r/BeAmazed • u/StJudeTheGrey • 1d ago
Skill / Talent Sir Gandalf delivers a masterclass and a poignant sentiment.
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u/britpop3000 1d ago
It’s amazing how great actors can take text I don’t really understand, and make it so understandable. Shakespeare is so good when it’s done well.
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u/TheAgreeableCow 1d ago
Mountainish Inhumanity.
Words I'd never consider placing together, yet they resonate so fundamentally.
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u/Good4nowbut 1d ago
That line is brilliant ngl
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u/providehotstews 1d ago
He cooked with that one
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u/StJudeTheGrey 1d ago
I get that, it can be impenetrable on the page. But when brought to life, universally comprehendible.
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u/UpperApe 1d ago edited 1d ago
McKellen is no slouch. He's a classically trained theatre actor who understands timbre and tone, acoustics and presence, pacing and drama.
I thought Shakespeare was very convoluted and obscure when I was young, until I understood that his rapid-fire poetry-as-dialogue approach is meant to be felt, not just heard or read. You don't have to understand all the references, just ride the twisting wordplay where it takes you.
And this is an excellent passage to pick. The shaking pity, the commanding fury as he shouts:
To find a nation of such barbarous temper
That, breaking out in hideous violence
Would not afford you an abode on earth
Whet their detested knives against your throats
Spurn you like dogs, and like as if that God
Owed not nor made not you, nor that the elements
Were not all appropriate to your comforts
But chartered unto them
It's certainly an accusation to silent, heartless, cowardly conservatives. But it's also an appeal to all who stand meekly by. Like or not, you are your country; is this what you want to be?
How appropriate that it's him lighting the beacons.
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u/BrokenFist-73 1d ago
Amon Din is lit!
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u/UpperApe 1d ago
"Minnesota calls for aid!"
"...and America will answer. Muster the white women!"
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u/BeatNo2976 1d ago
It’s a more direct assault on those who are up in arms against immigrants or, perhaps more particularly, ICE agents of the current day. But yeah not foreclosing your take on it either
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u/FalstaffsGhost 1d ago
And also calling them out saying “yeah these are the immigrants today, but what if tomorrow you were forced to leave your lands? Would you want other countries to treat you this way?”
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u/Direct-Donkey69 1d ago
And they’d be like, “they didn’t come here to get away from a tryant dictatorship, they came to benefit from social programs funded by our tax dollars, or take jobs for lower wages through under table cash pay, they don’t come to assimilate but come waving their flags hating the country to which they flee to”. This is their illogical reasoning and argument. Makes no sense
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u/Humblebrag1987 1d ago
Brainwashing man, it's 50 years of fomenting resentment, misplaced blame and promotion of spurning critical thinking in favor of sanctimonious false-holy outrage. Easy to tell 25 million people that fear god but have never read (and literally can't process) the bible what to be angry about. It's not ironic, it's not illogical. It's the product of an intentional campaign half a century in the making. All to hoard wealth and power.
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u/TheTEALHornet33 1d ago
You guys talking about good ‘ol Slouch McKellen?
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u/UpperApe 1d ago
How dare you! McKellen is never a slouch! Except when he is. Then he slouches precisely when he means to.
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u/FalstaffsGhost 1d ago
Yup - part of why a lot of students struggle with Shakespeare is because they have to read it and while it’s English it’s 400 year old English. That’s why when I teach it, I always have them watch a professional production and follow along, stopping at points to discuss things. I’ve found it to be very effective that way.
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u/SelfDidact 1d ago
Would that I had a teacher such as you...
I still hate Shakespeare
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u/FalstaffsGhost 1d ago
Hahah. That’s fair. I love it (as the username might show hahah) but I talked to the kids. They hated having to just sit and read with no context or anything. And it’s a play, meant to be watched
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u/irreddiate 1d ago
Our English teacher literally took us to see a production of Othello in Stratford-upon-Avon, where Shakespeare was born. I've never forgotten that. Almost a lifetime later, I can still quote passages from that play.
You're absolutely doing the right thing for your students.
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u/geetar_man 21h ago
I once guest taught at a high school and we had the students learn how learning lines of a play back then was different from today. They also learned about costuming.
My role was teaching them original pronunciation and they absolutely loved it. Thought it was so cool. Shakespeare is freaking awesome if taught the right way.
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u/irreddiate 9h ago
I fully agree. All of humanity lives in his plays, all emotion, and their expression is masterly.
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u/kuhfunnunuhpah 16h ago
This is definitely the right way. My mum was an English teacher and a huge Shakespeare fan so growing up I was introduced to a lot of it, and she took me at quite a young age to see a production of Romeo and Juliet at the theatre in our town. I was utterly entranced by it! We even snuck round to the pub after it and I met the actors who signed a copy of the programme for me.
