sologdin’s Reviews > The Complete Works > Status Update
sologdin
is on page 509 of 1344
i Henry IV
The comic underplot is not merely a burlesque of the main plot (as in Marlowe's Doctor Faustus, say)--it offers a counter narrative, almost a materialist vision against the monarchy and aristocratic rebels, and provides an alternate education for the prince, as against his father's expectations. Falstaff's 'honor' speech ties back to CoE's 'words are but wind,' also an issue in MoV and R&J.
— Feb 02, 2026 10:17AM
The comic underplot is not merely a burlesque of the main plot (as in Marlowe's Doctor Faustus, say)--it offers a counter narrative, almost a materialist vision against the monarchy and aristocratic rebels, and provides an alternate education for the prince, as against his father's expectations. Falstaff's 'honor' speech ties back to CoE's 'words are but wind,' also an issue in MoV and R&J.
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sologdin
is on page 568 of 1344
2 Henry IV
Different levels of converting disorder into order, maybe. Falstaff must be excluded, not because he is some sort of proto-lumpen who parasites off crime and credit, but because his form of disorder, which speaks some sort of truth to power, may not be permitted to exist after the monarchy assimilates what it needs from him.
— 16 hours, 33 min ago
Different levels of converting disorder into order, maybe. Falstaff must be excluded, not because he is some sort of proto-lumpen who parasites off crime and credit, but because his form of disorder, which speaks some sort of truth to power, may not be permitted to exist after the monarchy assimilates what it needs from him.
sologdin
is on page 536 of 1344
Merry Wives of Windsor
Falstaff seeks to seduce two married women to access their households' property (cf. Bassanio) and almost becomes a sort of villainous remainder (like Shylock or Malvolio)--but is reincorporated into society after his gemeinschaft humiliations are complete. His actual rendering as homo sacer can't happen as the only authority here is unmasked as fraudulent, and thus he's safe, for now.
— Feb 04, 2026 06:39AM
Falstaff seeks to seduce two married women to access their households' property (cf. Bassanio) and almost becomes a sort of villainous remainder (like Shylock or Malvolio)--but is reincorporated into society after his gemeinschaft humiliations are complete. His actual rendering as homo sacer can't happen as the only authority here is unmasked as fraudulent, and thus he's safe, for now.
sologdin
is on page 479 of 1344
Merchant of Venice
Antonio and Bassanio are lovers, and the latter is a declasse aristocrat scheming to obtain Portia's wealth. That they ruin a member of an oppressed group in the process makes villainy triumphant in this text. We might say that this text stages a society that believes itself to be just and allows that society to prevail by means of an exclusion that we cannot countenance.
— Jan 31, 2026 05:33AM
Antonio and Bassanio are lovers, and the latter is a declasse aristocrat scheming to obtain Portia's wealth. That they ruin a member of an oppressed group in the process makes villainy triumphant in this text. We might say that this text stages a society that believes itself to be just and allows that society to prevail by means of an exclusion that we cannot countenance.
sologdin
is on page 452 of 1344
King John
The absence of Magna Carta should be considered structural rather than inartful--this episodic text wherein alliances realign each act should be taken to represent a sort of hobbesian wasteland wherein it's better to trust in 'your strong possession much more than your right.' 'Commodity, the bias of the world' might only be diagnosed by a bastard who lacks right but is pure competence.
— Jan 30, 2026 05:26AM
The absence of Magna Carta should be considered structural rather than inartful--this episodic text wherein alliances realign each act should be taken to represent a sort of hobbesian wasteland wherein it's better to trust in 'your strong possession much more than your right.' 'Commodity, the bias of the world' might only be diagnosed by a bastard who lacks right but is pure competence.
sologdin
is on page 423 of 1344
Midsummer Night's Dream
The substratum here is an alien dispute between Oberon and Titania regarding the possession of a changeling, which is a horrid little bit of myth. Within that context, Theseus consummates his forced marriage to Hippolyta, whom he 'wooed with the sword,' and Egeus mirrors Capulet's dire parental demands; the connection to R&J is solidified by the low mechanicals' parody thereof.
