Shakespeare Wrote Commercial Fiction–The Battle Between Literary & Commercial
Fiction
Image via Wikimedia Commons (Source The Washington Times)
I am 59 years old and sometimes I prefer movies and TV shows my generation
used to watch. It was called family entertainment. They were layered with
something for everyone. Children would laugh and adults enjoy the children and
the entertainment. The children and teenagers, and young adults were not old
enough to understand what was said. Now, I enjoy them the more so because the
layers and complexities made the difference and I still discover much.
Many TV shows and movies today leave me with an empty feeling after a
period of time. The difference is they are geared to a certain audience level
with very little to ponder about. The special effects are fantastic but I
compare them with books that have pictures and few words. When I watch them
again I don’t receive much of anything else.
But those from my youth I still can watch them over and over again and many
agree with me. It seems those who are teenagers today are more interested by
Adult Swim than by anything on TV and at the movies. My granddaughter age 16
would leave it tuned to that station all night and day if I didn’t change the
channel.
I never read Shakespeare. I thought I was not interested in poetry at the
time but that is another story. A few years ago my Wifie-Poo and I recorded a
CD of 28 minutes of playtime in my room. It was not planned or rehearsed. We
were just having fun. I call her my Wifie-Poo because we were not legally
married but we were one flesh sanctioned only by God.
We could not afford the low income marriage penalties specifically designed
for people who receive General Assistance, Social Security Insurance, or Social
Security Disability Insurance. It was difficult at best because of the
restrictions low income housing puts on all of the renters. They can change
without notice and you will find yourself homeless again.
Wifie-Poo had me read I think
Sonet 130. It was fun and funny how she coached me along to read it. Finally
she let me loose to read it in its entirety. Low and behold I knew Shakespeare
was a Black man. Only a Black man knows and about and how to talk to a black
woman like that.
SONNET 130 with my
commentary:
My mistress' eyes are nothing
like the sun;
(her
eye’s are brown far from blue)
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
(her
lips are not red. Coral is “orange pink” is far more close to red than her
lips)
If snow be white, why then
her breasts are dun;
(her
beast are not white. The color of dun is black)
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
(Black
women did not have hair products so often their hair was called wiry or nappy)
I have seen roses damasked,
red and white,
(She was a rose with her mask
removed not red and white)
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
(She is a Black women, her cheeks don’t turn red when
she blushes)
And in some perfumes is there
more delight
(And
in some perfumes,
Is
there more delight?
punctuation)
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
(Her
breath is more sweet smelling than in some purfumes)
I love to hear her speak,
Yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
(Her
voice may have been soothing and sultry like Sade and Anita Baker. Yet he knows
the sound of music is supposed to be more pleasing than the sound of her
voice.)
I grant I never saw a goddess
go;
My mistress, when she walks,
Treads! on the ground:
(He
called her a goddess
and
he never seen a goddess
as
she walks
leave
tread marks as she goes)
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.
(This
is a double negative and cancels each other out or it is done for emphasis.
This Black woman can be compared to none other)
Sonet 130 could be enjoyed by “common” people, but there are references
that captivated, challenged, and even upset the highly educated. To think
Shakespeare holds a Black woman to be more reverenced and esteemed than a white
woman? Preposterous the men said! That is scandalous the women said. He is a
Black man Chaplain Winston Muldrew said.
But even to this very day the highly educated won’t let on to the common
people what Shakespeare meant. They would lynch him in his time if they ever
knew what he meant. It was so layered. Layered can mean you use the same words
for child and adult. The maturity level not age determines understanding.
My goal was to enter in the
dialogs and exchange of ideas of the world, to make friends and influence
others and to be influenced by others. This discussion is exactly what I want
to do in the Shakespearian style. He knew how to reach a multitude of people.
In online university I was taught authors have to know who their audience or
write to a specific audience. I just write not actually knowing who my audience
is. What I do know is I like to write and research. In the process of time I
discovered that I had an audience. My blog has been viewed by many countries in
the world. And I discovered the best critics are the global virtual community
of writers.
