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Donald J. Richardson
The Merchant of Venice is problematic. Not only does it present the disparate and unrelated stories of the caskets and the trial for a pound of flesh, but it challenges…
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As a boy growing up in Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, and Kansas, I had no objective conception of evil. We were practicing Roman Catholics in our family, so our consideration of…
I was inspired to write Song of Fools by an article I read about Oscar Hartzell. As I read about him, I wondered about the motivations of those Iowans, Missourians…
Donald J Richardson
As an instructor of English 102, First-Year Composition, for more than seventy-five times, I have read and taught Hamlet repeatedly. I have come to know the play extensively and, as…
Among teenagers Romeo and Juliet appears to be the most popular of the Shakespeare tragedies. Perhaps this is because of the age of the protagonists. I suspect it is something…
Of the five major Shakespearean tragedies-Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, King Lear, and Othello-King Lear is perhaps the most challenging. Issues of rulership, family and blood, are overlaid with bastardy…
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a delightful excursion into Shakespeare's fantasy world. With something for everyone, including the courtly world of Theseus and the lovers Hermia, Helena, Lysander, and Demetrius…
Much Ado About Nothing is a delightful play which pits two intelligent, thinking people against each other, both of whom protest against love (and each other), but who finally come…
Like many writers, I suppose I have an idealized picture of the past, of my youth, when everything was green and golden and all the calves sang to my huntsman’s…
Shakespeare's Twelfth Night presents a character who is a literary descendant of Sir John Falstaff: Sir Toby Belch. Like Falstaff, Sir Toby is bombastic, mendacious, and pusillanimous. As in Falstaff's…
To a contemporary feminist, The Taming of the Shrew is surely anathema. A strong woman is shown to be easily manipulated and ends up subjugated by a somewhat insensitive and…
In only two plays-The Comedy of Errors and The Tempest--does Shakespeare observe the unities of time, action, and place. While these apparent constraints seem to restrict the playwright, they also…
It is probably natural that a reader feel sympathy for Desdemona; falsely accused, she suffers some of the most offensive name-calling in all of Shakespeare. But it is also appropriate…
Henry IV, Part One is a rich play: rich in drama and intrigue, political machinations, and comedy. Not only does Prince Harry (Hal) redeem himself in his father's eyes, he…
Like Romeo and Juliet, Antony and Cleopatra is an archetypal love story but of more mature lovers. However, the play isn't only that; it is also an epic rife with…
Perhaps the most comedic of all the Shakespeare plays, The Comedy of Errors, verges on farce with its confused identities, slapstick violence, and confused intentions. This play vociferously demands Coleridge's…
Henry IV, Part Two as a sequel to or continuation of Henry IV, Part One is disappointing. The resolution of the uprising is anticlimactic, and the Falstaff scenes are not…
The Life of Henry V continues the epic story of Richard II; Henry IV, Part One; and Henry IV, Part Two. In the Life of Henry V, Prince Hal has…
The Tragedy of Richard the Third presents the tale of a Machiavellian: Richard the Third, the archetypal villain. The Elizabethan audience would already have been biased against Richard, and modern…
The Two Gentlemen of Verona doesn't enjoy a high reputation among Shakespeareans. As an early comedy, it suffers from internal inconsistencies and a questionable resolution. However, having produced and directed…
The impetus for The Meditation of My Heart came fifty years ago when I was awarded a scholarship to Creighton Preparatory School in Omaha, Nebraska which I attended for just…
As a community volunteer for several years, I have come to know many elderly people, to listen to the stories of their lives, and to witness their needs and complaints…
As You Like It could be termed the archetypal Shakespearean romantic comedy: the lovers retreat to the Forest of Arden, where all their problems are resolved satisfactorily, and all ends…
The plot of All's Well That Ends Well is illustrated by what one character says (III.66), "The web of our life is a tangled yarn." Through all of the twists…
Love's Labors Lost is "widely considered Shakespeare's most intellectually challenging comedy" (Bate, back cover). From its extensive wordplay to the plot machinations, a reader (viewer) is continuously challenged. The recurrent…
Despite its title, Henry the Eighth deals with three other, more important stories: the fall of Cardinal Wolsey, the fall of Queen Katherine, and the raising of Anne Bullen (Boleyn)…
Troilus and Cressida retells the epic story of the Iliad, but with an altered focus. The tale of these lovers (and Pandarus) was told earlier by both Homer and Geoffrey…
Alexandria Hodgeman represents a composite of many people I have known, Catholic and non-Catholic, senior citizens and middle-aged. Her search for definition–for the meaning of her life–I intend as the…
Of the five major Shakespearean tragedies-Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, King Lear, and Othello-Macbeth is in some ways the most accessible. For one it is the shortest. For another the…
