A Twice Told Tale (Part 1)

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William Shakespeare said "Life is as tedious as a twice told tale / Vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man" (King Lear). I absolutely love Shakespeare, I suppose it is possible that we make more of his writing than is actually there, but for me his writing is just like an ogre (you know, they're like onions and have layers) every time you peel a layer you find another one waiting. On the surface it’s a great metaphor, you can picture the drowsy man; I see him as the drunken drowsy that is only a few seconds away from falling off his bar stool. But many of Shakespeare's plays were revisited myths, stories, and historical characters. He made his name and his money by using stories that were already out there but changing and writing them in such a way that they became new and exciting for his audience again. He says "dull ear" like the person isn't listening. Maybe if the drowsy man was listening he'd realize that a story is not the same twice, not if its a good one. Even if the story is in print, readers experience the book differently every time they read it. For those of us who are paying attention, for those of us making something of it, no matter how small, life is not tedious. It can be hard, brutal even, but it is not tedious until one has decide that one has seen it all and there's nothing new out there to experience. Shakespeare didn't believe that twice told tales are dull (he would never have revisited so many of them himself if that were true); he believed only tired people, no longer looking at the world with sharp eyes, see twice-told tales (and life) as tedious.