Search the Community

Did he or did he not exist, that is the question. Well, considering that it was the 400th anniversary this April, I'd done some reading about Shakespeare and some of the articles really intrigued me. I'd read an interesting one at The Guardian where it was mentioned that people usually didn't describe him. One of the few descriptions is from Ben Jonson. Then there are those missing years... Can it be that one man had written so much but had completely disappeared from the scene for a time? Anything is possible. What I really found interesting is that a lot of his plays have that "Place of Nowhere" which can't be traced but important action takes place there. Hamlet is on the sea somewhere when he changes drastically. Then there's the Arden forest in As You Like It, which may be a real place, but it may also not be, considering that there is a reference to a cave where lions live... Then in The Tempest, there's the enchanted island which is... well, somewhere in the Mediterranean, considering that the ship was bound from Italy to Tunisia, if I remember correctly, but where exactly? No one knows. So, what really is the significance of this mysterious place which changes people but can't be located? Anyway, let's brainstorm about Shakespeare a little. Who knows, maybe it gets quite interesting.