PBS asks the musical question.
Turns out, I’m Rosalind (from As You Like It)! Frankly, I’ll take that as quite a compliment. (and just for the record, this is a different “which Shakespeare character are you?” questionnaire than I took a number of years ago, which told me I was… not Rosalind.)
Ophelia.
If anyone needs me, I’ll be down by the river.
Iago probably……if I’d answered the questions, but I didn’t.
I’ve always hated quizzes.
But the questions seem aimed at Americans only – eg, what is “trail mix”, or “Breaking Bad?”
It’s indeed a compliment to be Rosalind though – one of the Bard’s most charming characters.
Uh, Rosalind? Of course, I don’t know exactly how the limited mature of the choices affects that outcome… I would have guessed someone like Ophelia off the top of my head. Or something slightly more invisible and vague as Guildenstern.
I am Roaslind, too =] I’m American and I don’t know what Breaking Bad is without googling it, either.
I am Ophielia. Who’d a thunk? Don,t know if it was the haggis or the not gonna happen answer to the king question.
I feel pretty, oh so … No, wait, maybe I don’t?
unalienablebyes:
With the “hey nonny non” quote next to the picture? We Ophelias have run too amuck with our answers. Yes, let us meet with Randomfactor (perfect Ophelia screen name) by the river. :)
Hamlet apparently (sorry about all that to you Ophelias.)
Actually, glad to hear it, Nathair–I was worried that we’d all be Rosalinds and Ophelias!
I’m not sure. Is there a character who dies of boredom within 3 minutes of every one of his his interminably dull plays?
Acolyte, I truly pity anyone who has only been exposed to very bad versions of Shakespeare’s plays. Which I must assume is the case; if you had seen the versions I have seen and still feel the way you do, then there is something seriously wrong with you.
Well, it said Rosalind, but I know in my heart I’m Jaques.
It’s outdated, pretentious nonsense, and I base that on reading the stuff, not on fawning over so-and-so’s ‘definitive Othello’.
I must say that I find it rather patronising, if not downright insulting, to be told that there’s something wrong with me because I don’t see the attraction with Shakespeare. Flowery language aside, all he did was write the trash T.V. of the day. How would you feel if somebody told you that you were an object of pity because you didn’t understand the subtle nuances of Sunset Beach or Jerry Springer?
I’m Ophelia also. Must be that love of herbs and flowers.
If you don’t like Shakespeare that’s okay. Do you like pina coladas and getting caught in the rain? Are you into yoga? Do you have half a brain? Do you like making love at midnight In the dunes on the Cape? Do you like banal songs?
Rodney, in order of your questions; No, I’m teetotal; Yes, it’s quite refreshing, especially on a hot day; No, I’m not flexible enough; Not according to my last MRi scan (and did you really need to insult me, however thinly veiled, just for expressing an opinion?); No idea, I’ve never been to the Capes, but I can recommend it atop the cliffs at Whitby.
You see, I like a lot of things, but Shakespeare isnn’t one of them, and I just don’t see why I should be patronised or insulted for that.
Damn, missed one. Define ‘banal’ songs.
My answer was “Rosalind” too. But I don’t buy it. At this point I’m more like Sir Toby Belch.
And, Acolyte of Sagan; it’s fine to not like Shakespeare. But please don’t base that on reading it. It needs to be seen on stage. Hell, I act in Shakespeare’s plays, and even I find reading them dull.
Carpenterman: (paraphrasing…) Olivia (I think), “How come you so early by this lethargy?” Sir Toby, “Lechery! I defy lechery!” Cracks m up every time.
My answer was Rosalind as well. Which is obviously wrong. I’m more of a Feste. Although I do love Viola.
Acolyte of Sagan
I wasn’t insulting you. Fortunately for you, you appear to be unfamiliar with Rupert Holmes’ song “Escape”, aka “The Piña Colada Song”. I paraphrased some of the lyrics in my questions to you. The song is indeed banal.
Please acolyte… in context, there is no more insult in telling you you should like Shakespeare than in you telling us they are interminably dull. You and I were both expressing our own opinions. Such is especially the case in silly blog posts.
It has been argued (Bloom? I forget) that Shakespeare was the single greatest influence on what the modern perception of human personality is (even Freud, at his peak, ran second). Our (yours, mine, everyone’s) feelings of agency depend on Shakespeare (compare to Chaucer’s broad caricatures based on position), whether or not we appreciate his plays from our current perspective. It is outdated; so are our pasts. Both determined who we are. I would never call it pretentious, though some writers did their best to make it so–Shakespeare wrote for the groundlings every bit as much as for the intelligentsia.
Was Shakespeare his age’s Jerry Springer? Yes, and his age’s Stephen Sondheim, and his age’s Joss Wheden, and his age’s Stephen King, and his age’s Arthur Miller. (The population was much smaller back then, so folks had to do with one superstar where we modern folk have several.)
Now… Rodney Nelson’s comparison might show what is truly horrible… Popular tripe can be bad, or good. Unpopular stuff can be bad, or good. Personal taste is personal taste.
Enough of Shakespeare-hating.
Given the silly PBS questionnaire, which character are you?
“sweet Jack Falstaff, kind Jack Falstaff, true Jack Falstaff, valiant Jack Falstaff, and therefore more valiant being, as he is, old Jack Falstaff, ….”
Humph. Another Rosalind here.
I was actually hoping for Puck. Failing that I am left to envying petermountain.
But at least there is this: “And therefore look you call me Ganymede.” — AS YOU LIKE IT, ACT 1 SCENE 3
Lookit me! I’m a Jovian moon! (and a right jolly fellow, too)
I come up as Hamlet.
Now, where’s my pencil? 2B or not 2B?
Yet another Rosalind. Tend to agree with A of S, the bard never grabbed me and I’ve seen and read plenty of his works. Each to his/her own I suppose. I too had to google “trail mix” and “Breaking Bad” (ex UK now living in Australia).
Hmmm, and now my partner has taken the test and turned out to be another Hamlet. I just can’t decide whether I should be pleased about that or worried…
Rodney, I recognised the song from the first two questions; I never realised that the ‘half a brain’ was part of it though, as by then I’ve re-tuned the radio to a station playing something less….banal. And I was being rather tongue-in-cheeek with my response to you, which is proof indeed that this is not the ideal medium for getting such nuances across. But no harm done.
Cuttlefish, I don’t mind my opinion of Shakespeare being argued; personal taste is subjective after all, and what a dull world this would be without it. It was the insinuation that there may be something ‘seriously wrong’ with me that I objected to, but as I said to Rodney in the first part of this post, it’s all a matter of nuance, and I probably read it in a way that wasn’t intended by you. So, again, no harm done.
Anyway, I took the test. I’m Hamlet. Which is a strange coincidence as that was the one play of his I’ve seen that managed to hold my attention.
Another Rosalind here. I see myself more as the Fool from King Lear.
Ophelia, here. The Red Cross taught me to swim, though.
You misspelled “Whedon”! You are dead to me.
One time some clown told me he doesn’t like Whedon because all his characters talk the same; even the low-lifes speak with clarity and wit. I found this amusing, given that even though I call him a clown because he actually is (he was Grandma for the Big Apple Circus for several years), he also has a Master’s Degree in performance, primarily Shakespeare. And man, if you’re looking for characters who all talk with clarity and wit, nobody beats old Will. Pistol and Bardolph are just as entertaining to listen to as Henry and Mountjoy. Now, I can see not liking that kind of thing, I suppose, but at least be consistent.
Given the small number of answers above, and the large number of Shakespeare characters, I shall decline to take this silly quiz.
@zackoz #2
trail mix = not breakfast