— Jan 28, 2026 04:18AM
The substratum here is an alien dispute between Oberon and Titania regarding the possession of a changeling, which is a horrid little bit of myth. Within that context, Theseus consummates his forced marriage to Hippolyta, whom he 'wooed with the sword,' and Egeus mirrors Capulet's dire parental demands; the connection to R&J is solidified by the low mechanicals' parody thereof.
sologdin
is on page 400 of 1344
Romeo and Juliet
It's not just that she's 13 and he's 16-20; sure they have irrational adolescent emotionalism--but he changes from loyalty to Rosaline, whereas Juliet once dedicated remains loyal--perhaps an artifact of the marriage market. Their decease brings extinction to their oikos lines, which is the only thing that can resolve the residual 'airy word' of the dantean feud, a la Williams and MacIntyre.
— Jan 26, 2026 04:24AM
It's not just that she's 13 and he's 16-20; sure they have irrational adolescent emotionalism--but he changes from loyalty to Rosaline, whereas Juliet once dedicated remains loyal--perhaps an artifact of the marriage market. Their decease brings extinction to their oikos lines, which is the only thing that can resolve the residual 'airy word' of the dantean feud, a la Williams and MacIntyre.
sologdin
is on page 367 of 1344
Richard II
Agamben's modal ontology in action. Richard while acknowledging that he fills an office and plays an actor's role (two ways to get at the issue) nevertheless insists on a royal substance, sacral monarchism--whereas his successful antagonist realizes that this substance distributes socially, even if not democratically. The text requires some stark historical elisions to make it work, of course.
— Jan 23, 2026 06:32AM
Agamben's modal ontology in action. Richard while acknowledging that he fills an office and plays an actor's role (two ways to get at the issue) nevertheless insists on a royal substance, sacral monarchism--whereas his successful antagonist realizes that this substance distributes socially, even if not democratically. The text requires some stark historical elisions to make it work, of course.
sologdin
is on page 335 of 1344
Love's Labour's Lost
Conceptually very interesting--the thought experiment here has a fabular setup, a 'war against our own affections,' immediately impugned by the appearance of those who render the Navarrese oath always already perjured. The oath's faustian object, 'to know what I am forbid to know,' does not turn tragic, as the anagnorisis resolves the problem of 'wooing but the sign' but little else.
— Jan 21, 2026 07:34AM
Conceptually very interesting--the thought experiment here has a fabular setup, a 'war against our own affections,' immediately impugned by the appearance of those who render the Navarrese oath always already perjured. The oath's faustian object, 'to know what I am forbid to know,' does not turn tragic, as the anagnorisis resolves the problem of 'wooing but the sign' but little else.
sologdin
is on page 305 of 1344
The Comedy of Errors
Something of a critique of Occam's Razor or an example of the Quine-Duhem thesis in practicum, whereby twins from abroad substitute in variously for local twins, none the wiser. The simple explanations for the errors that result are either that the locale is sorcerous or that the exogenous ones are insane, preventing via false consciousness correct apprehension of events.
— Jan 19, 2026 07:11AM
Something of a critique of Occam's Razor or an example of the Quine-Duhem thesis in practicum, whereby twins from abroad substitute in variously for local twins, none the wiser. The simple explanations for the errors that result are either that the locale is sorcerous or that the exogenous ones are insane, preventing via false consciousness correct apprehension of events.
sologdin
is on page 283 of 1344
Edward III
This text develops, across multiple authorial hands, the beginnings of a critique of nominalism insofar as the 'name' of something (death, the king, the husband) is placed in nuanced relation to it affiliated substance. Like Talbot in 1 H VI, the substance and the shadow are complicated abstractions. That said, scene 2 (one of the Shakespeare's) is a lovely little mock ars poetica.
— Jan 17, 2026 06:00AM
This text develops, across multiple authorial hands, the beginnings of a critique of nominalism insofar as the 'name' of something (death, the king, the husband) is placed in nuanced relation to it affiliated substance. Like Talbot in 1 H VI, the substance and the shadow are complicated abstractions. That said, scene 2 (one of the Shakespeare's) is a lovely little mock ars poetica.
