Today we conclude our special series consisting of five entries total, each of which highlight a different facet of the rich and wonderful world of William Shakespeare and all with a particular emphasis on the controversial new feature film that explores the time, place, politics and goings-on of the Elizabethan era and focuses on the possibility that the true author of the esteemed plays we now know may very well have been someone else entirely - Edward de Vere - and how the question of the canon's true creation then comes into play - ANONYMOUS.
"All the world's a stage," after all, so it should come as no surprise that acts of lust, bloodshed and betrayal would exist in the actual life - or even the supposed one - of the man who created the most bloody and thought-provoking tragedies in the history of literature - whoever he may have actually been. Perhaps some brief analysis of the finest leading players, most memorable lines and moments, as well as an exploration of other notable acts of grand betrayal in Shakespeare's plays will aid us on the journey to understanding the thesis of ANONYMOUS and bring us into a closer relationship with the individual who penned the greatest plays in the English language.
#4 AS YOU LIKE IT
Largely concerning and centering around the issue of transvestism, Shakespeare's gender-bending comedy AS YOU LIKE IT contains one of his spunkiest and strongest leading ladies in Rosalind. Watch Helen Mirren - one of the Top 5 Leading Women from earlier in our countdown - play Rosalind as her male alter-ego Ganymede in this clip from the lively 1978 BBC TV production. Even as a man, Mirren is more than merely fetching, as it clear to see in this jovial, witty, madcap sequence. After all, long before THE CRYING GAME, there was AS YOU LIKE IT. And, anyway, with a plot as hilariously complex and characters this ingratiating, what's not to love, let alone like, about this classic comedy?
#3 THE WINTER'S TALE
The relationship between the two central characters in Shakespeare's THE WINTER'S TALE is complex to say the least, yet perhaps no moment in all of Shakespeare packs quite the emotional punch that the Act V scene revealing the statue that has stood for twenty years coming back to life as Leontes' wife, Hermione, after she had been hastily and foolishly banished all those years before (while pregnant, no less). His betrayal of her ultimately leads to his greatest, most profound humanistic redemption in an act of truly transcendental storytelling. So, now, in lieu of a clip from an actual production, look at this elegantly designed trailer for the recent Royal Shakespeare Company production of this latter play, featuring a striking visual of the human statue in the attic as well as a moving recitation of some of Hermione's famous speech when she is returned back to life from out of cold stone - and colder hearts, now ever more feverishly defrosting before our very eyes, ears and tears.
#2 JULIUS CAESAR
In his INFERNO, Dante created the head of Dis, otherwise known as the devil, to be comprised of three heads - those of the three great betrayers from history: Judas, Brutus and Cassius. Considering two of those three individuals betrayed Julius Caesar, one could argue that JULIUS CAESAR may have the most significant moment of betrayal in any of Shakespeare's plays just based on that fact alone. The foreboding feeling of what is soon coming is built to perfection by Shakespeare in this scene, with every word adding to the almost impossible tension as Caesar meets his death at the hands of his own right hand men, Brutus and Cassius. Watch Charles Gray, narrator for THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW, in the title role in this 1979 BBC production of the historical tragedy, portray the fallen monach to peerless perfection. "The ides of March," indeed.
#1 HAMLET
The greatest act of betrayal in all of Shakespeare is undoubtedly the moment that sets into motion the Bard's most beloved and highly-praised play of all - and sets his greatest dramatic creation on his unending quest for life's meaning - the killing of HAMLET's father by Hamlet's own uncle. While the corroboration of Gertrude in enacting of the ear-drop-of-death is a constantly argued point among scholars, it is blatantly clear that Claudius commits the act with much malice aforethought. The man known as Shakespeare himself famously played the Ghost in the original production - the voice of reason in Hamlet's head (and maybe only there) - and the casting of the role in the 1964 Broadway production starring Richard Burton had an actor of near-equal footing (and also the director of said revival): John Gielgud. Just in time for Halloween, witness the chilling and horrifying moment where Hamlet is finally told the truth of his father's death here, as performed by the finest Shakespeare interpreters of their day in a production people still rave about to this very day. So, what moments of betrayal are the most memorable to you out of all the tragedies, comedies, histories and latter plays? Certainly this list could have included a number of other moments of missed opportunity and bad luck due to malicious acts - the dual-deaths of the title characters in Romeo & Juliet being first and foremost examples; as well as many more richly detailed and dramatically rife Shakespearean scenarios. What an impossibly rich and diverse universe of intrigue Shakespeare created over the course of his 28 plays. What a life. What a man. What priceless art.Videos