"Don't take life so serious, son ... It ain't no how permanent." -Porky Pine (Pogo comic strip)
The same sentiment should apply to how we treat Shakespeare's works. We take old Willy much too seriously. If he wandered out of the grave today, I am 100% convinced he would mock us. Probably in a play, perhaps named "Even More Ado About Nothing". Then he would get back into his grave and spin to thoroughly drive the point home.
Somewhere along the line I heard, "I do not believe Shakespeare would have wanted that line delivered that way." If productions had proper graves, quite a few tombstones would need that as an inscription.
Image copyright Walt Kelly.
Copyright 2018, Miles O'Neal, Round Rock, TX.