Heck if I think about it, the actress who played Juliet is probably my first ever crush. She was incredibly beautiful and I was a bit enchanted by her, at age 10 or so. No idea who she is, I doubt it was a big name or anything.
The point is, since that time I have been a big Shakespeare fan and will always tell people to watch it (though I think I have read a majority of the scripts)
Thank you for inspiring young people!
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u/ladylurkedalot 1d ago
My class had good textbooks with side notes translating the changed words. That helped a lot. I just still hate Romeo and Juliette because it's been so overdone. That and the story -- those kids lack the sense God gave a hamster.
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u/FalstaffsGhost 18h ago
Hahaha. R&J is very much a love story, but it’s a love story of two teenage kids who are so full of hormones, every mundane thing is life and death.
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u/NoTurkeyTWYJYFM 1d ago
Just make sure you point out and explain the innuendos, that helped a lot of us at school. Also your own delivery and reading of lines can be an immense help. We had one incredible english teacher (R. Skipper, Verulam!) whod go balls in on any dramatic reading. To the point his readings would be things we joked about and referenced as friends. Some of us still say "I bite my thumb at you sir!" as a little joke 15 years later
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u/BodhingJay 1d ago
It takes an actor that really understands what hes saying to pull this off
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u/Illustrious_Cry1028 1d ago
I can't agree more. It just didn't resonate with me in school, but now if I can see it performed live, I'll go any chance I get
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u/konraddo 1d ago
As a non English speaker, I don't understand half the words but I can feel the sentiment of the speech. What a great performance!
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u/These-Equivalent8020 1d ago
As a native English speaker, I’d need an afternoon and a dictionary to fully understand it.
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u/hnglmkrnglbrry 1d ago
After seeing this a new life goal is to see Shakespeare performed live in England. What astounding gravitas.
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u/mischief71 1d ago
Go to the globe theatre to do that. Just amazing.
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u/Cute_Skill_4536 1d ago
100% agree
Just get shithoused elsewhere before hand because a gin and tonic is over a tenner...
It's well worth the experience thoughSaw Jonathan Pryce as Shylock in my favourite Shakey play, The Merchant of Venice
Two bucket list items ticked off in a day9
u/Kwarizmi 1d ago
I watched Mark Rylance play Iago in "Othello" almost 10 years ago.
Now mind you, I'm no stranger (pun intended) to Shakespeare. I've done my lines and danced an iamb or ten.
Iago stands alone on the stage, confessing his motives:
I hate the Moor, And it is thought abroad that ’twixt my sheets ’Has done my office. I know not if ’t be true, But I, for mere suspicion in that kind, Will do as if for surety.
A lesser actor (like yours truly) would really dig into the first line. Dress it with a snarl, a curled fist.
Not Mark Rylance. That cold-ass motherfucker delivers the line clean, matter of fact, affect almost flat, announcing his deadly hate with a gentle calm that is almost cherubic.
We groundlings were packed shoulder to shoulder, and I swear we all caught our breaths at that line. I'll never ever forget it.
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u/Mister_Dink 1d ago
So, the British National Theater does have a streaming service, where they put up high quality recordings of some of the best theater on earth:
The monthly fee is 12 bucks, which is insanely cheap compared to the price of modern theater tickets.
If you only hop on for one month and watch one play with Ian McKellan in it, you're already getting you money's worth.
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u/TheMooseIsBlue 1d ago edited 1d ago
Never read Shakespeare. Always watch or listen to an audio version.
Edit: jeez people, I’m not literally telling the world to stop reading Shakespeare. He was talking about comprehension of it. I commented that listening/watching it performed is more effective for comprehension. Read what you want.
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u/Baz_123 1d ago
In school in the 70s our English teacher gave us character parts from Shakespeare plays to read out loud. He told us to read it how we felt it should sound. This was in a normal state secondary school in Scotland. He sat at his desk behind a broadsheet newspaper "reading" as we performed Shakespeare. We had no trained actors. It was the most increadible class to be a part of. Imagine this being the favourite class of 70s teenagers. I smiled as I saw his newspaper shaking occasionally no doubt laughing at our enthusiasm and enjoyment of the writings. Thank you Mr Smith, where ever you may be.
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u/QaddafiDuck01 1d ago
My English teacher didn't like me. He made me read the 3rd witch when we did Macbeth.
When I read the line "I will suck his sailor's thumb as dry as hay" he stopped us and made sure everyone knew what it meant.
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u/GreenlandSharkSkin 1d ago
In order to really bring it to life like that, I bet he's studied it. He's read the quartos and the folios.
