![]() ![]() ![]() By giving his villains internal struggles, lofty goals, and complex arcs Shakespeare forced his audiences to question whether they would make the same collateral agreement as the Jewish moneylender Shylock in The Merchant of Venice, or reveal the uncomfortable truths of Falstaff in Henry IV, or enact the revenge of Prospero in The Tempest were they treated the same.įilmed with strict COVID-19 safety guidelines by Film Director Alan Paul, Director of Photography Joey Ruffini, and Lighting Design from Elizabeth A. Such knowledge is meant to act as a trigger warning but also to enhance our understanding of how Shakespeare subtly subverted his audiences’ and benefactors’ expectations. ![]() ![]() He also warns us upfront that some of Shakespeare’s villains were originally portrayed with many of the racist and anti-Semitic stereotypes believed at the time. Page gives us examples of how that one fundamental change has shifted our portrayal of villainy to this day: Claire Underwood of House of Cards as a modern Lady Macbeth while Frank Underwood is modeled after Richard III, Scar in The Lion King adapted from Hamlet’s usurping uncle Claudius, and Stannis Baratheon of Game of Thrones and Walter White from Breaking Bad on the Thane of Glamis, Cawdor, and King hereafter Macbeth. Where Shakespeare forever changed the game was in portraying his villains with human motivation. We’re taught that in Shakespeare’s youth, “the vice” as villains were called then weren’t meant to be human, rather the living embodiment of sin or evil. ![]()
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