Today we welcome the last set of competitors to the arena for the final battles of Round 1.
First off, the four competitors from Round 1, Part 2 who will be advancing to the next round: Iago wins handily over Doll Tearsheet (54-8); our feisty wench might get in a scratch or two, but against this crafty combatant, she’s down for the count. Match 6 surprised me; I thought this one would be closer than it ended up, but Edmund wins a 42-16 victory over King Claudius and advances. Queen Margaret flattens poor Hermia, 56-5, squashing the vixen with as little thought as she would swat a fly. Edmund will have good company going into Round 2, as Goneril defeats Siward in a match which indicates that our voters feel cunning and malice win out over sheer military might (39-15). So, to sum up, advancing to Round 2 we have: Iago, Edmund, Queen Margaret, and Goneril.
Match 13: Henry V vs Katharina Minola
Match 14: Macduff vs Cleopatra
Match 15: Macbeth vs Tamora
Match 16: Enobarbus vs Coriolanus
My picks (skip over if you want to vote un-influenced): Henry over Kate, easy. She may be full of fire, but he’s England’s greatest warrior-king. No contest. Cleopatra’s another feisty minx, but as wonderful as I think she is in many ways, let’s face it, she’s not much of a warrior, and Macduff’s got righteous fury on his side. Nothing beats righteous fury. Macbeth will take out Tamora, as we already know he has absolutely no qualms about going for women and children. She’ll be too busy imitating anthropomorphic beings to notice that he’s destroying her. Enobarbus vs Coriolanus is, in my opinion, this round’s toughest to determine. Both are capable generals, both trained in the Roman style. I’m going to give the edge to Enobarbus, just because, hey, I like that guy better. Think I’m wrong about any of my picks? Tell me (and everyone else) why!
These polls will be open till next Thursday. On the Ides of March, we’ll start in on Round Two.