Revised Research Plan

Revised Research Plan:
1.Begin with general sources. Look at the humanities reference section, it's a great resource for understanding a broad topic or literary theory. I would also say at this point to explore Wikipedia and social networking systems (mainly Delicious.com). This is the time to just gain general knowledge on the subject, and to start formulating a thesis.
2. Search the more scholarly sources. I love JSTOR and the LRC. They are, in my opinion, the best databases to use if one is searching for articles on a particular subject.
3. Define solid thesis. With the more scholarly resources one should have a sense of what kind of evidence is out there and if their claim can be supported.
4. Outline ideas for paper, find specific questions to research for.
5. Research, research, research. Look at the articles online, and extend into books, which are still with all this technology, extremely important. Take notes while researching and mark the sources they come from so it's easier to cite later.
6. Make solid outline of paper and begin writing. (Research can still be going on at this point)
7. Finish draft and have as many people as possible look at it. Great idea to use the professor at this point or any earlier points for tips or an idea if you're going in the right direction (although that might be better at an earlier stage).
8. EDIT
9.Re-write final draft, cite all sources.
10. Turn in.
11. Make amazing grade and pass class.

Literary Periods

Here are some major literary periods and authors in them.

American Literary Periods
Puritan/Colonial 1650-1750
-Bradford's Of Plymoth Plantation, Edward's Sinners in the Hands of Angry Gods
Revolution/Age of Reason 1750-1800
-Franklin The Autobiography, Jefferson, Paine, Henry
Romanticism 1800-1860
-Washington Irving Rip Van Winkle, Dickinson, Whitman
American Renaissance/Trancendentalism 1840-1860
-Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne The Scarlet Letter, Poe
Realism 1855-1900
-Twain, Douglass, Chopin The Awakening
Modern 1900-1950
-Fitzgerald The Great Gatsby, Cummings, Ayn Rand Anthem, Steinbeck, Hemingway, Faulkner, Hansberry A Rasin in the Sun, Arthur Miller
Harlem Renaissance 1950-present
-W.E.B. Debois, Hughes, Hurston Their Eyes Were Watching God
Post Modernism 1970-present
-Plath, Vonnegut, Salinger The Catcher in the Rye, Kesey One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Contemporary1970-present
-Angelous, Clancy, Walker The Color Purple, Guest Ordinary people, O'Brein The Things They Carried
http://staff.edmonds.wednet.edu/users/hansonk/LITERARY%20PERIODS%20AND%20
THEIR%20CHARACTERISTICS.htm

British Literary Periods
Anglo-Saxon 449-1066
-Beowolf, Bede, Exterbook
Mideval 1066-1485
-Chaucer The Canterbury Tales, Domesday Book, L'Morte de Arthur
Renaissance 1485-1660
-Shakespeare, Donne, Marlow, Marvel, Metaphysical/Cavalier Poets
Neoclassical/Restoration 1660-1798
-Alexander Pope, Johnathan Swift, Samuel Johnson, John Bunyan
Romanticism 1798-1832
-Austen, Mary Shelly, Wordsworth, Keats, Blake, Percy Shelly, Lord Byron
Moder/Postmoder
1900-19080
-Joyce, Joseph Conrad, D.H. Lawrence, Graham Greene, Dylan Thomas, George Orwell, William Butler Yeats
Contemporary
-Seamus Heaney, Doris Lessing, Kazuo Ishiguo, John LeCarre, Ken Follet
http://www.studyguide.org/brit_lit_timeline_contemporary.htm

I realize that this in an incomplete list, but I thought it was a good start to understanding the periods that will be explored in other classes to come.

Prose

So here are a few examples of what I consider to be good prose:

It was inevitable that she should accept any inconsistency and cruelty from her deity as all good worshippers do from theirs. All gods who receive homage are cruel. All gods dispense suffering without reason. Otherwise they would not be worshipped. Through indiscriminate suffering men know fear and fear is the most divine emotion. It is the stones for altars and the beginning of wisdom. Half gods are worshipped in wine and flowers. Real gods require blood.

