Jennifer's Shakespeare Blog: April 2011

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Time & Literature: The one and the same

Yesterday, it was mentioned several time that time is circular and I just wanted to comment on that briefly (well I hope that this turns out to be relatively brief). I think that time has to be circular. Last semester, I was in Sexson's Bible as Lit class and we talked about the Bible as being circular in the format of its stories and we have talked about circularity within Shakespeare. I am of the firm opinion that literature and life are imitations of each other, though I am not sure which one started the cycle. But I digress on that point. What I am trying to think about here is that because books, dramas, and anything that has literary value has cyclical patterns within it and how that relates to time. Shakespeare often tried to tackle the idea of time but I am not sure that anyone truly can as we cannot understand it fully within our minds let alone try and explain it to anyone else. So I am not going to try and explain myself as I think that I will confuse myself and anyone who has had the patience to read my ramblings thus far. I will just end with my opinion that time is circular because literature is circular and they are one and the same just one is written on paper and the other is written in the cosmos. Neither is ever original but just a replica of something that came before it. We know that this happens in literature; we just have a hard time understanding, proving, or even envisioning that our own life is a replica of some one's life that came before us.

Random thoughts that just needed to get out of my head

I have greatly enjoyed this class this semester. It has been one of the few things this semester that has not about driven me bonkers from stress, drama (not the good kind), and too much responsibility. I am going to try and keep this blog from getting too personal but please forgive me if I don't completely succeed because it is hard to talk about Shakespeare and his affects on the human soul without breaking the lock on your own. As one of the official note-takers, sometimes I do not have the time to absorb what is being said as I am trying to keep up with the next thought that someone is expressing. Yesterday, however, Sexson mentioned a few things that have resounded with the me since I left the classroom, as well as more than one of the wonderful presentations that I have been lucky enough to watch.
The first thing/idea that I want to address is that no one just gets their happy ending; they have to earn it. And that the fairy tale ending doesn't exist. I think this is so true. Just to give a little background, I have been in a off-and-on relationship for over 4 years and this is one of the things that has caused me to struggle this past semester. I have started to come to the realization that it isn't going to work no matter what we do because we haven't earned the right to our happy ending together and both of us probably won't earn this right for many years as we are only 21. Then yesterday it hit home that maybe I have found my happy ending, it just isn't the "fairy tale" happy ending that I thought I wanted. It is the hero's ending where I have let a part of myself die and then became reborn. The part of me that died is the part that refused to believe their is more than one way to end something happily. I think that this one of the things that WS wants to make everyone realize. Sometimes he does allow their to be a somewhat typical "fairy tale ending" but there is always some twist to it. No matter what we do life is not as perfect as the Disney fairy tales and by allowing ourselves to always strive for that ending, we stop ourselves from getting the true happy ending that we do deserve. Now I don't know if I deserve my happy ending yet, if I have earned it but I do know that I am closer to having it and to having the real one, not the one that only exists in fairy tales.

The next idea that was brought up yesterday (and will be on the Final Exam) was "The worst returns to laughter". I can't express how true I believe this to be. A recent example of this was my past weekend. It felt like everything that could go wrong did and I was to the point by Saturday evening that all I could do was laugh because otherwise I would have just cried. I am sure we have all had times where we have felt like that and as horrible as it feels as soon as the hysterical laughter starts to escape things seem to be better. Nothing has changed except our reaction to whatever is going on and it all depends on our reaction. Shakespeare shows us this through his characters. We can all look at something someone does and be like "What the heck?" and think a different reaction would make everything alright. But he does this on purpose! WS meant to manipulate us so it is like a mirror of our own lives, just as Fletcher said! This relates back to fairy tale endings. We can choose to react however we like but these reactions and actions will either bring closer to ending our happy ending or takes us farther away from it. There are so many examples of Shakespeare's characters who chose to go away from their happy ending because they reacted without thinking or because they didn't just laugh to make their story a comedy instead of a tragedy.

