Celebrate Poe

Send a textUp to now, Hamlet has lived inside questions.“Did my uncle really do it?”“Can I trust the Ghost?”“Am I being manipulated?”“Am I losing my mind—or pretending to?”Act 3 Scene 2 is the moment Hamlet says, in effect:“I'm done being uncertain. I'm going to test the truth.”In other words, Hamlet creates a situation where Claudius either sits calmly… or cracks.What makes this scene so powerful is that Hamlet is doing two things at once.One: He wants evidence.Two: He wants to feel power again.Because Hamlet has been watched, managed, and fenced in.So now he decides to flip the arrangement.Now he watches.Now he controls the room.Now he designs the moment.And that leads us to one of the best surprises in the play:Hamlet suddenly becomes a director.He lectures the actors about how to perform—not too big, not too fake, not too showy.Support the showThank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send a textMaster Shakespeare, are you ready?SHAKESPEARE:As ready as any man may be, entering a room where love is examined like evidence.GEORGE:That's exactly it. Because what happens here is not romance. It's a controlled experiment—and Ophelia is the instrument.GEORGE:Let's start with the setup. Claudius and Polonius plan to spy. They stage-manage Ophelia. They put a book in her hands. They position her.What's the moral temperature of this plan?SHAKESPEARE:Cold. And convenient.They call it “care for her.” They call it “care for the prince.”But the act is simple: they use her presence to harvest Hamlet's secrets.GEORGE:And what's chilling is how normal it seems to them. “We'll just hide over here.”It's like a household trick.SHAKESPEARE:Power always wishes to be ordinary.If it feels ordinary, it feels permissible.GEORGE:So right away, Ophelia enters a room where her feelings aren't the point. Her feelings are the bait.GEORGE:Now—Ophelia. I want to underline something for listeners: she's not “weak.” She's trained.She has been coached to obey father, brother, court—every authority that tells her what “good” looks like.SHAKESPEARE:A young woman in that world is praised for being governable.They call it virtue.But it is also control.GEORGE:So when Polonius gives her instructions, it isn't just advice. It's a system:“Speak when told. Hold this. Stand here. Offer the tokens.”FourSupport the showThank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send a textGEORGE:So right away: the scene begins with the king and queen acting like concerned parents. But it feels… staged. SHAKESPEARE:Because it is staged.Mark their language: they crave a cause, a label, a tidy diagnosis — “What ails him?”Yet their hands are already in the plot. They have hired watchers.Concern and control wear the same cloak here.GEORGE:And the watchers are Rosencrantz and Guildenstern — Hamlet's old friends.Let me ask bluntly: are they villains?SHAKESPEARE:They are instruments.Not grand villains with black banners — rather men who wish to please authority and keep their place.In a court like this, friendship becomes employment.And employment demands a report.GEORGE:So Claudius says, “Spend time with Hamlet, figure out what's wrong,” but the real job is: Find what he knows. Find what he intends.SHAKESPEARE:Aye.And I make it plain: they are sent for.They are not there by chance. They are summoned, instructed, rewarded.Support the showThank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send a textPart 1 — Polonius coaches surveillance (Polonius + Reynaldo)Polonius sends Reynaldo to Paris with money and messages for Laertes.But Polonius doesn't say, “Go check on my son like a normal person.”He says—basically—“Go investigate my son.”Here's the tactic, and it's nasty in a very realistic way:Polonius tells Reynaldo:Don't ask directly, “How is Laertes behaving?”Instead, casually drop mild accusations and see what sticks.Not monstrous lies.Little “reasonable” hints.He's teaching Reynaldo to do this:Talk to people who might know Laertes.Suggest that Laertes has been seen drinking, gambling, getting into trouble.Keep it vague—lightly scandalous.Then watch how the other person responds.Support the showThank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send a textToday we're in Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 5 — the scene where the ghost finally speaks.And I want to emphasize something from the start:The ghost's message doesn't just give Hamlet information.It changes Hamlet's operating system.It changes what Hamlet thinks the world is.It changes what Hamlet thinks he must do.And it changes what kind of person Hamlet is allowed to be from this moment on.[Music sting]Segment 1 — What happens in the scene (plot, slowly and clearly)GEORGE:Master Shakespeare, let's begin with the basic plot of Act 1, Scene 5. Hamlet has followed the ghost away from Horatio and Marcellus. What happens next?SHAKESPEARE:The dead speaks.The son listens.And the world is no longer the same.GEORGE:Here's the plot in plain language:Hamlet is alone with the ghost.Support the showThank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send a textToday we're in Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 4.Act 1, Scene 2 gave us the court saying, “Get over it.”Act 1, Scene 3 gave us family advice that's really control.Now Scene 4 takes us back to the battlements — the cold night air — where the play asks a different question:When truth appears in an unsettling form…Do you follow it?GEORGE:Master Shakespeare, we've moved from court politics and family warnings back to the night watch. Why return to the battlements now?SHAKESPEARE:Because the day has done its work.Now the night may speak.GEORGE:Let me paraphrase that for listeners:Daytime Denmark is where people control the story.Nighttime Denmark is where the story refuses to be controlled.And Hamlet arrives here already loaded.He's grieving. He's disgusted. He's isolated.And now he's standing in a place where the living expect the dead.Support the showThank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send a textGEORGE:Master Shakespeare, why do we go from the public court scene into this private household scene?SHAKESPEARE:Because the disease is not only in the crown.It is in the rooms of the home.GEORGE:Let me paraphrase that in three ways so it lands:Paraphrase #1 (simple):You're showing us that Denmark's problems aren't only political. They're personal.Paraphrase #2 (blunt):The same habits that make a court dishonest can show up in a family.Paraphrase #3 (image):We leave the palace stage — but we're still inside the same building of power. Just a different hallway.SHAKESPEARE:Aye.GEORGE:Let's lay out the plot of Scene 3 in plain terms.First: Laertes is preparing to leave for France.He gives his sister Ophelia advice about Hamlet.Second: Polonius enters and gives Laertes a long list of fatherly “rules” for life.Third: After Laertes exits, Polonius turns to Ophelia and questions her about Hamlet — and then he gives her orders.So the scene is built like a sandwich:Brother advises sisterFather advises sonFather controls daughterSHAKESPEARE:A neat division.GEORGE:This scene is about warnings.And the warnings are not only about danger.They are about reputation.And reputation is currency in this world.Support the showThank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send a textThe scene begins with the king saying - Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother's death The memory be green, and that it us befittedTo bear our hearts in grief, and our whole kingdomTo be contracted in one brow of woe,Yet so far hath discretion fought with natureThat we with wisest sorrow think on himTogether with remembrance of ourselves.Therefore our sometime sister, now our queen,Th' imperial jointress to this warlike state,Now If Act 1, Scene 1 is Denmark at night — cold, nervous, haunted — then Act 1, Scene 2 is Denmark in daylight — warm, ceremonial, confident, and polished.And here's the spine of this scene and the simple phrase that keeps coming back:The court is telling Hamlet, with polite smiles and royal authority, “Get over it.”And Hamlet is thinking, “I can't. And I won't. Because something is wrong.”GEORGE:Master Shakespeare, we begin with