-Their Eyes Were Watching God

Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the Watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time. That is the life of men. Now, women forget all those things they don't want to remember, and remember everything they don't want to forget. The dream is the truth. Then they act and do things accordingly.

-Their Eyes Were Watching God

I really like Their Eyes Were Watching God because it is an excellent example of poetic prose. The author uses parallel structure and figurative language to create a rhythmic feeling feeling within the prose setting.

The last clear definite function of man—muscles aching to work, minds aching to create beyond the single need—this is man. To build a wall, to build a house, a dam, and in the wall and house and dam to put something of Manself, and to Manself take back something of the wall, the house the dam; to take hard muscles from the lifting, to take the clear lines and form from conceiving. For man, unlike any other thing organic or inorganic in the universe, grows beyond his work, walks up the stairs of his concepts, emerges ahead of his accomplishments.

-The Grapes of Wrath

I really love this example of prose because it is such an excellent example of parallel structure. Through the use of parallel structure the author creates a progressive movement of mankind, connecting what he is with what he must do to remain as man.

It was a close place. I took . . . up [the letter I'd written to Miss Watson], and held it in my hand. I was a-trembling, because I'd got to decide, forever, betwixt two things, and I knowed it. I studied a minute, sort of holding my breath, and then says to myself: “All right then, I'll go to hell”—and tore it up. It was awful thoughts and awful words, but they was said. And I let them stay said; and never thought no more about reforming.

-The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

This is an excellent example of the use of dialect within a work of literature. I fell like in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn the language becomes another character, representing the culture of the south, and it's role in the story. I also like the innocent point of view that has a great effect on the reader.

And perhaps you might pretend, afterwards, that it was only a trick and that you just said it to make them stop and didn't really mean it. But that isn't true. At the time when it happens you do mean it. You think there's no other way of saving yourself and you're quite ready to save yourself that way. You want it to happen to the other person. You don't give a damn what they suffer. All you care about is yourself.

-1984

I think this is a great example of the style reflecting the message of the novel. The direct style, that seeks only to explain what happened and as little as emotion as possible reflects the cold world that comes from a tyrannical government.

He had one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced, or seemed to face, the whole external world for an instant and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself.

-The Great Gatsby

I like how this text uses description to capture the reader. As the narrator is captivated by the character's smile, the reader is similarly entranced.

Fiction Terms

So I went through the text book and hand book and defined all of the words for my SDL.
Here they are:

