#shakespearean crowley

[ghostofchaos-past]

confession number two

this is my all time favorite crowley look I'm not even kidding

[goosetooths]

Ashtoreth and Sera Fine: feuding drag queens to the public, in love in private ✨

[dontbotheraziraphale]

aziraphale every time someone asks him about his ~affiliation~ with the demon crowley

[idliketobeatree]

crowley's whole range of human and non-human expression from the final fifteen, but it's an honest reaction to finding out the shitshow of his life is actually considered a "comedy"

[massivetool]

god the funniest shit just happened in a fic but i cant share that with my friends because it reveals the contents of what i was reading

[xjade-lotusx]

I want crowley to become the new duke of hell not because I want him evil and I know how much he'd hate it but because just think of the drama of it all. The Shakespearean epic that would be Duke of Hell Crowley and Supreme Archangel Aziraphale. I want to be torn to shreds because of those two

[patoslover]

Okay, time to ask the real questions.

(*OTHER SQUARED = GOLGOTHA. TYVM)

PLEASE REBLOG FOR LARGER SAMPLE

+ IF YOU CAN PUT WHAT YOU VOTED IN THE TAGS IT'D BE GREATLY APPRECIATED!!

(GIFS OF EACH LOOK/OUTFIT UNDER THE CUT)

Nanny

Sexy man, I mean Plant yeller (?)

(from) Eden (by Hozier)

Medium hair, dark sunglasses, slutty waist 2009

Starmaker

French Revolt

Modern s2 (actuality ig)

1941

Golgotha (don't stab me 😭)

whatever this is Shakespearean

Ugh they're so in love in the last gif I'll actually discorporate. Silly boys.

THANK YOU FOR VOTING AND REBLOGGING SORRY FOR THE MESS FIRST TIME DOING THIS LOL

Also tagging @sideblog-of-the-maggotdom And @weirdly-specific-but-ok bc reachability tyvm <3 (and pls vote if u can!)

[divorce-enjoyer]

what gets me about the scene where nina asks if crowley and aziraphale are partners is that thats where crowley realises he’s in love. not that he didnt know he was in love with aziraphale before (he’s aware that he’s been in love since eden) but it hits him that oh, he’s in love love. the human kind of love, italics instead of capitals, the stuff of austen novels and queen songs and marriages and sacrifices and shakespearean tragedies, that very specific messy, overwhelming kind love you feel for another person that is so much more intense than ethereal love because it is by choice, thats what crowley feels.

the type of love that would make a passerby on the street think that you and him were an old married couple. that type of love.

and then crowley goes and gets drunk in broad daylight

[bluberryfields]

Crowley and Aziraphale outfits that I wish got more screen time (in no particular order)

1967

I adore Crowley's velvet and sharp lines, but I'm so intrigued by Aziraphale's cravat and styled hair. Aziraphale is not a creature of change, so did he dress up for this big moment? I need a full body shot, pleaseandthankyou

41 A.D.

I will never stop wanting more time with the Ineffable Romans. Aziraphale looks like the marble sculpture he was born to be. Also, I understand that Crowley's daring look is pretty anachronistic, but that just makes me want to see more of it!

1793

I mean, come on, they are two very different types of snack here and I need more of both. Aziraphale is a sumptuous petit four, while Crowley is a sleek slice of dark chocolate.

1601

Are you kidding me with them in those heels? Aziraphale in all that embroidery? Crowley in what I can only describe as the sluttiest doublet? I need a whole minisode of their Shakespearean adventures.

[greenthena]

Buck up, Hamlet!

***Trigger warning: Death and taking your own life in the context of Shakespeare***

Aziraphale likes Hamlet. Likes the play so much, that he bats his eyelashes at Crowley until the demon performs a miracle to make the mopey Prince of Denmark more popular. Well, good job, the both of you, because four hundred and some odd years later, you still can't get through repertory auditions without some bugger hoisting a skull and starting that monologue. Not that I don't appreciate Hamlet from a structural and analytical perspective. And the Prince of Denmark is a character most actors would sacrifice several toes to play. But it's dark. It's not a fun one.

