PORTIA

If to do were as easy as to know what were good to
do, chapels had been churches and poor men’s
cottages princes’ palaces. It is a good divine that
follows his own instructions: I can easier teach
twenty what were good to be done, than be one of the
twenty to follow mine own teaching. The brain may
devise laws for the blood, but a hot temper leaps
o’er a cold decree: such a hare is madness the
youth, to skip o’er the meshes of good counsel the
cripple. But this reasoning is not in the fashion to
choose me a husband. O me, the word ‘choose!’ I may
neither choose whom I would nor refuse whom I
dislike; so is the will of a living daughter curbed
by the will of a dead father. Is it not hard,
Nerissa, that I cannot choose one nor refuse none?

Is Portia suggesting that she wants the responsibility of choosing a husband or is she rejecting the method in which her husband is to be chosen? The method being the will of her father contained within one of three chests. I pose the question because Portia seems to want to reject her father’s will but out of respect, honor and ritual she must abide by it.

Hey guys!  The link:

http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/bpac/calendar/event.php?id=507

At first thought when reading the story, you think this is a love story.  But after further consideration, is it really?  Is this a love story or is this a story about love? We go through this journey with the 4 main characters as their on this inproportionate love coaster but we don’t ever really get too attched to any of the characters.  Why does Shakespeare keep us at a distance as to avoid creating a personal attachment with any of them? I feel that because this story is so light hearted and we almost know for sure that it’ll have a happy ending, that this is more about the perils of being in love; having to deal with rejection.  Helena has to deal with rejection as her love no longer loves her and Hermia gets to choose who she loves.  This is such an imbalance amongst the 4 of them that one really has to wonder, is that the point? Is Shakespeare trying to say that even once you’ve found “true love”, as the 4 of them did in the begining, that it can still go wrong?  Is there even such a thing as true love if it any given moment the feelings can change?

This is a picture I found depicting some of the characters of  “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”

The question I pose is this: Is it love or lust that the men feel towards the women? Demtrius was engaged to Helena, why did he change his mind when he met Hermia? Is Shakespeare trying to convey a message that no matter how much one might vow to love someone else, that the feeling of  “Love” can and might change if it is not based on something deeper than just looks?

Here is the drawing by Peacham (c. 1594) that we discussed in class.

Now that you’ve read Acts I-III of Titus Andronicus, what do you make of Peacham’s drawing? We talked a bit about the hybrid costumes. What about the weapons? What scene is being pictured? How is it being re-imagined?

We’ll be taking a look at scenes from Julie Taymor’s Titus in class (and asking a similar set of questions about them), but in the meantime, here is a link to the trailer on Youtube and a publicity photo of Anthony Hopkins in the title role:

During Shakespeare’s lifetime, England experienced war, outbreaks of plague, terrorist attacks, unprecedented prosperity and the growth of conspicuous consumption, religious conflict, and—for the very first time—contact with the New World. These events vitally shaped Shakespeare’s plays. Reading a selection of his comedies, histories, tragedies, and tragicomedies, we will consider these works within their historical and theatrical contexts. Who went to which playhouses, and why? What did the stages look like? What sort of sound-effects did they use? We will also ask questions about Shakespeare’s continued cultural relevance, focusing on the topics of globalization, sex and gender, and race. Readings will be supplemented with film.