Tag Archives: shakespeare

A Recurring Theme in Shakespeare- Stealing Sheets

Posted on December 26, 2011 by christopher.lopez

The white sheet bleaching on the hedge,

With heigh the sweet birds, O how they sing!

Doth set my pugging tooth an edge,

The Winter’s Tale, 4.3 5-7

 

It caused a “death” of sorts in both The Winter’s Tale and Much Ado About Nothing. Troilus is devastated by it in Troilus and Cressida. It creates an instant hatred between two minor characters in Henry V. Though it doesn’t go so far in The Taming of the Shrew, the presence of it is undeniable. Throughout so many of Shakespeare’s plays, the fear of another man “stealing” into  your sheets and either taking your woman or making you into a cuckold permeates. Reflecting on the plays we’ve read this semester, I feel as though the discussions we’ve had about them have enlightened me to the world Shakespeare lived in. That being said, I feel as though a key component of Shakespeare’s world seems to be cuckoldry. The fear of cuckoldry seems to be quite universal for men during Elizabethan-Jacobean England, but why? Of course, it’s quite obvious that no one wants to find himself in such a position, but the fear of cuckoldry seems to be capable of driving even kings mad with fear. How much of this fear is exaggerated in Shakespeare’s plays? In a world without paternity tests, I suppose that the idea of giving your life’s earnings away to another man’s son is scary, but why was the distrust for women so prevalent? Maybe it’s a societal thing. Perhaps in today’s society, because gender and role are not as synonymous as they used to be, we just can’t understand it. The Elizabethan-Jacobean sexes had very clear, different roles. Perhaps, because of these differences, they didn’t understand each other the way men and women do today, and this lack of understanding led to fear. Even so, today men and women have more than enough communication issues as things stand. I truly can’t even imagine how things would be if the communication gap between the sexes was even larger. Perhaps we’d drive each other mad.

 

 

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Why Time Skip?

Posted on December 13, 2011 by Andy Chu

The Winter’s Tale is the only play we’ve read (and perhaps the only play Shakespeare has written?) that takes up a period of 16 years. The importance of time in the play is obvious and I think multiple factors contributed to why Shakespeare decided to implement the usage of a time skip after act III. Below are just some of my thoughts as to why Shakespeare used the time skip as well as scenes/lines in the play that highlighted the significance of time.

1. Polixenes could’ve been staying at Leontes’s kingdom for 9 days, 9 weeks, 9 years but Shakespeare intentionally uses 9 months, “nine changes of the watery star” (1.2.1), to show the possibility that Hermione’s pregnancy is somehow caused by him (although it’s not). In this case, time plays a negative role in arousing Leontes’s suspicions about Polixenes and Hermione’s relationship.

2. By the time The Winter’s Tale was released, Shakespeare had already a done so many different plays. Perhaps he knew he was near the end of his career and reflected on what he had accomplished up till now. He might have realized the importance of time and how fleeting it was (the time between The Comedy of Errors, his first written play, and The Winter’s Tale is roughly around 16 years). Maybe at this point, Shakespeare also wanted to try something he had not done before in his previous plays and therefore went with a time skip.

3. The mass production of the watch: I remember Professor Berggren mentioned in class that more and more people at this time were getting watches. At first you had to be very wealthy and privileged to get your hands on one but by the early 1600s, it was more widespread than ever before. The idea of time ticking away must have played a role into why Shakespeare thought of speeding time up in The Winter’s Tale.

Why do you think Shakespeare used a time skip? Were there any other interesting moments in the play that stuck out to you in regards to time?

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Scene Study – Group 5 – Act 5, Scene 3

Posted on November 8, 2011 by ef082014

http://youtu.be/r6qeLQ8J-Mg

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Anonymous Movie Trailer

Posted on September 25, 2011 by ef082014

Went to the movies last night and this was one of the previews.  Although I’ve heard of this theory before, I’m not speculating or agreeing that Shakespeare was, in fact, a fraud—I just think the movie looks interesting, and is certainly relevant to our course.

For some reason, I couldn’t embed the video directly in the post, so here is the link:
Anonymous Movie Trailer

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The Need for Comedic Relief in a…Comedy?

Posted on September 21, 2011 by Ilya Mavashev

It is strange that you would need comedic relief in a comedy, but while the first two acts of this play contain a lot of humor and lightheartedness, in typical Shakespearean fashion, the play quickly takes a turn for tragedy in the third act with some very intense scenes. This is where the sudden introduction of the character Dogberry becomes important, because a distraction and catharsis was needed for the audience.

While Benedict and Beatrice constantly go at one another and amuse us with their use of creative language, and Claudio’s and Hero’s relationship is being manipulated for our entertainment by Don John and his men, all of these characters still maintain a realistic and relatable sense about them. They may not be comedic as individuals, but in the types of situations that they are put into is what I believe makes this a comedy.

Dogberry is a special case in this play though. His dialogue is very memorable and funny in its own right with the way he tries to sound so self-important, smart, and refined, but just ends up horribly botching everything he says through the incorrect use of words and language. To the audience it is the obvious the words he should be using instead, and this memorable form of malapropisms, which I learned from today’s scene study group, brilliantly adds to the value of his comedic timing and relief.

There is also silver lining and humorous contradiction within the character of Dogberry, for although he is the bumbling idiot of the play that constantly botches every line uttered out of his mouth, he also botches and foils the plan of Don Johns plot, exposing not only him and his men, but indirectly saves and redeems Hero from public humiliation, perhaps being the foolish, oblivious, and ironic hero of the play himself.

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Much Ado About “Noting”

Posted on September 20, 2011 by lyndsey.anderson

The first three acts of this play were filled with drama fueled by sex, gossip and misunderstandings. Low comedy at its best. The significance of the title becomes very clear throughout this section of the play. It seems that every character wants the lowdown and will use any opportunity to hear what isnt for their ears. They all make a big to do or “much ado” about noting what others are talking about.
As if this isn’t bad enough, it seems that everything overheard is taken in the wrong context and used to hatch up some cockamamie scheme which is usually thwarted by someone else listening in on their plans and devising a way to foil those. These people really had too much time on their hands. I think much of the drama is due to the fact that everyone is single. It is a fact that single people generally get into more mess than people in relationships. Most likely because they don’t have a mate to be busy with (pun intended).
The double meaning of the title is obvious. The characters are also making big deals over nothing. Situations are being blown way out of proportion because everyone is snooping and scheming. (Reading this play, I get a sense that Leonato’s house is way too small.) Major plot twists are based on complete falsities which could have been avoided if all the characters weren’t so willing to connive and conspire.
Maybe Shakespeare is showing us the pointlessness and ill effect of noting that which has nothing to do with us.

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