Friday 24 April 2009

Happy birthday, Mr. Shakespeare.

With his actual birth date unknown, the arrival of William Shakespeare into the world is usually celebrated in April on St. George's Day.


He may have written wildly inaccurate history into his plays, have littered the whole with crude stereotypes - but oh, the language soars.


Living as he did in the 16th century, William would of course find the modern world passing strange and, perhaps even stranger should he come to hear of Australia.


However there are some things he would recognize - national finances are precarious, soldiers are fighting overseas, terrorism and treason are often topics of the day and the government censor is beginning to breathe more heavily over shoulders.

Photograph: BBC News

2 comments:

Dave Bath said...

You forgot Queenie.

And of course, Guantanamo Bay, the cells where a Prosperos nation puts the Caliban.

clarencegirl said...

Hi Dave,
You're right. As I was alluding to the political and economic climate in Elizabethan England I should have mentioned having a queen as head of state.
Not forgetting the Tower of London as equvilant to Guantanamo.
What do they say about time and change? ;-)