The Merry Wives of Windsor

The operatic production The Merry Wives of Windsor, composed by Otto Nicolai and directed by Craig Tyrl, which is based on a Shakespeare play by the same name, was an outrageously hysterical farce with a superlative blend of comedy and musical theatricality. Due to its outrageous characters and outrageous plot situations, the audience is constantly on the edge of their seat laughing through this wild ride while witnessing a humorous secret plan two wives had devised to get back at a lustful drunkard for a love letter he has written to them. Even though the audience cannot fully relate to the animated and cartoonish characters and truly experience the situations that they have encountered, every aspect of this production, especially the acting…

Disturbance, nuisance, annoyance: words that are often used to describe the catalyst to one of nature’s most sublime undertakings: the conception of a pearl. As implausible as it may seem, the process through which such magnificent phenomenon develops is triggered by a speck of sand that makes its way into an oyster. The oyster responds by coating the intruder in an attempt to mitigate the pain. This coating, however, serves to amplify the pain rather than alleviate it as was…

This play is set in Windsor, England during the late sixteenth century (_Shmoop_). According to CliffNotes, Merry Wives of Windsor is dependent “on lightning-quick timing between the actor and the carefully choreographed actions.” The play consists of two major plotlines involving multiple characters. Firstly, there is the conflict between Mistress Ford, Mistress Page, and Sir John Falstaff. It is this plotline that eerily resembles a modern sitcom as Sir John Falstaff plans to woo two Merry…

For some years now, the Czech Republic has had its Gordon-Ramsay-format cooking show. This is to say a commercial channel is as daring as to air a famous cook's unprintable words after ten o'clock in order to gain popularity with the hoi polloi. In the summer there always comes the time when the actors want to get their time off and the TV stations have to tighten their belts and screen reprises of their best shows. In one of such episodes, the Czech Gordon Ramsay was brave enough to visit an…

Fencing During the Renaissance Fencing - to fence, derived from fence, originally meaning, ”the act of defending”. During the Renaissance, the sport of fencing began to rise in popularity. Fencing was originally introduced as a form of swordsmanship practice. It helped train people for duels and at the time for self defence. When fencing became popular in Italy, art was applied to the sport, making it more appealing to the Renaissance mindset. Fencing was very popular and was seen as a…

learned reading, writing, and various classical literature. From his writing it seems that he was a well educated man. His knowledge of love, politics, psychology, and history was on par with some one that had attended college. The scarce information available about his education has propelled rumors that he may not have written all of the works credited to him. It is safe to assume that Shakespeare found joy in writing, some would call it his greatest interest. He was a very prolific…

the police procedural television show Criminal Minds. With over 200 episodes, it’s easy to ascertain that there could be many allusions to Shakespeare in the show; one of these is a direct reference in the episode “Heathridge Manor”. The show follows a team of FBI agents, the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU), who specialize in using their understanding of human behavior and unique skills to catch criminals. In this episode, a woman’s body is found in an abandoned asylum and she is dressed in an…

show a glimmer of deficiency. Mortally harmed, he sees that both Goneril and Regan have passed on for him, and whispers, "Yet Edmund was worshiped" . After this obscure enunciation, he seems to apologize of his villainy and admits to having asked for Cordele's end. His difficult to miss change of heart, extraordinary among Shakespearean lowlifes, is adequate to make the gathering of spectators contemplate, amidst the gut, whether Edmund's villainy sprang not from some intrinsic mercilessness but…

two developed a close and intimate relationship. Shakespeare's specific company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, was frequently invited by Queen Elizabeth to perform in court, and Shakespeare was only too eager to deliver. In fact, in "A Midsummer Night's Dream", Shakespeare pays tribute to his patron. In the scene where Oberon tells Puck about how Cupid's arrow was aimed at a "Fair Vestal throned by the West", but was then "quenched in the chaste beams of the watery moon" and pierced that certain…

government welfare programs by any government. There were exceptions however, in the social class hierarchy. You could marry into a social class, but it was HIGHLY frowned upon by most. As mentioned, the Monarch has the ability to put your family into Nobility, Laborers could become Gentry if they gained enough wealth doing what they’re doing, or you could be thrown out all together by banishment by the Royal Family. In most occasions, social class was predetermined by fame, wealth, skills…