> > > I remembered i learned at school that Vondel said "De wereld is een schouwtoneel, elk speelt zijn rol en krijgt zijn deel" But that should not be literally translated in "All the world's a stage, and the people merely actors." But its the same idea....
> > >
> > > Humm, i'm kinda confused here. Maybe Vondel heard Shakespeare say that (or merely read it), and made his own quote, based on Shakespeare... or maybe Wolfie was wrong? LOL I dunno! Noooo! That should be impossible! j/k
> >
> > I've been gloriously wrong before, that ain't news. :) No seriously, if that's Joost van den Vondel (1587-1679) you're thinking of,
>
> yep, thats the one
>
> then he was a contemporary of Shakespeare (the Webster's I have here says 1564-1616 for the Bard). So either one could very well have plagiarized from the other. Could Shakespeare read Dutch?
> >
> >
>
> LOL, probably not, he wouldnt care reading Dutch i guess. Or maybe they (Shakespeare and Vondel) are one and the same person! (aha!)

Sure. Move aside, Francis Bacon, you've got yet another contender for ghost-writing the Bard.


> > > Jom"The world's a stage, everyone plays his part and gets his share"meke
> >
> Thats the translation of Vondels quote. (in case you would start thinking that i can come up with such quote!)

It's a great expression that sort of "builds" on and augments Bill Shakespeare's thought. So it sounds like Vondel's version might have come *after* him IMHO.


> > Maybe you could whip over to this Joost van den Vondel page I found at
> > http://www.dds.nl/~ljcoster/vondel/index.htm
> >
> > then follow the link giving notable examples of his poetry, and tell us if he "really sounds like" Shakespeare in Dutch, or vice versa :-)
>
> I would be pleased informing you about it, but the link doesnt work :(

http://www.dds.nl/~ljcoster/vondel/index.htm
It does work, trust me. Try the link again and hit Reload if it doesn't work the first time.

Wolfspirit