Shakespearian horror stories

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Shakespeare is not all roses and chocolate. He has some truly dark works in his canon.
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Shakespeare: Othello

Horror writing didn’t begin with Edgar Allen Poe. It’s been going on for a much longer time, and one of those writers is William Shakespeare. Scholars call them tragedies, but some are much more tragic than others, thus deserving the genre moniker of horror stories.

For comparison’s sake, let’s start with the classic tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. It’s a true tragedy, but not a horror story. However, it’s mandatory reading in most public high schools across the country because for romantics, it’s a beautiful story of the ultimate sacrifice. For lit buffs, it’s a showcase of some of the best writing in the English language. For students with some knowledge of Elizabethan slang, it’s a treasure trove of humor.

But for those of us who’ve had it up to here with hormonal teen angst, it’s a low point on the reading list. Before you give up in frustration with Shakespeare, it’s time to walk on the dark side. Shakespeare wrote some less-than-peppy tragedies. One is King Lear, a play about the downfall of a stupid character. For real. Not only does he ruin his own life, he takes down eight other major characters with him.

It all starts when King Lear takes his three daughters aside and asks them to tell him how much they love him. The first two, who loathe their father, wax poetic about how great he is to stroke his ego for the money in it, because self-important kings love that. The third daughter, who actually loves her dad, refuses to belittle her feelings by playing some stupid game. Like a true egomaniac, King Lear then makes the stupid decision to split the kingdom between the first two daughters and disown his third. Thus we have the dominoes set up for a quick flick to knock everyone down. Parenting accomplished.

Once the greedy sisters have what they want, they show their true colors and give their old man the boot. Things go from bad to worse, and before you know it, King Lear is wandering around naked in the wilderness with a homeless guy and has all the time in the world to think about what he’s done. A battle for the kingdom ensues, and without giving away the ending, suffice it to say that banishments, suicides, affairs, and executions all take turns seriously screwing up life in the former Lear household.

If sibling rivalry isn’t dark enough for you, try sinking your teeth into Othello, one of the earliest, edgiest works in the Western canon to deal openly with the theme of racism. Othello is a black former slave from North Africa who worked his way up to the position of general in the Venetian army. The Italians are just fine with him risking his life for their country, but as soon as he marries Desdemona, a white woman, everyone decides that all of a sudden he’s some kind of monster for daring to have a mixed marriage. With the skill of Stephen King, Shakespeare then proceeds to destroy everyone’s lives.

As the plot unfolds, a jealous and conniving fellow soldier named Iago decides to destroy Othello’s marriage. First, he and a friend run to Desdemona’s father and tell him that his daughter is eloping with a black man without his blessing. Desdemona’s father assumes that Othello somehow tricked his daughter, so imagine everyone’s surprise when she explains that actually, she was only too happy to marry the man she loves. Cue the Italian rednecks. All they needed was an old truck and some guns and you’d have a classic American horror story. Shakespeare didn’t have those plot devices, so it’s on to plan B.

Iago decides to really hit below the belt by convincing Othello that Desdemona is having an affair. That way, when Othello reacts angrily, everyone’s hatred and fear towards him will seem totally justified within white society. Through constant, escalating manipulation, Iago manages to push Othello into a violent rage. All he needed was a hockey mask like Jason. Finally getting their I-told-you-so moment, the Italians are satisfied. Except, you know, all the people who are dead or wish they were.

So if dying in the name of love in the manner of Romeo and Juliet isn’t your cup of tea, there’s always dying as a result of other people’s stupidity or hatred. After all, no one gets his tragedy on like Shakespeare.

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jamiehart

Content creator and Chewbacca cosplayer.

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