So why does Aziraphale like it so much? Why's this fluffy little angel so Hell-bent on one of Shakespeare's tragedies? Join me, friendly Good Omens scholars, and let's suss some shit out.

Crowley adamantly dislikes Shakespeare's tragedies. "This isn't one of Shakespeare's gloomy ones, is it? Arghhhh. No wonder no one is here," he complains, wilting like a floppy noodle. Of course, it doesn't take much for Aziraphale to weasel the demon into miracling more people into the audience. But Crowley makes a point to say that he "still prefer(s) the funny ones" as he's leaving The Globe.

Crowley, I would argue, goes to the theatre to escape his real-life situation. He's a bloody demon who, when he's not stationed on Earth, literally goes to Hell. And it's not a nice place. Crowley's everyday life (particularly when he's not around Aziraphale) revolves around pain and suffering--whether its his or someone else's is insignificant. What matters is that regularly sees and experiences tangible, visceral representations of tragedy in his actual existence. Of course he prefers Shakespeare's funny ones! They're a reminder that the world and the human race that he's accidentally become so attached to is full of more than torment and affliction. Crowley doesn't appreciate Shakespeare's tragedies because they're an extension of his own suffering, with which he's already intimately familiar. For Crowley, attending a Shakespearean tragedy is like picking a scab. You already know you've been injured and fussing with the damned thing only makes it worse.

This is not the case for Azirapahle. As an angel, he's not allowed to have any scabs, much less pick at them. Like Crowley, he sees suffering in the world. He knows that humanity is constantly facing difficult odds, and even the most wonderful of human lives eventually ends in death. But unlike Crowley, Aziraphale works within a system in which there is no gray space--and therefore, no room for an angel, an agent of the side of righteousness, to experience doubt in the Ineffable Plan. The Heavenly model is to deal with problems by pretending they don't exist. Heaven has an image to maintain, after all. Like, the sheer amount of repression we see amongst the Heavenly Host is honestly terrifying. I'm thinking about the way in which The Metatron frames the Fall and damnation of a third of the angels. "For one Prince of Heaven to be cast into the outer darkness makes a good story. For it to happen twice, makes it look like there is some kind of institutional problem." It's so cold and removed because to process something so traumatic would not fit the image of Heaven. So it's neatly boxed up and packed away into a soundbite that better fits Heaven's corporate brand.

Aziraphale's suffering is certainly no less than Crowley's. The angel's trauma is repressed. It's cloaked in shining bright hallways of pure angelic light. It's hidden behind false words and tight smiles. It's communicated passive-aggressively by abusers who still have the angel caught in their web of control and manipulation. At least Crowley's trauma is visible. When he fell, the demon took on a new appearance that physically demonstrates his suffering. He has access to feelings of anger and frustration and he's allowed to express these things because he's a demon. He doesn't have to be good.

Since Aziraphale is not permitted to own his emotions and his trauma, he outsources them. He enjoys Shakespeare's tragedies because they give him the opportunity to achieve second-hand catharsis. He may not be able to admit that he's suffering, but he can experience Hamlet's pain vicariously.

***Reminding you of that trigger warning, folks!***

And this is where we get to the question, "To be, or not to be?" This is the moment in S1 E3 when Aziraphale interacts with Richard Burbage, and shouts out, "To be! Not to be! Come on, Hamlet, buck up!" He says this with this coy little smile, obviously trying to get a laugh out of Crowley. But it's indicative of a more serious dilemma that the angel, himself, must parse out. In Shakespeare's play, Hamlet's query is expressed as he wrestles with the choice between life and death. Essentially, it's a contemplation of suicide--a dark part of humanity that Heaven manages by eternally condemning those who would risk it. However there's another way to read this question, not as life and death, but as agency and the lack thereof. We think of "to be" as the choice for life and "not to be" as the option for suicide. But the only way in which Hamlet can express his agency is by taking control of the one thing that truly belongs to him: his own life. So when asking this question of an eternal being, what exactly does it mean, "To be?" What does it mean for Aziraphale to express agency in his immortal existence?