Fiction Terms

Fiction: Narrative writing from the imagination rather than from fact.
Fable: A short story told to tell a moral idea. Characters are most often animals or objects or supernatural forces.
Parable: A illustrative story teaching a lesson. The parable parallels the situation that is being alluded to.
Tale: A relatively simple and short narrative.
Exposition: the introductory material that creates the tone, gives the setting, introduces the characters, and supplies other facts necessary to understanding. Gives the background information necessary for the reader's comprehension of the story.
Protagonist: The chief character in a work.
Antagonist: The character directly opposed to the protagonist. A rival, opponent, or enemy of the protagonist.
Foreshadowing: The presentation of an element or material in a work in such a way that later events are prepared for. Something happens that hints at what is to come and establishes the mood of the story.
Climax: The item of greatest importance in a rising order of events. It is the highest point of interest, whereat the reader makes the greatest emotional response. It can also denote the turning point of the action or synonymous for crisis.
Denouement: “unknotting” The final unraveling of the plot, the solution, an explanation or an outcome. When everything is resolved and explained at the end of a play.
Plot: A narrative of events, an artistic arrangement of such events. There are debates over the importance of plot. Aristotle established plot as the most important element in a dramatic composition, while others now declare that plot is more of a means to establish character. Either way, plot is essentially the series of events that occur in a story.
In Medias Res: “in the middle of things”, the literary technique of beginning the narration of the story in the middle of the action and then giving past events through flashbacks and other ways of exposition.
Story of Initiation: A story where the character is initiated into experience of maturity.
Narrator: Someone who recounts a Narrative. The teller or speaker of a story. They can be anyone in or apart from the story, known or unknown to the audience.
Point of View: The vantage point from which an author presents a story.
Types of Point of View:
-Narrator as Participant (First Person)
-major character
-minor character
-Narrator a Nonparticipant (Third Person)
-all-knowing
-seeing into one major character
-seeing into one minor character
-objective (not seeing into any character)
-Second Person (You)
Omniscience: The narrator is capable of knowing, seeing and telling all. Typically the third person, with a variety of limitations, depending on the type of omniscience
-impartial: presents the thoughts and actions of the characters, but does not judge them or comment on them
-editorial: the narrator adds their own opinion or judgment of the characters' actions.
-limited: can only see events through the eyes of one character, whether major or minor
-total: knows all of the characters' thoughts and actions
Objective Point of View: The narrator doesn't enter the mind of any character but describes the events from the outside.
Stream of Consciousness: The mind of an individual at any given moment, the total range of awareness . A novel of this genre takes a subject matter and records it's total consciousness as a complete exposition of the author.
Interior Monologue: A technique when presenting stream of consciousness, records the emotional experience of the characters by reaching downwards to a non-verbalized level where images must be used to represent sensations or emotions.
Character: creatures in art that seem to be human beings of one sort or another. A descriptive sketch of a personage who typifies some definite quality. An imagined person who inhabits a story.
Stock Character: Conventional character types. Every type of literature develops stock character who readers recognize so they can differentiate between individual characteristics and conventional traits.
Flat Character: A character constructed around a single idea or quality. A flat character is immediately recognizable and can be represented by a single sentence.
Round Character: A character sufficiently complex to be able to surprise the reader without losing credibility.
Static Character: A character who does not change very much in the story.
Dynamic Character: A character who develops or changes as a result of the actions of the plot.
Characterization: The creation of imaginary persons so that they seem lifelike. Three methods: 1) explicit presentation, 2) presentation through action, 3) representation from within, the emotions and reactions without comment by the author. (Round/Flat characters and Dynamic/Static characters are elements of characterization).
Allusion: A figure of speech that makes brief reference to a historical or literary figure, event or object.
Antihero: A protagonist of a modern play or novel who has the opposite of many of the traditional attributes of the hero. Graceless, inept and dishonesty are all possible traits.
Setting: The background against which action takes place. The elements of setting include 1) geography and physical arrangement 2) the daily lives of the characters 3) the time period 4)the general environment of the characters.
Locale: The physical setting of some action. It is the geographical and scenic qualities.
Regionalism:An author that consistently sets their novels or stories in the same location or region. This is depicted through a representation of the region's habits, speech, manners, folklore, or beliefs.
Tone: The attitude towards the subject and the audience implied in a literary work.
Style: The combination of two elements: the idea to be expressed and the individuality of the author. It involves all elements of the literature such as diction, imagery, rhythm, structure, etc. Patterns seen between works of a particular author or genre establishes that style.
Diction: The use of words. This includes vocabulary, which indicates the words one at a time and syntax, which is the word order.
Irony: The difference between appearances and reality.
Verbal Irony: The actual intent is expressed in words that carry the opposite meaning. Sarcasm differs from verbal irony in that sarcasm is usually more harsh than verbal irony.
Dramatic Irony: When the audience knows something that the characters in the play do not know.
Cosmic Irony: A malicious fate that deliberately frustrates human efforts.
Theme: A central idea. The abstract concept that is made concrete through representation in person, action, and image.
Symbol: Something that suggests more than its literal meaning.
Allegory: A story in which persons, places and things form a system of clearly labeled equivalents.