a ghost on the battlements — and then we jump into court ceremony and speeches. Master Shakespeare - how does the ghost begin speaking.Ah, Mr. Bartley - My hour is almost comeWhen I to sulf'rous and tormenting flamesMust render up myself.Pity me not, but lend thy serious hearingTo what I shall unfold.Well Master Shakespeare, why place these scenes back-to-back?SHAKESPEARE:Because the world is split, Mr. Bartley.Night shows what day denies.GEORGE:Let me say that again in modern terms:Scene 1 shows you the secret weather of Denmark.Scene 2 shows you the official forecast of Denmark.SHAKESPEARE:Aye.Support the showThank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send a textMASTER SHAKESPEARE:Good even, sir. I come where questions are sharp and nights are sharper.MR. BARTLEY:And the first question is simple:Why begin Hamlet with guards on watch instead of opening with court life, or the prince, or a grand speech?MASTER SHAKESPEARE:Because the world must feel unsafe before you know why. The audience must stand in the dark with common men—those whose work is to keep danger out. And yet danger comes in anyway.MR. BARTLEY:So the Ghost is a kind of… proof that the job cannot be done?MASTER SHAKESPEARE:Aye. The watch exists to prevent intrusion. Yet what comes is not an army, nor a thief—but a question with armor on.MR. BARTLEY:Let's talk about the Ghost's entrance in this scene. He doesn't speak. He barely does anything. Yet he dominates the stage. How?MASTER SHAKESPEARE:Because he arrives into fear already present. The men are tense before he appears—short greetings, challenges, passwords. Even friendship must announce itself. When the Ghost enters, he does not create fear; he confirms it.MR. BARTLEY:So he's not just a character—he's a verdict.Support the showThank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send a textTonight is Antony— the man who takes grief, wraps it in poetry, and lights Rome on fire.And the terrifying part is that he does it while sounding… respectful.The conspirators imagine a clean reset.They kill Caesar and they expect:the crowd to applaud their couragethe republic to breathe againthe story to land exactly as they explain itBut the moment Caesar's body hits the ground, the conspiracy inherits a problem it cannot solve:A corpse is louder than a speech.Support the showThank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send a textThe audience sees this manipulation in terms of Cassius's treatment of Brutus and his use of flattery and reassurance to bring Brutus into the conspiracy to kill Caesar. Later, the audience learns that Cassius is willing to gain money by means that Brutus finds dishonorable and unacceptable, though the specifics are not fully revealed. Cassius is at various times petty, foolish, cowardly, and shortsighted. On the other hand, Cassius offers Brutus the correct advice that Brutus should not allow Antony to talk to the Roman citizens after Caesar's death. Had Brutus taken Cassius's advice, the conspirators might have succeeded in convincing the Roman people that Caesar had to die. Despite his villainous tendencies, Cassius remains a complex character with hostile yet impressively passionate traits.Cassius doesn't “prove” Caesar is dangerous; he makes Brutus - another character - feel that Caesar is dangerous—and that opposing him is the only honorable choice.  And hold your horses, because we will really be looking into Brutus in a future episode.Now - and there's a point to this.Have you ever noticed how the most persuasive person in the room rarely says, “I'm persuading you”?They say, “I'm just telling you what you already know.”And suddenly… your doubts feel like wisdom.Support the showThank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send a textWhat we honestly have is ancient testimony, not “medical proof.What the ancient sources actually sayTwo major biographers written well after Caesar's death report episodes that sound like seizures:Suetonius (writing ~150 years later) says Caesar was “twice attacked by the falling sickness” during his campaigns, and also mentions fainting fits and nightmares later in life. Plutarch also describes Caesar as having episodes of illness and uses them at times to explain his behavior in public life (though Plutarch's descriptions are not clinical “case notes”). And in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Casca calls it “the falling sickness”—that's Shakespeare drawing on the same tradition rather than independent medical evidence.   His exact words are He - meaning Julius Caesar - fell down in the market-place, and foamed at the mouth, and was speechless.Romans often used morbus comitialis for what we'd now associate with epilepsy (the idea being that a seizure could halt a public assembly). So: yes, the term points toward epilepsy—but it's still a label from ancient writers, not a diagnosis with modern criteria.How reliable is it?Reasonably important, but not ironclad:These accounts come from biographies written later, using earlier sources we don't always have, and they can mix observation, hearsay, and   moral storytelling. “Falling sickness” could have been applied loosely to several kinds of sudden collapse—not only epilepsy.What might it have been, in modern terms?There's genuine debate. Some modern clinicians/historians argue the episodes may fit transient ischemic attacks (mini-strokes) or other causes of sudden fainting/weakness rather than epilepsy. Others still argue that “late-onset epilepsy” remains plausible based on the descriptions. Do we have reliable proof? No—no medical records, no exam notes, no contemporary clinical description.Do we have credible ancient reports that Caesar had episodes called “falling sickness”? Yes, especially Suetonius. Support the showThank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send a textThe Caesar Shakespeare gives us is not a cardboard tyrant. That's important. If Caesar were obviously monstrous, the play would become an easy sermon: “Kill the tyrant and save the republic.” But Shakespeare refuses the easy version. He makes Caesar impressive, admired, and also irritating. He makes Caesar popular, and also proud. He makes Caesar capable of generosity, and also capable of dismissing people. He makes Caesar a public figure, and still a man who likes being told he is exceptional. That mixed portrait is the point, because political violence is almost never born from a neat moral diagram. It's born from competing fears—and competing stories people tell about those fears.So who is Julius Caesar here?He is, first, a public magnet. The city pulls toward him. Soldiers love him. Ordinary citizens treat him like a living holiday. Even his enemies cannot stop talking about him. And that is its own kind of power: the power of being the topic, the center of gravity, the person around whom everyone else must arrange themselves. In a republic, that kind of gravitational pull feels dangerous even when the person at the center is not consciously plotting tyranny. Because republics depend on the idea that no single person becomes the nation.Second, he is a master of his own image. Caesar understands theater. He knows the value of showing confidence. He knows how to receive honor as if it is inevitable. He knows how to make gestures that look like humility while still feeding the legend. And in Rome, where politics is as much spectacle as it is policy, that skill can feel like destiny. The trouble is that destiny is exactly what a republic is not supposed to accept.Third, he is physically vulnerable, and Shakespeare wants us to notice it. Whether you interpret his illness in modern medical terms or simply accept it as the play's description, the effect is the same. It reminds us that even the most celebrated person is not a god. And ironically, that vulnerability increases the danger, because it creates a strange emotional cocktail in the people around him: admiration mixed with contempt, affection mixed with impatience, fear mixed with a desire to prove they are not afraid. Nothing leads to rash political choices faster than that mixture.Support the showThank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send a textMacbeth