Comments on: Question of the Week

By: Craig

Craig — Wed, 28 May 2008 19:56:43 +0000

I’m sensitive to the Macbeth argument–certainly, I think the play works infinitely better if the Macbeths are partners, and passionate about each other, than if they are not–but Bloom actually calls them the “happiest” married couple in Shakespeare, which is flatly absurd: please show me the scene in which they are “happy.” Among other things, the play is about the progressive alienation of a married couple; they are only “happy” in some conjectural “Act Zero” in Bloom’s mind, and if he gets to write an Act Zero for Macbeth, then we are all equally entitled to write an “Act Six” for All’s Well, or Much Ado, or As You Like It, and make their romantic leads the happiest in Shakespeare.

Based on what’s actually in the plays, I would probably pick Pericles and Thaisa, but your guess is really as good as mine.

By: A.K.Farrar

A.K.Farrar — Tue, 27 May 2008 05:03:13 +0000

Surely we should look to the Histories - full of ‘good’ marriages - I am quite fond of Hotspur and his wife; also in The First Part of the Contention of the Famous Houses of York and Lancaster (Henry VI - part 2) Silly Eleanor Cobham and her husband, Humphrey (Gloucester).

Henry V makes a good one.

By: geniusonwheels

geniusonwheels — Tue, 27 May 2008 01:46:05 +0000

Best tragedy marriage? Hmmm…Desdemona and Othello. Why not? They loved each other, they cared for each other, just one person messed that up. What also made the marriage stronger was that they were biracial. I’m not exactly sure how often biracial marriages were in the Elizabeth era, but since both of them came over it, it made their marriage even stronger.

By: geniusonwheels

geniusonwheels — Tue, 27 May 2008 01:41:57 +0000

Well, I have to go with two pair, Lysander and Hermia, and Helena and Demetrius.

What makes them so perfect are that they start with conflict and troubles, then the conflicts and troubles are tripled, and eventually, they all find their lovers.

And since this is a comedy, they have trouble at the beginning, and happiness at the end. (Which explains Desdemona, Juliet, etc.)