Books I've Read

So I've started to make a list of all the important books I've read. I've looked through a lot of top 100 booklists to get an idea of what books are important, and these are the ones that I've read from those lists.
Pride and Prejudice
Sense and Sensibility
Mansfield Park
Northanger Abby
Persuasion
Jane Eyre
Wuthering Heights
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
The Great Gatsby
The Scarlet Letter
Their Eyes Were Watching God
A Doll's House
To Kill A Mockingbird
The Crucible
Animal Farm
All Quiet on the Western Front
Cyrano de Burgerac
Oedipus Rex
Antigone
The Grapes of Wrath
Candide
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Hamlet
Macbeth
King Lear
Romeo and Juliet
As You Like It
Richard III
I Henry IV
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Julius Caesar
Othello
1984
Anna Karenina
Watership Down
The Good Earth
A Separate Peace
As I Lay Dying
The Odyssey
The Prince
The Kite Runner
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
And Then There Were None
The Color Of Water
Fahrenheit 451
Flowers for Algernon
A Lesson Before Dying
Like Water for Chocolate
Shavanu
Night
Cat's Cradle
Dawn
The Giver
Gone With the Wind
Anne of Green Gables
Ender's Game
(there could be more to come as I think of them) :]

Sonnet

So here is the sonnet I wrote...

I've fallen from the saving light of day
In dismal deep, my feeling's fallen short
Now numb I sit, awaiting slow decay
A mocking drink serves steward to my sport.
The liquid's bitter with the taste of ash,
With every sip, another shard of glass
That cuts my tongue and leaves a telling lash.
Oh heart, don't fear the cuts to come to pass
For surely there is still a ways to fall.
And though this drink goes down with burning ache,
There's one more cup, most bitter of them all.
Though prone to doubt, with fear about to break,
Take, heart, this cup will prove they saving grace,
and let the holder lift your weary face.

Poems In the English Major

So to find out a little bit more about poems in the English major I asked my sister-in-law, Heather, to help me out. Heather had an English Teaching minor, which is exactly what I'm planning on doing, so I thought it would be a good idea to ask someone in a situation similar to mine. This is the message Heather sent me:
I know we read "Red, Red, Wheel Barrow" and "This is just to say" both by William Carlos Williams several times in the minor. One of my favorite poets is Elizabeth Barret Browning. She wrote the epic poem "Aurora Leigh" which is where "How do I love comes." Robert Browning is important. He wrote a bunch of dramatic monologues, but I forget what they're called. One might be "My Last Dutchess." He also might have written "The Piped Piper." I also really liked "The Love Story of J. Alfred Proffrock," which I think is by T. S. Elliot. He's pretty important. He also wrote one about dead bodied coming out of the ground after World War I, but I don't remember what it's called. Shakespeare's sonnets are also pretty big. People read a lot of Robert Frost, William Blake (he wrote a series of poems that seemed like they were for little kids but they weren't. I think one might be "The Tyger"), William Wordsworth (Leaves of Grass), Langston Hughes (Theme for English B, I, too, am America).
Heather was also really helpful and asked her old English professor what he thought some important poems were.
He suggested:
‘Sonnet 73... Read More’ (Shakespeare)
‘A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal’ (Wordworth)
‘Because I Could Not Stop For Death’ (Dickinson)
‘Thirteen Ways of Looking At A Blackbird’ (Stevens)
The Canterbury Tales (Chaucer)
The Faerie Queen (Spencer)
Paradise Lost (Milton)
The Prelude (Wordsworth)
‘A Valediction Forbidding Mourning’ (Donne)
‘Tintern Abbey’ (Wordworth)
‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’ (Keats)
‘One Art’ (Elizabeth Bishop)
I thought they were really helpful. Hope it helps!

Their Eyes Were Watching God

So this is a quick blog about the connection between prose and poetry.
I know that one of the main qualifications of poetry is that it is in a verse-like format. I respect this line between poetry and prose, but I must admit that I think it becomes thin at certain points (the handbook thinks the same thing, thank you). Sometimes when a poem is a direct telling of a story, like a long narrative poem (Out of the Dust is a good example), then I think it leans more towards the prose side of things. There are other times when the prose written is so eloquent that the best way to describe it is simply poetry. I know this addresses the connotations of poetry and prose rather than the denotations, but I think the connotation is just as essential as the denotation.
One of the best examples of poetry-like prose is Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God. The story switches between a heavy southern dialect in the dialog, and a deep poetic style in the narration. Below are some quotes from the book.

"Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the Watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time. That is the life of men. Now, women forget all those things they don't want to remember, and remember everything they don't want to forget. The dream is the truth. Then they act and do things accordingly."

"The wind came back with triple fury, and put out the light for the last time. They sat in company with the others in other shanties, their eyes straining against crude walls and their souls asking if He meant to measure their puny might against His. They seemed to be staring at the dark, but their eyes were watching God."

" It was inevitable that she should accept any inconsistency and cruelty from her deity as all good worshippers do from theirs. All gods who receive homage are cruel. All gods dispense suffering without reason. Otherwise they would not be worshipped. Through indiscriminate suffering men know fear and fear is the most divine emotion. It is the stones for altars and the beginning of wisdom. Half gods are worshipped in wine and flowers. Real gods require blood."

If that's not poetry, then I don't know what is :]
If you haven't read Their Eyes Were Watching God then you should. It's a great book.

Shakespearean Poetry

So, I decided to once again use my Shakespeare class to my advantage and discuss poetry in Shakespeare.
Everyone is pretty familiar with Shakespearean sonnets, but sometimes the poetry used in the plays is kind of ignored. Shakespeare used such poetry in his plays often as a plot motivator. It was when the characters would speak their most profound poetry that their lovers would first begin to fall in love. One example of this that sticks out is when Rosalind falls in love with Orlando after he gives his speech before the wrestling match (I don't have my book with me or I would put the actual lines in). Orlando speaks a beautiful verse (although it is written in prose-a fact to be addressed in a later blog) about his apathy in regards to whether he comes out of the match dead or alive. If you've seen the BBC production of As You Like It, it during this speech that the camera has a close up of Rosalind's face and her facial expression is almost as if she's in a trance. It's at this point that Rosalind falls in love with him and becomes devoted to him.
Continuing with As You Like It, another time when blank verse is used is when Orlando writes a number of poems to Rosalind and posts them on trees. These somewhat corny verses are found by Rosalind and motivate her to experiment with Orlando to see how deep his love is for her. Poetry is the fruits of Petrarchan love, the pastoral love that was most popular in Shakespeare's time. Through Orlando's lame poetry Shakespeare mocks Petrarchan love and pushes the public to search for a deeper form of love.
Another way that Shakespeare uses poetry in his plays is to differentiate between the characters. In I Henry IV, Shakespeare has different characters speak with different styles to both manipulate the audience and differentiate between classes. King Henry IV speaks almost always in blank verse to indicate his high standing in the community. Hotspur speaks in an annoying manner. He is always cutting off the other characters and speaks with violent and brash phrases. Hotspur even states himself that he is not proficient at eloquent speaking. Hotspur was given such annoying speech to manipulate the audience to not like him anymore. Prince Hal has the most interesting use of language. Whenever he is with the drunkards on Eastcheap he speaks in prose like those surrounding him of the lower class. When he goes to his father, however, or when he gives his monologue, he speaks in flawless blank verse, further differentiating classes and his middle stance between them.
That's all I have for now! :]

English Classes

So, Dr. Burton asked us to look at classes for the English major just to investigate some of the ways this unit will help us in the future. Well, I'm not an English major, I'm actually an English Teaching Minor, so my choice of classes is fairly limited in selection. I looked up all the classes I need for my minor, and there are nine required courses. Engl 251 fulfills a whole requirement. I am already in the class Engl 232, the Shakespeare class, so that fulfills one of my other eight required classes. The other classes are American and British Literary History, Literature for adolescents, and some grammar teaching classes. Truthfully, I was a little disappointed that my minor included so few literature classes, I was really hoping for some more, but I suppose since I am planning on being an English teacher, I have to focus on the actual teaching part some. I am excited for the American and British Literary History classes. My sister-in-law was an English Teaching minor at BYU (she graduated two years ago) and she said she really enjoyed those classes while she was in school. I'm planning on holding off on the British Literary History class for a while because I really want to study abroad in Europe and I think that that class would be a good one to take, especially if I were to go to London or something like that.
Like I said before, I was a little disappointed in the lack of literature classes required in my minor, but I can already see how the drama unit is going to help me in my major. Firstly, it has already been very helpful in my Shakespeare class. Having two drama centered weeks was very interesting and I thought it started me off in the right direction in both classes because the interpretive techniques I was learning could be applied to both classes. I also think that this drama unit will be very helpful in the teaching part of my minor because, let's face it, aren't teachers acting as much as any actor? In class we had an informational performance about the Crucible. We discussed how when you are presenting information you are putting on a performance as much as when you are acting in a play. Therefore, this whole unit, which has had a lot of emphasis on the performance side of drama, has been very useful in learning how to perform in front of a group. Over all, I can see that this drama unit has definitely helped prepare me for my future endeavors as an English Teaching minor.

