24

Apr

MY Love Affair With William Shakespeare

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The Bard of Avon was among  one of the titles given to Shakespeare who was born on April 23, 1564.
For decades, researchers were not sure who actually he was.
There were as many books on his works as on his personality.


For a man who could produce remarkable tragedies like Hamlet,King Lear,Macbeth,Julius Caesar and Othello and comedies like The Merchant of Venice, As you like it, Comedy of Errors,Midsummer Night's Dream to name only a few of his works that keep readers go back to him again and again it's almost impossible to believe that all this literature came from the pen of one man.
Even though I did my post graduation in English from Delhi University my first  encounter with Shakespeare in school was not a pleasant one.
I had taken up Science in 9th when I joined Springdales School without having any background of Physics, Chemistry or Higher and I started flunking after topping my classes in my earlier school.
Mercifully my marks in Hindi and English managed to get me across 
All hell broke loose when I scored 43 something in English.
My principal late Mrs Rajni Kumar called me to her room and gave me a clear warning.
"Amitava you know you are very bad in Science?"
I could only mutter "Yes Ma'am".
"So if you start getting 43 in Arts what's going to happen to you? I want you to know half your Julius Caesar by heart!"
The rest is History,as they say.
Today I am not the only one who knows half Julius Caesar by heart because most if it's dialogues have almost become proverbial.
'Et tu Brute', 'Cowards die many times before their death the valiant never tasted of death but once', 
'When beggars die due there are no comets seen, the Heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes' are just a few.
Then there are 'To be or not to be', 'Ha I like not that' from Othello and the tragic lament of King Lear 'Life is a tale told by an Idiot, Full of Sound and Fury signifying nothing' when he is betrayed by his own daughters places King Lear among the topmost works of the literary wold.
My second serious encounter with Shakespeare came during a conversation with Professor RR Gupta one of the best authorities on The Bard who taught me literature in Hindu College.
I had gone to seek his help for an assignment and he asked me how many plays of Shakespeare I had read.
I named some tragedies but mentioned casually that I did not read his Comedies.
Mr Gupta stared at me and said "Who told you that?" Anyone who says his Comedies are inferior to the Tragedies does not know how to teach".
I cleared my post graduation  in 1974 but but there has not been a single day since then when I have not found a Shakespeare quote worth using whenever I am writing a Feature or a Blog.
As for the identity of such a versatile writer it's only a matter of technical interest to me.
When I was studying there were various theories floating. Some said it was Francis Bacon, some said that a Syndicate of four or five authors write his plays.
Mr Gupta was clear that the son of a butcher could not have written those plays about royalty and kings and palace intrigues.
"It must have been some Lord or Royal person who wrote these plays anonymously" he told us.
Today on his birthday, I am not sure but also not unduly bothered about the identity of the person who has given so much to the world.
To end on a Happy Note lets I celebrate the occasion and I would only say"If Music be the Food of Love Play on".

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