Yes, Shakespeare Wrote ‘King Lear’ During Quarantine, But He Didn’t Have the Means to Rewatch ‘Gilmore Girls’

Being productive during quarantine is hard, and yet some people seem hell-bent on being productive under quarantine. And those people love to bring up how Shakespeare wrote King Lear during the plague. I personally reject this as a valid comparison, because Shakespeare was under an entirely different set of circumstances, mainly in that he wasn’t able to rewatch Gilmore Girls again.

 

I think things would have been very different if he had the chance.

 

Understanding the differences in technology available is important: I have the access to rewatch Gilmore Girls in its entirety, at any point in the day. I can watch it while I’m working from home, I can watch it while I’m eating breakfast, and I can watch it at night when it’s time to watch Gilmore Girls. At just the touch of a button, I can watch Lorelai speak in dated pop culture references all over Stars Hollow. Meanwhile, William didn’t even understand electricity or the idea of Connecticut. Now that’s just sad, and it makes a whole lot of sense why his biggest form of entertainment was the stuff he made up in his head.

 

 

He didn’t have anything else, and he didn’t know any better.

 

If you ask me, it’s pretty sad that Shakespeare spent all his time in quarantine writing a dumb play that no one remembers when he could have been reliving Rory Gilmore’s graduation from Yale. Lorelai cries! It’s a really emotional episode!

 

So that’s why I’m choosing to not get caught up in the whole “Shakespeare wrote King Lear during quarantine” thing. It’s just not worth it. You’re telling me Will Shakes would be able to resist watching two women navigate relationships and a timeless mother-daughter bond that persists through generations in an idyllic Connecticut town? Please. Have you even read his body of work?