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Author Archives: erica.lin
Posts: 3 (archived below)
Comments: 4
Disguise in A Winter’s Tale
The concept of disguise was really prominent in Act 4 Scene 4: everyone was in some sort of disguise: whether dressing up or just pretending to be someone entirely. This scene really reminded me of the “power of fashion” when we read the Taming of the Shrew, but it comes off even stronger here. The disguises seem to give each character a chance to reveal a side of themselves that would not otherwise be seen. We get to see perdita dressed up as a goddess instead of a farm girl, and the king leaves his court disguised a common man. In a sense, it seems that their roles (Perdita and Polixenes) are reversed and we see more of that “reversion’ later on when they discuss their opinions of mixing purebreed flowers with hardier wildflowers, but then again, can you apply reasoning of flower to humans? Polixenes stance on wildflowers made me think that he would have let Florenzo go through with the wedding were he more upfront about it. It seemed like he only got angry when Florenzo refused to invite him to the important ceremony. Disguise comes up again and again in all of shakespeare plays and every time it does, it shows us something important about each character in the scene the deception is taking place.
A love as false as Cressid…
I found the oaths Troilus and Cressida very interesting. They were speaking as if they knew they were a story and that their tale would become an “epic.” The ironic thing is that Panderus’s extra added sentence was the only one to transcend the play and actually become a integral part of the English language. Troilus and Cressida may not be like Romeo and Juliet, who are madly in love and willing to sacrifice everything for each other. Nor are they like cunning Antony and Cleopatra, but they do try in their own way to become something of legend. We also discussed how self-conscious the characters in this play were and that may also be a reason that is holding them back from being true lovers. They seem only to care for their “image” of love than rather the love itself: you can’t love wholly and be self-conscious about it. Another thing is, this relationship does seem rather one-sided. Seems as if Troilus is the one who loves Cressida and Cressida is like, ‘well if this is the best I can do, I’ll take what I can get (a prince of Troy)’ and she doesn’t really have a passionate love for him which is why their bonds and promises and oaths are so easily broken: their love is not true.
Scene Study One: Dogberry and the Watch
http://youtu.be/vyhvrxHTITY
Posted in Dogberry and the Watch -- Group 2, Much Ado About Nothing
Tagged dogberry, scene study
4 Comments