Oct. 23 Blog 9: Twelfth Night

Twelfth Night is an interesting play written by Shakespeare. It reminds me a lot about his play As You Like It. I thought Twelfth Night was so similar to As You Like it, I wondered why Shakespeare had written two plays so similar but also so different. In As You Like It, I thought it was funny how Rosalind dressed up as Ganymede, I thought it was also funny how Viola dressed up as Cesario. They both disguise themselves as men for different reasons though. Both women while they are in disguise, have other women fall in love with them. In As You Like It, Phoebe fell for Ganymede while in Twelfth Night, Olivia fell for Cesario. We can also see a similarity here because Phoebe already has someone who wants to be with her and so does Olivia and by the end Phoebe does marry the guy, Corin, who loves her but we see that Olivia does not; she marries Viola’s brother. This was a twist compared to As You Like It.

There are many other similarities between As You Like It and Twelfth Night. Olivia confesses her love for Cesario while Phoebe in As You Like It confesses her love for Ganymede. We see fools in both plays, but the fool in this play, Twelfth Night, is not funny. He is actually rude and mean. He helps Maria, Sir Toby, and Sir Andrew when they put Malvolio in a room and torture him. Maria, Sir Toby, and Sir Andrew are cruel to Malvolio and as in As You Like It, Oliver was cruel to his brother trying to kill him but in the end does not because he has an epiphany, while with the three who are mean to Malvolio leaves him in that room until the end when he is remembered and let out.

One thing that I did find very interesting was the twins in Twelfth Night, Sebastian and Viola. I think its interesting because I have never read any of Shakespeare’s plays that have two people who look alike in them. Also, when twins are in a play or any other story, like how Viola disguises herself as Cesario, once her brother comes along, they both get mistaken for the other person. I believe this is why Shakespeare put twins in this play so they would get mistaken and make the play more interesting with two people who look alike. Otherwise, if Viola did not have a twin, she would have had to tell her secret sooner or later and that would have caused more harm probably to her because Olivia had fallen in love with Cesario. With Olivia being a countess, she could have punished Viola for having deceived her.

Oct. 9th Blog 8: Hamlet

Hamlet was not as bad as I thought it was going to be when I first seen we had to read it. I guess everyone has that way about them, they see a book and they judge it before they have even read it. We hear the opinions of others and automatically think the book is no good or maybe its the other way around. Either way it goes, I judged Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, to be a play I would not like no matter what, although sometimes I didn't understand what was going on, I could understand most of what I really needed to know for the play.

I could and still can sometimes relate to Ophelia. She is basically a pawn in a big man’s world. She has to do whatever she is told and I can understand not wanting to disappoint your family and do something they said was not what you should do. She is a woman and has no voice but what others tell her to do. In Act 1, scene 3, Polonius is telling Ophelia to never speak to Hamlet again and she says she will obey but then Polonius has her to help him and the king to spy on Hamlet. We talked about this in class and I found it interesting because we can all relate to her. What I mean is that when we are young, we have to listen to our parents and we try so hard not to disappoint them no matter the cost.

In Act 1, scene 2, lines 74-75, “...all that lives must dies, / Passing through nature to eternity.” I found these two lines to be very powerful to me. I might be wrong but when I read them, especially line 75, I felt like it is saying that we all are here on Earth and we pass through nature, all these seasons, to eternity. We all weather through these seasons, storms, sickness to get to what we see at the end, eternity. Now whether eternity is in heaven or hell depends on how you came through during those bad and good times but we all must die. Every living thing around us will die and there will be nothing left once we are all gone because nature will take over.

Although I still do not particularly like how Hamlet ended, I can see why it did in a way. Hamlet killed Polonius so he was going to have to pay for that sin and die one way or another. As with the other characters, the Queen, Gertrude, is killed because of her sin and King Claudius also. Laertes, he had to die because he would not have made a good king, I do not believe. He listened to what others told him and was determined to kill Hamlet before finding out the details to his fathers death. So yes, I did enjoy learning about Hamlet even though I did judge the book before having read it; I do take back the judgement and say it is interesting and I still do not quite understand it completely but that’s okay.

Oct. 2nd Blog 7: Hamlet

Hamlet is much different than I thought it would be. First of all, some of Hamlet is interesting and other parts are difficult to understand. I mean I can mostly get the gist of what is going on but not the full understanding which I know I probably will never understand it completely but I would really like to understand it a bit more. I had never really heard much about the play Hamlet until this class and I had always had the impression that Hamlet was this person who took charge but we can see in the play that he does not kill Claudius until the end but he has his reasons for that.