In Western thought, we tend to divide things into binaries: right and wrong, black and white, good and evil...to be or not to be. Back in the Garden if Eden, Crowley first introduced Adam and Eve to the idea that they had a choice. The serpent presented two options, obey or disobey God's authority. Though I think a better way of looking at it would be to say, passively accept your role or have agency in your fate. This is Crowley's method. He never pushes temptations upon you. He just wants to make sure you know all your options.

Like Hamlet, Aziraphale is presented with the choice of, "To be or not to be?" He can sign on the dotted line and follow Heaven's authority or he can be an angel with agency, an angel that goes along with Heaven as far as he can. And though Aziraphale still struggles with how exactly free will pertains to angels, Crowley shows him time and time again that he has options--he can make his own choices. From the very first interaction between the angel and the demon on the wall of Eden, Crowley (ever the optimist) knows there is hope for some meaningful connection with Aziraphale, because the angel makes a choice for himself: he gives away his sword. And from that moment, Crowley realizes that this angel might be just enough of a bastard to be worth knowing.

It's no wonder Aziraphale gets attached to the tragedy of Hamlet. It allows him to observe and process the darker and more difficult emotions that he, as an angel, struggles to manage. And perhaps more importantly, the Prince of Denmark's famous soliloquy mirrors of Crowley's method of temptation, wherein the demon simply reminds him that he has a choice and that, even as an angel, he can find ways to express his agency.

[aziraphales-library]

Do you have any fics that are AU's of Shakespearean shows? I'd be especially interested in anything related to Much Ado About Nothing, I feel like that one fits them well.

We have a #shakespeare tag you may be interested in. Here are a few inspired by Much Ado About Nothings, and a bonus Romeo & Juliet AU...

i will live in thy heart by appomattox (T)

“No,” Anathema said confidently. “No, they’re in love and too stupid to realize the other one feels the same way. We have to do something about it.” A Much Ado About Nothing fusion, sort of.

Hey nonny, nonny by Joseph_Amadeus (M)

Much Ado about Nothing + Good Omens written for the GO romcom event.

Cause what is simple in the moonlight by the morning never is by space_ally (G)

The demon was in love with the angel and vice versa. But why? Much Ado About Nothing inspired.

Some Ado About Much, Or: C'mon! We Can Play Enforcing Tropes! by edna_blackadder (G)

The Them, with help from Anathema and Newt, take a cue from Shakespeare in order to nudge an oblivious angel and demon into noticing they’ve fallen in love with each other. (Because, like Dogberry, I am an ass.)

There's a Place for Us by MissUnderstoodLyrics (E)

“So, I sparked your interest, did I?” and Crowley moved even closer, backing Ezra up against the brick wall of the alley. Ezra didn't feel threatened by this; if anything, he felt … aroused. “Yes,” he said softly and honestly, looking into Crowley's eyes. “You definitely caught my attention.” In 1845 London, Crowley and Aziraphale are heirs to the city's two most powerful families, who are entrenched in an enduring feud. Each possesses invaluable gifts—Crowley, the art of manipulation, and Aziraphale, expertise in decryption and infiltration. Trained as spies and indoctrinated to despise each other since birth, they are tasked with uncovering a shared secret, forced to work together to satisfy their respective families. As their covert missions unfold, an unexpected, passionate connection sparks, and they find themselves falling fast for each other - but it's a love neither family will abide ... A Good Omens Human AU

- Mod D

[vidavalor]

A thought just popped into my head: What if Good Omens was set with Shakespearean language?

Would be quite beautiful! You've given me reason to mention a little suspicion about Aziraphale & Romeo & Juliet that I've had for a little while. Remember when we learned that one of the most romantic lines in all of Shakespeare was actually some of Crowley's love poetry?

