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Dark Lady of the Sonnets
George Bernard Shaw
Book Overview:
The Dark Lady of the Sonnets is a short play by George Bernard Shaw on William Shakespeare and the "Dark Lady" character in his sonnets.
The dark lady of the sonnets was based on a real life person. Sonnets 127 to 152 are addressed to a woman commonly known as the 'Dark Lady' because her hair is said to be black and her skin "dun". These sonnets are explicitly sexual in character, in contrast to those written to the 'Fair Youth'. It is implied that the speaker of the sonnets and the Lady had a passionate affair, but that she was unfaithful, perhaps with the 'Fair Youth'. The poet self-deprecatingly describes himself as balding and middle-aged at the time of writing.
The Dark Lady of the Sonnets is a short play by George Bernard Shaw on William Shakespeare and the "Dark Lady" character in his sonnets.
The dark lady of the sonnets was based on a real life person. Sonnets 127 to 152 are addressed to a woman commonly known as the 'Dark Lady' because her hair is said to be black and her skin "dun". These sonnets are explicitly sexual in character, in contrast to those written to the 'Fair Youth'. It is implied that the speaker of the sonnets and the Lady had a passionate affair, but that she was unfaithful, perhaps with the 'Fair Youth'. The poet self-deprecatingly describes himself as balding and middle-aged at the time of writing.
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"Sidney's Sister: Pembroke's Mother"
And now to return to Shakespear. Though Mr Harris followed Tyler in identifying Mary Fitton as the Dark Lady, and the Earl of Pembroke as the addressee of the other sonnets and the man who made love successfully to Shakespear's mistress, he very characteristically refuses to follow Tyler on one point, though for the life of me I cannot remember whether it was one of the surmises which Tyler published, or only one which he submitted to me to see what I would say about it, just as he used to submit difficult lines from the sonnets.
This surmise was that "Sidney's sister: Pembroke's mother" set Shakespear on to persuade Pembroke to marry, and that this was the explanation of those earlier sonnets which so persistently and unnaturally urged matrimony on Mr W. H. I take this to be one of the brightest of Tyler's ideas, because the persuasions in the sonnets are unaccountable. . . Read More
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Community Reviews
Гении бессмертны и интернациональны (как и дураки впрочем, которых всегда в разы больше). Отличная пьеса великого Бернарда Шоу, в которой действуют Елизавета Тюдор, королева-девственница, и сам Уильям Шекспир, которых случай и творческая воля сталкивает лоб в лоб на террасе Уайтхолского дворца. Поср
Een verrassing: Shaw schreef dit kort stuk als een pleidooi voor een nationaal theater met veel meer humor dan verwacht. Shakespeare als een teksten stelend, vrouwen versierend groot Ego, versus Koningin Elizabeth die afwisselend koleriek is en wijs. Very witty, indeed.
The best parts of this book were Shaw's critical and balanced view of Shakespeare in his essays, his refusal to take Shakespeare as larger than life and above the tailoring his plays to public tastes, and Shakespeare as a comedic character who steals lines from those around him. The play was pretty
A literary curiosity - Shaw's plea for state funding for a National Theatre. The Dark Lady of the Sonnets, the Virgin Queen and Shakespeare himself meet ...
Plus many essays on related topics, mostly arguing against Frank Harris, another Shakespeare scholar.
Humour at Shakespeare's expense. Good for some laughs. Nothing special.
This short play was fun to read. Shaw has Shakespeare attempting a midnight tryst with the "dark lady" he immortalized in his sonnets, only to run into a sleepwalking Queen Elizabeth I instead. Along the way, Will's ears perk up whenever he hears an interesting turn of phrase, which he then records