is not hard. It's human.Here's the whole play in one simple truth:Macbeth made Macbeth.Let me say that again:The witches tempt. Lady Macbeth pressures. But Macbeth chooses.They light matches all around him—but Macbeth decides to set the house on fire.This story is not fate winning. This story is choice repeated until it becomes character.HOST:Here is Macbeth in five easy steps.Temptation — an idea enters.Choice — a line is crossed.Habit — violence becomes a method.Collapse — control breaks down.Consequences — the bill comes due.Temptation. Choice. Habit. Collapse. Consequences.That's the whole play. Now we'll walk it.Support the showThank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send us a textMacbeth's tragedy ends when fear disappears—not because he becomes brave, but because he becomes numb and falsely certain.Now let's locate ourselves.HOST:We're in the final stretch.Act 4 Scene 1: Macbeth returns to the witches for more prophecy.Act 5: the kingdom turns, the signs pile up, the “impossible” begins to happen, and Macbeth faces the end.This is the arc:uncertainty → prophecy → false certainty → collapse.And that's exactly what happens to a human mind when it starts feeding on its own “guarantees.”ACT 4.1: PROPHECY AS A DRUG(10–14 minutes)HOST:Macbeth goes back to the witches because he can no longer live with doubt.And here is the key psychological point:Macbeth doesn't seek truth. Macbeth seeks reassurance.He isn't asking, “What is real?” He's asking, “Tell me I'm safe.”He wants a prophecy that will let him stop thinking.And the witches give him exactly the kind of information that creates delusion:statements that sound absolute.Now listen to this carefully:The more certain Macbeth feels, the more dangerous he becomes.False certainty produces real cruelty.When Macbeth feels invincible, he becomes reckless.This is the turning point: the prophecies don't guide him toward wisdom; they guide him toward overconfidence.And overconfidence is a form of blindness.Let's simplify Macbeth's delusion into three false comforts:Comfort #1: “I know the enemy.”He hears “Beware Macduff,” and he thinks knowledge equals control.He confuses information with safety.But Knowing a danger is not the same as defeating it.He hears the famous “none of woman born shall harm Macbeth,” and he treats it like immortality.Support the showThank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send us a textHOST (George):In Macbeth, evil rarely arrives waving a pitchfork; it arrives wearing a suit and offering a reasonable argument that elections are no longer necessary.That's how it works in public life—and it's how it works in this play.And Lady Macbeth is the clearest example.Here's the main idea of this episode.Lady Melania - I mean lady macbeth -doesn't begin as a monster. She begins as a person who treats conscience like a problem to solve.Let me say that again, because this is the entire episode:She doesn't argue that murder is good—she argues that hesitation is weak.Macbeth has brakes. Lady Macbeth calls the brakes “cowardice.”And I'll say it again—because repetition is the way understanding sticks:This episode is about how people talk themselves into the unthinkable by making it sound practical.We'll follow Lady Macbeth through five key stops:Act 1 Scene 5: she reads Macbeth's letter and decides to push.Act 1 Scene 7: she persuades Macbeth when he tries to back out.Act 2 Scene 2: the murder happens, and we see who can function in the moment.Support the showThank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send us a textMacbeth does not become evil because he's confused. He becomes evil because he learns to call evil “reasonable.”Let me repeat that, because that's the whole episode:He starts using good logic for a bad purpose.That's how a smart person goes wrong.Shakespeare makes Macbeth understandable on purpose. He shows you the self-talk.We're picking up right after the witches in Act 1 Scene 3. Macbeth has heard “king hereafter,” and now his mind is buzzing.Then:Act 1 Scene 4: Duncan names Malcolm heir. This is the moment Macbeth stops thinking “maybe” and starts thinking “how.”Stars, hide your fires;Let not light see my black and deep desires.The eye wink at the hand, yet let that beWhich the eye fears, when it is done, to see.Act 1 Scene 5: Lady Macbeth reads Macbeth's letter and decides to push him.Only look up clear.To alter favor ever is to fear.Leave all the rest to me.Act 1 Scene 6: Duncan arrives at Macbeth's castle — and he's gracious. That matters. See, see our honored hostess!—The love that follows us sometime is our trouble,Which still we thank as love. Herein I teach youHow you shall bid God 'ild us for your painsAnd thank us for your trouble.Support the showThank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send us a textPeople call Macbeth a monster. But Shakespeare's trick is sharper than that: he shows you a man who can still choose—and then shows you the exact moment he starts outsourcing his choices to ambition, marriage, and prophecy.Macbeth—thane, hero, newly honored… and about to discover that wanting something is not the same as deserving it.Now to most of you in the United States, the word THANE might be unfamiliar. It simply means a basically a Scottish noble—a trusted local lord who holds land from the king and, in return, owes loyalty and military service.So when you hear “Macbeth, Thane of Glamis” (and later “Thane of Cawdor”), think:Title + job: a high-ranking lordPower base: he rules an area/estate for the kingObligation: he's expected to fight for the king and keep orderStatus: important, but below the king (not royalty)So you can think of “Thane” as “Lord.”Macbeth is Lord of Glamis, then gets promoted to Lord of Cawdor.In other words, “A thane is a king's landholding lord—part governor, part military commander.”The play begins with the three witches, and it just makes common sense to begin by interviewing them. Notice how the witches don't “force” Macbeth—but they weaponize suggestion: they speak in a way that makes Macbeth supply the missing steps. They plant a framework (“you are destined”), then let his ambition build the staircase.But first let me briefly quote from the very beginning of the play where the three witches - also known as weird sisters - speakFIRST WITCH When shall we three meet again?In thunder, lightning, or in rain?SECOND WITCH When the hurly-burly's done,When the battle's lost and won.THIRD WITCH That will be ere the set of sun.FIRST WITCH Where the place?SECOND WITCH  Upon the heath.THIRD WITCH There to meet with Macbeth.FIRST WITCH  I come, Graymalkin.SECOND WITCH  Paddock calls.THIRD WITCH  Anon.ALL Fair is foul, and foul is fair;Hover through the fog and filthy air.Support the showThank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send us a textToday I'm taking that same Shakespearean blueprint and placing it in a new world: the 1961 film West Side Story. I'm going to do this in the simplest and clearest way possible:I'm going to tell the film's story in a straight line.As we go, I'll point out the matching Shakespeare “parts” — not as trivia, but as the engine that makes both stories run.And one clear rule: no lyrics, no musical quotations. I don't wanna get in trouble, and besides We don't need them. This story is Shakespeare before anyone sings a note.Lantern lit. Curtain up.Let's put the pieces on the board.Tony is your Romeo figure: once connected to the Jets, now trying to step away from violence and build a different future.Maria is your Juliet figure: young, protected, watched, expected to choose within her group and remain loyal to it.The Jets and the Sharks are the Montagues and Capulets: rival “houses,” reimagined as rival street groups.Riff is Mercutio-energy: Tony's friend, charismatic, proud, full of swagger, and emotionally committed to the feud.Bernardo is Tybalt-energy: Maria's brother, protective, quick to escalate, and intensely driven by honor and group identity.Anita is the confidante figure — like a Nurse-energy role but tougher and more adult: she's protective and practical, and later becomes crucial to the catastrophe.Chino is the approved match, a Paris-function figure — and later becomes the instrument of tragedy.That's enough. Now we move.Support the showThank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send us a textWelcome back. Verona is split by a feud. Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet fall in love, marry in secret, and attempt to outrun a culture trained for violence.Then comes the turning point: Tybalt confronts Romeo, Mercutio fights, Mercutio falls, Romeo kills Tybalt, and Romeo is banished. Juliet faces a forced marriage to Paris. A desperate plan depends on a message. The message fails. Tragedy follows.Tonight we interview three figures who did not cause the feud—but who, in different ways, accelerate the catastrophe:Mercutio: wit as weaponThe Nurse: love under pressureFriar Laurence: good intentions, bad architectureGeorge (announcer tone):A civic bulletin from Verona:The Prince has threatened death for further public brawls.Citizens pretend this will work because threats are easy to announce.But the feud continues, because feuds are not ended by decrees.They are ended by changed habits—and habits are slower than anger.Meanwhile, young men patrol their reputations like soldiers.Servants learn violence as a dialect.And in this atmosphere, a private love story becomes a public emergency.Back to our guests.GeorgeI'm going to ask each of you the same guiding question:Which moment did you tell yourself you were helping—when you were actually making it worse?We'll take you one at a time, and then—because this is theatre—we'll let you answer each other.Mercutio. You first.“I thought I was keeping Romeo alive”GeorgeMercutio, you're not a Montague by blood. Not a Capulet.And yet you are at the center of the storm. Why?Support the showThank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send us a textJULIET (calm, surprising firmness):They call me a child because I am young.But children don't usually bury their own futures with their own hands.George (gentle):Then let us speak plainly, Juliet.Not as an emblem. Not as a tragic ornament.But as a mind at work inside a storm.GeorgeIf you're joining us now: Verona is split by a feud between Montagues and Capulets. At a Capulet feast, Romeo Montague meets Juliet Capulet. They fall in love at speed, marry in secret, and try to build a private world inside a public war.Then a street conflict erupts: Mercutio falls, Romeo kills Tybalt, and Romeo is banished. Juliet's parents arrange a marriage to Paris. A desperate plan depends on a message. The message fails. Tragedy follows.Tonight, we speak with Juliet—often treated as “the girl on the balcony,” when in truth she is one of the sharpest minds in the play.First it might be useful to ask the question - Who is Juliet?”GeorgeBefore we begin, a brief character file—because Juliet is often misread.Juliet Capulet is:young, yes, but not simpledevoted, but not passiveromantic, yet fiercely practical when forcedtrained by obedience, until obedience becomes impossibleHer superpower is not beauty. It's clarity under pressure.All right. Juliet—let's begin where the world begins to lean on you.Support the showThank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send us a textWelcome back. But first, If you're joining us now for the first time, here is what you must know.Verona is split by a feud between two houses: Montague and Capulet. Romeo Montague meets Juliet Capulet at a feast, and they fall in love with reckless sincerity. They marry in secret—hoping, perhaps, that love might stitch together what hatred tore.However the city runs on pride and sudden violence. A street fight ends in death. Romeo kills Tybalt and is banished. Juliet faces a forced marriage. A message fails to arrive. The tragedy does what tragedy does.Today, we step away from the crowd and speak to one young man at the center.Romeo.GeorgeRomeo, you are often described as impulsive. Romantic. Dramatic.Let me ask a sharper question:When people call you “rash,” what do they fail to see?ROMEO:They fail to see… I was trying to be good.Not perfect. Not wise. But good.Support the showThank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send us a textA large National Council of Teachers of English teacher survey reported by Education Week lists Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, and Hamlet among the most frequently assigned texts in U.S. And Folger Shakespeare Library notes its edition sales (a good “what schools buy” proxy) had Romeo and Juliet first, followed by Hamlet, Macbeth, then A Midsummer Night's Dream, Othello, and Julius Caesar.But before I start talking about British school subject matter, I better describe one certificate and one assessment of skills that are more or less standard in the United Kingdom.First, there is the GCSE or General Certificate of Secondary Education.It's the main set of school qualifications students typically take in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, usually at age 15–16 (Year 11). Students take several subjects (like English, Math, Sciences, History, etc.), and the results are used for next steps such as A-levels or vocational courses.And then there is the AQA -  which stands for Assessment and Qualifications Alliance an exam board in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland that creates the syllabuses, sets the exams, and award qualifications for subjects such as English, History, Sciences, etc.).Now back to the Shakespearean plays most frequently studied in the United Kingdom.Most-studied in UK secondary schools - In the UK, the gravitational center is Macbeth—especially at GCSE level. A UK secondary teaching survey reports Macbeth as the most popular overall, and one study cited within the literature reports ~65% teaching it for GCSE (with Romeo and Juliet next).Exam boards also list Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest, The Merchant of Venice, Much Ado About Nothing, Julius Caesar and Twelfth Night.  12th night is sometimes add it to the list.So before I start going into some of the modern productions of Shakespeare's plays, I thought it might be more fun, as well as instructional, to go back and look at the originals.But first I'm going to give you what I hope is a simple timeline - about a minute - that roughly puts Romeo and Juliet into perspective date wise.Early 1590s: early blood-and-thunder tragedy + first big history hits (think Henry VI plays, Richard III).1594–1596: lively early comedies and experiments as his voice sharpens (e.g., Love's Labour's Lost, A Midsummer Night's Dream).c. 1594–1596: Romeo and Juliet (mid-1590s), one of his early breakthrough tragedies.1595–1596: Richard II (another key mid-1590s work).1596–1597: The Merchant of Venice (often placed around this period).1598–1599: Much Ado About Nothing (late-1590s “mature comedy”).1599–1600: Julius Caesar (turn-of-the-century political tragedy).1599–1601: Hamlet (written around this window; many place it at 1601).Early 1600s: the “big tragedy” period ramps up (including Macbeth, usually dated after James's 1603 accession).1610–1611: late “romance/magic” phase, including The Tempest and The Winter's Tale.1613: very late career work like Henry VIII.Support the showThank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send us a textMr. Shakespeare, in our previous episode, you were talking about your life and your literary career.   Could you briefly remark on the uniqueness of Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth, as well as their importance to literature.ShakespeareNow I could not speak to this assemblage without addressing the subject of my play Hamlet. Many individuals have called it my greatest play. Here is a prince torn between revenge, morality, and his own inaction. With the simple, yet profound, words ‘To be, or not to be…,' I attempted to capture a question that has haunted humans for centuries: what does it mean to act, and what does it mean to live? In King Lear, I explored family, power, and madness, peeling back the layers of human pride and vulnerability. In Othello, I explored jealousy and how manipulation destroy trust, while in Macbeth I examined ambition, guilt, and the blurred lines between fate and choice. In each play, characters are no longer symbols or types—they are fully human, with thoughts, fears, and contradictions that mirror our own.To use a modern day analogy, this was like a musician dropping three platinum albums in twelve months. I wasn't just producing — I was redefining what theater could be.This is the run that still leaves critics amazed: the great tragedies. Between about 1600 and 1608, I wrote Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth.Mr. Shakespeare, could you specifically comment on your play Othello.Certainly. Othello (written in 1603–04), is a love story poisoned by jealousy. Add Iago, one of literature's great villains, and you have a play that feels chillingly modern. In Othello, jealousy and manipulation take center stage.  