Importance of Being Earnest

So I was able to fit in reading the Importance of Being Earnest this week as I was planning to do in my self directed learning plan. Before I read, I looked up the plot synopsis and was a little confused because the plot seemed so pointless. Then I actually read the play, and I really really enjoyed it. The whole thing was just so funny! But, I didn't feel like I understood the play completely, so I discussed it with my friend Aaron, who had read the play several times and had been trying to get me to read it for a long time.
We talked about the title of the play, The Importance of Being Earnest, which, in itself, is one of the best parts of the play. The play on words of Earnest, which in this context can mean sincere, is reflective of the whole play. Everyone seems to be in so much earnest and yet at the same times, the sincerity of the whole play is questionable. Aaron pointed out the fact that Algernon spent the whole play stating that what was important was keeping up fine and sincere appearances while actual sincerity was certainly optional. I hadn't realized this when I was reading, but after having it pointed out to me, it made perfect sense and added to my comprehension of the play.
One thing that I questioned was whether this play was meant to be a satire or a parody. After thinking about it for a while, I decided that the play is most likely a satire. A parody, in the handbook, is written as an imitation of another work or author. I understand parody to have more of a purpose of mockery rather than a vast amount of social commentary. In Importance of Being Earnest, while it is certainly a mockery, it doesn't appear to be an imitation of another work that I can recall. Perhaps someone else knows, but from what I have read it seems to be fairly original. A satire, however, is apparently to have the purpose of social change; it is, according to my understanding, subversive, meaning to cry out against the norm through humor. I can definitely see this is Importance of Being Earnest. It makes the social norms of the society in which the play is set to be so utterly ridiculous that I would be surprised if everyone from that time period did not look around after realizing some of their own lives in the play and say "what are we thinking?". Truth be told, after seeing some of my own self in the play (most admittedly in the ridiculous behavior of the women regarding their own Earnests), I was motivated to reflect a little and perhaps change my behavior. Based off this personal experience, I would have to say that the Importance of Being Earnest is meant to be a satire rather than a parody.

Thoroughly Modern Mille

Last night I went to see Thoroughly Modern Millie with Amber and my friend, Aaron. I had never seen a BYU musical production before and the experience was quite memorable. I loved it! I have seen about five or six Off-Broadway productions back in North Carolina, but I have seen very few college productions and I didn't really know what to expect. I was shocked! The quality of the production was just amazing. I suppose I shouldn't just ramble about how much I loved the play, so I'll try to analyze what I saw from several different perspectives.
First, the plot and characters. I had one of my roommates give me a brief synopsis of the play before I left, so I knew that it was basically about a girl trying to make it in the 1920's. I didn't know much about the individual characters though, and I must say that the characters were one of my favorite parts. I was so impressed with the character development; how they slowly revealed all of the different aspects of the characters, until at the end when all was revealed and the solution was met. I must say that as far as the plot, it was a little thin. I don't, however, see this as a problem. I think that this play is a little bit like As You Like It, where the plot is thin to glorify the language; I believe that the plot of Thoroughly Modern Millie is thin to glorify the music and dancing that was so incredibly fascinating.
Other than plot and character, I want to add my thoughts as far as the actual production elements. I have already mentioned that I thought BYU did a wonderful job of producing this play. I think they were most accomplished in the scenery and costumes. The scenery was wonderful. The simplicity of it certainly added possibilities for the audience to imagine. Lots of the sets certainly enhanced the humor of the play, especially the rolling desks and chairs. I also have to say that I thought the costumes were amazing! I think the costumes contributed the most to the 1920's feel. They were so elaborately done but weren't obnoxious like some other plays have them. I loved it! Anyway, I have to go so this will be the end of my analysis for now.

