Chet The Dog

Posts Tagged ‘Shakespeare’

Beware!

Today’s the Ides of March, so Shakespeare pops into consciousness, as he so often does, even unconsciously. The soothsayer – and boy would it be nice to have a good one now – speaks the line first – “Beware the Ides of March” – as Julius Caesar passes by in the procession but Caesar doesn’t quite catch it so Brutus repeats it. Very cool that it’s Brutus, considering what’s to come, and so many actors playing Brutus have had a field day with that. But we’re dealing with Shakespeare here, where every day’s a field day. Was he a dog lover? Afraid not. There are lots of dog references – including “cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war” also from Julius Caesar, but there is only one named canine character in all of the plays – Crab in Two Gentlemen of Verona (below) – and the references are neutral at best, and never loving. Well, no one’s perfect, not even Mr. S.

 

 

Ides of March Edition

Today’s the Ides of March, so Shakespeare pops into consciousness, as he so often does, even unconsciously. The soothsayer – and boy would it be nice to have a good one now – speaks the line first – “Beware the Ides of March” – as Julius Caesar passes by in the procession but Caesar doesn’t quite catch it so Brutus repeats it. Very cool that it’s Brutus, considering what’s to come, and so many actors playing Brutus have had a field day with that. But we’re dealing with Shakespeare here, where every day’s a field day. Was he a dog lover? Afraid not. There are lots of dog references – including “cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war” also from Julius Caesar, but there is only one named canine character in all of the plays – Crab in Two Gentlemen of Verona – and the references are neutral at best, and never loving. Well, no one’s perfect, not even Mr. S.

Shakespeare and the Nation Within

Shakespeare came up yesterday, popping up as he so often does and often will as long as English is around –  even if he vanishes from the schools – because he embedded himself in the language. But enough hectoring. The question is: was WS a dog lover? Afraid not. There are lots of dog references – including “cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war” from Julius Caesar (see yesterday’s post), but there is only one named on stage canine character in all of the plays – Crab in Two Gentlemen of Verona – and the references aren’t loving. Well, no one’s perfect, not even Mr. S. Crab! Do you think there’s one single Crab among all the dogs in the world at this moment? Good grief.

 

Chet and Shakespeare

“5.0 out of 5 stars. Chet is Chet and that is more than enough for 5 stars. I’ve read every book in the series and intend to keep reading them as long as Mr. Quinn is kind enough to keep writing them. I’ve told maybe 100 people about Chet’s line after Bernie was shot in a previous novel – – Bernie is really going to hate that cone. Chet’s insights into the human condition may not rival Shakespeare’s but they are pretty damn good.”

The above is a recent Amazon review of It’s A Wonderful Woof, the brand new Chet and Bernie Christmas/holiday novel. What would Shakespeare think of it? I hope it wouldn’t make him “cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war.”