I understand that in the character of Iago, you make an excellent comment on the subject of jealousy.Yes, Iago warns in the play, ‘O, beware, my lord, of jealousy; it is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on.' With just a few words, I tried to capture the destructive power of envy and the ease with which human trust can be undone.That is very well said. Could you go on in the same vein.It is the cause, it is the cause, my soul,Let me not name it to you, you chaste stars!It is the cause. Yet I'll not shed her blood;Nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow,And smooth as monumental alabaster.Yet she must die, else she'll betray more men.Put out the light, and then put out the light:If I quench thee, thou flaming minister,I can again thy former light restore,Should I repent me: but once put out thy light,Thou cunning'st pattern of excelling nature,I know not where is that Promethean heatThat can thy light relume. When I have pluck'd the rose,I cannot give it vital growth again.It must needs wither: I'll smell it on the tree.Ah balmy breath, that dost almost persuadeJustice to break her sword! One more, one more.Be thus when thou art dead, and I will kill thee,And love thee after. One more, and this the last:So sweet was ne'er so fatal. I must weep,But they are cruel tears: this sorrow's heavenly;It strikes where it doth love.Support the showThank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send us a textYou see, by 1582, when I was only eighteen, I married a lady by the name of Anne Hathaway,  Some scholars Believe that my wive's name was actually Agnes. In any case, our first daughter, Susanna, was born the following year. Twins, Hamnet and Judith, followed in 1585.  Unfortunately my dear son Hamnet later died. And then comes the mystery: the so-called “lost years.” Between 1585 and 1592, I completely disappear from the historical record. No plays, no mentions, no documents, but what we do know is that by 1592, I was in the city of London and making a name for myself. A rival playwright, Robert Greene, derided me in print as an “upstart crow.” For all its venom, the insult is proof that I had arrived — I was already challenging the university-trained writers and beginning my rise to the very top of the Elizabethan stage.GeorgeSo Mr. Shakespeare, it would seem that one might say that you were fully in the London scene.ShakespearePrecisely! By the early 1590s, I was fully in the - as you call it - London scene — which meant two things: theater and plague. In 1592, theaters were shut down because of an outbreak, and with the stage dark, I began to write poetry. Today the public might refer to this time in my life as my side-hustle era. I published two long narrative poems, Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece, dedicated to a wealthy young noble, the Earl of Southampton. You flatter a patron, they fund your career. And the process worked. These poems put my name in print for the first time.And in 1609, I published a book of sonnets that included the famous “shall I compare to a summers day”Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?Thou art more lovely and more temperate:Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,And summer's lease hath all too short a date:Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;And every fair from fair sometime declines,By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;But thy eternal summer shall not fadeNor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st;Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st:So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.Support the showThank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send us a textGreetings Mr. Bartley. Let me begin by saying that if you visit the city of Stratford-upon-Avon in England today, the first thing you'll probably hear is that I was born in 1564. We don't actually know the exact day, but we do know that I was baptized on April 26th at Holy Trinity Church. Since baptisms usually happened a few days after birth, tradition has settled on April 23rd — St. George's Day — as my birthday. A fitting coincidence, since St. George is England's patron saint and many individuals said during an after my life that Iwould become England's greatest poet.Master Shakespeare, could you tell us a little bit moreabout YOUR background in Stratford-upon-Avon.Certainly. I was the son of John Shakespeare, a glove maker and part-time wool dealer who rose to become an alderman in the town, and Mary Arden, who came from a well-off farming family.  My parents gave me a household connected both to trade and to old Warwickshire landowners.Mr. Shakespeare, may I be so bold as to ask you what irritates you the most?  What stings is when people decideI simply sprang from the stage fully formed.No rough drafts.No homework.Just “Ta-da, here's Hamlet.”I was not born quoting To be, or not to be”?When I was twelve,my most famous line was probably,“Master, may I please go outside? My hand is cramping.”Support the showThank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send us a textNow when I started this podcast I knew that I wanted to use a somewhat similar device WHERE I interviewed THE characters in Shakespeare's play - that could be very instructive and lots of fun. But first I wanted to get the relatively tedious stuff out of the way first - starting with rhetorical devices. And then I DELVED into several episodes dealing with the plague in England during Shakespeare's time. Interestingly enough topic the all important subject of the plague was not even discussed in my Shakespeare courses in college. But then again, that was before Covid. And I thought it would be especially interesting to compare Elizabethan societies reaction to the plague with contemporary reactions to Covid.  Both were deadly airborne diseases, and while Shakespeare's contemporaries how to comparatively primitive understanding of how the plague was spread, the dynamics of the plague were surprisingly similar to the dynamics of Covid - showing that people are basically people - no matter what the historical period. Oh and by the way, since the subject of death could often be very heavy I thought the best way to approach it was to have relatively brief episodes - lasting approximately 15 minutes each.But for a good part of the rest of this podcast series I went to continue a conversation with William Shakespeare, and next month start a look at the writers works, and a series of conversations with various characters - and some of Shakespeare's characters were fascinating individualsGEORGE (quiet):But first. You might say that We like to imagine Shakespeare alone with a quill, serenely producing masterpieces.But the theatre didn't run on serenity.It ran on deadlines.A play had to be ready.Actors had to learn parts.Costumes had to exist.A crowd had to be fed a new story—often constantly.Support the showThank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send us a textLast episode we placed you in the Bishopsgate area by documentary footprints.Now we move a short distance to the engine room: Shoreditch—where purpose-built theatres rose.Two key playhouses defined the neighborhood:The Theatre (built 1576) — built by James Burbage in Shoreditch. The Curtain (opened 1577) — also in Shoreditch, near Curtain Close. Both sat outside the City of London's jurisdiction, in a zone where entertainment could operate with fewer city restraints. WILL:In other