Tagged: tragedy

Bertram

Bertram; or, The Castle of St. Aldobrand by Charles Robert Maturin, 3/5

Drama is my least favorite literary genre and via ebook is my least favorite method of literary consumption, but my curiosity was adequately rewarded by this obscure, yet affectingly tragic and well-written play from the early 19th century, made available online by the University of Virginia Library.

Why I read it: A dramatic quote from this play, used as a chapter epigraph in The Hidden Hand, piqued my curiosity:
“By hell and all its host, he shall not live.
This is no transient flash of fugitive passion—
His death hath been my life for years of misery—
Which else I had not lived—
Upon that thought, and not on food, I fed,
Upon that thought, and not on sleep, I rested—
I come to do the deed that must be done—
Nor thou, nor sheltering angels, could prevent me.”

Coriolanus

coriolanusCoriolanus by Shakespeare, 5/5

I can’t believe that I had never heard of this Shakespeare play before my brother recommended I watch the epic 2011 film version starring Ralph Fiennes and Gerard Butler.  After watching the film, I was very motivated to read the play for myself and enjoyed several additional parts that were changed or cut out of the movie.

The depth, drama and pathos of Coriolanus is belied by its uncompromising simplicity; the characters are given no facets, their decisions no moral judgments, their actions no alternatives.  And yet, there is a richness to its portrayal of humankind’s tendency to twist virtue into vice – the pride so deep it manifests as humility, the honesty that is damaging in its harshness, the courage that exists for itself alone instead of in its proper function as facilitator of other virtues.