The Bard's Tales Chain Story Questions

[3113]

Leaving the Shakespeare thread for the nuts and bolts and sign-up....I thought I'd start this up for those of already on the "Uncensored Shakespeare" list. I figure we must all know a little something about the Bard and his works, and so can help each other out if we run into any unexpected stumbling blocks...such as the one I've just discovered.

I'll get to that in a minute.

One unanswered question is the Romeo & Juliet question: does one just ignore their age (well, Juliet's. Romeo's is never mentioned)? Will Lit ignore it, too, or should the writer say Juliet's parents were lying/mistaken, she's really 18?

Or should the writer forget about Romeo and Juliet altogether and go for Romeo and Tybalt (or Romeo, Tybalt and Mercutio! Now there's a whole other story....)?

Reading over MacBeth, the story I'm taking on, I've found a strange little stumbling block: Lady MacBeth doesn't have a name. Should I just keep refering to her as "his lady/Macbeth's lady" or "his wife"? Or just "The Lady?" "She?" when I'm in her p.o.v.

And how does Macbeth see her? He refers to her, at one point as his "dearest chuck" (aka, "chick" an endearment). That could get annoying. And does she think of MacBeth as Thane, Glamis, Cawdor or Your Majesty? Or just as "husband." Certainly it's easier from her p.o.v. as she can think of him as "My Lord...." but when he looks at her.....

Any thoughts, advice welcome!

 

[Recidiva]

Historically Romeo and Juliet were, what, 14?

They're well enough known that I wouldn't mention age at all. If you don't mention it, it's not breaking any guidelines. If you do mention it to change it, it's distracting from the story and looks like a political apology. Yes! People a long time ago (and right now in Utah) get married at 14. Not the point of the story. It's a tragedy, that's inherent.

Chuck/chick is out. "Lord" and "Lady" would probably be what I'd go with, unless you want to write a backstory where they learn each other's names (or make them up) and they use those. But again, tragedy. The forest's gonna eat him and she's all blood-washy, so "Pookiekins" and "Diddylumps" probably won't fly with the tone of the Scottish Play.

I'm pretty sure they see each other as means to an end. You sure they can't have affairs with people who care about them, even if they didn't? Didn't seem like they were other than the "procreate" type. Maybe Lady M. can have a man wash the blood off her hands for her. And some lass in a kirtle get all jealous over seeing Lord M. with three women, even if they were hags, late at night.