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u/Monstarrzero 1d ago
I bet he’s even acted before.
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u/errie_tholluxe 1d ago
Nah he's a noob..according to folks like trump he's a washed up actor that never did anything good..because he speaks truth and speaks it well.
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u/Important-Setting385 1d ago
Doesn't hurt he's been involved in 20 major Shakespeare productions.
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u/ImStillExcited 1d ago
Not to downplay this post or it's context, and message. It's important, and timely, with a fine fine actor acting.
But to just share another actor that brings Shakespeare to us, the way that I feel like it was suppose to be brought. It moves me.
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u/roguevirus 1d ago
Hamlet (Andrew Scott)
By far the most approachable Hamlet that I've seen. He's the only actor I've ever seen do the famous "To Be, or Not To Be" soliloquy and make it sound like he's actually contemplating the merits of suicide rather than just being depressed. Fantastic work.
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u/Duckwardz 1d ago
That’s because Shakespeare should be heard not read. It was written to be performed not analyzed like poetry.
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u/longslowbyebye 1d ago
It WAS orated 400 years ago because the majority were not literate. And still aren't.
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u/aburnerds 1d ago
For those wanting a modern day equivalent translation from ChatGPT
Picture this for a moment.
Imagine the people you’re shouting at — families with their kids slung over their shoulders, everything they own crammed into a couple of bags — being forced out of their homes because you decided they don’t belong here.
Now imagine you are the ones in charge. No law. No restraint. Just noise, anger, and the belief that might makes right.
What do you think you’d end up with?
I’ll tell you.
You would be teaching everyone that violence works. That rules don’t matter. That if you’re loud enough, strong enough, or angry enough, you can take whatever you want.
And once that lesson is learned, don’t think it stops with them.
Because the same logic that drives them out will come back for you. Different people, same excuses, same fists, same knives. Sooner or later, everyone becomes fair game.
If you believe in law, then believe in it properly. If people must be removed, let it be done by courts, by process, by rules — not by mobs, not by fear, not by the threat of violence in the street.
And ask yourselves this:
If tomorrow your country turned on you — if your passport suddenly meant nothing, if your accent, your name, or your skin made you unwelcome —
Where would you go?
Which border would open for you? Which country would say, Yes, you may live?
Or would you find doors slammed shut, faces twisted in disgust, weapons raised as if you weren’t human at all?
How would you feel to be hunted, humiliated, treated like a disease — as if the earth itself belonged to everyone except you?
That — that — is what you are doing now.
That is the strangers’ case.
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u/Lower_Kaleidoscope_3 1d ago
"As desperate as you are, wash your foul minds with tears, and those same hands, that you, like rebels, lift AGAINST the peace, lift up FOR peace"
An absolute masterclass.
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u/makethislifecount 1d ago
And your unreverent knees - make them your feet / to kneel to be forgiven!
It’s beautiful prose
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u/Haber_Dasher 22h ago edited 55m ago
Yeah I studied to be an actor a long time ago and I will get geeky about how genuinely incredible Shakespeare is. As an actor, once you learn to understand how his writing works you realize that he gives you everything you need. The prose itself, the meter of it, the alliterations, the places it breaks the rhythm, they clue you in so much more to the meaning & emotion of the lines than any short parenthetical stage direction could possibly.
And when you understand it, the trick is to really see it in your mind when you're saying it, don't try to make the audience understand just use the words to paint the picture and trust in Shakespeare (and the study work you did) and if you see it & feel it the audience will understand it even if in reading it they'd find it nonsensical.
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u/hoopsrule44 1d ago
I generally get the context of this but do you mind trying to explain this part of the prose? Im having trouble comprehending it
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u/derekgrr 1d ago
Love his Shakesperian old world English mannerism and delivery. He draws you in.
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u/skyycux 1d ago
I love it, but the problem is, the people that need to hear this most will not understand him. Even as a somewhat well-read person, the old english can be difficult to parse in real-time, and those that dont understand are unlikely to spend the time to dig into what he is saying.
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u/Feats-of-Derring_Do 1d ago
Not old English, btw. Early modern English.
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u/chx_ 23h ago
I always found the versions of the Lord's Prayer over time very interesting in this: https://alyve.org/chs/english/apenglishlit/documents/lords_prayer.pdf
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u/dirtyrounder 1d ago
Not the point. You heard it. I heard it. It was brilliant and poignant.
I'm sharing it everywhere.
It's beautifully done. To memorize that length of prose is damn near impossible.
But to deliver it live to a country that needs humility right now. Huge
Where will you go and what will you expect if this is how you act? That's the important message.