Performance!

So today in class Amber and I performed a scene from A Midsummer Night's Dream. I thought it would be a good idea to write the process and my thoughts from the performance as a part of my self directed learning.
When Amber and I decided to do something together, I knew it would be to my advantage to do something Shakespearean. I've been up to my neck in Shakespeare and I figured I might as well take that one step further to actually performing a piece, so as to gain even more appreciation for Shakespeare's works. I thought it would be a good idea for Amber and I to do a scene with a lot of female interaction, so we decided to do something from A Midsummer Night's Dream. I found the scene where Helena and Hermia basically get into a cat fight and after talking about with Amber, we decided that would be very entertaining for the class. In the scene, however, there are two boy parts along with the two female parts. So we thought that it would be even funnier if we played both the female and male parts. Also, the doubling of parts allowed us to introduce a new aspect to the play with the use of props or costumes. The props would add a new element to our production in that we would have to figure out how to best use the props so as to add to our performance and the understanding of the audience.
While actually rehearsing, Amber and I found the parts to be confusing even with the mustaches to distinguish between females and males, so we decided to add another aid to the audience by looking a particular direction. When I was talking to one of Amber's characters I needed to look in her direction and when I was talking to one of the characters I was playing myself, I would look in the opposite direction. We wrote marks on our script to indicate which direction we should look and when our mustaches should be up or down.
Over all I think our performance went rather well. I wish we had been able make the character changes a little cleaner, but I think it worked okay. If there was anything I would have done differently, I would probably say that I would have added more body language. I would have made it so that when I was the male part, I had one stance, like I would stand taller with my chest puffed out, and then when I was the female part I would have put my hand on my hip or something to indicate a more feminine persona. Other than that, I was very satisfied with our performance. Hope everyone else enjoyed it too!

A Doll's House

So today in class we discussed A Doll's House and I really wanted to make a comment but by the time I thought of it the subject had changed, so I thought I could just post it on my blog.
In class we evaluated A Doll's House in comparison to Sophocle's play, most notably Oedipus the King. Most people seemed to view A Doll's House as a tragedy, but on a smaller scale than the tragedy of Oedipus. I certainly agree with this perspective. However, I can also see the difference between Oedipus and A Doll's House as being one of interpretation. With Oedipus, there is really only one way to view the outcome, as a tragedy. There is no way to work around that. When someone finds out that they've killed their father and slept with their mother, there is no other word for it than tragic. However, in A Doll's House, one could look at it in a different, less tragic way. It's true that it's sad Nora is leaving her family, but couldn't it be viewed as a positive thing that she is going to find her true self and discover who she really is after being controlled by men for so long? Now, I don't completely support this idea, I mean, I'm not supporting women leaving their husband's for a little personal time. I'm more trying to point out that there are different ways to view a Doll's House, as in without a sense of tragedy, while in Oedipus tragedy is really what you get.
I also thought that the purposes of the plays were very different. Oedipus seemed to have the purpose of Catharsis, to make you grateful for your life and to give a moral to the audience. In A Doll's House, there doesn't seem to be a direct moral, like "beware of pride", given. The moral of the story seems to be way more subjective. Also, I don't think A Doll's House has the purpose of making you grateful for your life, but more aware of the dangers that could come into your life. This to me is a fundamental difference between a sad realistic drama and a tragic drama.
Thanks!

