My summer semester of college is slowly coming to a close, and I’m busy studying for my final exams, putting together my final presentation for psychology, and writing extra credit papers to make sure I get an A in all of my classes. As a result, I’ll be slightly busier and more occupied than normal, so a handful of the blog posts for the next week or so will be me slacking and just putting up some of my homework assignments that may or may not be of interest to the public.

My Homework for Your Reading Pleasure

I wrote this paper for extra credit for my Shakespeare class. The prompt was to read the first chapter of Fool by Christopher Moore, which is based off of Shakespeare’s King Lear, then write about if we want to continue reading the remainder of the book.

After reading the first chapter of Fool by Christopher Moore, I do not want to read the remainder of the book.

Before the start of the book, there is a warning that states that Fool is going to be a crude book with unsophisticated humor: “Herein you will find gratuitous shagging, murder, spanking, maiming, treason, and heretofore unexplored heights of vulgarity and profanity, as well as non-traditional grammar, split infinitives, and the odd wank.” I usually don’t find obscene or foul humor funny, and see the act of excessive degrading of a character for humor as annoying more than funny. The fact that it was done intentionally in an attempt to try and make the book more enjoyable makes it worse in my opinion. As for the intentional misuse of grammar, I find using proper and precise grammar and syntax as an important component of a good piece of writing, and purposely misusing language does not at all seem like something that would make me want to read a story more than if it were written correctly.

Before I read the story, I was aware that this was a variation of Shakespeare’s King Lear, so I was expecting some of the characters who were introduced. However, even though I was familiar with the characters, the relationships among them and their relationships with the new characters (like the raven, Pocket the fool, Bubble the cook, and other ridiculously named characters) were unclear. On the other hand, it seems like if someone had not read Shakespeare’s King Lear before reading Fool, they would be completely confused at the mass entry of various characters without proper introduction or background information. For example, a random ghost makes an appearance at the end of the chapter without reason, but the fool acts as if he knows exactly what is going on.

Finally, a majority of the first chapter seems to be an argument between the fool and the cook, and it is difficult to follow what exactly they are arguing about. If the rest of the book were to continue in that manner, I don’t think I would be able to follow the plot very well.