Shakespeare Fans discussion

Act 2 can be discussed here….

After act 1 scene 3 describes 'high class' men in a palace plotting to usurp (and that's a mild word for it) a king, we have in Act 2 scene 1 nameless workers and one named, Gadshill, using the word hanged/hangman, hang/ hangs in various contexts. Mostly they are talking about the price to pay if caught robbing. The plotters in Act 1 Scene 3 do not seem to consider these consequences nor do they use as rich and earthy language.

Each of the opening scenes in the play so far have been quite different - and I guess designed to keep an audience engaged.

Well I'll be hanged! Still no comments.

So why would Shakespeare have character named Gadshill engaged in criminal activity at a location called Gadshill? Is there something in the name? Hill is obvious but 'gad' not as. To gad about, gadding about?
Gadders/gads! So maybe Gadshill is where people who travel about and are otherwise homeless hang out.
There is an actual Gadshill to this day near Higham, Kent. so perhaps the location had some repute in Shakespeare's day.
If you Google Gadshill you get Gadshill Place which is an independent school and has been for years. A house built there by the local mayor in 1780 was later purchased and lived in by Charlse Dickens. Could he have been drawn to the property because of the association with Shakespeare's play?
Nearby there is a pub called the Sir John Falstaff.

It sounds like you're on to something about Gadshill and Dickens for sure.

I'm reading and going to post some thoughts shortly. Sorry I'm so slow to post...but that is the convenience on this format...being free to come and discuss when we can over a well-paced format of time!

I'll be back!

With the mention of the autonomy, celestial motifs...and Tycho Brahe...I thought I would share some pics I took while in Copenhagen in February. I went to visit a spot where Tycho did a lot of his research...

This is on my blog...

https://gnosticminx.blogspot.com/2024...

It’s been interesting to watch/listen to different takes on the scene between Hotspur and Lady Percy. In the Hollow Crown, Hotspur is angry and dismissive and the relationship doesn’t come over as very healthy. But I’ve also seen/heard clips where it’s flirtatious and raunchy, and I preferred this approach. Whichever way the scene is directed, it does show that Hotspur is not as confident as he might seem, or believe himself to be. From what his wife says about his troubled sleep and libido, pale and strained features, his tendency to ‘start so often’, and his ‘curst melancholy’, he appears to be in conflict with his own subconscious mind.

Candy wrote: "It sounds like you're on to something about Gadshill and Dickens for sure.

I'm reading and going to post some thoughts shortly. Sorry I'm so slow to post...but that is the convenience on this form..."

About Gadshill/Gads Hill and Dickens I'll explain. There's nothing to do with this particular play. It just made me think about how pervasive Shakespeare is, to the point that hundreds of years later people relate a place Gads Hill to a fictional character of Shakespeare's, Sir John Falstaff. I don't think that I'm on to anything more.

Dee wrote: "It’s been interesting to watch/listen to different takes on the scene between Hotspur and Lady Percy. In the Hollow Crown, Hotspur is angry and dismissive and the relationship doesn’t come over as ..."

Hi Dee. I was much bemused by this short scene, reading it only. I wonder if you noted the apparent ages of the Hotspur and Kate as portrayed in different productions that you watched? I'm not sure how old they are intended to appear by Shakespeare. Historically at this time Hotspur would have been in his mid 30s but there's the feeling in the play that Prince Henry and Hotspur are being portrayed as much closer in age than they were in real life.

I think that even in Shakespeare's time Hotspur's lines

"But hark you, Kate,
I must not have you henceforth question me
Wither I go, nor reason whereabout:
Whither I must, I must; and to conclude, this evening must I leave you gentle Kate"

suggest that the man has got a problem or two when it comes to human relations. I wonder what this has to do with the story or Henry the 4th? In fact there's not much about King Henry in the play thus far.

The last scene in act 2 is all about Prince Henry and his cohorts and Falstaff (as are all the other scenes in this act except for the short scene with Hotspur and Kate).. I found it hard to get into. I know it's supposed to be witty and amusing; probably works on the stage.
Plenty of 'fat shaming' of Falstaff throughout.

An idea came to my mind today of a staging of this play with all fat players (and or theatrically fattened up via costume and padding) and for Falstaff to be less fat than everyone else but fat enough for the fat shaming lines to have meaning and even double meaning.

I guess it’s just you and I James!

I’m still here. I’ve started hanging about in Act 3.

Candy wrote: "I guess it’s just you and I James!"
About to go 'Stellar' over in Act 3 Candy.

Hi Candy. Seems it's Dee and me, and not me and thee.