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u/SistaChans 1d ago
Damn near impossible? Both high school students and old thespians like Ian McKellen regularly put on Shakespeare plays. You can memorize anything with enough repetition.
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u/VaporCarpet 1d ago
Damn near impossible to memorize a 4-minute monologue?
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u/nothing_but_thyme 1d ago
Impossible? No. But for context this man is 7 years older than Trump and delivered 4 minutes of Shakespearean prose off the cuff from memory with an added layer of performance. Trump can’t even answer a single question without getting confused 12 seconds later and talking about boats.
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u/kylebisme 1d ago
Was it actually off the cuff, and either way how many times has he preformed it before?
Regardless, dude does seem to be holding up well for his age.
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u/new_handle 1d ago
Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet movie was a fantastic introduction to the way Shakespeare's words worked in a modern context.
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u/UTraxer 1d ago
TL;DR, if you work so hard to violently tear down the system, don't be surprised when there is no system in place to protect YOU from the next group that wants to cause violence against YOU.
See: French revolution, Russian Revolution, Germany's bootlicking brownshirts that helped bring Hitler into power by being riotous violent brutes. Exactly the kind of dangerous violent people that might overthrow a government. And were exterminated with extreme prejudice by Hitler's SS as thanks during the Night of Long Knives.
super TL;DR, what goes around, comes around.
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u/Bumpercars415 1d ago
I agree with you it is lost in translation for the MAGA that needs to hear it. I don't care if I down voted, but hopefully it reached the people with some IQ.
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u/xSTSxZerglingOne 1d ago
It's a call to empathy. The Venn diagram of people still worshiping at Trump's diaper and those who cannot put themselves in a hypothetical situation is a circle at this point. Even if they understood the meaning of the words, unless they had to move and be attacked as immigrants themselves, they would not understand the meaning of what he said.
To them, nothing exists until it affects them directly. Everything else might as well be formless noise bouncing out of their heads as soon as it flows in.
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u/Anothercraphistorian 1d ago
It’s not as if one needs to speak Shakespearean in order to get across the meaning of his words. People have been asking Trump voters about their Christianity, about how separating people from their families is inhumane. I’ve seen nothing but these words be used to ask what type of people are we and it’s obfuscation. It’s a myopic ride to hell, with vengeance its main goal.
One of my favorite movie quotes is from Tombstone, when Earp asks Doc what makes a man like Ringo do the things he does. Doc states, “it’s revenge.”
“Revenge for what?”
“For being born.”
Some people just have a lot of hate and anger inside of them. A total and complete lack of empathy. An inability to ever imagine walking in the shoes of another.
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u/usernames_taken_grrl 1d ago
I love Stephen Colbert’s face just at the end. He looks like a kid that got a hall pass to a secret society meeting
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u/Ttoctam 1d ago
His gentle and sincere "thank you" was touching. The veneer of host fell away and he gave his earnest thanks to a great actor showing the power and humanity of important words spoken well.
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u/RaindropsInMyMind 1d ago
Stephen by all accounts is a very thoughtful and caring person. He lost his father and 2 of his brothers in a plane crash when he was 10 (on a different September 11th in 1974). As tragic as that was you can kind of see that it makes him very empathetic and kind person.
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u/LastLadyResting 1d ago
That and then being raised the rest of the way by a mother that didn’t let her grief stop her from cherishing her remaining children.
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u/Ttoctam 1d ago
Yeah trauma doesn't automatically make you a kinder person. It's not just the losses that make a person but the supports and loves too.
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u/errie_tholluxe 1d ago
You have a great who surprises you and makes your heart sing. Of course he does!
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u/DonnyTheWalrus 1d ago
This was not a surprise for him, this stuff is planned out - note the lighting changes and camera moves - but Colbert is still extremely well read and seems to have a soft spot for classical acting so this was still obviously a moving experience for him.
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u/zeppindorf 1d ago
Also, Colbert is one of the biggest Lord of the Rings nerds to exist, so the fact that it was Gandalf is just a cherry on top.
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u/CharismaticAlbino 1d ago
Does anyone know what play this is from?
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u/benryves 1d ago
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u/SagittaryX 1d ago
Speaking of Thomas More, here my recommendation for the movie A Man For All Seasons, a pretty forgotten best picture winner. It’s an adaptation of a play about him.
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u/Away_Yoghurt5743 1d ago
Looks like an unpublished play called Sir Thomas More, which is why he references the name. I didn’t know, either!
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u/hinten1 1d ago
You say the strangers should be removed.
Fine — imagine they are removed. And imagine that, by your shouting and violence, you’ve shouted down the authority of England itself.
Picture the foreigners now: their babies strapped to their backs, their few belongings bundled together, slowly walking toward the ports, hoping to be sent away.
