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12:00 AM
I'm totally out of my depth here (despite having been to Stratford and all the Shakespeare museums there).
 
@Randal'Thor Oxfordian theory = 17 earl of oxford was shakespeare
iirc his name was edward
 
I'm admittedly out of my depth, too. My sister knows way more about this stuff than I do.
 
@Riker Yep, and I only know that much because of the question asked here the other day.
 
lol
 
I watched this movie about it a few years ago. They portrayed Shakespeare as an illiterate fumbling idiot.
Oh, God. A Macbeth question!
 
12:02 AM
See, I've heard that a lot of the evidence against Shakespeare himself being the author is essentially snobbery.
 
I wish that I knew what my sister knew about Shakespeare.
 
"how could this working-class lad from Stratford be able to write with such finesse"
@steelersquirrel Would she be interested in coming back to post more answers here? :-)
 
0
Q: Is Macbeth or Lady Macbeth the real villain in Shakespeare's play?

Rand al'ThorIn Shakespeare's play Macbeth, it is Macbeth himself, the eponymous antihero, who meets the witches upon the heath and first conceives the idea to murder his king. It is he who kills Duncan, seizes the throne, has Macduff's family and his friend Banquo killed too, and holds onto power until he is...

 
@steelersquirrel Have you seen the Emmerich film at least? ;-)
 
@Randal'Thor Probably not. She's really busy this time of year. She even left me locked out of her house today ;-(
 
12:04 AM
@steelersquirrel :-o
 
Aren't they both just tragic figures? If anything, she gets eaten by guilt later on, too. Maybe it's not that easy to answer.
(But I'm sure you know that and just pose the question so simply to encourage deep answers.) ;-)
 
@NapoleonWilson What film?
 
@steelersquirrel About that exact theory (or so I thought). I don't remember the title.
 
@Randal'Thor She only posts Macbeth answers for Napoleon :P
 
Oh, Annonymus (?)
 
12:06 AM
@NapoleonWilson Yes! That's the one!
 
@NapoleonWilson Yes, I'm aware it's not easy to answer, but still hoping for some interesting answers. There are people here who seem very knowledgeable about Shakespeare.
 
@NapoleonWilson Have you seen it? They portray Shakespeare as a complete idiot. It annoyed me.
 
It's not a bad question, although it might be asked a little less black-and-whitey.
@steelersquirrel No.
 
Macbeth was one of the plays I 'studied' before I started actually going through each play properly line by line, so I don't know the text well at all. Others here probably do, and will be able to pick out much better evidence than the few relevant scenes I remember.
@NapoleonWilson How do you mean? Phrasing it more like "what are the arguments to be made for ..." to make clear I don't expect a single objective answer?
 
I do agree that her trauma later on was surprising to me, too, after having her be the driving force all the time. But I guess that's just character development. She goes from a calculating hardass to a nervous wreck and he goes from a reluctant chess figure to simply "accepting" his villain status and playing it to the fullest.
@Randal'Thor No, it's okay, really.
 
12:12 AM
@Randal'Thor Napoleon doesn't like beating around the bush ;)
 
You might argue that the witches are the villains, though.
@steelersquirrel Hmpf! (The question doesn't do that anyway.) ;-P
 
blah, blah, blah Macbeth :P
@NapoleonWilson I know. I just wanted to use that phrase again :P
 
I thought that's a proper English thing. I used that just recently and you didn't get hysterical about it. ;-)
 
@NapoleonWilson OMG! I totally got hysterical about it!!! ;)
Beat around the bush! Beat around the bush! Beat around the bush! Wooooohoooo!
I guess that I shouldn't get so hysterical in this room. I need to mind my P's & Q's in here ;)
 
But if you really go as far as taking any of the two as the "true villain", you definitely ignore the witches and the fate or the general evil in humanity or whatever fancy words you might call it.
But I'm sure there will be some nice answers on this elaborating on all that stuff in detail. Interesting question anyway.
 
12:17 AM
I thought that the American Psycho question had an answer!
 
@steelersquirrel Oh, I thought so too. Maybe it was just comments I remembered then.
 
It's answerless!!! ;)
I'm not in the mood to put together an answer for that. Maybe I will do it during winterbash when I can get something cool for it :P
I'm too wired on coffee right now for any concentrating and stuff ;)
 
@steelersquirrel Have you even read the book?
 
@NapoleonWilson Do they really shape events, though, or do they just foretell what's to come?
 
@steelersquirrel I...couldn't tell.
 
12:19 AM
@NapoleonWilson Yes. Several times. I have also seen the movie about a billion times.
 