As we know, this line winds up in Antony & Cleopatra, which was first performed around 1607, about six years after this scene. The first performance of Romeo & Juliet, though, is thought to have been in 1597, about four years prior to the Globe Theatre scene in GO.

In S2, there are some allusions to Romeo & Juliet in ways that might suggest that Aziraphale wrote part of Romeo & Juliet for Crowley-- specifically, the 'a rose by any other name' bit of Juliet's dialogue. Do we think they've been doing this in other plays and songs throughout history?

[knifeforkspooncup]

Crowley absolutely guffawed at Shakespearean comedies the way your dad probably guffaws at old Bill Murray or Will Farell movies. Knee slapping and all.

[ripeteeth]

Self-rec time! What are your favorite five fics that you've written and why? After replying to this ask, feel free to pass on to five other writers to spread the love. 💗"

Thanks, @danpuff-ao3! You’re always a treat to see on the dash and I hope you’ve been having a lovely break <3.

I’m always a bit awkward with these, both from an itching sort of discomfort with staring my own artwork in the face, and I think from a lifetime habit of denying compliments out of a feeling of guilt or fear. So! I’ve had a glass of wine (and an edible) and I’m going to try to kinder to myself. I might be in the mood to talk right now. (Honestly, that’s a good sign. One of the big elements of my recent writer’s block has been an inability to express myself in any written way, even tumblr posts and comments. Maybe this is why I hit twitter so hard.)

My five favorite fics. Not my five best fics. Not my five most popular fics. My favorites. Hmm.

5. blood, bones, and butter | MDZS/The Untamed] SongXueXiao | E, 12,443

“A relationship, deconstructed. Served three ways.”

Ah, Yi City, that deliciously painful Shakespearean tragedy echoing Wangxian’s romance. The specific notes of obsession, revenge, love, and grief that run through these three make me completely unhinged. I love the quiet service and stoic devotion of Song Lan, the otherworldliness and power of Xiao Xingchen, the unchecked brilliance and cruelty that fill up Xue Yang. The Yi City fandom is easily one of the most incredible fandoms I’ve ever been a part of, full of uniquely talented and deranged writers and artists who love to really explore the dark edges and nitty-gritty of these character and let them be their fucked-up selves. The appeal of SongXueXiao isn’t to make it better for them, it’s to see how much you can make it worse.

It’s two pretty classic tropes: a first time after meeting at a bar, and also a story told from alternating POVs. I really wanted to focus on trying to carve out distinctive interiorities, like their motivations, their assumptions, their fears, their memories, and allow the reader to draw their own conclusions without spelling these all out outright. I’d recently rewatched Rashomon, and I love how the understanding of an event can be so differently shaped by each person’s POV and I wanted to show their first night together in that way, moving the lens over the night a few times, before it gets clear. It was a really fun process to focus on and I think it’s one of my best pieces of recent writing.

4. in search of the wind | Good Omens | Crowley/Aziraphale | E, 27,112

After the World Doesn't End, Aziraphale is not returned to his body. Crowley tries to find a way to get to Heaven's fast-shut gates. Aziraphale tries to find his way back from the sky (and back in time).

I remember writing this almost immediately after the show aired, in that heady summer of 2019, when I feel head over sweaty heels for that charming demon and his delicious epicure of an angel. This is essentially how I saw canon going on, this is the headcanon of my soul. Maybe that’s why I haven’t seen season 2 yet? It was a pleasure to write, almost like knitting together different scenes, different pieces of history, like an extended version of the s1s3 cold open. It’s Aziraphale without a body, unmoored in time, turning up at different points along his and Crowley’s history, and realizing that his friend is in love with him. That his friend is heartrendingly in love with him. I love stories that play with structure, striking different chords each time.

I couldn’t write this kind of story again. This belongs to a very specific time.

3. White Light, White Heat | Harry Potter | Snape/Harry | E, 32,107

“In 1347, Benedictine monk and scholar Severus Snape goes to fetch a young man joining the abbey. In 1347, rumors come of a strange and unrelenting plague from the east.”