words: a borderland.GEORGE:Exactly. A liberty zone—where London's appetite could be fed without London's conscience being too inconvenienced.8:00–15:00 THEN: A walking tour in soundGEORGE:Will, walk us into Shoreditch on a performance day. What do we hear?WILL:Noise first. Always noise.Hawkers. Apprentices. Laughter that sounds like daring.And the constant London music: bargaining.You smell food, sweat, and the city's open secret—too many bodies too close.Support the showThank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send us a textGEORGE:Before we start, I want to be fair to the truth.We do not have a neat, signed lease saying:“William Shakespeare, here is your first London room, congratulations.”In fact, Shakespeare's early London years are famously foggy.What we have instead is a trail of documents — tax records, parish lists — the kind of evidence that proves you existed in a place even if doesn't give you a cozy story.WILL:History often remembers a mannot when he is dreaming,but when he is owing.GEORGE:Exactly.So today, we're going to walk into London the way a historian has to: by following the paper.GEORGE:Here's our first solid anchor: by the late 1590s, Shakespeare is recorded in the parish of St. Helen's, Bishopsgate.The Folger has a documented record: the Lay Subsidy Roll for St. Helen's (1598) lists “William Shakespeare” among parish householders and gives his assessed wealth and tax. And the UK National Archives teaching packet includes transcripts from tax commissioner records (1597 and 1598) tied to St. Helen's/Bishopsgate, showing Shakespeare listed among those who hadn't paid what was due. WILL (dry):So my earliest London address is… a bill?GEORGE:In a sense, yes.The National Archives packet explicitly describes a 1597 list of people in St. Helen's, Bishopsgate who had not paid, with Shakespeare's goods valued and tax owed. And the same packet includes a 1598 list in St. Helen's parish and a later Exchequer entry showing the tax debt continuing. Support the showThank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send us a textGEORGE:The Bills of Mortality—weekly printed tallies—turned death into public information, something people watched like weather. (pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)WILL:And once death is printed, it becomes “real” in a new way.But it also becomes… manageable.A column of numbers fits neatly on a page.A grave does not.GEORGE:That's the paradox: a bill can keep the dead visible—and it can also teach the city to normalize loss.WILL:Yes.A repeated tragedy becomes background noise unless the heart fights it.GEORGE:And then there's the other “memorial space” in your era: the theatre itself.After major plague closures, theatres reopened—like after the 1603 outbreak, with reopening in April 1604.WILL:And the crowd that returned was not innocent.They returned carrying private funerals.GEORGE:So the playhouse becomes a communal ritual of memory—without calling itself a memorial.Support the showThank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send us a textGEORGE:Today: How Plague Trained UsHow plague trained Elizabethan culture—audiences included—toward certain fears and reflexes…and how COVID trained us in remarkably similar ways.GEORGE:Quick reminder: my Shakespeare can look back from the present day—films, scholarship, modern claims—but he cannot predict the future. No prophecy.WILL:Memory, yes.Foresight, no.GEORGE:Now, When I say “habits of mind,” I mean the reflexes that become automatic:how you interpret a coughhow you feel about crowdswhat you do with your handswhat you believe when you're afraidwhat you do to feel safewho you trust, and how quickly you withdraw trustWILL:An epidemic trains a person the way war trains a person—not by speeches, but by repeated fear.GEORGE:Exactly. Repetition makes instinct.Support the showThank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send us a textGEORGE:Now, When I say “habits of mind,” I mean the reflexes that become automatic:how you interpret a coughhow you feel about crowdswhat you do with your handswhat you believe when you're afraidwhat you do to feel safewho you trust, and how quickly you withdraw trustWILL:An epidemic trains a person the way war trains a person—not by speeches, but by repeated fear.GEORGE:Exactly. Repetition makes instinct.GEORGE:Will—give me the plague-trained mind in your world. What habits did people acquire?WILL:I will give you six, sir—six habits the plague taught my city.Habit 1: Vigilance without restWILL:The plague teaches you to scan.To listen for coughs.To watch faces.To read the street like a warning.GEORGE:Hypervigilance.WILL:Yes. And it is exhausting.Support the showThank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send us a textGEORGE:In this series we've treated plague as a character.We've treated fear as a character.We've treated rumor, policy, numbers—characters.Today I want to treat the audience itself as a character.Not a passive crowd.A living organism.WILL:Yes.A crowd is not merely many people.It is one creature with many hearts.GEORGE:And after plague, that creature is wounded.WILL:Wounded—and hungry.GEORGE:Hungry for what?WILL:For company.For permission to feel.For a story that does not lie to them…but also does not crush them.George -  What the plague did to the audience before they even arrivedLet's build the world they were walking in.Your city tracked death publicly.Bills. Lists. Tallies. Numbers.WILL:Yes.A city reading its own obituary in installments.Support the showThank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send us a textWILL:When the theatre reopened, the audience came in carrying private funerals.They had lost parents, children, friends, patrons, rivals.They had seen doors marked.They had heard carts.They had watched the city grow quiet.So when they watched tragedy, they were not merely entertained—they were rehearsing mortality in public.GEORGE:That aligns with scholarship arguing that early modern tragic drama helped audiences imagine and process mortality—that theatre became one of the culture's instruments for dealing with death. WILL:Yes.And comedy served them too—because laughter was proof they were still alive.But here is the key:grief made them better listeners.GEORGE:Better listeners.WILL:Yes.When you've buried someone, words change weight.A threat sounds sharper.A reconciliation sounds holier.A betrayal sounds personal.The audience did not hear with leisure.They heard with history.Support the showThank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send us a textGEORGE:Today: trust and betrayal—why people cling to rumors, why institutions lose credibility,and why truth-telling has to be humane… or it fails.GEORGE:Reminder: my Shakespeare can look back from today at his life on earth—films, scholarship, modern claims—but he cannot predict the future. No prophecy.WILL:I may remember what was.I may observe what is.But I may not speak of what shall be.GEORGE:During COVID, the WHO used a word that nailed it: “infodemic.”They define it as an overabundance of information—including false or misleading information—that makes it hard to find trustworthy guidance. WILL:A disease of information—how modern, and how ancient.GEORGE:Exactly. And that's our theme:the internet didn't invent misinformation—it changed the speed, scale, and business model.But rumor itself?Rumor is a very old actor.Support the showThank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send us a textGEORGE:Today: the social contract.Who bears the risk, who gets protected, who gets blamed, and who gets forgotten—in plague-time England and in COVID-era America.Quick reminder: my Shakespeare can look back from the present day at his life on earth—films, scholarship, modern claims—but he cannot predict the future. No prophecy.WILL:Memory, yes.Foresight, no.GEORGE:When I say “social contract,” I don't mean a philosophy seminar.I mean the unwritten deal we make in a crisis:Who is asked to sacrifice?Who is allowed to stay safe?Who is policed?Who is believed?WILL:And who is… expendable.Support the showThank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send us a textGEORGE:Today: Bills of Mortality in plague