Here is a link to Joseph Campbell's A Hero with A Thousand Faces where I was able to get even more inspired in my realization that Disney fairy tales aren't reality. And that I am a hero with a 1000 faces, I just haven't figured out which face I want to wear so the world can see.
http://www.greenmanreview.com/book/book_campbell_hero.html

Presentations

I just want to say that if I spelled your name wrong or didn't get the gist of your presentation right, I'm sorry. But I thought that all the presentations were amazing and I am so glad that I got to experience and feel the way that all of you feel about Shakespeare and his effect on our lives even if I was only able to channel your thoughts while you were presenting. If I totally messed up and you would like me to edit under what I said about your presentation, please let me know and I definitely will. I will also be adding to this after class on Thursday and hopefully adding more links to people's papers as they post them. Have a great dead week/finals week!! Good luck on everything.
GROUP PRESENTATIONS

Titus & Adronis

1st tragedy: revenge play
Act 4 Scene 1 lines 1128-1191
Aaron=villian
Rapists: Chiron/Demetrius
Alive @ end: Lucius & Makus & Boy
based on Ovid's Metamorphosis
very gruesome
Best film version is by Julie Taymor

don't watch if you are squeamish

Much Ado About Nothing

takes place in Italy
Comic vs. tragic

happen simultaneously
indistinguishable: don't know whether to laugh or cry
McEacher quotes Frye

3/4 tragedy last part comedy
doesn't have a problem until Don Juan who is described as being a Bastard by Nature

3 Parts: Hammock of Time

1st part: afternoon/evening
2nd part: takes place in a week
3rd part: 24 hours
Most action in 1st and 3rd part

70% prose
Lies/Deceit

page 381 songs about "The Song"

Othello

Iago: Satan figure- Paradise Lost- Bloom
very black and white/ perfect and imperfect
put on as a western
Taylor = Bard/Balladeer

King Henry IV Part I

I will post the play that we wrote if anyone would like to be able to just read it that way

Measure for Measure

movie
title comes from the Sermon on the Mount
Pro Christianity
Frye

disguised rules, corrupt judge, bed trick

Coriolanus

coriolanus is a killing maching very disliked character
last tragedy
addresses democracy
put on as a comedy instead of as a tragedy

INDIVIDUAL PRESENTATIONS

Roberto: focused on Caliban, the Shadow from Yungian theory, Smedicoff. said that all of us have the Shadow within and that Shakespeare brought the shadow into literature
Jackie: love; infatuation vs. Jealousy; Romeo & Juliet shows infatuation while Othello shows Jealousy
Kenzie: focused on Venus & Adonis and how Shakespeare and Ovid differ. also discussed role reversal of the male/female
Ashley: Cordlia represents all Shakespearean femeninity (Sexson said we should all read her paper)

http://shake-a-spear473.blogspot.com/2011/04/final-paper.html

Nick: addressed the idea of identity and how it is broken down in Shakespeare. Recited a "Rant" that he had prepared. we all perform our identity.

http://nickaxlineshakespeare.blogspot.com/2011/04/paper-part-2.html

Rio: Ovid/Shakespeare; synodonis; character analysis
Jamie: myth-Shakespeare; rapped (which was awesome!) focused partly on As You Like It

http://jgarrisonshakespeare.blogspot.com/2011/04/mind-on-my-shakespeare-and-shakespeare.html

Tristan: rapped; focused on Caliban's Speech then incorporated parts of other plays. Really very good!!!

http://theadshake.blogspot.com/2011/04/final-paper-447-years-and-one-day-after.html

Anne: focused on the importance of sexual references and their purposes; also touched on the role of the woman

http://shakespearereflections.blogspot.com/2011/04/embracing-your-godhood-final-paper.html

Taylor: addressed how the 7 sins are present in Shakespeare and Ovid and how they vary in each author's work

http://taylorjensenshakespeare.blogspot.com/2011/04/mything-shakespeare-several-things-can.html

Amanda: Forbidden love is actually Skaespeare's Consuming Myth; evident in Romeo & Juliet and a Midsummer's Night Dream

http://amandasloveslabourslost.blogspot.com/2011/04/term-paper-mything-shakespeare.html

Fletcher: Bloom; mirror are we all crazy? literature parodies Sreal life love=drug- talked about influences from Budha & Samuel Beckett
Lisetter: Anthony & Cleo vs. Romeo & Juliet; same story just 40 year difference; A&C are just the adult version of R&J. went from being sheltered teens to dramatic adults

http://shakespeare-ithinkso.blogspot.com/2011/04/here-is-my-final-paper-for-those-of-you.html

Morgan: Ted Hughes: Consuming Myth Rape of Lucrisis- chastity and how it is mythological
Matt: Frye; focused on Nature, fool, and nothing; compared Othello, Antony, and King Lear

http://shakespearebloglit47.blogspot.com/2011/04/mything-point-my-paper.html

Cameron: Waking Life; focused on "To be or not to be"; Hart of Parllness; process of understanding; Hamlet; more complex than life or death

http://cmshakespeare.blogspot.com/

Lisa: Negative capability: veil of soul making Keats; Veil = farewell or false; (Sexson insertion: check out The Painted Veil (film) based on a book by Maughn which is based on a poem by Shelley)