As You Like It

So, I've recently had the good fortune of reading As You Like It by William Shakespeare. I had even less knowledge of this play than I did of Midsummer Night's Dream, so I must say that reading it was exciting for me.
My first thoughts while reading AYL were some of...well, disappointment. I originally read it just for the story, and while it was, of course, entertaining, I just thought that the plot was quite weak. The conflict was pretty conventional, and I felt like the climax wasn't climactic in the slightest. So, I went to my Shakespeare class pretty much not expecting anything wonderful, because the play was, in my opinion, super lame. I was quickly corrected in my thinking.
The first thing my teacher pointed out was that in AYL, the plot was thin. But then he made a series of suggestions and outlined several possibilities that made me think that Shakespeare meant for the plot to be thin. It seems to me that through AYL Shakespeare wanted to show the power of language. My favorite example of this is when in one of the first scenes, Orlando is about to go and wrestle Charles. He stops to speak to Rosalind and Celia. Rosalind, after talking to Orlando for like two seconds, falls in love with him. Why, my teacher asked, did that happen? Then, we (or at least I did) realized that it was because of the eloquence of Orlando's language that caused Rosalind to fall in love with him. I loved the idea of that, and that language can serve as a means to begin love.
I also found the character of Rosalind to be extremely interesting. It's not everyday in Shakespeare that you find a female who is both swoony and in control. Rosalind is, in herself, a strange mixture and I don't always comprehend what her role was meant to imply. Was it meant as an example of the power of women and they're capabilities by placing her as the heroine? But then why was she so quick to fall in love and be swooned by Orlando's charm? It's very interesting.
So yes, I'm in process of re-reading As You Like It, so I'm hoping to find even more interesting stuff and if I do then I will definitely post it! thanks!

A Midsummer Night's Dream

In my Shakespeare class we started off reading A Midsummer Night's Dream. I had never read this play before, and I actually had very little knowledge of the plot or characters. I thought at first I wouldn't like it because I'm actually not a big fan of comedies. I don't like reading comedies or watching comedic movies. I guess I get a little emotionally involved and end up just feeling bad for the characters. A Midsummer Night's Dream actually changed my opinion (well that's not completely true-I still don't think I'll like modern comedies, but I've expanded). I really loved it! I even watched the play on BYUtv, and I loved it there too (although in the production shown Puck was super creepy). So that was surprising.
What else was surprising was how much there was to the play. When I first read the play I just considered it a fun story, I didn't really think of it in any sort of context. In class, however, our professor had us examine the play from a number of different perspectives. We looked at it as a comedy and tried to evaluate if it was a comedy that had the intention of being subversive-with the purpose of examining life and wanting something more, sort of a cry against the norm- or if the comedy was more arbitrary, meant to just make you appreciate your life more. At first I thought the play was arbitrary, but after examining other aspects of the play, I can see it's subversive qualities. After examining the gender relations in the play, the cry against the norm was more clearly heard. The gender relations were fascinating. Theseus was especially intriguing with his relationship with Hippolyta, was she in love with him? Was this simply a matter of force? When Theseus said "I will wed thee in another key-with pomp and triumph, and with revelling", was he gloating or was he just celebratory? I think that he was more gloating over his victory, especially considering his mythical history. However, one must also consider that he did grant Hermia her wish, overriding Egeus' wishes. Does this mean the value of women increased in his eyes during the play or was he simply being indulgent? I think it meant the latter. Demetrius and Lysander, in contrast to Theseus, were kind of bumbling and fickle, Shakespeare could have been commenting on the nature of men (their inconsistency) in comparison to the constancy of women. Also, one must consider the context of the play, in ELIZABETHan England. Would Shakespeare want to glorify females with a female queen? I think there was a little flattery involved. I don't know if Shakespeare original intentions were to include so many gender implications, but they certainly add a new element to the play.
There is a lot more I could say about the different meanings from the play, but I have to do other homework, so I will just conclude by saying that Shakespeare's plays are all in themselves very good stories, but when you look at them through different perspectives and with different contextual backgrounds, it makes them so much more!
I've started As You Like It, hopefully I'll get as much out of the next one. I'd love to know anyone else's opinions on A Midsummer Night's Dream, so feel free to comment!

Start!

So, I'm starting this blog as documentation for what I do in my English class. I've always been somewhat opposed to blogs, but I figure this is the best way to keep people informed and happy. Hope Dr. Burton approves!!!