So what was up with that?

It probably won't come as a staggering bit of news to anyone that Shakespeare's Histories get creative with, err, history. This is why I couldn't get quite share the indignation when a couple of historical novelists, several of whom I enjoy, some weeks pack did "Don't slander the dead" posts. I mean, yes, theoretically I'm down with that, and I have my favourites and get indignant when I read something that I believe deals with them unfairly and/or downright falsifies actual events as much as anyone. But in practice, it has a grand old tradition through the ages. What do I say? Through the millennia. If you believe Robert Graves that Euripides had Medea murder her children in Medea because the citizens of Corinth bribed him to change the story, which until that point had the kids being murdered by a Corinth mob in retaliation for Medea killing their princess. I'm quite willing to believe that, but Medea killing her children subsequently became such a core part of the myth of Medea, and is very much what makes the character and makes her immortal, that when a modern novelist like Christa Wolf writes a novella in which Medea doesn't kill her children and is unfairly accused, it might be a good feminist parable but the character is very one dimensional and dull by comparison. Basically what I'm getting at is what I have the more pragmatic and cynical view that anything goes as long as it makes for a well-told story. With the obvious disclaimer that if it's cruel slander against My Darlings, I'll hate you for the rest of eternity for writing it, so there.

(Kidding.)

(Mostly.)

(No, really.)

Anyway, if you are curious about the historical background for the currently transmitted histories that make up The Hollow Crown , here are some amusing and entertaining blog entries about the various kings that gave Will his plot.

The reign of Richard II as told by LOL cats

Why Richard stopped that duel at the start of the play

What was your PROBLEM anyway, Richard? (Well, some of them)


Good summary of Henry IV (the king, not the play)

What was Henry Bolingbroke's official claim to the throne?

Thirty Days of Borgias: Day Three

Day 03 ~ Favourite male character.

Rodrigo Borgia, aka Alexander VI. He's such a great mixture of flaws and strengths, and has that Londo Mollari ability of being able to make one furious, admiring, affectionate and concerned within the same episode. The show neither lets him off the hook for the former nor denies the later, and keeps the Renaissance mixture of corruption going hand in hand with faith (Rodrigo buying the papacy, seeing it as a family enterprise and never stopping to wonder just exactly what God wants from him is entirely compatible for him) very much in mind. Also he has great taste in women and is wonderfully sardonic when dealing with the conclave of Cardinals. And is played by Jeremy Irons, whom as a young actor I never found as attractive as I do now. I rest my case by pointing to this Rodrigo character vid.

( The rest of the days )