xiphias: (swordfish)
[personal profile] xiphias
Elsenet, there was a discussion of what the mortality rate for title characters of Shakespeare plays are.

Um.

Spoiler alerts for who lives and dies in Shakespeare plays. If you don't know who lives and dies in Shakespeare plays, then go see the plays right away and DON'T read the plot synopsis first -- they're a lot more fun if you don't know what's going to happen first. But, anyway.


First: if the title is who you are but not your name, you've got pretty good odds. The merchant of Venice, both merry wives of Winsor, the shrew, and both gentlemen of Verona survive. Only one of the two noble kinsmen survives, but that was a collaboration with another author, so if we say that the surviving noble kinsman is Shakespeare's and the dead one is Fletcher's.... Even if we don't, the odds of surviving if the title of the play refers to you but doesn't name you are a respectable 7/8, or 87.5%

Now, let's look at the characters whose names ARE the titles of their plays. The first thing we have to think about are the two-part and three-part plays. Do we say that Henry IV survived part one and died in part two, or do we just say that Henry IV died in "Henry IV", which was shown in two parts? I'm going to count "Henry IV Parts 1 and 2" to be one work for counting these, and "Henry VI Parts 1, 2, and 3" to be one.

Then we have to ask about Henry V. He doesn't die on stage, but his death is mentioned in the epilogue to the play. So I'd count that one as him not surviving the play.

So, for the History plays, we've got, in the "dead" category, King John, Richard II, Henry IV, Henry V, Henry VI, and Richard III. In "alive", we've got Henry VIII.

Antony and Cleopatra both die. Coriolanus, Hamlet, Julius Caesar, King Lear, Macbeth, and Othello all die. Romeo and Juliet, Timon of Athens, and Titus Andronicus all die. On the other hand, Cymbeline, Pericles, and both Troilus and Cressida survive.

So that's eighteen dead and five alive. If your title is the name of the play, you've got five chances out of twenty three to survive, or about a 22% survival rate if your actual NAME is the title of the play.


Putting it all together, we've got 19 dead and 12 alive, so your total odds are 12 out of 31, or about 39%.

(no subject)

Date: 2013-11-17 05:43 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] bill_sheehan.livejournal.com
Shakespeare: Almost As Bad As George R.R. Martin!

(no subject)

Date: 2013-11-17 05:53 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] bill_sheehan.livejournal.com
No one died in "Tight-Ass Andonicus," but that was never publicized.

(no subject)

Date: 2013-11-17 06:19 pm (UTC)
ext_104661: (Default)
From: [identity profile] alexx-kay.livejournal.com
Thanks for the analysis!

Mind you, Troilus and Cressida still had a pretty damned depressing ending, even if they were still alive.

(no subject)

Date: 2013-11-17 06:22 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] xiphias.livejournal.com
Yes -- I thought of commenting that Troilus and Cressida were both alive, but not HAPPY about it...

(no subject)

Date: 2013-11-18 06:21 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] rymrytr.livejournal.com
I'd have to be Falstaff... I've got the build and am told, from time to time, that I have the personality.

(no subject)

Date: 2013-11-18 10:53 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] xiphias.livejournal.com
Falstaff survives Henry IV Part 1 and Part 2, but dies in Henry V -- but then is brought back later for Merry Wives of Windsor. So ... he dies, but he comes back to life.

(no subject)

Date: 2013-11-19 02:08 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] rymrytr.livejournal.com
I've got friends and acquaintances that, now that I'm retired, live in fear and trembling that I'll come back to life and show up somewhere!

I'm going to get me a Falstaff icon now. :o)

(no subject)

Date: 2013-11-18 02:38 pm (UTC)
goljerp: Photo of the moon Callisto (Europa)
From: [personal profile] goljerp
I dunno, I think you ought to be counting the HenryX part Ys as different plays, which unless I goofed, would bring your odds all the way up to 44%. After all, everyone dies eventually; the trick is to make sure your play ends before it happens to you.

(no subject)

Date: 2013-11-18 03:05 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] xiphias.livejournal.com
Yeah, that's a judgement call that can go either way.

(no subject)

Date: 2014-06-20 03:23 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] netter88.livejournal.com
nice mind

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