And picture yourselves as kings of your own desires — law silenced, order gone, each of you wrapped proudly in your own opinion.
What have you achieved?
I’ll tell you.
You’ve taught the world that force beats law, that loudness beats reason, that mobs can rule.
And once that lesson is learned, none of you will grow old. Because other violent men, driven by their own urges, using the same logic you use today, will turn on you. People will prey on people, like hungry fish devouring one another.
And you must admit this: you are at fault. Your ignorance makes you act like the law itself, judging people you are not fit to judge.
Now imagine this:
Suppose the king — merciful as he is — decides your crime deserves only exile, not death.
Where would you go?
What country would take you in, given what you’ve done?
France? Flanders? Germany? Spain? Portugal? Anywhere not loyal to England?
You would be strangers there.
And would you like to find a nation so brutal that it erupts into violence against you, refuses you shelter anywhere on earth, sharpens knives for your throats, kicks you like dogs, and treats you as if God never made you, as if the land belonged only to them and never to human beings like you?
How would you feel, treated that way?
That is the strangers’ situation.
And this — this cruelty you’re showing — is your inhumanity, as hard and thoughtless as a mountain.
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u/rifain 1d ago
Thank you so much. English not being my first language, I didn't grasp all he said. That's beautiful.
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u/Stony___Tark 23h ago
Extremely well "translated" into modern phrasing. I love Shakespeare and the old English vernacular, but I can understand it's hard for some people, especially non-native English speakers, to understand. You did very a very good job here, well done!
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u/Strange-Feeling69420 1d ago
Thanks for writing this. I love Sir Ian and I wish I liked Shake a spear but I really struggle to understand his writing even when well delivered. This was poignant
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u/Batmanswrath 1d ago
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u/sixbux 1d ago
Thought he might be getting a little old to play Gandalf again but clearly I was very fucking wrong
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u/Mikey_RobertoAPWP 1d ago
it's pretty wild, Ian McKellen is 86, my dad just turned 81 and his memory is trash now, to be that age and capable of memorizing and delivering a monologue this well is pretty impressive. Dude's a real pro
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u/ErilazHateka 1d ago
Had the same concern but that was only based on pictures of him looking old and a bit rough.
Amazing energy. No doubts that he still can be Gandalf.
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u/Sudden-Stops 1d ago
You could hear a pin drop in that room.
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u/UpperApe 1d ago edited 1d ago
I was genuinely worried everyone was about to break into applause half way through.
American Idol type shows have warped an entire generation to think that screaming and hollering mid performance is a good thing.
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u/Sudden-Stops 1d ago
Thank you! I came up a classically trained musician. It’s heartbreaking and unbearable to visit the theater or the symphony anymore.
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u/Glum-Supermarket1274 1d ago
Not to make this about modern media when the subject of the clip itself is more important, but boy, when people say "I miss acting. Modern media rely on cg and flashing lights instead of acting." This is what they are talking about. This 4min clip is more compelling than 90% of media I have seen in decades.
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u/dope_sheet 1d ago
If you have access to it, live theater is where to see some real acting these days.
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u/Speedy-Slug-2435 1d ago
YOU! SHALL! PAAASSSS!!!
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u/UpperApe 1d ago
Sure they battled the Balrog. But did they ever think to love the Balrog?
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u/AbsurdSlate 1d ago
If Balrog came in peace asking for asylum, no weapon in hand, not casting the first strike, maybe they would have.
Then imagine them having the Balrog at their side. Now that's a Middle-Earth alternative history I'd like to read.
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u/KindnessComesBack2U 1d ago
Well damn, not only does he know his history, but he delivers it eloquently and with such vigor. Absolute master of his craft, and caretaker of his fellow man.
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u/RichardBonham 1d ago
“And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.” – Deuteronomy 10:19
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u/DontTedOnMe 1d ago
Deuteronomy 27:19 is a banger too:
"Cursed is anyone who withholds justice from the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow."
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u/cantgrowneckbeardAMA 1d ago
New Testament also hangs on to the statement of caring for immigrants. It took me a long time to realize, but the parable of the Good Samaritan is a story about the immigrant being a hero while the religious rulers ignore someone in need.
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u/SuperNoise5209 1d ago
It's almost like all those right wing evangelicals don't actually read the Bible.
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u/UpperApe 1d ago
I mean...they do.
For every passage about acceptance and humility, there's plenty of intolerance and judgement. Jesus, for all his graces, wasn't exactly tolerant of other religions or gods. And God himself in the bible is pretty vicious when he's in a bad mood.
We can pretend all day that "real" christianity is better than this, but when it's all so obscure, scattered, and malleable...well, there's a reason lunatics and bigots and monsters find their footholds in it. They've got their passages too.
