Finally, there's Hillary Clinton. Again, leaving aside the Lady Macbeth jabs, Shakespeare's female characters -- from the sharp-tongued Kate to Viola, who's unafraid to wear the pants in the family -- are groundbreaking, and I suspect the Bard would be inspired by Clinton's historic assault against the glass ceiling. Shakespeare would also recognize in her story an echo of his sovereign, Elizabeth I. She too battled gender bias and a baggage-laden background of culture wars, scandal and adultery. As she used her intelligence and political savvy to keep England's foreign enemies at bay and preside over a domestic Golden Age -- of which Shakespeare himself was the emblem. Of course, a President Hillary Clinton would, like the Virgin Queen, have to find a way to keep would-be meddling husbands out of the mix.
The Bard as pundit
What would Shakespeare think of our cast of presidential characters?
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Sunday, March 23, 2008 Home Edition Opinion Part M Page 3 Editorial pages Desk 1 inches; 42 words Type of Material: Correction
Shakespeare: An article in the March 16 Opinion section about how William Shakespeare might view the 2008 presidential race stated that Christopher Marlowe, Ben Jonson and Thomas Kyd were murdered. It should have stated that the three were either tortured or murdered.
I won't presume to guess at Shakespeare's vote, but he would certainly be encouraged to find that 400 years later -- although the Middle East is still a mess -- Europe is at peace, our holy men are no longer butchered in the public square and the savage New World has given birth to a reasonably orderly democracy.
For making that journey, we should congratulate ourselves. But let's also remember, the day after the Pennsylvania primary, to thank the Bard. After all, the wisdom and humanity in his plays helped us get here.