London—and COVID dashboards in our century.How counting the dead can help a society tell the truth…and how counting can also numb the heart.GEORGE:Quick reminder: my Shakespeare can look back from the present day.He can read scholarship, watch modern productions, react to modern claims—but he cannot predict the future. No prophecy.WILL:I am allowed memory.Not foresight.George, one might say that numbers become a character in epidemicsGEORGE:When plague strikes, people don't only want comfort.They want certainty.And certainty often arrives wearing a disguise: a chart.WILL:Because a chart feels like a railing on a steep stair.You clutch it, even if it won't stop you from falling.Support the showThank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send us a textGEORGE (quiet):Now When people get scared, they don't only ask, “What is happening?”They ask, “What can I do?”And if the honest answer is “not much,”we don't accept it.We reach for something—anything—a charm, a potion, a ritual, a headline, a miracle.Isn't that true Master Shakespeare?WILL (dry):Yes, Humanity's oldest hobby: bargaining with reality.GEORGE:Today: cures, quacks, and miracles—plague time versus COVID time—not as medical instructions, but as a portrait of the human mind under pressure.Support the showThank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send us a textGEORGE:Today is Episode Three of our plague-and-COVID series:Quarantine. Blame. Meaning.Not the medicine—the human weather.GEORGE:Quick reminder: my Shakespeare can look back from the present day at his life on earth—he can watch films, read scholarship, comment on modern interpretations—but he cannot predict the future. No prophecies. No spoilers.WILL:I may remember the storm—but I may not name tomorrow's clouds.Because well the disease attacks the body but fear attacks the imagination and the imagination       GEORGE:In Episode One we lived inside the dread: two invisible enemies, two centuries, one species.In Episode Two we talked about closed theatres and open screens—art trying to breathe through a mask.Today: the part that gets personal fast.Quarantine—the walls go up.Blame—the finger points.Meaning—the mind hunts for a story that can contain fear.WILL:And when meaning cannot be found, sir—men will invent it, as children invent monsters in the dark.GEORGE:When people picture plague time, they imagine one big cloud of doom.But the lived reality was often very specific.A house. A door. A mark.Support the showThank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send us a textGEORGE:This is Episode Two of our plague-and-COVID series.Last time we met two invisible enemies and noticed how history doesn't repeat itself—but it does rehearse.Today: what happens to art when gathering becomes dangerous.What happens to theatre when breath becomes suspicious.WILL:And what happens when the crowd—the glorious crowd—is declared a hazard.GEORGE:Quick reminder: my Shakespeare can look back from the present day.He can read modern scholarship, watch modern productions, react to films—but he cannot predict the future beyond “now.” No prophecy, no spoilers.WILL:I may critique. I may lament. I may laugh.But I may not foretell.GEORGE:When plague hit London hard, one of the most dramatic effects—and for you, the most personal—was the closure of playhouses.WILL:Theatre is a creature of crowds. Plague is a creature that hates crowds.We were natural enemies.Support the showThank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send us a textBefore we start, a rule for anyone joining us:In my podcast, Shakespeare—the character—has the ability to look back from our present day to his life on earth.So he can react to films, modern productions, scholarship, the whole lot.But—this matters—he cannot predict the future in any way.No prophecies. No “coming attractions.” No magic spoilers.WILL:I may remember, yes. I may reflect. I may even revise my opinions.But I may not play oracle.GEORGE:Perfect. Because today is not fortune-telling.It's a conversation across centuries—about what it feels like when the world closes its doors.GEORGE:Let's start with something simple and terrifying:A day begins, and you don't know what the day is going to cost you.WILL:That is a fine definition of plague time.GEORGE:Paint me a scene. Not the grand history-book stuff.One street. One door. One ordinary person.WILL (slow, precise):Very well. Imagine a London lane.Not a romantic lane—no charming cobbles for tourists—a lane that smells of work and waste and too many bodies too close together.A woman opens her shutters…and she does not look for the weather.She looks for silence.Because silence means the carts have not begun.Support the showThank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send us a textIn the previous episode, I mentioned that I was going to talk briefly about Hamnet, Shakespeare's son.  Hamnet was a twin, and his sister's name was Judith. Now we do know that Hamlet died in 1596 - he was only 11 years old and was buried on August the 11th, 1596 in Stratford -upon - Avon.  Basically all we know is that he died and not the cause of death.There is a very popular novel by Maggie O'Farrell called Hamnet that was published in 2020. The book focuses on the death of Hamnet and his parent's grief.  It can best be described as historical fiction largely because it says the cause of Hamnet's death was the plague - certainly possible - but we have no record of the child dying from the plague. Personally I feel the book is a bit overlong - but maybe that is just me - I am eager to see the movie aversion, but have not yet because of transportation reasons.But when I do see the movie, I know I will have a lot to say about it in this podcast.Anyway, there is no question that the plague had tremendous effects upon Stratford - and I want to touch on some of them in this episode.SFX: a wagon wheel clattering… leather creak… wind… distant bell… then the river sound fades behind.GEORGE (low, vivid):There's a sound you don't expect in a Shakespeare story.Not a trumpet. Not applause.A wagon.Support the showThank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send us a textIn the second half of 1564, more than 200 inhabitants of Stratford are buried—about one-seventh of the town.MASTER SHAKESPEARE:One-seventh.GEORGE:Which means: you don't get to pretend it's somewhere else.And another Stratford record helps us track the rhythm of fear.The Folger's documentation notes the outbreak breaking out that summer, deadliest in September, and that it wasn't until the following February that the worst was over. MASTER SHAKESPEARE:So it had a season.GEORGE:A season, yes.And isn't that terrifying?—to live in a town where death becomes a season, like harvest.GEORGE:Now here's a detail I love because it's so human.The Stratford Corporation—the town leadership—meets during this period and makes a choice:they meet outside, in the Chapel garden, specifically to reduce the chance of infection. MASTER SHAKESPEARE:Outdoors—because indoors is… closer.GEORGE:Because indoors is shared air. Shared breath.And even without germ theory, they understood this much: closeness is danger.Support the showThank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send us a textGEORGE:Close your eyes and stand with me in Stratford-upon-Avon—an English market town of roughly fifteen hundred souls, ringed by fields, sheep, mud, and gossip. No phones. No streetlights. No “I'll do it tomorrow” the way we mean it.And today, we're not going to London. We're not going to the Globe.We're going to spend one ordinary day in Stratford—and watch how an ordinary day can build an extraordinary mind.SFX: Footsteps on packed earth. A door opens.GEORGE (calling):Master Shakespeare! Are you awake?MASTER SHAKESPEARE:Awake? I have been up this hour and more. A house with many bodies does not sleep late—even when it wishes to.GEORGE:Set the scene for us. Where are we?MASTER SHAKESPEARE:Henley Street. My father's house—our house—and also his work. For the home and the shop are stitched together, like lining to leather. GEORGE:So you're growing up… in a business.MASTER SHAKESPEARE:A trade, sir. Gloves, leatherwork—tanned hides, cutting, shaping, selling. And you learn early that a town is not made of poetry.It is made of work.Support the showThank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send us a textWelcome to celebrate creativity - and this series is Conversations with Shakespeare.  