It wasn't posted yet but I really recommend reading her paper as it sounded fabulous

Alex: Divine visitation; absence of this make dramas tragic, Venus and Adonis; Adonis' rejection of Venus causes his tragic fate

http://alex-sav.blogspot.com/2011/04/gods-must-be-crazy-final-paper.html

Melissa: Nature in King Lear: levels of nature; Frye influenced; stars purer than "this world"
Korin: disguises and the roles they play especially in MSND & AYLI; Ganymede; disguises provide enlightenment
Nathan: Yon Cots & Presence of Shakepeare; looked at the Tempest theoretically; New Historicism, Presentism, William Shakespeare bitter; history has power;
Becky: Poem; Cleo & WS one and the same

http://shakespeareandbecky.blogspot.com/2011/04/individual-presentation.html

Jon: Hamlet: self experience of mythology; prodigal son story
James: Prospero; no myth is original only Shakespeare style is original
Brian: all plays are related; Hamlet & King Henry IV Part 1; same plot basically; focused on "to be or not to be" & Caliban's speeches/asides; Bloom- W.S. center of Cannon
Rachel: Shakespeare=myth; revamps & makes his own; Coleridge Primary & Secondary Imagination, fancy; In the Tempest Prospero =William Shakespeare
Lauren S.: picture on blog; idea struck from Caliban=Posiden; myths related; Andronica/Perseus myth; Satus=Caliban; Tempest evolved myth of Andronica & Perseus; roles flip flopped; ppl forgot mythic identity/ parents & originals
Shelby: Bloom's invention of humans; aesthetic dignity; Keats' negative capability; beauty vs sublime; format of romantics; Edmund Burke negative pain; reach the sublime through the removal of pain; Pericles
Spencer: Cymbeline; final act & final scene focused on; hats; characters miss the entire point not just the myths; finally get the point after switching hats
Joe: Nothing; imagination over reality=power; realm of actual and realm of possibilities; basic myth; all participate because we all have imagination; live in both realms
Lauren T: language; immortalize/romantic sonnets; Othello not beautiful wording; Iago ultimate Tarquinn; pen didn't outweigh the sword; Richard White
Jenny: Sang Band Perry If I Die Young; Pearl and its importance
Rilee: Iago; Promethesus; Hesien; Bloom; Amelia-Pandora; fire put out
Craig: screen play act 4 of Cymbeline; 4 scenes imagery is great; Silence is where a lot of the important things happen because can be changed without compromising the integrity of WS work

Sexson's Summary

Check out Amanda's blog about opinions on individual projects
Check out Shelby's blog about opinions on group projects
search for lost time
The Ideas of Order Wallace Stevens
The Primitive like an Orb Wallace Stevens
"Life is not a problem to be solved but mystery to be experienced"

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Final Paper

Mything Caliban: The Lost Greek God

During this semester there has been quite a bit of discussion pertaining to what aspects of Shakespeare’s multitude of works are the most important. Well, I think that I have found it! Greek mythology has always interested me as the gods represent the elements of the Earth, the hopes, and the dreams of human beings. The gods are conversely also an expression of human beings’ failures, fears, and darkest subconscious desires. The Greek gods show us what we strive to be and what we fear we see in ourselves. Throughout this semester, I was always looking for the gods in every Shakespeare play that I read or that was discussed in class. If I looked hard enough, I could always find the gods manifesting themselves in multiple ways in each and every poem, play, and even every act of each play. I especially found the gods evident in The Tempest, overtly and subtly.

Within the pages of The Tempest, it could be said that the character of Prospero is the most interesting, dynamic, and mythological but I disagree. There is one other character who when looked upon with the background of Greek mythology outstrips Prospero in being a dynamic figure in regards to being mythological. This character is lowest of the low, the slave and scum of the Earth. This character is Caliban, Prospero’s slave. Even with my first reading of this play, I was intrigued by him mainly because of how he revolted me with his attempted rape, his vile attitude, and his thirst for violence and revenge. But then a pattern arose in which he was paired with the element, water. As I explored his connection to this element, my admiration for this half-fish man grew dramatically. Caliban is such a wonderfully vibrant and fluid character that creates part of the elemental component of The Tempest. But that is not the main reason that Caliban interests me. His greatest draw is that he is a reincarnation of the great god Poseidon or Neptune. The Romans referred to the God of the Seas as Neptune while the Greeks named him Poseidon. Whichever name is used to designate him, this god is violent, revengeful, eloquent, and amazingly complex. Within the context of this paper, referencing either Poseidon or Neptune automatically symbolizes them as a unified entity.

