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A political clash of Shakespearean proportions

Email|Link|Comments (1) Posted by Christopher Shea October 8, 2008 11:58 AM

Stephen Greenblatt, a professor in Harvard's English department and a Shakespeare expert, visited The Colbert Report last week to discuss parallels between Shakespeare's plays and the presidential (and vice-presidential) candidates. "McCain sounds a lot like Macbeth," observed Colbert, who performed a bit of Shakespeare himself while an undergraduate at Northwestern, "a passionate man prized for his military heroism. Now, sure, Macbeth murdered his friend the king. But back then that just made Macbeth a McMaverick."

Obama, meanwhile, is "an egghead elitist who can't make up his mind. Clearly, Obama is Hamlet. It makes sense. He is haunted by his father, not to mention his father figure. Plus, let us not forget he drove a good woman insane."

Sarah Palin takes the hardest blow -- and it's Greenblatt, author of "Will in the World," an acclaimed biography, who delivers it.

A literary perspective on the presidential race

Via The Chicago Blog.

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1 comments so far...

It's been said by quite a few that Hon. Sen. Obama's Shakespearean analogue should be Hamlet, but I just don't see it. That is to say, that I don't see it using the basis that he 'can't make up his mind.' Not only is this in inaccurate description of the candidate who has been most consistent (a pretty low bar when compared to the mercurial Hon. Sen. McCain), but it seems to be based on the introduction to Olivier's 1948 production, which diminishes the film's good points substantially, IMHO. In any event, I have no better character to offer, so I suppose I should just stay quiet

I will note that a more competent Senator McCain might find Richard III as a good match, but he is just not skilled enough to be such a successful schemer. Mr. Anderson has proposed Coriolanus, and I quite like this idea.

Posted by jhm October 9, 08 09:28 AM