This article was orginally because a friend of mine on multiply, Wickedly Innocent, invited me to participate in "Shakespeare week" that was called by her for Jan 5th throught 11th, 2008. My first thought was I dont know enought about Shakespeare. I went to the library to do some research about him, and Elizabethian England to refresh my somewhat scattered thoughts and memories. It has been a long time since I was in high school after all.

The research being done, I found that Shakespeare could tie into my usual blog on Sunday, and of course there was always the book that I checked out of the library that could be used for a book review. However, something kept nagging at my mind...almost from the beginning. While reading the very beginning of Holden's book, it dawned on me that Shakespeare is and was a celebrity. Putting aside any argurment about the "truth" of any of the stories, we found:

1. he did write the plays versus he didnt

2. he was a. bisexual or b. gay or c. a man who had many affairs

3. he was a. catholic b. protestant or 3. neither

Today we worry about whether or not Paris Hilton has any talent or not; whether Anna Nicole Smith died of an overdose, and who is the father of Anna's baby. Reading history, one finds some of those same questions raised about Shakespeare. The theories have evolved and changed over 400 or so years, rather than the year or two for Anna. The fascination and for some, obsession, is the same.

Just as any story these days about Anna Nicole includes the fact that her son died, and there were several "candidates" for the fatherhood of Danielle, there are similar rumours about whether or not Shakespeare had the clap and whether this or that person was his son. Fascination with what will happen to Dannielle parallels the fascination with the lifes of Shakespeare's two daughters: one of whom had a good husband and a family and took here of her mother, the other of which never had any children that lived and a ruffian as a husband. At least that is how some historians present it.

It seems whether we are talking about Plays of the 16th century, or movies in the 20th or 21st, the "public" is still fascianated by the lives of those that are considered "celebrities" and endless speculation results. So maybe the difference in our treatment of a great artist differs from the way we treat those that might be said to "be fameous for being fameous" is the lenght of time spend in such speculation.

Now, who thought Shakespeare was a dead subject having nothing to do with our daily lives...LOL