Beware the Ides of March

For one of the book clubs I attend, we are reading a young adult book titled "The Wednesday Wars." It's a fun little book that on the surface seems to be just that, fun, but as one continues to read it becomes more deep and it deals with an amazing group of issues. The story takes place in the 1960's during the time that America is involved with the Vietnam War. Seventh grader Holling Hoodhood thinks his English teacher hates him. Holling is the only student in the class that doesn't attend a religious class in the middle of the day on Wednesdays, so during that time Mrs. Baker assigns him to read plays by Shakespeare, starting a friendship that will help them both throughout the school year. As he reads the Bard's words and learns through the plays' themes, Holling is being transformed into a young man. The author has a light sense of humor and brings out the fun that Shakespeare produces with his wit and talent in his plays. As Holling reads one play at a time, he starts relating what he learns to his own life and his relationships with his father, girlfriend, friends, and sister. And of course one of the plays he reads is Julius Caesar. Since today is the 15th of March, or the Ides of March, I thought I would reminisce a bit about my fascination with Shakespeare, and share with you some of my favorite quotes from Julius Caesar (it would be a long post if I shared quotes from all of Shakespeare's plays).

Nobody introduced me to Shakespeare. It felt like love at first sight. My mother had a room with two walls full of books. Most of them were the great works of classical literature, all beautifully translated into Albanian. Reading was part of life, actually life itself. I remember my mother and myself reading on our own till the early hours of the morning, and then getting ready she for work and I for school. We would both be late, but that wasn't what we talked about on our way to our destinations. She would share what she read and I would share what I had read. No hardship or trial during the day could dampen our souls. I remember reading a lot of Greek Mythology and Greek plays by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Aristophanes, in addition to short excerpts from Plato and Aristotle. Next to these my mom had placed a huge volume of Shakespeare plays. My heart thumped when I touched its leathery cover. I had heard of Shakespeare and I had watched several productions of his plays on TV, but at age 9, I hadn't read any verses from Shakespeare. I thought I would give it a try, and thus started my fascination with this genius of English literature, and I have been in love with this mysterious creature and what he had to say about life ever since.

In middle school, I made the hilarious attempt of trying to translate the Albanian version of some of the plays into English, and then compare it to the original. My brother still makes fun of me for doing such a silly thing, but I had just started reading books in English, and I was enjoying my progress with this language. This exercise gave me the confidence to read Shakespeare's works in their original language, or at least make the attempt of grasping some of what Shakespeare wrote. In high school, I was obsessed with writing down my favorite quotes from the plays. I would give anything to find that sweet notebook filled with Shakespeare sayings and best-loved quotes. I then later started memorizing and reciting various monologues, my first one being Mark Antony's speech at Julius Caesar's funeral.

It's a pity but I don't read as much Shakespeare nowadays as I used to. I have had season tickets for years at various Shakespeare Theater productions. I also love to see adaptations made for TV viewers. I grew up watching Laurence Olivier in many of those kinds of productions, and till lately I couldn't make myself watch anyone else but him in King Lear or Hamlet. However, I have to say Kenneth Branagh has come very close to that ideal. His portrayal of Hamlet is one of my favorites, coming very close to the perfection of Laurence Olivier. His Henry V carrying the young boy in his arms after the battle of Agincourt with Patrick Doyle singing Non Nobis Nomine in the background doesn't lag behind either. Just the other day I watched Branagh's adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing, and I have to say his role of Benedick portrayed better than my imagination could have ever produced made this lighthearted comedy into a masterpiece. Shakespeare's words were never uttered so beautifully.

Gillian hasn't read the original Shakespeare plays yet, but I introduced her to Shakespeare as soon as she turned 8. There are some fascinating children's adaptations of many Shakespeare plays as well as several artfully done dramatizations on books-on-CD that I've given to her, and she has devoured them with pleasure, making me tremendously happy. But I'm not pushing her. I hope she will come to Shakespeare on her own accord just as I did. Somehow I'm not worried. I have a lot of magic tricks under my sleeve, even if my husband would laugh at my attempts of guiding my kids into reading what I want them to read. Just the other day he was making fun of my seriousness when it comes to reading. The kids were getting ready to retire to bed, and I was giving my instructions to each of them about how much time they have left and what books to read. At one point I was telling Jefferson that I expected him to be half way done with his book before he went to sleep. Charlton was climbing the stairs while this conversation was taking place, and Elijah immediately called him and with my very large volume of Plato's writings in his hands he said: "Here Charlton, your mother will be disappointed if you don't finish this volume by tonight. Go and don't waste your time." Funny all around!

Back to Shakespeare. I hope that this little post has inspired some of you to pick up one of his plays and read it. My favorites are The Tempest and Hamlet, with Julius Caesar coming third. But then again, Shakespeare is a genius in all he writes. As promised, here are some of my favorite quotes from Julius Ceasar, starting with my first Shakespeare memorization ever, that of Mark Antony's eulogy:

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Cæsar, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones. (3.2.79)

He was my friend, faithful and just to me:
But Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man. (3.2.91)

You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things!
O you hard hearts, you cruel men of Rome,
Knew you not Pompey? (1.1.39)

Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once.
Of all the wonders that I yet have heard,
It seems to me most strange that men should fear;
Seeing that death, a necessary end,
Will come when it will come. (2.2.34)

O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth,
That I am meek and gentle with these butchers!
Thou art the ruins of the noblest man
That ever lived in the tide of times.
Woe to the hand that shed this costly blood!
Over thy wounds now do I prophesy,--
Which, like dumb mouths, do ope their ruby lips,
To beg the voice and utterance of my tongue--
A curse shall light upon the limbs of men;
Domestic fury and fierce civil strife
Shall cumber all the parts of Italy;
Blood and destruction shall be so in use
And dreadful objects so familiar
That mothers shall but smile when they behold
Their infants quarter'd with the hands of war;
All pity choked with custom of fell deeds:
And Caesar's spirit, ranging for revenge,
With Ate by his side come hot from hell,
Shall in these confines with a monarch's voice
Cry 'Havoc,' and let slip the dogs of war;
That this foul deed shall smell above the earth
With carrion men, groaning for burial. (Act III, Scene 1)

A friend should bear his friend's infirmities,
But Brutus makes mine greater than they are. (4.3.86)