An AU set in a fourteenth-century Benedictine monastery in Britain during the period of the Black Death where the two men develop a bond through a special sort of crucible. Snape, as always, falls in love with all the grace of a cat being given a bath. As dark as the material is, this was a pleasure to write. I had so much fun describing the setting, peppering fun little facts like a Pop Up Video of Medieval History. I wrote this in a fever-fueled three weeks, absolutely obsessed with getting it down exactly as it was in my head. I loved writing the monster theme and using it as almost a leitmotif for Snape. There’s probably a literary term for that. Is there? Anyway.

2. the body as anagram | The Terror | Crozier/Fitzjames, Crozier/Ross] | E, 3090

“In the dark, it doesn't matter which James is in his bed. As long as Ross doesn't speak, the illusion holds true.”

I took the title from a passage on J.G. Ballard’s Crash by Baudrillard in Simulacra and Simulation: “Technology is never grasped except in the (automobile) accident, that is to say in the violence done to technology itself and in the violence done to the body. It is the same: any shock, any blow, any impact, all the metallurgy of the accident can be read in the semiurgy of the body — neither an anatomy nor a physiology, but a semiurgy of contusions, scars, mutilations, wounds that are so many new sexual organs opened on the body. In this way, gathering the body as labor in the order of production is opposed to the dispersion of the body as anagram in the order of mutilation.”

There’s something a bit haunting about the parallels of the two men who held the intimacy of Francis Crozier’s friendship. The name. The confidence. The bravery. The charming manner and handsome face. I love the idea of a Francis who sails out pining for one man and returns home loving another, switching between true love and placeholder. And I’m notoriously a slut for both proxyfucking and Gremlin!Francis, who just can’t stop pressing on the wound of his grief. It’s not the drink but it may as well be, for all this is good for either he or Ross, but Francis is a fool in love with a dead man and he does what he does to get by.

Something about this came together, from concept to finish, in a way I’m quite happy with. It was fun to play with concepts and free associate from them, focusing less on plot, but more on the vast empty grief in Francis’ chest. Everyone here knows this is a bad idea. No one is having a good time.

1. Revachol Calling | Disco Elysium | Karry/Kim | E, 35,321 [WIP]

“Somewhere in Jamrock, a church burns. A study in Kim Kitsuragi.”

Sometimes you just feel the next part of the story in your bones. When I first played Disco Elysium in 2021 it hit me in an incredibly familiar, emotional way. There’s something somber and hopeful about it. The writing is sardonic, dark and humorous. It’s nearly cynical but it’s cynical with a sad old smile, because cynicism is born through disappointment, and through not quite being ready to give up. I think we can all find ourselves in it, in one way or another and, like many, I’m hopelessly in love with Kim Kitsuragi, a wild creature who’s built himself within thousands of rules. I can’t play the game without craving his side of the story, his interiority, his history, so I grab at the little crystals of information, such as his secret love of Speedfreaks FM and his past with Eyes, and I try to imagine it might go. This is my sequel to the game and, more than anything, this is my love song to Revachol, a character of a city, and one that echoes vastly in all those of post-Communist country and family.

For some reason, this fic is extremely visual for me and usually in a Wong Kar-Wai sort of fashion. Think the saturated aquamarines of a neon diner sign. Think a studio apartment with cheap wallpaper and the yellow-orange flicker of sodium lights. It comes alive at night, when Kim is left alone with his thoughts, running out of rules to keep him safely in. I love that Disco Elysium has such a vast world to explore. It’s an endless playbox.

And this is also, in a way, a bit of an elegy to a belief I’d once held in a motherland, and do not anymore.

I’m almost done with Chapter 8, so hopefully it will be up soon <3

Tagging! @jaggededges123 @soft-october-night @wildcard47 @rcmclachlan @brawlite @zaxal @pearwaldorf @kiingbooooo @darcylindbergh @et-in-arkadia @itsevidentvery @iodhadh @iamwestiec @mia-ugly @laurashapiro-noreally @pinehutch and anyone else who wishes to!

