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Ok. So I may or may not have been a dancer in high school.

I may or may not have kept away from dancing since then.

This may or may not be a terrible representation of what I'm going for here......but.......

Here's what I think. I think Sarah had a BEAUTIFUL idea. I think everyone has their own story to tell. I think everyone has their own interpretation of Shakespeare. And I think we should play off that idea. This is Shakespeare to me:

In our lost play, William the Conqueror pretends like he's a super nice guy, but his heart is evil. He goes into battle with arrogance...then loses. So he's humbled. And then he sets off for the next battle. There's this scene. Where he is totally and completely confused. Contradicted. Humbled. Saddened. 

this. is. my. interpretation.

Well THAT wasn't so bad.

I've been dreading taking a stab at iambic pentameter since Professor Burton announced it in class. It's taken me 6 days, and finally here I am, writing. And you know what I discovered? I'm actually enjoying this! I know, right? Madness.

I began to think, "Well, this isn't so hard. If I had all the time in the world, I could write whole plays in this dang rhythm too." So my random thought of the day is: maybe Shakespeare was a wonder to the world not because he could write, but because somehow, someway, he made us remember him. Maybe there have been forty-thousand other people since his time that could write as well as he could, but for some reason we acknowledge him. :) Hope that one made you think. :)

So here is my attempt at Shakespeare-style-writing.Shakespeare might be laughing at me right now. *Disclaimer: I don't presume to elevate my work to Shakespeare's level. I'm not saying I'm good at this. I'm just saying it was easier than I thought. :) Just to clarify.*

So I decided to pick a scene from the end of Act 3. I imagined a scene much like Henry V on the eve of battle. Kind of a self-defining, cause-promoting speech. :) Happy blogging.

This night, a lightened deep, a forest sweep

Here to my eyes comes swiftly through my glass.

Where once a fogged and blinded mind did seek,

Tremendous fires have now refinéd me.

For those in flames and those with sword did strike

A new man did they mold and form of me.

Now darkness of thus forest seems to know

The trouble of heart burdens that do rest

On simple matter nigh, yet every piece.

And seems to make a mock of me tonight

As I hence leave behind dark glory days,

To be the man I once was held to know.

Themes for our Lost Play

So this post is going off my previous post: just applying to our play now.

Level 1
History. Done.

Level 2
I think our authorial intent should be focused around human nature. If we have a very serious connotation in the storyline it self, as with Henry V, we can use the events to shape our within-play themes. I think the focus should be on the actions of William, aka the Battle of Hastings. His character and the "life morals" will come through easiest that way.

Level 3
Theme within should defiantly be about good vs. evil. Mostly off Katie's question about William being the villain or the "good guy." I think the play would be SUPER interesting if we make him a bad guy. We can talk about human nature and want for power/influence. We could then use Nickson's idea about "the grateful hyena." In class we talked about the climbing action of the plot being a lost battle...and perhaps he learns something and then goes for Hastings....but that would make him a good guy.....hhhmmmm. Anyway, we could do a lot with good vs. evil.

Level 4
Thematic analysis for this play would most definitely be manifest through the events on William's "timeline." What about divine right? Appearing good (perhaps to his subjects/army), but "evil" at heart? Cruelty to subjects? Even just the theme of war? That might be really cool...

We will DEFINITELY need to touch on the subject of tragic flaw. Power would be a sweet one just because of his reputation...but...we'll see.

Shakespeare goes to devotional

Did you catch the Shakespeare reference in devotional this morning?
"Pottage by any other name is still pottage."

:) Man, Professor was right. Shakespeare IS everywhere.

Fear

Love's Labour's Lost is not on No Fear Shakespeare. Needless to say, I'm fearing.
 #sparknoteproblems

woa

Check it out. This is tiled "Shakespeare's Plays." Interesting, huh?

Levels of Thematic Analysis: for our would-be-play

Ok first I just wanted to start with the basics. AKA check out what I found on Wikipedia. :)

Classification of the plays

In the late 19th century, Edward Dowden classified four of the late comedies as romances, and though many scholars prefer to call them tragicomedies, his term is often used.^[190] These plays and the associated Two Noble Kinsmen are marked with an asterisk (*) below. In 1896,Frederick S. Boas coined the term "problem plays" to describe four plays: All's Well That Ends Well, Measure for Measure, Troilus and Cressida and Hamlet.^[191] "Dramas as singular in theme and temper cannot be strictly called comedies or tragedies", he wrote. "We may therefore borrow a convenient phrase from the theatre of today and class them together as Shakespeare's problem plays."^[192] The term, much debated and sometimes applied to other plays, remains in use, though Hamlet is definitively classed as a tragedy.^[193] The other problem plays are marked below with a double dagger (‡).Shakespeare's works include the 36 plays printed in the First Folio of 1623, listed below according to their folio classification as comedies,histories and tragedies.^[188] Two plays not included in the First Folio, The Two Noble Kinsmen and Pericles, Prince of Tyre, are now accepted as part of the canon, with scholars agreed that Shakespeare made a major contribution to their composition.^[189] No Shakespearean poems were included in the First Folio.

