:

Let me know if it's any good. I'm not even going to try.

Day 115: So WHO wrote Pericles?

Shakespeare and Wilkins fight to the finish in the play by The Rude Mechanicals

Was Pericles, Prince of Tyre written by William Shakespeare?  Well, maybe. Apparently the common consensus is that it was a collaboration between him and George Wilkins, a dramatist and, *ahem* bawdy innkeeper. A pimp. He was a pimp. That explains a LOT about the entire middle part of the play. (Hint: There are a tonne of pimps. And pirates. And possibly pimp pirates. Yeah, the whole thing's a mess.)

Day 114: Pericles: Real guy...who knew? I mean, uh, I knew. I totally knew.

Bust of Pericles bearing the inscription "Pericles, son of Xanthippus, Athenian". Marble, Roman copy after a Greek original from ca. 430 BC

(from WikiCommons)

Bust of Pericles bearing the inscription "Pericles, son of Xanthippus, Athenian". Marble, Roman copy after a Greek original from ca. 430 BC

Pericles, as we all know, was a Greek statesman who lived in Athens from 495-429 B.C. I mean, I totally knew that. I didn't even have to look it up or anything.

So, gee, I hope this play is true to the original story since I, uh, know it so well and would be able to spot inconsistencies. I mean, who doesn't know the story of Pericles, as told by his contemporary biographer,  Thucydides?

(Nailed it again, Wikipedia! Now everyone thinks I'm super smart!)

Also, Perikles is a board game, for all you board game geeks out there (I'm guessing at least one member of my household DID know that already).

Perikles 2006 

Day 113: New Play Tuesday! Pericles, Prince of Tyre

SCC English Pericles wordle

Off the top of my head? I'd say this play is about muthahfuckin' Pericles. Word.