Once the similarities between Caliban and Poseidon started to appear, they just seemed to never end. Obviously I will not have time to explore all of these similarities with as much depth as they deserve but the relationship between the two should become blazingly apparent. Earth is the first characteristic that these two men share, if one can call either one of them a man. Poseidon is not one of the Gods of the Earth but he does have dominion over the Earth. One of his most common names is “Earth-Shaker” (Chaline 50). Caliban likewise does not have dominion over the Earth but he is often found working more with the Earth and is considered to be more elemental than any other character in The Tempest. An example of this is shown by his knowledge of the Earth; “I’ll show thee the best springs; I’ll pluck thee berries; I’ll fish for thee, and get thee wood enough” (III.I.157-158). Shakespeare makes Caliban’s knowledge of the Earth a form of power that can alter it as Poseidon is able to do, even though it is on a much smaller scale.

The relationship that Poseidon possesses with the Earth is complicated, to say the very least. He is not only brother to the Earth Goddess, Demeter, but also her lover or rapist (Chaline 50). Having been rejected by the goddess, Poseidon was only able to have sexual intercourse with Demeter through subterfuge which led to his rape of her. There are many facets of this legend that complete the circle to Caliban. These factors include rape, taking the form of an animal, and intercourse with a sister. Poseidon is well known for being a god who often raped the women he wished to have intercourse with instead of trying to seduce them as his older brother, Zeus, was known for having prowess at.

Rape is considered to be a social faux pas as well as a crime to the modern reader but if one goes by the standards set by the actions of Poseidon and Caliban, it would be considered socially acceptable moral conduct. There are many different accounts of Poseidon raping his sexual partners. There is just one account of Caliban’s attempt to perform this act but once is enough to confirm the similarities. Caliban tried “seek to violate/The honor of my [Prospero’s] child” (I.II.347-348). Not only did he try to rape a child but he tried to rape the girl who had been raised side-by-side with him so far as to the extent that one could consider them to have a brother and sister relationship. Prospero even went so far as to “lodged thee [Caliban] in mine own cell” and Miranda taught him as one would a younger brother (I.II.346-347). She “took pains to make thee [Caliban] speak, taught thee each hour One thing or other” (I.II.353-355). The protective big-sister feeling that Mrianda, Prospero’s daughter, had felt for Caliban was severed by his actions. From that point on, Caliban would never be more to her than a vile slave.

The final similarity that arises from this particular story of Poseidon’s attempt to woo Demeter is that in order to complete his rape of her, he had to transfigure himself into the shape of a horse. Poseidon is one Greek god in particular who liked to change his shape into various animals which include the shapes of horses and dolphins in particular. Caliban did not have the power to transform himself into an animal but that was not necessary because he already possessed animal-like qualities. Caliban was recorded to “smell like a fish…[be] legged like a man and his fins like arms” and so shares the dilemma of not being completely human or completely animal with his Greek counterpart (II.II.25-33).

Not only does this particular Greek god and Shakespeare’s Caliban share physical characteristics and actions but also thoughts, feeling, and emotions. Both are portrayed to be revengeful, violent, and moody. There are many various examples of this violence in the quest for revenge within the myths that surround Poseidon but the most significant one is of his actions towards Ulysses, a famous Greek mythological hero. Ulysses had stabbed out one of Poseidon’s sons in the eye and blinded him. To seek revenge, Poseidon tried to brutally kill him on multiple occasions. One of these occasions he tried to drowned him, tried to batter him against rocks, and then tried to have various monsters eat him (Martin 312). Luckily for the Greek hero none of these actions worked in ending his life, just as lucky for Prospero, Caliban’s quest for revenge failed. The final step in Caliban’s quest was to end Prospero’s life by trying to “knock a nail into his head” (III.II.61). There are just a couple of the many examples of both creatures’ violent natures. Within the realm of their violent tendencies, they possess capricious spectrum of emotions. Each often jumped from anger to ecstasy and then back again to anger. Moments after wanting to drive a nail into Prospero’s head, Caliban is “full of pleasure” as he drinks with his friends (III.II.115). Poseidon would often change his emotions and allegiances on the flash of a second, depending on what would benefit him the most.

The list of similarities between the Shakespearean character Caliban and the Greek god Poseidon could go on for much longer but it is not necessary to list these as their symbiotic relationship is apparent. Caliban is a proto-type that has been molded in the image of the great Sea God. Shakespeare must have intended to create this relationship as the similarities are too starkly apparent to be an accidental occurrence. It is also to be considered unquestionable that Shakespeare integrated not only Poseidon into his works of literature but various other mythological characters, Greek or otherwise. However, Poseidon has always struck me as the most interesting because in the stories of him one is never sure if he is the going to behave as the “bad” or “good” guy. The same holds true with Caliban, which makes him a far more interesting character to inspect on a deeper level than any of the other characters within The Tempest and maybe within all of Shakespeare’s other works.

