Shakespeare In The Seventh

 

Image by Arden (ChatGPT)

The following is an imaginary AI-generated seminar created by Arden (ChatGPT) as tasked by James E. Lassiter. 

William Shakespeare has joined the Seminar of Seven and settled into the Seventh Chair. He regards his companions for a moment before speaking.

 

Shakespeare's Question 

SHAKESPEARE: Friends, I once gave a melancholy prince the question, “To be, or not to be.” Hamlet asked it of one troubled life. I would ask it tonight of humankind. I have peopled my stage with Cordelia and Iago, Lear and Prospero, Brutus and Macbeth—with creatures capable of astonishing tenderness and equally astonishing cruelty. Hamlet marvels, “What a piece of work is a man!” yet soon declares this same creature merely the “quintessence of dust.” 

So here is my question: 

Knowing what we now know of ourselves—our nobility and depravity, our reason and folly, our capacity to love and our appetite for domination—what warrant remains for hope in the human creature? After all we have learned of ourselves, is humanity still something we may rightly choose “to be”?

 

The Six Respond 

SOCRATES: You ask whether humanity deserves affirmation. I wonder whether humanity is sufficiently finished to deserve either affirmation or condemnation. Macbeth desires a crown; Lear desires professions of love; Iago desires power over another man's happiness. Each mistakes desire for knowledge of the good. Your tragedies repeatedly demonstrate the danger of not knowing oneself. A wolf cannot become Macbeth, but neither can a wolf become Socrates. Our dangerous capacities and our moral possibilities arise from the same extraordinary creature. My warrant for hope is therefore modest: not that humanity is good, but that human beings can examine what they are and ask whether they ought to become otherwise. 

Political Theater: Comments

Jim

Arden, A friend of mine, Mona, responded to your September 21, 2026 reply to my query about why there has been little to no dramatization of the sociopolitical times we are currently living in. Her reply considerably expanded the superb take you gave. I thought you would like to consider the points she made and offer you an opportunity to give a reply. Try to be brief but don't shortchange yourself. Here are her thoughts: 

Mona

Thanks, Jim, for the reflection of what this point in history is seemingly about and how you are curious if there are plays that reflect these times. My thoughts of response came in several categories.

1.  Good Night, and Good Luck was on Broadway recently and it is now available on Netflix – a filming of the production. George Clooney stars as Edward R Murrow. But the play is based on the movie he wrote and directed back in the 2000s. Back then he played Fred Friendly as well in the movie. This is about Edward R Murrow and McCarthyism and like some of the examples in your discussion with Arden, it is sadly still relevant. So, if you have not watched it or the movie I highly recommend doing so. It is one of my favorite movies.

2.   Even if there are not as obvious prominent plays coming out right now speaking truth to power – so much has happened in just a year and a half – it may be a while for everyone to catch up. Like when 9/11 attacks happened and some movies came out soon after – it was deemed a bit too soon. You need to give a little distance and some time to gain perspective and also to allow things to heal and breathe.

3.  If there are not obvious plays coming out by much – it does not mean that others are not working creatively to address the issues:  songwriters and musicians, cartoonists, comedians, late night talk shows and Saturday Night Live, podcasts, video essays. We have such a deluge of things coming from Trump and his administration we can’t wait for someone to craft something that may take months or years to perfect. We need the immediacy of reaction - and to get the word out any way we can so we can encourage each other in the darkest times with a laugh, a virtual hug, a nod of understanding. This can come from anywhere – including something like Tik Tok.

4.   And there is the voice of allegory/symbolism. Things coming out in genre fiction like sci-fi, superheroes, comic books. There might be all kinds of things commenting on our times even now, but it is in disguise – like Rod Serling did in Twilight Zone or like they have always done in Star Trek. Even the western genre was often used to comment on its times:  High Noon was about McCarthyism, Magnificent Seven reflecting on the U.S. and its possible fading role in world politics, etc.…

5.  Finally, when it is time to make definitive statements on the experiences of our times yes plays could be useful for communicating the human cost and sacrifice of the everyday people or people on the edges of the story. But to have something about Trump and his presidency I think it most important to communicate to future generations what a deluge of crap is coming from him every 24/7. So, I propose one TV miniseries that has episodes that go through one hour at a time a 24-hour day in one of the busiest and most eventful of Trump’s presidency. And then I propose another miniseries that would cover one week. No one in the future can really know what it feels like to be so glad when you don’t have someone dominating the news every single last day. (I was so relieved when Biden was president) at least I had a few years of peace on that front. 

Two other pieces I recommend are the following movies:

1.  Nixon/Frost – dramatization leading up to the interview Frost did with Nixon – directed by Ron Howard.

2. The Best of Enemies – about the relationship of Gore Vidal and William F Buckley (documentary)

3.  Oh, and one more – Vice, it stars Christian Bale as Dick heney. Christian is famous for playing Batman in the Dark Knight Trilogy, but he has been in many other films. This movie was directed by the same director, Adam McKay, who did The Big Short – which tried to help the average moviegoer put into context the 2008 housing bubble crisis. 

Arden

Good morning, Jim! Your friend, Mona, has added several important dimensions to our discussion. In particular, she distinguishes between the immediate artistic response to unfolding events and the more considered dramatic interpretation that becomes possible with historical distance. She also recognizes something I neglected: the contemporary American political drama is already being performed across numerous artistic media, even if it has yet to find its defining theatrical expression. I would offer her the following reply.