A pick of Shakespearean characters
To make one addition to Charles McNulty’s thoughtful discussion [“Could Shakespeare Have Foreseen Trump?,” May 29], in “Winter’s Tale,” William Shakespeare explores another way people can be exploited. The con man Autolycus plays on our desires by selling us all his “trumpery” — ribbons and perfumes and false stories and songs.
It takes a while to realize we’ve been tricked by this salesman-entertainer, and by that time, who cares? The con man has moved onto his next con.
McNulty ponders if Shakespeare wrote a piece to detail insights on the tax-dodging, draft-dodging GOP standard-bearer who bullies and berates detractors with the most repulsive drivel imaginable. Of course, one need only to look to “Macbeth.” Shakespeare pretty much sums him up as “a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”
McNulty’s excellent association of Donald Trump with Shakespeare is masterful. I am reminded of literary association: Lewis Carroll in “Through the Looking Glass,” Chapter 7, where Humpty Dumpty expresses his views with Alice in a manner that sounds very like Trump; you can hear the similarity when you read it. Perhaps his full name was actually Humpty Dumpty Trumpty?
McNulty makes an astute point about Shakespeare’s sophisticated perspective on demagoguery in “Julius Caesar” and “Coriolanus.”
For an example of “stoked fury,” it might be useful to explore the resemblance of Trump to a more contemporary character: Donald Duck.
While McNulty’s article was fascinating and compelling, I must ask how he could have missed the opportunity to look for some Shakespearean insight into Hillary Clinton as well?
Here’s where you’re waiting for me to say Lady Macbeth, right? Nope: She’s not even remotely a good choice, for a number of reasons. Rather, the obvious character match is Octavius Caesar from “Antony and Cleopatra.” The man is ice cold, humorless and manipulative. While the two title characters, despite their flaws, show real huanother manity, Octavius never does. I eagerly await Part 2 of this article.