@Randal'Thor Oh, they definitely don't just foretell. If they actually "shape" things is a different question, though.
 
Pfft! I'm totally offended that Napoleon thinks I didn't "even" read the book ;)
 
It's the good ole antigone thing of the self-fulfilling prophecy. But I can't believe the witches to be oblivious to what their prophecy does to Macbeth.
 
I'd absolutely welcome a framing-challenge answer to this question, if I'm looking at it the wrong way or have got some of my facts wrong.
 
But maybe that is an interesting question afterall.
@steelersquirrel Just making sure. ;-)
 
12:21 AM
;-(
 
@steelersquirrel Awww! ;-)
 
This is the literature site, isn't it? I do know the difference between a book and a movie. Well...usually ;)
 
They can't not know that telling him crap like that won't make him chase after it. And even the later prophecies are what makes him rather careless to begin with, I'd say.
But it is an interesting question if the witches had any ulterior motives to begin with, be those just a natural desire to sow chaos.
 
You've said that like a million times already ;)
 
@steelersquirrel What?
 
12:25 AM
blah, blah, blah...but it is an interesting question. Blah, blah, blah ;)
 
Fine, I'll stop then! Too much Shakespeare for the Literature chatroom? ;-P
 
Hehehe! Awwwww! I'm just messing with you, silly bean!
 
@NapoleonWilson Something about this could make another question already ...
 
@Randal'Thor It's not like you got "facts wrong", though. The Macbeths definitely aren't good people. ;-)
 
Could either be something specific like "what was the witches' motive/intention in telling Macbeth their prophecy originally?" or a more general thing like "what does the play say about fate and predetermination?"
 
12:29 AM
She does get more, if not redemption then at least remorse, than him, though. Once he accepts his evil deeds he pulls it through till the bitter end.
 
@NapoleonWilson I can't remember how much of his actions are only at her urging. E.g. does she push him to kill Banquo and Macduff too, or does he accept his role as a murderer once Duncan is dead?
 
Hmm, I don't quite remember right now. But I think she makes him go after Banquo too.
Heh, which reminds me that he gets struck with guilt too in the party scene. But after that he seems rather hell-bound. Killing entire families and all that.
It could be interesting to trace the exact point where their roles switch, if there is such a point.
 
> Never shake thy gory locks at me!
IIRC, there are exactly three ghosts in all of Shakespeare's plays.
 
@steelersquirrel Awww, I know, of course, don't worry. ;-)
Not more?
 
Banquo, Julius Caesar, and Hamlet Sr.
 
12:33 AM
Well, I honestly don't know much about many of the plays really. I probably know Macbeth best because I liked the story since we read it in school and also like the various films.
 
note to self: ask more Macbeth questions
Shock, horror, I've actually seen a film version too!
Starring Judi Dench, which is probably enough information to work out which one.
 
Which one?
Oh, I guess I don't know that one.
 
Really?
goes to Google
Ian McKellen and Judi Dench, that's the one.
 
Oh, apparently there's a videotaped TV-version of one of her theatre performances in '79 if that's it.
I can highly recommend the Polanski film from the 70s as well as the very new one with Michael Fassbender. But then again, I'm also far from a Shakespeare or theatre expert.
 
12:55 AM
Gheez, those are some really nice questions. What is it that turns Macbeth from a hesitant laggard into a true villain? Was he maybe always just playing along to his villainy because he didn't see any other way after a certain point?
 
1:12 AM
@NapoleonWilson Go ahead and ask on the site! :-)
 
That's pretty much part of your question already, though. (Or hopefully of its answers)
 
 
11 hours later…
12:06 PM
0
Q: What is the effect of a text written in present tense and first-person?

iNehManAn example of such a text: I see men running, staggering, falling I am coughing, retching, choking. I have to breathe now, I can't run without breathing. Half blinded by my mask I trip and fall, crashing my head against the trench wall, knocking myself half senseless. I am on my hands and knees ...

 
 
1 hour later…
1:23 PM
@Bookworm Woo, maybe this will hit HNQ ... ?
@Bookworm I feel like there's a good question in here, but it could do with some editing to really come out properly.
 
 
1 hour later…
2:37 PM
@Gallifreyan If someone pings me in a couple of weeks I'll try to find my copy of "Commentaries upon the past" and see if anything is said about that book. I might be able to find something in BNS off-line interviews too
 
2:52 PM
@Randal'Thor Don't have a great answer, but posted the best I had.
 
