Thomas Ouphe

Disguise isn't necessary for a certain type of man . All’s Well That Ends Well is one of the more interesting Shakespearean comedies, at least philosophically speaking – the plot does drag a little in parts. One thing you might notice about it right off the bat is that it doesn’t read like Shakespeare. It is more grammatically modern than most Shakespeare plays and a little bit easier to read. This has led some very, very clever people to argue that it is written by Thomas Middleton. This may or may not be true, it would be difficult to prove without at least secondary evidence. For sure, the subject matter is way off from Shakespeare’s usual woman-hating, Jew bating, servant kicking provender and a lot of critics actively dislike this play. I don’t, to be clear, it’s one of the better ones. Anyway, to get this out of the way, the main claims to it being at least co-written by Middleton are as follows: Firstly: The grammar tends towards clarity and simplicity of meaning and the rh...

  Troilus and Cressida Falling down a hole with your legs chopped off feels like reading this play. Close friends get to call it TC. It’s a bit of a weird title for the play because the eponymous lovers barely get a look in on the thing. Their entire story is this, Troilus falls in love with Cressida, then sees her flirting with Diomedes and gets hurt feelings. That’s literally the whole thing, let’s try not to think about it. Troilus isn't even on the side we're supposed to sympathise with. You can see some obvious influence from Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde, and a huge influence from Seneca’s Trojan Women (yes, I can justify this statement, come at me). And what comes out is something not quite as good as either. However, the most obvious influence that Shakespeare draws on is Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. The play starts out with a lot of exposition, and I do mean a lot! We’re talking three acts almost entirely given over to background information, political posturin...