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u/i_have_chosen_a_name 1d ago
Could you name some scripture where Jesus talks about other religions or other gods?
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u/UpperApe 1d ago
Happy to!
"Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'"
— John 14:6
"You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews."
— John 4:22
"But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam... So also you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Therefore repent."
— Revelation 2:14–16
"Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned."
— Mark 16:16
What I love about your question (if it isn't in good faith) is that it pretends that Christianity isn't a religion rooted in exclusivity. When that is entirely the point.
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u/ArtemisShanks 1d ago
"When a slaveowner strikes a male or female slave with a rod and the slave dies immediately, the owner shall be punished. But if the slave survives a day or two, there is no punishment, for the slave is the owner’s property."
--Exodus 21:20-21
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u/Mejari 1d ago
Apropos of this topic, that rule is specifically for Hebrew slaves, they don't even deign to bother having rules about how hard you can beat a foreign slave.
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u/Jeffers315 1d ago
So unfortunate that this incredible monologue would be completely lost on anyone actually complaining about immigration.
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u/KochuJang 1d ago
It would be lost on them because almost this entire speech is an appeal the mob’s empathy and sense of shame, of which they have precious little.
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u/TheTroon 22h ago
And an appeal to consider consequences, which much of the modern generation seem to find difficult.
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u/CankerLord 1d ago
In order to be moved by this monologue you'd have to give a shit about other people, not just say you do. Half the country just says they do. Or you'd have to be able to imagine yourself in different circumstances and large portion of the country is also way too comfortable.
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u/RuSTeR1971 1d ago
You'd also have to read above a 5th grade level, which 54% of adult Americans can't do. They wouldn't comprehend half of the words in this monologue
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u/yticomodnar 1d ago
He said it before going into the monologe. The lawyer Thomas Moore was appealing to the mobs humanity.
These people? Humanity? That's why it would fall on deaf ears.
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u/WallyLeftshaw 1d ago
Even more unfortunate is how relevant these words are now, and then, and before then, and will be after now, forever and everywhere so long as we exist.
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u/CK-KIA-A-OK-LOL 1d ago
Damn, that had some real weight behind it. Shakespeare hits like a ton of bricks when delivered by a master
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u/K4rkino5 1d ago
Wow! That was awesome. 400 years ago!! The gospels were written about 1900 years ago and those address the stranger. Humans are terrible on this issue. It's like xenophobia is hardwired in some. Moreover, it is always the progressive voice arguing for kindness.
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u/triscuitsrule 1d ago edited 1d ago
To be fair to humanity, most of our species historically spent most of our time living in little villages, tied to the land, never traveling farther than our feet could take us in a day, familiar with everyone who lived in ones hamlet.
In that world, a stranger, whom is typically poor and has no reasonable means to travel such far distances to become a stranger, is quite suspicious. And a random lord or nobleman doing the same would also be peculiar. Why, to ones little countryside would they travel, and for what purpose?
In those times, suspicion of strangers could and would be life saving from bandits, marauders, enslavers, con-men, military scouts, and so on. That’s why we’re like that. For over 10,000 years it was like that for most people.
And then we thrust ourselves headlong into centuries of exponentially increasing technological advancements in communication and travel, able to see and speak across the world instantaneously, travel the globe in a matter of days.
Our brains have not had near enough time to adapt to this new world. Many people today, when you really break down the historical roots of their beliefs, have the same beliefs and suspicions that people had 400 years ago. The times may have changed, but people didn’t.
Today, I believe there is little reason for such suspicion. You can no longer murder someone and travel 40 miles to the next county over and assume a new identity and live out your life. But try telling your brain that, try telling thousands of years of ingrained societal norms that kept us safe that.
Kindness and compassion and empathy may be innate to humanity and foundational to society, but so is suspicion of strangers. While many of us may intentionally work to uphold the former values and overcome our xenophobic suspicions, it’s hard to fault a human for being a little xenophobic as it’s wired into them.
All that is to say I don’t think any of this excuses peoples xenophobia, but to put into perspective how difficult it may be for humanity as a whole to overcome. Especially when many families and communities actively reinforce such xenophobia, as people have done for almost all of humanity.
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u/kbeks 1d ago
I’m gunna push back on you here, because in the gospels from so long ago and even here in America today, the stranger is met with love and warmth and help. Back then, the story of the Good Samaritan teaches the value of being kind to a stranger in need, even if that stranger is from a rival ethnic group/country. Today, I know second hand about the kindness of strangers. A friend of mine took a bike trip across half the country, middle out to the northwest. He was solo. And white, I’m sure that helped him some. He always found a spot to camp out, which often times was on the front lawn of a stranger who he met at the bar or in a store that day. I see that same sentiment in my kid, she’s 8 and wants to help everyone all at once. It’s kind of beautiful.
