my project and a closer look at texts

Ever since someone mentioned something in class about Shakespeare incorporating ideas and elements of literature from his day I have been interested to see some examples.  So I was searching on bloggingshakespeare.com and I came across a blog that has been researching just that.  Here is the link to his blog about the merchant of venice

http://bloggingshakespeare.com/shakespeares-sources-the-merchant-of-venice

This is something that I would definitely like to look into a bit more.

Shylock and other infamous characters

In some of the internet sites that I have visited to learn more about The Merchant of Venice I have found that although Shylock is not the the title character of the play, he certainly is more talked about.  I believe it is because he is so unfair in his treatment of Antonio that he fills the reader with a sense of righteous indignation.  But even so I thought it was interesting that he would controversial enough to spark so much debate.  I also thought it was interesting what Professor Burton said about how much the reading of this play has changed since the Holocaust.  With these two things in mind I looked for some scholarly input and found kind of a weird paper discussing Shylock and Shakespeare in the 21st century (Shocked Shylock: Neoliberalism, Postcommunism, and 21st-Century Shakespeare).  I found the ideas in this article were original and very interesting.  Here is the the reference for the article:

Marcela, Kostihova.  Shocked Shylock: Neoliberalism, Postcommunism, and 21st-Century Shakespeare.  Early English Studies vol. 4 p 1-22. 2011.

Did you see Batman in Henry V?

I was watching the 1989 film version of Henry V and I noticed a young Christian Bale (actor that plays Batman in the latest Batman films).  I was curious to see what other famous actors of today have starred in Shakespeare film adaptations.  Here is what I found:
Ethan Hawke (Training Day, Assault on Precint 13) and Julia Stiles (Bourne movies, Save the Last Dance) starred in a 2000 adaptation of Hamlet.
Heath Ledger (Knights Tale, The Dark Knight) and Julia Stiles starred in 10 things I Hate about you which is surprisingly an adaptation of The taming of the Shrew.  I had no idea.
Josh Hartnett (Black Hawk Down, Hollywood Homicide) and Julia Stiles (I don't know how she has managed to star in everyone so far) starred in O, a 2001 adaptation of Othello.
Michelle Pfeiffer (What lies beneath, Hairspray) starred in A Midsummers Night Dream in 1999.
Anthony Hopkins (The Mask of Zorro, Thor) starred in Titus, a 1999 adaptation of Titus Andronicus.
Al Pacino (Ocean's 13, The Recruit) and Jeremy Irons (Man in the Iron Mask) starred in The Merchant of Venice in 2004.
Leonardo Dicaprio (Titanic, Inception) starred in a 1996 adaptation of Romeo and Juliet.
Mel Gibson (Braveheart, Signs) and Glen Close (101 Dalmatians, Fatal Attraction) starred in an adaptation of Hamlet in 1990.
Keanu Reeves (The Matrix) stars in My Private Idaho, a loose adaptation of Henry IV.
Denzel Washington (Remember the Titans, Training Day) starred in Much Ado About Nothing in 1993.
Mathew Broderick (Ferris Buehlers Day Off) and Jeremy Irons in Disney's Lion King which takes from Hamlet and Richard III.
Ian McKellen (X-Men, Lord of the Rings) was in Richard III in 1995.
Charlton Heston (Ben-Hur, The Ten Commandments) appears in Hamlet in 1996 (Heston isn't really a star of today but he's famous enough).

I agree with Hansel

I finished The Tempest and I didn't not like it.  Forgive the double negative but that is how I felt about it.  It wasn't something that thrilled me but it wasn't painful either.  I realized that this sums up my attitude towards Shakespeare in general.  I respect all that he did but I don't really take the time to read it.  Talking about this attitude with my brother I was reminded of a clip from the movie Zoolander which I included below.  Pay attention to what Owen Wilson says about Sting towards the end of the clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkVQoe2fEEA

Maybe I can come to enjoy Shakespeare during this course.

The Tempest

So I started the Tempest and so far my reactions have been mixed.  There have been parts of the dialog that have struck me as very clever and funny but there is a lot of the dialog that seems strange to me.  I know that the weird stuff is probably just weird to me because the old English went over my head so I will just focus on the stuff I liked.  I really liked the exchange between the boatswain and the kings men on the ship.
Boatswain

When the sea is. Hence! What cares these roarers
for the name of king? To cabin: silence! trouble us not.

GONZALO

Good, yet remember whom thou hast aboard.

Boatswain

None that I more love than myself. You are a
counsellor; if you can command these elements to
silence, and work the peace of the present, we will
not hand a rope more; use your authority: if you
cannot, give thanks you have lived so long, and make
yourself ready in your cabin for the mischance of
the hour, if it so hap. Cheerly, good hearts! Out
of our way, I say....

Boatswain

Down with the topmast! yare! lower, lower! Bring
her to try with main-course.
A cry within
A plague upon this howling! they are louder than
the weather or our office.
Re-enter SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO, and GONZALO
Yet again! what do you here? Shall we give o'er
and drown? Have you a mind to sink?

SEBASTIAN

A pox o' your throat, you bawling, blasphemous,
incharitable dog!

Boatswain

Work you then.

I liked how Shakespeare presents the idea that nobility means nothing in a life and death situation.  For a civilization where worth and rank are inherited at birth it seems interesting that a peasant would disregard all of it when his life is at risk.

Shakespeare and Blogging

I have never had a blog and so this is a new experience for me.  I'm glad that the subject of my blog has been given me because I feel that without it I would have no idea what to write.  Since this is to be blog about Shakespeare (and my experiences with him) I will focus my first post on what I already know and think of Shakespeare.  The majority of my exposure to Shakespeare has come through school.  In the fifth grade I participated in our class rendition of Much ado about Nothing.  After that I can't remember anything else until I was in eight grade and I read Macbeth (although I didn't really understand it due to the the unfamiliar prose).  In High School I read some other plays and we had a unit on poetry that caused me to read a number of Shakespeare's sonnets.  Other than these few instances I have not had any significant exposure to Shakespeare. I obviously respect the things that I have read and learned about him but I hope gain a greater understanding of him.

My first Shakespeare Blog

I have never had a blog and so this is a new experience for me.  I'm glad that the subject of my blog has been given me because I feel that without it I would have no idea what to write.  Since this is to be blog about Shakespeare (and my experiences with him) I will focus my first post on what I already know and think of Shakespeare.  The majority of my exposure to Shakespeare has come through school.  In the fifth grade I participated in our class rendition of Much ado about Nothing.  After that I can't remember anything else until I was in eight grade and I read Macbeth (although I didn't really understand it due to the the unfamiliar prose).  In High School I read some other plays and we had a unit on poetry that caused me to read a number of Shakespeare's sonnets.  Other than these few instances I have not had any significant exposure to Shakespeare. I obviously respect the things that I have read and learned about him but I hope gain a greater understanding of him.