Tis now the very witching time of night by William Shakespeare
I (re)read Hamlet over the weekend because my book club was going to discuss The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. I must admit that I liked it better than I thought I would, based on my memory of it (from reading it in college, I think). I still think I’m more of a Macbeth girl, though…
Tis now the very witching time of night
FROM HAMLET, ACT III, SCENE II
By William Shakespeare
Tis now the very witching time of night,
When churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out
Contagion to this world: now could I drink hot blood,
And do such bitter business as the day
Would quake to look on. Soft! now to my mother.
O heart, lose not thy nature; let not ever
The soul of Nero enter this firm bosom:
Let me be cruel, not unnatural:
I will speak daggers to her, but use none;
My tongue and soul in this be hypocrites;
How in my words soever she be shent,
To give them seals never, my soul, consent!
I’m not entirely sure what Edgar Sawtelle has to do with Hamlet…but I’m on;y on chapter 5 haha!
I love some of Shakespeare’s work, although I have to say that my favorite bit is in Macbeth, when the witches are all around the cauldron…it’s creepy and fantastic.
Edgar Sawtelle is a retelling of Hamlet. When I read the former, I hadn’t read Hamlet in a long time, so I could see some parallels, but it took rereading the play for me to realize just how many details Wroblewski incorporated into his story.
I haven’t read Hamlet yet, but I’m going to have to tackle it next…Shakespeare is just so difficult to read.
Shakespeare’s not so bad, once you get used to the writing style. There are really two ways to read his work, in my opinion.
1) critically, analyzing every word and sucking out every scrap of meaning
2) loosely, making sure you get the gist even if you miss some of the finer details
I invariably go for option 2, especially when not reading for a class (which I shouldn’t ever have to do again!).
I will definitely go for option 2…I find it hard to analyze things by myself, I always find that another person is sort of a catalyst for me, and you really see another perspective.