3:05 PM
@DVK-on-Ahch-To The upvote was mine :-)
 
 
1 hour later…
4:20 PM
0
Q: Pulchritudinous callipygosity

Rand al'ThorIn the short story "Inertia" by Rudy Rucker (which I found via this ID question on another site, and which is published to be read in full at the author's website here), the near-Googlewhack phrase "pulchritudinous callipygosity" appears in a piece of dialogue near the start: “Campbell’s dead...

 
 
5 hours later…
8:57 PM
0
Q: Under Ayn Rand's philosophy, would the Strikers have the right to use and/or re-open abandoned factories and equipment?

EJoshuaSWhen the Strikers re-emerged, there would've been numerous abandoned factories and equipment (including, presumably, factories and equipment that had been abandoned by the Strikers themselves). While the original owners may have been around in some cases, in many other cases there wouldn't be any...

0
Q: Did John Galt remove part of the manual for his engine from the 20th Century Motor Company?

EJoshuaSWhen Hank Reardon and Dagny Taggart searched the abandoned 20th Century Motor Company, they found the prototype of John Galt's motor along with some documents describing it. However, the documents related to it were incomplete, missing what Robert Standler and some other characters described as t...

 
Two more questions until overtakes , @EJoshuaS
 
9:18 PM
@Gallifreyan Yeah, I'm getting close to finishing reading the book again. I guess I'll have to find something new to ask about, then :)
 
user61230
9:48 PM
How's that for flag response time, @EJoshuaS ;)
 
10:01 PM
0
Q: Why didn't William Hastings's wife know about the Strike?

EJoshuaSWhen Dagny visited William Hastings's wife, she showed absolutely no sign of any alignment with the Looters or Moochers - she was very straightforward with Dagny and showed none of the basic "whininess," evasiveness, or self-righteous rationalization that was characteristic of the other Looters. ...

 
Pretty impressive, actually :)
Thanks
 
...I actually saw it and decided to leave it, because I wasn't sure if that was something we do...
Flags generally get handled pretty quickly here. The exact speed, of course, depends on whether I have access to userscripts, the amount of chocolate I've eaten, whether or not Zy is wearing a beanie, and the phase of the moon.
So, y'all - question for the room. Do you feel like this is worth adding a tag to? Is it worth bugging SE about, if community consensus is to change it? Is it a viable change?
3
Q: Should we replace the "Primarily Opinion-Based" close reason with the old "Not Constructive" close reason?

EJoshuaSIn the past, people have criticized the "primarily opinion-based" close vote reason by saying "well, aren't most of our questions kind of opinion-based"? (This has definitely been a discussion on a number of occasions where questions were closed as "primarily opinion-based," and I can see it cont...

 
user61230
10:22 PM
@Mithrandir I am, in fact, currently wearing a beanie. How in the heck did you guess??
 
@Zyerah oh, um, uh. Er. Lucky shot? :P
 
user61230
Seriously lucky shot, I literally just got it today.
 
user61230
This is my first day with it. (And I love it.)
 
Nice! :D
I pretty much just wear the SE mod hat all the time, though ;)
 
user61230
Nice!
 
user61230
10:30 PM
It's a nice hat, but it's not for me, sadly
 
user15026
I like the hat, I just look weird in most hats :(
 
user15026
But I like that I have it
 
user61230
Me too, I'm proud of it. I kind of want to hang it on my wall.
 
I like to think it works for me :P
 
My hat is sort of hung on the wall? It's hanging on a coat hook that's in the wall.
 
10:34 PM
I haven't worn the hat in public ever, despite even having two of them.
 
I've worn it a couple times but I'm not a big hat wearer unless it's winter and I'm about to freeze my ears of and the SE hat isn't good for that... Maybe they should make a beanie version of it.
 
I usually wear my awesome Steelers hat instead.
 
@NapoleonWilson Wait... you have two hats? How did that happen? Did they think the first package got lost and then they both arrived?
 
Fixed.
@Catija I don't know. Some kind of mistake apparently.
It came months later.
 
There has been a clerical error in your favor! Collect two hats.
 
10:40 PM
@Catija looks good on Ben, though ;)
 
@Mithrandir I know! But I'm trying to figure out what to do for Winter Bash... I'll have to get a good mugshot of him and Hippo without a hat but he's not great at sitting still for a photo.
 
@Riker - Because that's literally what it says. If you don't understand this, you don't even have enough wit to be a halfwit. — S0N_0F_A_S0N 3 hours ago
ouch, lol
he's not quite wrong, my comment wasn't well phrased
 
@Riker Doesn't excuse it...
 
of course not, but his general point isn't too far off
already flagged for mith :p
 

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