PrintDecember 7, 2008
Al Gore and the Bard
I was rereading Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice a couple of nights ago and I ran upon a phrase that reminded me of Al Gore:You may as well go stand upon the beachAnd bid the main flood bate his usual height....The Merchant of Venice (Act IV, Scene 1).I pictured the global warming (or is it climate change?) prophet reaching out his mighty hand and causing the oceans to recede. This passage started me thinking. Does the Bard specifically refer to Al Gore in any of his works? Not exactly.But at least in my imagination, Shakespeare mentions the former vice president in several places. In some passages, as we will see, the Bard mentions both Al Gore and president-elect Barack Obama. (Those readers familiar with Shakespeare will notice that I have done a little creative editing of these excerpts.)Here are the quotes with the appropriate citations:Now is the winter of our discontentMade glorious summer by this Al of Gore....King Richard III (Act I, Scene 1).In winter with warm tears, Al...(Read Full Article)
