Shakespeare and Political Life

ALAN SIMPSON: When Shakespeare's plots are impressed over the top of politics—it's not just politics, it's life; that's why it's there these hundreds of years. But I can think of when you've done something for someone in legislation, not for quid pro quo, but I think of Lear again, I think the phrase was, "Ingratitude, thou marble-hearted fiend, more hideous" when thee is found in the heart of a child "than a sea monster." And ingratitude is the essence of Washington. You know—what have you done for me lately, buddy? And then of course the great line about thanklessness, "how sharper than a serpent's tooth it is / To have a thankless child."

But the thing about Shakespeare and legislating is that you have to be as dramatic as any of the great drama roles of Shakespeare, but you better remain Puck. I was always rather puckish on the edges. Shakespeare leads you to the feeling world, and that's the best world to be in in Washington, because it is a zoo in many ways. Politics is barbaric in itself, but that's why you have to have art and music and books and Shakespeare.

I can think of people who I knew in public life and in the Senate who remind me of characters from Shakespeare, without naming who the Senators were. There was a magnificent Iago, there was a magnificent Cassius. And then of course there were the Caesars and the power, and the Antonys and even a Cleopatra. And she was a dazzler.

And you could, whimsically, especially in a long, boring hearing, you could say, "I think this guy reminds me of So-and-So." And then you'd pass the note to your colleague—either side of the aisle, Democrat or Republican—and say, "Does this guy remind you of So-and-So?" And if you know Shakespeare, you then begin to chuckle, because you see that they are that person. Because that's why his stuff is still around—there are a lot of them still running around.