Shakespeare and Me

I don’t know if many of you know this, but I was born on William Shakespeare’s birthday. I’m definitely not the reincarnated female version of W.S. though, sorry guys.

Stratford-upon-Avon was a lovely, quaint town full of Shakespearean dedicated things. I went with my whole class, 30 people, to Mary Arden’s house (Shakespeare’s mother) and to Anne Hathaway’s house (Shakespeare’s wife). They were both very old and Anne’s had a thatched roof! The tour guide showed us this wooden plate that the Hathaway’s, and others during that time, ate off of. They wouldn’t wash the plate, because it was wooden, so they licked it clean. No wonder people only lived to about 40, if that. I’m glad I live now.

When we first arrived there, the first sound I heard was a rooster crowing. I saw it too a minute later. I’m mentioning this because my grandmother had rooster decor all over her kitchen and the moment reminded me of her.

We saw The Merchant of Venice. It was very modern and the costumes were not traditional at all. I was more interested in the special effects they used. For example, there was this row of wine glasses that would appear every now and then and hands that would appear above them. They were filled with water and the hands would play the glasses. It sounded great! But it distracted me from the play and then I was lost. I caught up later. It was ok. It’s not my favorite Shakespearean play but oh well!

We spent the next day at Warwick Castle. It was fantastic and HUGE. It was very dark and the stairwells in the towers were incredibly narrow. There is no way people in armor could have fought other people in armor in these staircases like in the movies. If you have the low ground, you’re screwed. So this castle is a big tourist attraction and has Madam Tussaud’s wax figurines and they looked like real people. It was kinda creepy. There was also a ghost tower where people would line up to hear the story of Ralph the servant who stabbed his master. It was startling but not scary. I would gasp and then laugh a lot. We also saw a working trebuchet. That was enthralling. There was a peacock garden on the grounds of the castle. I thought it was just a name and then there are about 5-7 peacocks running around. Mostly male, because you know they are the prettiest. And they were screaming “help me.” That’s what it sounded like anyway. All in all, Warwick Castle was a great place. You should go there too!

Pictures have been updated to the right. Peace and love!