The beginning of the soliloquy that Hamlet does in Act 3, scene 1 which begins with, “To be or not to be—that is the question” (line 64). I really like this line. I have actually used it in a poem that I wrote and to be honest I think a lot of people thought that I had put that quote from Shakespeare into my poem on purpose but to be honest, I did not. I have never read Hamlet before and did not realize that this line was a famous line out of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. I guess I have heard it so much that it has just stuck with me, so when I did read this line in Hamlet, I was like, wow! that’s where it came from.

Another line that I find interesting is in Act 3, scene 2, line 254, when the Queen says, “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.” I find this line interesting seeing how the play that is being performed is about the King and Queen. I felt like the Queen was saying that the Player Queen not just talks too much like someone said in class but what she talks about should not be talked about. I feel this way because the Queen did not wait two months before she married the late King, her husband’s, brother so she has no problem with saying yes to everything that goes on whereas, the Player Queen talks more and says how her second marriage is for profit and not love. The Queen never talks out about her marriage or says much to anyone in the play.

The ending of the play struck me because I did not think Hamlet would die. The whole time I was reading I kept thinking that Hamlet would kill Claudius, but when the Queen dies of poison, I figured that Hamlet would still kill Claudius and Laertes and he become King. I was shocked to see that Hamlet dies of being wounded by Laertes. Then, I see that Fortinbras comes in and is probably going to be the next King and all I could say was, hm, okay.

Sept. 25th Blog 6: As You Like It

As You Like It is a great play and I wish we could learn more about it but sadly we will be starting to discuss Hamlet the next class meeting. My favorite scene in the play is ACT 3. SC. 3, lines 433-435, Rosalind is disguised as Ganymede, “I would cure you if you would but call me Rosalind and come every day to my cote and woo me.” I really liked this scene because as we were talking about in class, a guy would normally be playing even the women during a play. But also, with Rosalind disguised as Ganymede, she could say and do whatever she wanted because women were expected to act like women and they weren’t allowed to voice their opinions. So this scene really had an impact on me because I can see how today, women can say and do whatever they want but the reason Shakespeare made Rosalind disguise as Ganymede was not just for protection for her and Celia who had went into the forest but because Rosalind would be able to voice her opinion.

Also, in this scene, I feel like Rosalind could have came out and told Orlando who she was and he would have protected her since that is the main reason she is disguised as Ganymede but she keeps who she is hidden to see how Orlando acts. She wants to find out if he loves her or not and would he do anything for her, that’s why Rosalind disguised as Ganymede wants Orlando to pretend he is Rosalind and try to woo him and to see if he really has what it takes to make Rosalind love him and be with him.

Today we acted out some of the scenes in As You Like It, which I found interesting since we focused on Jacques. It was interesting just focusing on him because he just shows up sometimes and does not have a huge part in the play. There was one part where he does not deny he is melancholy when Rosalind ask him but he says it is a melancholy of his own. But the way he says this is that it is bittersweet, he is sad about it but it really doesn’t matter. The scene where he is talking to Orlando about not seeing each other often was funny to me. He is trying to tell Orlando that he does not want to be friends, he does not want to talk with him often, and he does not like Orlando’s loves name. Orlando, on the other hand, is trying to talk with Jacques and wants to be better strangers and he tells Jacques that it does not matter if he likes Rosalind’s name or not.

Overall, I really enjoyed this play and kind of sad to be leaving this funny play to something not so funny. I do wish we could have spent more time on this play and acted out more scene’s although the Jacques play as Dr. Plough called it, was fun to do and listen to.

Sept. 18th Blog 5: As You Like It

As You Like It was much easier for me to read compared to Richard II. It was so much fun reading it because it seemed like a love story by the end. The play was very comical because I wanted to laugh when Rosalind was acting as Ganymede but was telling Orlando to think of her as Rosalind while she was dressed up as a guy. I think that was what was so comical about the play.

It seemed like everyone knew there was something feminine about this Ganymede character but no one really wants to come out and say that to a supposed man. This seems like something of today where we do not go around asking a woman or a man if they are really a woman or a man just because we think a woman is a man or a man is a woman. They would probably not be pleased and might hit us or say bad things to us.

I really want to say that I found it odd when Celia is in disguise as Aliena, Oliver comes along and falls in love with her but he says in ACT 5. SC. 2 line 8, “I love Aliena.” I find this odd because he is in love with a disguise but when they get married it says Celia and not Aliena. I kind of thought about what Dr. Plough said in class about some things happening offstage and that maybe Celia told her story to Oliver about how Aliena was just a disguise. Then he could have accepted her because even though she was using the name Aliena, she is still the same person on the inside.

Another thing that reminds me about what Dr. Plough said with things happening off stage. We see Audrey and Touchstone about to get married in ACT 3. SC. 3, but we never see Audrey before this scene so we never get to see Touchstone woo her into marrying him. They just appear, plan to get married but don’t until the end. I have to wonder how they feel in love, why they want to get married, did they spend time offstage getting to know each other? I mean we see later William, a guy who loves Audrey and wants to marry her. She knows who he is and it seems like they know more about each other than her and Touchstone do.

