William Shakespeare loved motorcycles and the Sons of Anarchy

By Alexander M. Walker "Knows Things, Great Things" (Chicago, IL USA)

By fact, we of course mean lie - but it's still fun. But it's also the best explanation for the creation of Sons of Anarchy, a seamless blend of Hamlet and biker gangs. Shakespeare's stories have been recreated and re-imagined so many times that the average piece of television or film crosses paths with a Shakespearian influence at least once or twice in its duration. With that said, an entire series twisting one of Shakespeare's great tragedies into a story about family conflict within a motorcycle club is a thing of genius.

Even if you know nothing of motorcycle clubs (i.e. Hell's Angels, etc.), within moments Sons of Anarchy educates you on the twisted and incestuous nature of their politics and take on family life. Clay Morrow (Ron Perlman) became the head of the Sons of Anarchy when John Teller, the father of Jackson `Jax' Teller's (Charlie Hunnam), passed away. Now Clay heads the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club, Redwood Original (SAMCRO) under the guise of the Teller-Morrow auto shop. On a typical day SAMCRO purchases stolen auto parts, beats back meth dealers and fights their main rivals `the Mayans', a rival MC. Sons of Anarchy defines its own borders first by the city limits of Charming, the location of the original Sons of Anarchy club, and then by the territories of affiliated and rival motorcycle gangs. The politics of SAMCRO don't just cease at the clubhouse door, the club's influence flows into the lives of its members and the surrounding community, where they're both loved and feared for their contributions and domineering viewpoints, respectively.

While typically a loyal soldier of the SOA, Jax has begun to stir pensively under the black-and-white viewpoints of Clay. The new perspective comes from the premature arrival of his son, the discovery of his dead father's unpublished manuscript and a sense of ethics that just doesn't seem to be popular in his crowd. Keeping Jackson committed to the SOA cause, his mother Gemma (Katey Sagal) pulls the strings of the club and community from behind the scenes. There's not a man or woman in Charming who hasn't felt her silent touch, and her position within the club gains new strength when she marries Clay. Again, it's all somewhat incestuous in that Shakespearian way.