[mostlyblues]

In honour of his birthday, I'm going to rant about some of my favourite roles of the global treasure (yes, I'm promoting him from the ‘national’ status), David Tennant. Feel free to add your own.💙

Fourteen Doctor: This might seem like an odd choice to start with when there are popular choices like the Tenth Doctor and Crowley, but this character holds a very special place in my heart. I've been a fan of DT for about 6 years now and it started with Doctor Who. I love Ten but Fourteen is just more dear to me. Mostly because he made me excited again for one of my favourite TV shows. As a character, he has all the trademark qualities of the Doctor - the genius level intellect, endless compassion, and love for new adventures. But he is somehow more mature and softer, and I loved this development. Also, that blue coat and that (1) button - you know what I'm talking about.

Phileas Fogg: Such an underrated TV show. The chemistry of the trio, the adventures, the title sequence music - there's so much to love about this. And Fogg is such a real character. So far from perfect, this man will often appear as aloof, vain, self-absorbed and even a coward. But I think Phileas is one of the best roles ever played by Tennant. Yes, he's flawed but he's also intelligent, so incredibly kind, and yes, even brave. If you haven't watched this show, I highly recommend it.

Alec Hardy: So different from most other charming roles of DT, Hardy is a sad wet cat. He's grumpy, not nice, and just really tired of the world (who can't relate though?). His reluctant friendship with Ellie is one of the best parts of the grim show. And the fanfic lover in me can't stop screaming about how whumpable he is.

Crowley: I was going for the top three kind of ranking but the thin dark duke slithered his way over. And how can you not love Anthony J. Crowley? From this pure delightful joy while creating stars and nebulae (I can't get over David's face and the happy noises he makes in this scene) to his reluctant and vast love for his Angel and the earth, Crowley is very easy to fall in love with (take notes, Aziraphale. I know you love him but please use your words. Crowley, at least, tried). 

I wanted to add more characters, especially the Shakespearean ones (I love Hamlet, but Benedick has my heart), but the list won't simply ever end then. So, I'm just going to say name all the ones I love and end it here - Simon Yates (There She Goes), Dave Tyler (Single Father), Campbell Bain (Takin' over the Asylum), Harry Watling aka The Sexy Vicar (Inside Man, this show was so freaking stressful but I loved David's character), every single Shakespearean character he ever played (even the ones I haven't or probably won't ever get the chance to see - cries in Macbeth), and, of course, Scrooge McDuck (DuckTales).

So, thank you DT for gifting the world with some of the best, most adorable, wholesome, gender-enviable characters to ever exist. (Except for the creeps, freaks, and ruthless murderers, which we kind of love as well). Happy Birthday! 💙

[spacelazarwolf]

“you should post more about being horny for david tennant” @decayed-foundations

oh my friend ask and u shall receive.

obligatory i respect david as a person and an actor and would never in my entire life say this to his face or in a place i think he would see it bc even though i love being horny for david tennant on the internet as i think most survivors of superwholock do i am not a fucking weirdo.

i have been utterly enamored with david tennant since i careened down the doctor who rabbit hole at the ripe young age of 14. i am not ashamed to say that this is the david tennant that took my adolescent brain by storm:

his absolutely unhinged portrayal of the doctor in doctor who lit a fire in my teenaged loins that is still burning to this day, never to be extinguished.

he was young, handsome, and eclectic and, being a young millennial in the 2000s, i was immediately hooked.

little did i know that as i aged, so too would he.

daddy? sorry. daddy? sorry. daddy? sorry. daddy? sorry.

i am kind of an idiot so i don’t really understand shakespearean english but i don’t need to know what’s going on to know that i immediately want to bone him.

in my fleabag era. i am a staunch supporter of interfaith relationships.

literally casanova like quite literally in the role of casanova.

are u fucking kidding me?????????

i want to do UNGODLY things to this man.

his entire performance as crowley? please put me out of my misery.

is he the stereotypical action hero guy that passed for hot these days? no. would i let him call me his hebrew slave? yes.