Another thing I found interesting was how Oliver wants to kill his brother Orlando and he even says that he has never loved his brother. I think some siblings can relate to this because when they are little and an only child they have it all, but once a sibling enters the picture, they can’t have it all so the older sibling wants to get rid of the younger sibling, although these are two older brothers, they should know the difference and the laws.

Sept. 11th Blog 4: Richard II

Studying Richard II for the past two weeks has been enlightening. I never thought I would understand even a little of what is was about. Before I even read Richard II, I thought I would just need to know enough to get through the two weeks of studying it in class, enough to get through any questions Dr. Plough asked about the play. Although that’s what I felt at first when I did read Richard II, it was not that bad, I actually enjoyed reading it.

In class when we acted out some of the scenes, I learned even more. I felt like with people acting out the scenes, it gave me new insight into the play. Dr. Plough told us to not just read the parts we were acting out but to put passion into it and if one character was angry or dying, then show it. I believe this is one reason that I learned more because when I just read the play, I did not shout or scream, show any kinds of emotions like the characters in the play so when we did this in class, it seems so much more alive.

When we did the part where King Richard is fighting off the people trying to murder him, Stephanie was playing King Richard and at first she was raising her voice and then when King Richard gets stabbed by Exton, she lowers her voice and sort of stutters like she is dying, this made me envision King Richard lying on the floor dying of his wounds. But when I just read it, I just seen him standing there, holding where he was bleeding and when she read that part and what I envisioned, changed how I saw the whole play. We acted out ACT 4 SC. 1 where everyone starts throwing down gages and challenging each other. I was Surrey and threw down my gage which was a book that Dr. Plough had for us as our gages and Angela was Fitzwater, the person Surrey was challenging, and she had to pick up the gage/book. When she picked it up, she had passion and showed how it was meant to be, she picked it up like okay, you want to fight, lets do this.

I also want to talk about a line that I really liked in ACT 3 SC. 2, line 105, King Richard says, “The worst is death, and death will have his day.” This line shows us how death will come for anyone whether you are king or not and the worst punishment is death for those who commit a terrible crime. In ACT 3 SC. 1, we see this line in action even though it comes later in the play, Bolingbroke has Bushy and Green beheaded. He is punishing them and since the worst during this time is beheading, they get beheaded. King Richard learns this later on when he is killed by Exton and I feel like this is a line that we should all remember. We will die no matter who we are or what we do.

Sept. 4th Blog 3: Richard II

I will say when I first started getting ready to read Richard II, I thought oh it will be a piece of cake, I can just zoom right through. Although it still did not take me long to read, I took my time because its a very interesting play, one that I will say needs to be read at an even pace so the reader can understand what is happening because if you just zoom right on through, you will miss some important parts. Saying that, I did take my time to understand this play but listening in class, I still missed a few points being made although I probably did get the gist of things.

I really enjoyed reading this play and seeing how Shakespeare seems to be speaking about us in this modern time. I had a few favorite lines in this play. ACT 1. SC. 4, lines 60-61: Now put it, God, in the physician’s mind, To help him to his grave immediately! and line 65: Pray God we may make haste and come too late. In these lines, I feel like we do this a lot in our lives, if someone is someplace we have to go and we don’t like them or just do not wish to see them, then we will most likely say lets go but hopefully they will be gone by the time we arrive. Also, Shakespeare includes God in these lines because if you have noticed, we say please God or something like that to ask for our prayers to be answered whether they are futile or not.

Act 3. Sc. 2. line 105: The worst is death, and death will have his day. I feel like he is saying that no matter what, death will always come and if a punishment is to be for some terrible crime then death is the worst punishment to be gave.

We were talking about how we feel for King Richard today in class and I will say that that is true, I do feel for him. Here he is just trying to do what he believes is the right thing but its not. Yes, he was a bad person to say that he hopes Gaunt would die before he had a chance to see him but who isn't a bad person? We all have flaws and so does King Richard. But its kinda sad to think that while he is being forced one way, his Queen/wife is being forced another way. I know that if I loved someone like they love each other then I wouldn't want to be away from them either. In ACT 5. SC. 1, King Richard’s queen says she will go with him because she does not want to be away from him and I found this so sweet.

Although I feel for King Richard, I do like Bolingbroke because he is very clever. If we think about it, just like Dr. Plough said today in class, Bolingbroke just came back from his banishment and with one line, he becomes King. But if we look back, we can see that he knew no one would do anything to get rid of him and he said he was only back to claim what was his but maybe that’s what he meant, that the kings position was his to claim since that seems to be what he is after for the most part even though he says it isn’t.