The current flavour of Attalika Keshav Nivas is Lego. And not just the kid, the wife too has taken to the bricks like a fish to water. Keshav spends many an hour assisting the build, and then more time playing with (breaking) the apparatus thus assembled. He also reinforces his interest by watching Lego Dinosaurs (what else) online.
When the family is so entranced, how can I be far behind? A couple of weeks back, in my (nearly) weekly visits to the second hand bookstores, I chanced upon Brick Shakespeare – a a series of books and photographic adaptations that reimagine Shakespeare’s most famous plays using LEGO bricks, featuring scenes from Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, and comedies like A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Today, I started to read, and am loving it already.
Why me, even Keshav sat alongside a few pages, watching the pictures as I read aloud (very poorly I must admit) snippets from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. A very interesting idea this, and executed very well too!
Brick Shakespeare comes in two volumes, and I did end up ordering the other, post-haste!
PS: William Shakespeare popularized it in the 1590s, using it in Richard II (“hath sent post haste”) and Othello (“haste-post-haste”). We are indebted to the bard in more ways than we know:)
See you tomorrow.
William Shakespeare coined hundreds of phrases still used in daily English, contributing roughly one-tenth of the most quotable quotes in the language.
Common Everyday Phrases
- “Break the ice” (The Taming of the Shrew): To initiate conversation in a social setting.
- “In a pickle” (The Tempest): To be in a difficult or uncomfortable situation.
- “Heart of gold” (Henry V): To describe someone as generous or kind.
- “Wild-goose chase” (Romeo and Juliet): A hopeless, pointless search.
- “Too much of a good thing” (As You Like It): Excess can be harmful.
- “For goodness’ sake” (Henry VIII): An expression of frustration or surprise.
- “Neither here nor there” (Othello): Irrelevant or unimportant.
- “One fell swoop” (Macbeth): To do something all at once.
- “Mum’s the word” (Henry VI, Part 2): Keeping a secret.
- “With bated breath” (The Merchant of Venice): Waiting anxiously.
Idioms and Expressions
- “Cruel to be kind” (Hamlet): Causing pain for someone’s long-term benefit.
- “All that glitters is not gold” (The Merchant of Venice): Not everything that looks valuable is actually valuable.
- “The world is my oyster” (The Merry Wives of Windsor): Having all the opportunities in the world.
- “Wear your heart on your sleeve” (Othello): Displaying your emotions openly.
- “Seen better days” (As You Like It): Someone or something is old, worn out, or damaged.
- “Method in my madness” (Hamlet): A deliberate plan behind chaotic behavior.
Famous Philosophical Lines
- “To be or not to be” (Hamlet).
- “All the world’s a stage” (As You Like It).
- “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet” (Romeo and Juliet).
- “Something wicked this way comes” (Macbeth).
Invented Words
- “Lonely” (Coriolanus).
- “Majestic” (Henry VIII).
- “Swagger” (A Midsummer Night’s Dream).
- “Eyeball” (The Tempest).
- “Undress” (The Taming of the Shrew).