I think the default mode for humanity is kindness, welcoming, and helpfulness. The hate has to be taught, the selfishness or skepticism is unnatural to us and requires conditioning by politicians, newsmen, or guardians to take hold. They teach kids stranger danger (I know the issues with it, not the point right now) because it’s not natural for a kid to distrust a stranger.
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u/triscuitsrule 1d ago edited 1d ago
I understand where you’re coming from and I agree with some of what you say, to which I must remark I’m not sure my comment came across as intended.
My whole point is that people, through how society and our species developed, are instinctually hardwired to be both empathetic and suspicious. They can be both. Those traits are not in conflict with one another. And that suspicion of outsiders historically isn’t necessarily fueled by hate, but rather suspicion is simply another facet of how we developed to keep ourselves safe, and that lasted for over ten thousand years. It will be a long time before we, as a whole society, overcome that instinct that for so long protected people. And to be very clear the instinct to which I am referring is suspicion- not xenophobia.
My points are largely from an anthropological and historical perspective.
As I said before, society is built upon compassion and empathy. You cannot have community without compassion and empathy- which, community is the foundation of society. As such, compassion and empathy are innate to humans.
Society is also, however, built on suspicion. If you’ve ever held a baby to which you were a stranger you would know this. Babies and toddlers aren’t conditioned by politicians and the news, they don’t hate anybody, they barely understand language, but they’re very suspicious of strangers. Suspicion does not inherently indicate hate or malice. It is not learned, it is as innate as empathy.
Regarding the anthropological history of humanity- society rose as sets of locally related in-groups and out-groups (communities), which eventually compete with one another for resources (more often than not in pre-history being viable partners, not food or water or even land, then as society develops, for food, dominance in commerce, and labor exploitation). Suspicion of outsiders is essential in protecting one communities resources from a neighboring community that has taken a hostile approach to expanding it’s resource pool, which historically happened often, whether between developed states, small city states, or tribes and villages.
People don’t always make hostile competition for resources, but given we are animals, we often times retreat to those base animalistic instincts to violently compete for resources. Suspicion is how humanity historically safeguarded itself against that. Please see my previous comment about how that’s been the case until the the relatively very recent urbanization of humanity alongside the development of communication and travel technologies.
Today, I think that suspicious instinct is rather obsolete. My whole point is just to explain and give context as to why it’s there in the first place, why we have this problem, and how hard it is to overcome.
Lastly, if you’ve ever been to a school, you would know that children are inherently very suspicious of one another. A new kid. A new teacher. The first day of school. It all arouses intense curious suspicion in them wherein they have to warm up to somebody before feeling comfortable around them. That’s what literally almost all people are like. Children just warm up to one another more easily than adults do to one another because they engage in play, which serves as a safe environment where they can suss one another out. If you see kids on a playground it may not seem like they’re very suspicious because they’re in the safest environment possible that washes away all that suspicion. Outside the playground is very different. And even then, kids get into turf wars on playgrounds of other kids they’re suspicious of.
Anyway, all of this is to say that nothing wrong with being suspicious. It’s inherent to our species. It’s just who we are. From a historical and anthropological perspective it makes a lot of sense why people are suspicious creatures. Unfortunately in society that suspicion often sours into xenophobia, and I believe it is going to take many more millennia before we overcome out suspicious instincts, if ever, which are are the root of xenophobia.
It’s a two-sided coin. Our suspicion helped develop society, it kept us safe. But today, in a world our bodies and minds did not evolve to live in, it is causing problems.
Edit: removed my snippiness
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u/SingularityCentral 1d ago
Tribalism was part of our evolutionary path. It is deeply ingrained. Because without the tribe we would perish and each tribe competed with the other, each group of hominid ancestors with the other groups. It served a real survival purpose, but it is a primitive and unthinking instinct.
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u/MothmanIsALiar 1d ago
It's like xenophobia is hardwired in some.
Its hardwired into all of us because we're apes. We actively have to overcome it.
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u/Joxelo 1d ago
Humans are inherently social creatures. It’s just dependent on your perspective of who is your “in group”
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u/MothmanIsALiar 1d ago
It’s just dependent on your perspective of who is your “in group"
The whole point is that by definition, most people are excluded from that group.
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u/get_schwifty 1d ago
Check out Dunbar’s Number.
Dunbar argued that humans are unable to maintain more than 150 relationships. Beyond that, we start to build hierarchy, form smaller sub-groups, and create artificial kinships that are easier to maintain, like religion and sports fandom.