Works Cited

Chaline, Eric. The Book of Gods & Goddesses. New York, NY: Harper Collins, 2004. Print.

Martin, Richard P. Myths of the Ancient Greeks. London, England: New American Library, April 2003. Print

Shakespeare, William. The Tempest. New York, NY: Penguin Books, 2002. Print

Sunday, April 10, 2011

EXAM 2: Study Guide

What obsessive question does Prospero ask Ariel many times?

What time is it?

How many times does Prospero say "Now"?

79 times

What game are Miranda & Ferdinand playing when Prospero pulls back the curtain?

Chess

What chore do both Ferdinand and Caliban have to do?

Haul wood

Where does Prospero get his power from?

His Books

What are the three parts of having a sacramental sense of reality?

doing, seeing, & speaking

What type of character is not associated with Prospero?

A Hobbit

What is Caliban's moms name associated with?

Sow/Boar

What is curious about Antony & Cleopatra?

They are never on the stage together alone

What is WS consuming myth in his last four plays?

Persephone & Demeter (Mother & Daughter) myth

Why is the relationship between the handkerchief with the cow slip on it and the Ariel's bed important?

It shows that everything is an echo

Who was the most important female magician?

Paulina from the Winter's Tale

What does Paulina do to awaken Hermione?

Plays music

Where does MSU's motto come from?

Gerrard Manly Hopkins No Worst There Is None

What killed Cleopatra?

An Asp

What/Whom always shows up in romances?

Pirates

What word is most used in The Winter's Tale?

Issue

When Antony references Shirt of Nesseus, who is he meaning?

Hercules & Shirt of Flame

Why were Sebastian and Alonzo not worried about drowning?

Because Gonzalo know that the ship captain had the hanging mark on him and not the drowning mark

What is the most famous stage direction?

Exit pursued by bear (The Winter's Tale)

What did Imogen change her name to?

Fidel

Who did the little boy mean when he mentioned the person who hangs around the churchyard?

Leontes

What three words does Frye say is the most important 3 words from King Lear?

nature, fool, & nothing

Who offends Lear most with her/his answer?

Cordelia

Lady Gaga reminds of what unconscious collective?

vat of cottage cheese

"If thou will weep my fortune, _____ ______ ______."

take mine eyes

What is the most protracted scene of recognition play?

Pericles (father & daughter reunion)

"What seest thou else in the dark backward and abysm of time"
What play has a Scooby-Doo ending where all villains are revealed?

Cymbeline

What happens o Gwedarias just before his identity is revealed?

He is exiled by Cymbeline

What are the three parts of the White Goddess that are portrayed by Paulina, Hermion,e & Perdita?

Maiden, Mother, Crone

What was the answer to the riddle in Act 1 of Pericles?

incest

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Class Notes April 5, 2011

Have your thesis/theories for your paper blogged by next Thursday
Jon Orsis blog

http://icriedtodreamagain.blogspot.com/2011_04_01_archive.html

Redemption/Regeneration
The Tempest

There is no storm- it is all in the imagination
WS shifts focus to mechanism to discover art

Prospero

oppressive; aggressive
real time- operates in the now- no time shifts
he is very obsessed with time and often asks about the time
screen writer, director, actor, father, mage, schoolteacher, imperialist, etc...

play many different parts with the confines of the play

Caliban

freedom fighter???

Some Themes discussed

the issue of colonization
exploration
slavery to imperialistic power

Last play written by WS by himself
Ancient mystery religious initiation: Eleusinian

"mystery play" not miracle plays
open to anyone
transforms lives
mustace=mystery
parts of ritual

saying things, doing things, seeing things: changes lives
how we all live but we have this in chaos in our own lives
ritual=domanon=drama

held by cult of Demeter/Sere & Persephone
more info about the ceremonies

http://www.pantheon.org/articles/e/eleusinian_mysteries.html

sacrament=sacred=marriages

Miranda= wonder

"bimbo" (Sexson's word!)
innocence

Time???

