Author Archives: Humza Mahmood

Game of Thrones is a TV show that airs on HBO. It is an adaptation of the series written by George R. R. Martin. The show is based during the medieval times in the fiction continents of Westeros and Essos. The show can definitely be considered a modern day jacobean drama. It deals with a lot of violence, corruption, betrayal, revenge, and incest which are characteristics of a Jacobean drama. There are many different plot lines in the show. The main plot line is that their is a civil war going on between the noble families fighting for control of Westeros and to obtain the Iron Throne. An example of Jacobean drama in Game of Thrones can be from the first season. In the first season Lord Ned Stark becomes the Hand of the King to King Robert Baratheon which is pretty much being his right hand man. One day King Baratheon went hunting and got severely injured which caused him to be in his deathbed. Unfortunately Joffrey, the son of the king is the next heir to the throne who is very cruel, and abuses power. However, after Lord Stark did some digging, he finds that Joffrey isn’t the son of Roberth Baratheon and Cersei Lannister. Instead he is the son Jaime and Cersei Lannister who are brother and sister. This makes Joffrey not the rightful heir to the throne. Lord Stark plans to expose this news to Robert but unfortunately passes away before delivering the news. Lord Stark did tell Lord Baelish about the news and asked for his help. Before Robert died, he signed a will saying Lord Stark will rule until Joffrey comes of age. Instead of Joffrey, Lord Stark wrote rightful heir. When Joffrey obtains the throne, Lord Stark confronts Cersei and Joffrey and order the City Watch to arrest them. But, Lord Baelish betrays Lord Stark and Lord Stark’s men were all killed by the City Watch. Lord Stark was than taken to custody for treason and eventually was executed by the order of King Joffrey who was told that he should not kill Lord Stark.

One of the poems that quite interested me was “Bring in the Wine” by Li Bo. The main theme of this poem is drinking. Li Bo was known for his drinking habits and his love to drink. A song that I thought of that related to this poem was “On My Level” by Wiz Khalifa. “Bring in the Wine” mainly talks about the love for drinking and just having a good time being drunk with good company. In relation to the song Wiz Khalifa raps about drinking, partying, and having no worries when you are drunk.

One quote from the song is “Hit the club spend this money up, roll another one, drink, act a fool That’s what I have to do” and a quote from the poem “Then take my dappled horse, Take my furs worth a fortune, Just call the boy to get them, and trade them for lovely wine” have quite similar meanings in the sense of money. Wiz Khalifa spending all the money to drink at the club while Li Bo has is conveying a similar message by trading fur to buy the wine to drink.

Another quote from the song is “So let me take one shot to the brain, And I order three more shots ,I’m going in” is also similar to the quote from the poem “Bring in the wine! Keep the cups coming!. They both share the message of wanting more alcohol while they are drinking and not wanting to be sober. As a result, you can see that Wiz Khalifa and Li Bo both convey the message of their love to drinking alcohol.