Rhetorical triangle - part twoIn the previous podcast we talked about the three central parts of a rhetorical triangle - think of the rock group ELP or Emerson Lake and Palmer from the 70s and you have E for ethos P and L for logos. Hope you've got that downNow the three aspects of rhetoric shown on the sides of the triangle are: -and stay with mePurposePurpose is the author's reason for the argument or statement. It is used to connect ethos and pathos. The author or speaker's purpose typically reflects personal or societal circumstances. Three common persuasive purposes are to assert, effect change or negotiate.  Again, using the vaccine conspiracy theory as a model - the purpose - always unstated - is to divide and cause unrest.ToneTone is the overall attitude and approach the author has in conveying their argument. It connects ethos to logos. Word choice is the main vehicle for establishing tone. Some common examples of tone in persuasive writing include complimentary, nostalgic or ironic.  Saying a law is wrong and saying that same law is inequitable might mean the same thing  - but the words wrong and inequitable are generally used with different audiences that you want to reach.StyleStyle is the method that the author or speaker uses to convey their message to the audience. It connects logos and pathos. Style usually describes the order of ideas.  When we get into rhetorical devices, you will see how those devices can determine the style of the words used to persuade. An author's choice in delivery method — whether that be a written essay, a speech or a fictional story — is also a part of style.Support the showThank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send us a textI have decided to call a slight halt to episodes regarding Shakespeare's initial exposure to rhetorical devices for several reasons.  I wanted to concentrate on a few of the major rhetorical devices, and I have done so in the past few episodes.  And I certainly will talk about some of the rhetorical devices that were most important to Shakespeare during future episodes.  And no, this is not the last time that I will mention rhetorical devices.But ultimately, the “number” of rhetorical devices isn't like the number of planets. It depends on how finely you slice the pie.How many rhetorical devices are there?Well,    At least hundreds show up across handbooks.If you include every named sub-type, variant, and overlapping term across centuries and languages, you're in the realm of many hundreds to well over a thousand.That range isn't because anyone is sloppy—it's because rhetoric is a naming tradition, not a fixed periodic table.And there are many reasons there are “so many”: fine divisions and overlapping names. There is no doubt that Shakespeare had to learn hundreds of rhetorical devices, but I do think we've covered the main ones.Now there are many ways to explain why there are so many:Support the showThank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send us a textTonight's device is one I love because it feels human.It's called aporia.GEORGE:Master Shakespeare, I'm going to pronounce it and then stare at you like a student: uh-PORE-ee-uh.SHAKESPEARE (approving):Aye. A word that already sounds uncertain—fit for its purpose.GEORGE:Listeners—plain definition:Aporia is when a speaker expresses doubt or uncertainty—real or performed—often as a way to think out loud, invite the audience in, or make a point feel more honest.In other words: “I'm not sure… but let's consider this.”SHAKESPEARE:Aye. Doubt as a doorway.GEORGE:Now—because I promised repetition and accomplishment—Pop Quiz Corner (10 seconds):Which one is aporia?A) “This is definitely the right answer.”B) “I'm not sure what the right answer is… but let's look at it together.”SHAKESPEARE (dry):If they choose A, they may apply for a job in politics.GEORGE:Yes — B. The doubt is the device.Support the showThank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send us a textSHAKESPEARE:Aye. The mind loves threes.Beginning, middle, end.Birth, life, death.Knock, knock, knock.GEORGE:I knew you'd do that—three examples to explain the “rule of three.”   SHAKESPEARE:Would you have me offer four? That way lies chaos.GEORGE:So why does three work so well? What's the magic?SHAKESPEARE:Because one is a point.Two is a choice.Three is a pattern.GEORGE:That is… annoyingly perfect.SHAKESPEARE:I have practiced.GEORGE:Okay—if someone's never heard the term tricolon, they've still heard the sound of it. It shows up in speeches, prayers, comedy, slogans… and in your plays.Support the showThank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send us a textGEORGE:All right, for the listener who doesn't want a grammar lecture: antithesis is when you place two opposing ideas side by side—often in a balanced structure—so the contrast hits hard.Like: light and darkness, love and hate, life and death.Well let me see let's say give me a famous example one that listeners will recognize   SHAKESPEARE:Aye. Two wrestlers in one ring. The mind loves a contest.GEORGE:Now—here's my big question. Why does antithesis feel so Shakespearean? It's everywhere.SHAKESPEARE:Because men are everywhere divided.We want, and we fear.We swear, and we doubt.We praise, and we wound.Antithesis is not merely a device—'tis a mirror.GEORGE:So it's not decoration. It's psychology.SHAKESPEARE:Now you speak sense.GEORGE:Okay, give me a famous example—one that listeners will recognize even if they've only survived Shakespeare in high school.SHAKESPEARE:Then we go to Verona, where passion runs faster than wisdom.Support the showThank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send us a textGEORGE:Master Shakespeare, are you with us?SHAKESPEARE (warm, amused):Indeed, sir. I am ever at your elbow—though I confess, your age is wondrous. In mine own day, men grew old chiefly by avoiding theaters.GEORGE:Ha! We'll take the win where we can.All right—anaphora. I'm going to pronounce it slowly so I don't embarrass myself: a-NA-pho-ra.SHAKESPEARE:A fair stumbling, sweetly done. And what think you it means?GEORGE:Here's my best “general adult” definition: anaphora is when you repeat the same word or phrase at the beginning of a line or sentence—and that repetition builds rhythm, emphasis, and emotional force.SHAKESPEARE:Aye. Like a drumbeat that gathers soldiers—or gathers tears.Support the showThank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send us a textGEORGE (to mic, playful):All right. Confession Some people hear the phrase “rhetorical devices” and immediately reach for the nearest exit sign.But over the years I have learned that rhetorical devices are not decorations. They're not lace on the edge of language.They're engines.They're how a speaker makes an audience feel the truth—even when the truth is… being negotiated.And Shakespeare? Shakespeare wasn't born with a quill in his hand.He was trained.Today we walk into the rhetoric gym.GEORGE:And we're going to meet the young Shakespeare as he learns the craft of making words do things.But firstGEORGE:This is Celebrate Creativity. I'm George Bartley.This series blends historical research with fiction and imagined conversations. Not a documentary, not advice.Today: the schooling that made Shakespeare's language possible—and how those rhetorical “moves” show up in the plays like fingerprints.Now Picture it: a grammar school. from at least six o'clock in the morning to 6 o'clock at night Monday through Saturday. Repetition that drills itself into the mind.Latin. Translation. Memorization. Imitation.Not because the world is kind, but because the world is competitive.A boy learns to hold language in his mouth like a tool—and to sharpen it.GEORGE:Master Shakespeare—be honest. Was Learning about rhetoric miserable?SHAKESPEARE (pleasant, sardonic):It was character-building.GEORGE:That's what people say when it was miserable.Support the showThank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.