Prospero controls entire play as if putting on his own play within the play
uses the word "now" 79x

Alegory

Prospero
all characters have baggage

Elements

Ariel: Fire/Air
Caliban: Water/Earth

Mage

magician figure
Prospero

alchemist

memory/memory theater

Elevated Speech about time

PROSPERO
Thou hadst, and more, Miranda. But how is it
That this lives in thy mind? What seest thou else
In the dark backward and abysm of time?
If thou remember'st aught ere thou camest here,
How thou camest here thou mayst

Sorcerer (Cave art)

Prospero

1/2 animal 1/2 human

thought to be musician, posture, or shaman in animal skin
brings up idea of nature vs nurture

aggressive= power

"Shakespeare's Mystery Play: A study of the Tempest" Colin Still

referenced in Frye's book
discusses religious initiation, redemption, forgiveness

themes found in the Tempest
Demeter/Persephone & mother/daughter

Memory Magas: remember mythological self

5 attends turn into 9 muses when taken into the mythological memory

Tempest

recaptures history from paleolithic to present

not sure if he succeeds but closest attempt ever if he doesn't

recaptures last 14 plays

Shakespeare's Caliban

Vaughan & Vaughan
f

Caliban

cannibal

Montana's essays (what came up when googled this)

http://www.freeessays.cc/db/18/exw236.shtml
historical level-New World

Sycorax

female magic
male steals female?
caliban's mom
sow-female counterpart to boar
Sow Goddess

Celtic mythology
attack of the boar doesn't actually happen

T.S. Elliot Wasteland

references a lot

especially Ariel's song
Come unto these yellow sands,
And then take hands:
Curtsied when you have, and kiss'd
The wild waves whist,
Foot it featly here and there;
And, sweet sprites, the burthen bear.
Hark, hark!
Bow-wow.
The watch-dogs bark.
Bow-wow.
Hark, hark! I hear
The strain of strutting chanticleer
Cry, Cock-a-diddle-dow.
Full fathom five thy father lies;
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes:
Nothing of him that doth fade,
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.
Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell:
Ding-dong.
Hark! now I hear them—Ding-dong, bell

Wood

both Ferdinand and Caliban had to carry
wood=woo-ed

both tried to woo her in their own way
interesting twist on how WS uses this theme that appeared in MSND

Prospero=Bottom

wants to play all
symbolizes WS by having to play all/direct all
inventing puppets and playing the parts as well

Anead Virgil

Queen Dido
back story needed to understand references made
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dido_(Queen_of_Carthage)

Alcohol

alludes to how alcohol (fire whiskey) was given to natives when imperialistic powers to over areas
exhibited by the fools getting Caliban drunk

Class Notes March 31, 2011

Check out!

Roberto's Blog on Turner

http://cattaneostudiesshakespeare.blogspot.com/2011/03/fredrick-turner-and-book-of-acts.html

Jennifer's Sonnet

http://thebardandme.wordpress.com/2011/03/31/sonnet/

Amanda's blog on Antony & Cleopatra

The Winter's Tale

more distance during recognition scenes than seen previously
Romantic Diagram

Beginning: Everything is fin
Middle: Something breaks the circle
End: Restored wholeness but not completely what it was
More info that can help explain more is by Frye

http://edweb.tusd.k12.az.us/dherring/ap/consider/frye/indexsummer.htm

Purified through suffering is a theme
White Goddess=Persephone=3x (Maiden, Mother, Crone)
Leontes=boar

pisssy (Sexson's own word!)
like Othello except he doesn't need Iago to make him pissy

he is his own worst enemy

Great Nothing Speech

similar to King Lear's & one in Much Ado
page 699 line 282
LEONTES
Is whispering nothing?
Is leaning cheek to cheek? is meeting noses?
Kissing with inside lip? stopping the career
Of laughing with a sigh?--a note infallible
Of breaking honesty--horsing foot on foot?
Skulking in corners? wishing clocks more swift?
Hours, minutes? noon, midnight? and all eyes
Blind with the pin and web but theirs, theirs only,
That would unseen be wicked? is this nothing?
Why, then the world and all that's in't is nothing;
The covering sky is nothing; Bohemia nothing;
My wife is nothing; nor nothing have these nothings,
If this be nothing.

Issue

word most often used word in the play
means something comes forth
usually offspring

Cere=Demeter

all ceremonies are in honor of Demeter

Leontes

little boy's story
he is the man who dwells by churchyard
shows how everything Shakespeare writes is relevant

What do these characters share?