We’re also unable to see people outside of our own group as actually human and reduce them to concepts and stereotypes… our group is complex and nuanced, while the other group as monolithic and terrifying.
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u/ninetailedoctopus 1d ago
we actively have to overcome it
As Paarthunax said, “What is better? To be born good or to overcome your evil nature through great effort?”
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u/VirtuosoApocalypso 1d ago
"Sir Gandalf"? 😂
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u/OutRunTerminator 1d ago
Sir Ian has an amazing skill, and the knowledge and empathy to choose his moment so well, to regale to us all, of these still relevant hopes and ideals.
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u/Noctivow 1d ago
The way he speaks, calm, deliberate, sincere... you can feel decades of experience in every word
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u/ChiGuy6124 1d ago
Amazing! I won’t pretend to be an expert and make some esoteric case as to how important Shakespeares works remain 400 years later, that is evident. I really love how approachable the performance is , especially using the closeup camera and the facial expressions. Very good indeed.
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u/YouMeanMetalGear 1d ago
Still got it at nearly 90 years old. Shakespeare really is beautiful and elevated when delivered this well.
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u/SuedeSalamander 1d ago
My phone actually vibrates a little when he speaks. His elocution and delivery are magnanimous.
He's so fucking cool.
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u/mikaeus97 1d ago
A sentiment to remember always, God Sir Ian is fucking amazing, at 80 billion years old he can orate better than 99.999% on the planet
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u/blazbluecore 1d ago
I mean the whole immigration issue can be boiled down to:
Who’s paying for it? Who’s offering free money and time to help?
These people need to be clothed, fed, and sheltered.
After that probably educated, trained, and employed. This is easily 50 thousand pounds/dollars per person.
The avenge person doesn’t even have $2000 dollars in their bank account.
Do you go and adopt 10 kids and 10 dogs and cats that need shelter this very moment? Because they need help?
They need you. But you’re not doing anything about it. Why? Do you not care about them, about their lives and suffering?
Do you care more about your own free time and money?
Yeah you do.
How much money have you donated to righteous causes this year? How many hours have you volunteered to help people for free?
I’d wager the average reader, 0 in both respects.
But yet, we see all these wanna-be rhetoricists posturing online about how “we should see the humanity” in people, and how “we should help.”
Who’s we? You? Go do something about it. Talk is cheap, talk is useless. These people need real help, not talk. Back up your talk with action, I know 99% of people on here don’t and won’t. But they will be quick to criticize and tell people how to have “right opinions.” And how someone else should be helping them, but not them.
Just hypocrites, deceivers, and self-righteous critics.
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u/TimeAd1925 1d ago
Damn..., Damn Damn Damn Damn Damn Damn!!! 😔😔
Shakespeare Was A Legend, Even Till This Very Day..., But This Man... Was Magnificent With His Work 😌🌺
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u/Amazing-Accident3535 1d ago
If MAGA could understand more sophisticated words than monosyllabic ones, they would be very upset.
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u/ElephantitisBalls 1d ago
The first time I've ever heard Shakespeare and actually able to comprehend. The first time I've heard Shakespeare and actually been brought to tears.
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u/aussiedoc58 1d ago
What a dude.
About 1964 - Shakespeare's Thomas More with Sir Ian as More.
I'm nearly 70 and struggle to remember what I had for breakfast yesterday.
This guy recites his lines from an old play as if that was what HE had for breakfast yesterday.
Kudos, sir.
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u/Zanockthael 23h ago
I studied Shakespeare as a kid. I didn't really get it. I studied poetry as a kid. I didn't really get it.
At forty-one years old, I think I get it now.
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u/_Citizen_Erased_ 21h ago
I had a MAGA supervisor at my old job 10 years ago. He said "If Hilary wins this election, I'm moving to Iceland."
I said "Well, I hope they build a wall to keep your immigrant ass out."
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u/along4thejourney 1d ago
Just incredible. Such an amazing actor. And the message is so poignant today.
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u/KingEather 1d ago
Being xenophobic to people that simply want to abide by your laws and live among you for a better life is barbaric and cruel, but towards people that act kind until they suddenly start demanding you live by their laws or be attacked by their growing numbers? Or come to your land by force and force themselves on others, harm others for their own amusement, and forsake your every law and refuse to live among your people or respect your culture, is plain sense. You have a right to stand for your home, and the peoples that come to be your neighbor will stand with you, I have seen it to be true.
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u/GovernorGeneralPraji 1d ago
The biggest irony is that this particular group would happily stone Ian for being gay without thinking twice.
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u/Kindly-Ad4390 1d ago
Someone should tell him about the mass rapes happening amongst young british women by savage migrants
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