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The Garden Party

About shrews

17 years ago

One of my recent projects has been reading Shakespeare. I decided it might be a good thing to read all of Shakespeare so I gor a Complete Works and have been plowing my way through. I must say Shakespeare is not as good as I thought, His early comdedies are incredibly silly. Be that as it may I got to one of my favoriites, "The taming of the Shrew." I was thinking of that wonderful movie version with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. I asked my husband who is an enthusiastic, if somewhat eclectic, collector of DVD's if he happened to have a copy. Yes, he was sure that he did.

"But I don't think you want to see that, it is not very cheerful," he stated. (I have beeen severely depressed and am very suggestible)

"What do you mean, they get married at the end and live grumpily ever after?" I responded.

"No, they are already married," he insisted.

Light dawned.

"Do you mean who's afraid of Virginia Wolfe?" I asked.

"Well, it's the same thing," insisted my husband, who absolutely detests being mistaken about anything.

"No. Not quite."

"Well, I probably have that one too."

However an intensive search turned out that he did not. I was offered "The Attack of the Killer Shrews" as a substitute but I declined. Did I mention that my husband frequents the 99 cents tubs at Best Buy? Sigh!

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Comments (3)

Pidge
17 years ago
Taming of the Shrew is probably one of my least favorite of Shakespeare's plays. More to the point, Kate and what's his name are not married until the end of the play, as is typical of a Shakespeare plot, and the conflict between them is supposedly resolved with the marriage. They are not married during the play itself.

Anyway, skip the commedies and read the great histories and tragedies, especially Hamlet or King Lear.

Here is a link that might be useful: Taming of the Shrew plot summary
andie_rathbone
17 years ago
Afnd if you want the same story with song & dance, watch "Kiss Me Kate." Look closely & you'll se a very young Bob Fosse as one of the chorus boys.

Not to contradict Pidge, but if you're easily suggested into depresion, I wouldn't recommend Lear or Othello.
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Oh God, I hate the Law of the Jungle. Why can't we all just get along? I didn't know they eat bunny babies. You ruined my life. Seriously, I have found it interesting that they travel the same route!!! It's so funny.....they're always on the same little road. I'm hoping I don't have any bunnies because I've had two cats laying scent down for several years. Don't know how that effects Mama Rabbit but I haven't seen any for a couple of years. I guess the survival of the fittest takes over and there's nothing I can do....much more serious problems in the world than shrews and bunnies -- even though it seems like they should really be our ONLY problems!!!! Thanks for the input. I'm not killing anything. I refuse to be responsible. And as long as they don't nibble at the hosta I'm happy. Westy
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Don't get your knickers in a twist, kimmsr! lol...you just left out part of the helpful information. Actually, plain water and castor oil won't make an emulsion either, but a bit of soap would help the process. By the way, ladybugfalcon, the castor oil treatments really can help...unlike some of the other 'home remedies' you've heard of. I really like the chewing gum fable. I've heard that it MUST be Juicy Fruit, though different sources dictate that either needs to be chewed up a bit OR that it must never touch human hands. What a riot. Most people, however, find that mole traps are very effective, once you get the hang of them. They aren't for everybody, though. Unless you fear that you have a severe problem, you could simply keep the tunnels stamped down and hope that they lose interest in your yard. A few mole visits don't necessarily mean that you have to take action.
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I have no clue about shrews, other than they exist in other places than my area. Voles, however, are a problem here in KS when snow covers the ground. They don't dig holes, they create tunnels above ground through the turf in the snow and wipe out turf where they have tunnelled. So, my guesstimation is that you have shrews, if that is our choice of the two options. Got a 20 gauge and a lot of coffee? hortster
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From what I've been reading, shrews don't do much damage to gardens and properties. In fact, if you happen to have one around it means that you have an exceptionally healthy garden. They are insectivorous and carnivorous, so I doubt that they have been chewing on the roots of your plants. Mice will sometimes do that. But are you sure that what you have is a shrew and not a vole? They look very much alike. Shrews are usually smaller than voles. And voles are very likely to go about chewing on roots, like mice.
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shadowgarden
Original Author
17 years ago
Well you are right about some of the tragedies being depressing. The thing is I have read most of them. This is something of a project. Part of a plan to educate myself. It took me three years to read all of the Bible. I figure Shakespeare for two then perhaps I will skip back to the Greeks, sort of a homemade great books course. Shakespeare is good practice if you like to write sonnets or free verse, something I sometimes do to amuse myself, all of that iambic pentameter is quite musical. Every once in a while you come upon a line that is pure gold. I read a lot of it aloud to myself. My husband just wanders by shaking his head. As for the depression, one of the most loving, but odd things my husband ever did was one year when he hid my Thomas Hardy books. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

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