Imogen (Cymbeline)
Marina (Pericles)
Miranda (Tempest)
Perdita (Winter's Tale)

fool=tricksters??

autolycus= fool

Act of Remembrance- remembering self

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Class Notes March 29, 2011

Blog about theories for paper

Bloom: not romances/histories/tragedies/comedies...Shakespeare transcends genres
families separated then captured by pirates then united by improbable means

Comedy of Errors

Flying Karamatza Brothers

VERY FUNNY

Cymbeline & Winters Tale

experiments with reunions

Titus & Adronidus & Pericles

best on stage
better to watch than read

Pericles

dumb show=silent
Helicauus-parts of fool
Gower-chorus
Marina model of Miranda
Psyche & Cupid - same story
Dudley Do-Right and Bo Winkle likened to Helicanus
Music is great healer

Merchant of Venice music lust scenes

basket: Moses & Superman
Sophia

myth
dropped into this world
Ophelia surrounded by flowers
Perdita
Ashley's blog with more details

http://shake-a-spear473.blogspot.com/2011/03/pericles-and-gnostic-myth-of-sophia-as.html

transforms them: Marina

Spring of Year

changing myths
mother & daughter myth

daughter thought to be dead

Persephone & Demeter

consuming myth until the end of his life

how things must die to truly live

Gospel of John
Brothers Pericles

Shakespeare's Mystery Plays

Myths of mom & daughter
http://www.britannica.com/shakespeare/article-9054573

Pericles

Act 5 Scene 1 Lines 189

"Thou that beget'st him that did thee beget"
born again through his own daughter

Diana at Ephesus

page 638

Class Notes March 22, 2011

Blog about: What in the last plays of Shakespeare have to do with mythology?
Project criteria

Fun
Educate
20 minutes

Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer

about mnemonics
technique not intelligence

Individual presentations

3-4 minutes
Tell about what people need to know about Shakespeare/paper
don't just read paper
3-4 page minimum

Read:

Alex Blog about A &C

http://alex-sav.blogspot.com/2011/03/antony-and-cleopatra-in-all-capital.html

Lisette's Blog about A &C

http://shakespeare-ithinkso.blogspot.com/2011/03/antony-and-cleopatra.html

A & C

Time of Christ approximately

Cymbeline

Shakespearean tokens

rings
bracelets

Bed Trick

very horrific

Relates to Venus & Adonis

page 657
flower
Tarquin

relates himself to a rapist

watched clips

Class notes March 10, 2011

Bookworms

by Laura Ferman
example of how Shakespeare still relates to today
story of how a son compares mother to King Lear

A & C

Cleopatra

very "me-driven"
egotistical
goal: be remembered
needs an audience
historical realm

multiple plays within

literal interpretation of the "worlds a play..." (Midsummer's Night Dream)

Shirt of Nessus

apotheosis

rewent over notes and points from March 3rd

Class Notes March 8, 2011

Gretchen Minton Guest Speaker!!

discussed level of mythology page 1664 Midsummer's Night Dream
continuation of Julius Caesar
looked at map/handout that Dr. Minton gave us
Scene 1

one of the greatest scenes in Shakespeare
presence of rumor/report
lots of messages
common liar/gossiper line 60

stuff said in Rome appears to be true

Cleopatra & Antony never alone!!
No soliloquy; no perceived transparency as there is in Hamlet
Only C & A 's perspectives and actions through others perspectives

play about perspectives
everything is debatable

Act 2 Scene 3 Line 198

most famous part of A & C

presented as truth
but really just another perspective
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS
I will tell you.
The barge she sat in, like a burnish'd throne,
Burn'd on the water: the poop was beaten gold;
Purple the sails, and so perfumed that
The winds were love-sick with them; the oars were silver,
Which to the tune of flutes kept stroke, and made
The water which they beat to follow faster,
As amorous of their strokes. For her own person,
It beggar'd all description: she did lie
In her pavilion--cloth-of-gold of tissue--
O'er-picturing that Venus where we see
The fancy outwork nature: on each side her
Stood pretty dimpled boys, like smiling Cupids,
With divers-colour'd fans, whose wind did seem
To glow the delicate cheeks which they did cool,
And what they undid did.
AGRIPPA
O, rare for Antony!
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS
Her gentlewomen, like the Nereides,
So many mermaids, tended her i' the eyes,
And made their bends adornings: at the helm
A seeming mermaid steers: the silken tackle
Swell with the touches of those flower-soft hands,
That yarely frame the office. From the barge
A strange invisible perfume hits the sense
Of the adjacent wharfs. The city cast
Her people out upon her; and Antony,
Enthroned i' the market-place, did sit alone,
Whistling to the air; which, but for vacancy,
Had gone to gaze on Cleopatra too,
And made a gap in nature

Dichotomies

Rome

Order/Reason
Democracy/Republic
masculine
statues

cold, hard

Anthony=Mars

Egypt

Passion
Dictatorship
feminine
pillow

soft, plushy

Cleo=Venus

metaphors

of food/drink=consumption

Plutarch

Greek writer/philosopher
tells of lives of noble Greeks & Romans

sets up and collapses dichotomies
natural world

constantly in danger of dissolving

Create imaginative space Act 1 Scene 1 line 17

new heaven, new earth.
Revelations

Identity

Asks who am I with everything breaking down?