Plays thought to be only partly written by Shakespeare are marked with a dagger (†) below. Other works occasionally attributed to him are listed as apocrypha.

Level 1

:) So there you have it. Once we find our would-be-play's genre....the theme(s) will be a bit more difficult.

Level 2

Obviously, there can are multiple ways to analyze each play; you can analyze and re-analyze authorial intent. So if we wanted to use this for our intent, we could try taking a Shakespearian play and changing the intent. For example, if you play off the fact that Romeo and Juliet were only acquainted for a single day, Romeo & Juliet could be a comedy: making fun of young, rash love. Just an idea...

• Unmerited but super cool site: http://shakespeare-online.com/sonnets/sonnetanalyze.html

Level 3

We might think about manipulating the theme within the play. Say you turn Merchant of Venice from a tale of forgiveness to a moral debate about justice/mercy. Totally different outcome, yeah?

• What Sparknotes has to say: http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/merchant/themes.html

Level 4

Thematic Analysis across plays. Much much harder. This takes a true Shakespeare whizz. I think this is adds AND takes away some of the reasoning behind people "finding new Shakespeare plays" or why some people "think this-or-that play doesn't belong to Shakespeare." Because Shakespeare definitely has themes across his plays...but could we nail them enough to make our would-be-play believable? .....not sure about that one.

• Check out the "Contents" pages of this book. Impressive. http://books.google.com/books?id=hjejOqMvUxsC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

Like my previous post about Anonymous suggested: we have the capacity to take something and make it our own! Ready...GO!

I FREAKING LOVE SHAKESPEARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So this weekend I saw Anonymous (Could you tell?). Went into it a little skeptical. #1 Because some people's theories on the "true" writer of Shakespeare's plays = weird   #2 Because I love Shakespeare and didn't want my world tainted. And then:

IT JUST SO HAPPENED TO BE THE BEST MOVIE OF ALL FREAKING TIME!!!!!!!!

Ok. Fine. Not literally. But seriously it was probably in my top 5. SO SO GOOD! His signature may or may not be my desktop background right now. May or may not have already bought the movie...

Costuming
Win. All around. Every single outfit was designed for the character. They enhanced their personalities as well as showed general trends like social rank and situation.

Overall Setting
INTENSE! I seriously only noticed the music a few times because it went so well with the atmosphere. The movie was...I almost said dark, but it wasn't. It was just intense. Plot was fairly easy to follow but still made you think. AKA the scenes all made sense and flowed together really well, but the plot was intense enough to keep you engaged the whole time. AKA I felt like I was IN OLD ENGLAND! I seriously am going to make it to the Globe theatre someday. The movie made me feel like I was actually walking the streets and looking up at the Tower of London and standing on the floor section of the Globe. Some-freaking-day.

Characters
Well thought out. Especially Queen Elizabeth. Capturing such a complex women must have been the result of much thought.

Conspiracy Theory
The promotional posters for this play included the caption "Was Shakespeare a fraud?" I don't like that one bit. That's not an accurate portrayal of the movie AT ALL. It wasn't about Shakespeare being fake, it was about Shakespeare being REAL! It basically took a bunch of facts and made a story underneath all those facts. Make sense? Well...I hope so. It was a cool way to just look at Shakespeare in a new light. For example, it portrayed an intimate relationship between "Shakespeare" and Queen Elizabeth. Which isn't that big of a deal, right? WRONG! It makes so much sense: if the queen was a supporter, encourager, and lover of the theatre, it makes sense that her time period was so obsessed with these revolutionary plays and ideas that came from the Renaissance Era. Definitely doing more research on this one.

Left you wondering
There was a mystery about the play that made you take in everything....and yet.....left you wondering if anything was true. It was a truly unique feeling that I think gives validity to any "good" movie. If the writers can make you believe that somehow, somewhere, this might be true...they did a pretty dang good job at making their movie credible. (#harrypotter)
I found a cool blog about this girl who was left similarly interested: http://shakespearebyanothername.blogspot.com/

Left you pondering
My favorite favorite favorite thing about this movie was the feeling of pride I was left with. It is my personal, bias, and un-researched opinion that "humanities" is dying in today's world. No respect: When I go to the symphony, I'm surprised at the amount of people in jeans-and-a-t-shirt. Art museums are not exactly what you'd call a "hot spot." Our generation knows way too little about classical music. Plays are dying. Why does no one care about the fine arts anymore? 
So this movie reminded me...well...basically it reminded me why I love the fine arts. Because they are beautiful.  Because they leave people feeling whole. Because they have something to say.

Ben Jonson: Politics? My play has nothing to do with politics. I-i-i-it's just a simple comedy. 
Earl of Oxford: It showed your betters as fools who'd go through life barely managing to get food from plate to mouth were it not for the cleverness of their servants. All art is political, Jonson, otherwise it would just be decoration. And all artists have something to say, otherwise they'd make shoes. And you are not a cobbler, are you Jonson. 


Prologue: Though our story is at an end, our poet's is not; for his monument is everliving. Not of stone but of verse. And it shall be remembered. As long as words are made of breath. And breath of life. 
           I thought this was a super nice/fitting tribute to Shakespeare's name. :)




Shakespeare does it again. 400+ years later.