It is what it is
MARK ANTONY
It is shaped, sir, like itself; and it is as broad
as it hath breadth: it is just so high as it is,
and moves with its own organs: it lives by that
which nourisheth it; and the elements once out of
it, it transmigrates.

Montaine

French philosopher
16th century
no fixed identity
"becoming" used in the play alot

evolving
suitable
both are the meaning in the play

Antony

identity

constantly changing and being questioned
It is reported thou didst eat strange flesh,
Which some did die to look on (Act 1 Scene 4 Line 67)

no longer young

fighting the image reflected in the mirror
nostalgia for past throughout play
Act 3 Scene 13 Line 140

look, thou say
He makes me angry with him; for he seems
Proud and disdainful, harping on what I am,
Not what he knew I was

Cleopatra

identity

embraces lack of identity
Act 2 Scene 2 Line 216

Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale
Her infinite variety: other women cloy
The appetites they feed: but she makes hungry
Where most she satisfies; for vilest things
Become themselves in her: that the holy priests
Bless her when she is riggish

she is always changing
not on stage a lot which makes others want her more
absence increase desire

always play acting

foregrounding drama
hard to tell if people are genuine

Is this a farce because no one has a set identity?

bathos

effect of anticlimax
Act 1 Scene 2 Line 155

If there were
no more women but Fulvia, then had you indeed a cut,
and the case to be lamented: this grief is crowned
with consolation; your old smock brings forth a new
petticoat: and indeed the tears live in an onion
that should water this sorrow

coming out of an anticlimax then builds back up to new climax
crash down and build up
rhetoric transparency

History

Act 3 Scene 13 Line 41

And earns a place i' the story

all concerned about story in future
control
monument
Cleo want to control versions of herself for present & future

Paper Thesis

I have wracking my brains all last week and this weekend about what to do my paper/presentation on for this class. I felt like I was drowning in a sea of possibilities of what could be interesting within the works of Shakespeare! these was also the pressure of feeling how can I possibly do anything that would do justice to his great work. So I decided to help me come to my theory I would just start rereading the plays until an amazing idea came to me. Well the idea came. I am not sure if it will turn out to be amazing but it does interest me so what more can I ask for from an individual thought? I am going to write about how the four elements are personified by individual characters in Antony and Cleopatra. As I was reading this play late into the night last night, I kept noticing how certain people were compared (not sure if that is exactly the right word I want but it will work for now) to water, fire, and wind. Looking even more closely I could find parts of the last element in the play as well. I want to explore why WS chose to use this theme more explicitly in this work than other. I guess that is a bit of a blanket statement since I mot definitely have not read all of his works but in the ones that I have read I have not seen this theme so blatantly obvious. Well I have to start studying for my Stats exam (YUCK) but hopefully I will be adding to this blog more and more as my thesis progresses into something that hopefully makes sense!

Part 2 of Theories for Project/Paper

In class on Tuesday, Professor Sexson directed me to the elements that are apparent in The Tempest. After much pondering, I found that all elements are essential in all Shakespearean plays but there is no way to adequately discusses all of them in a 1000 pages book let alone a project for an undergraduate. I have decided to focus on The Tempest and the elements specifically Earth & Water. Within Greek mythology, these elements are represented by Demeter/Cere & Poseidon. I have been reading more and more about these two individuals and finding that Caliban, who Prof. Sexson said represents them, has many of their traits. These traits are both good and bad from each of the gods. Exploring how Shakespeare managed to combine the personalities of such figures into an individual character is quite astonishing.
On Tues, it was also mentioned that Shakespeare tried to recapture the history of the world within the Tempest and how better to do that then to combine the two most basic elements? What can possibly be older than the earth and water, the most predominant aspects of our world? If you follow along these lines, it is Caliban, not Prospero, that encompasses everything. Prospero is all human aspects of life but it is Caliban that truly represents that mythology that is present in the Tempest. Both Poseidon & Demeter are very elemental (excuse the pun) in their actions throughout mythology. Demeter is one of the few gods that feels sorrow because of separation (Caliban's sadness about his mother's death) and Poseidon is often recorded for rape (Caliban trying to rape Miranda) Can anyone else start to see the similarities?

Jennifer's Shakespeare Blog