Video project

I've been thinking about the class project a lot and here are some of my thoughts:

I really like the idea of adapting,  a known story because then we can focus more on quality production instead of worrying about a plot.  Also, adapting stories is what Shakespeare did right?
I really liked Emily's "Final Project Ideas" blog with the whole documentary/ making a trailer. It could be really fun and I think that would give us an opportunity to really show what we know about Shakespeare's writing.

I also had the idea of maybe splitting up into small groups and making trailers for different Shakespeare adapted stories.  It could be cool to assign each group a genre (romance, comedy, tragedy, history) and have them magnify it in their retelling. Or we could do this as a class just making four trailers as a group.  This would also give us a good opportunity to study & share Shakespeare's formula for different genres.

Though King Lear is set in a pre-christian pagan era there are many allusions to Christianity found within the Play. The biggest example of this is Cordelia.

Throughout the play there are several allusions to her being a Christlike figure. In Act 4 scene 3, when Cordelia makes her reappearance, she described in reverent/biblical terms such as: "she shook...The holy water from her heavenly eyes”(28-29). Cordelia's character is motivated by love in all she does which is similar to Christ love. Cordelia has several christ like traits such as forgiveness, purity, and, love. Even though her father at the beginning of the play turned her out, Cordelia forgives him and brings and army to help her Lear. In scene four Cordelia says "O dear father,.. It is thy business that I go about” which is similar to Luke 2:49 where Christ says, "I must go about my father’s business”. In Act 5 when Lear and his daughter are reunited he kind of shy's or hides from out of shame for his mistakes but Cordelia welcomes him with open arms this reminds me of Christ's role in repentance. When we sin or make mistakes often we find our selves avoiding repentance out of shame for our actions but no matter what we do Christ is ready and waiting to forgive and help us. Cordelia is killed and essentially martyred at the end of the play similar to Christ's martyrdom in Jerusalem.    Because of these specific references to Christ I think Cordelia's character is meant to symbolize the Savior as opposed to just christian ideals. 

Because I interpreted the play this way I kind of attributed Edmunds character to satan, Christ's counter part. 

Edmunds motivated by hate for societies rules, his father, and his brother. But the underlying motive is jealousy. In an Lds perspective Satan wants to bring us down to his level out of jealousy because he can't rise to ours. In a general christian view Satan is evil. Edmund deceives his father and turns him against his brother Edgar. He deceives Goneril and Regan making them think he's strengthening their power while turning them against each other by stringing them along. In the end his actions lead to both Goneril and Regans death (I think in this case death could be symbolic of damnation). Satan's purpose is to deceive and tempt and Edmund does all these things with purposeful malice which is why I think he represents the devil.

Othello's Geography

Here's a video I made as kind of a historical/geographic preview to Othello. Enjoy!


Ps. Its better to watch it in bigger format so I would click the enlarge button. 

The Hand Which Threw the Pearl Away.

Marriage is common subject in several of Shakespeare's plays. In Othello its actually one of the main themes/motifs. The couples in this play(Othello & Desdemona, Emilia and Iago) are subject to questions of trust, loyalty, love, and equality. Iago is constantly deceiving his wife and uses her for personal gain. At the beginning he confesses of a rumor of her infidelity with Othello prior the plot of the play but this doesn't seem to be the cause of his scrupulous actions as its only mentioned one other time in the play. In the end Iago kills his wife for exposing his true character without even blinking an eye; proving he didn't love her.

Emilia throughout the play is loyal to her husband. We see she's obedient as she retrieves Desdemona's handkerchief at Iago's request. In Act IV scene 2 when she talks to Desdemona about Othello's false judgement It seems as if she hinting at her husbands false judgement of her rumored affair with Othello. Therefore we can assume her complete fidelity/honesty to Iago.


In Act IV scene 3 Emilia gives a soliloquy about her view of marriage. She talks about the double standards in relationships applied to fidelity. She talks about the weakness men use to justify having mistresses and says "And have we not affections? Desires for sport or frailty as men have?". Though focused on the metaphor of intimate relations I think this speech is more about equality in a Marriage then about justification for woman cheating because at the end Emilia says "then let them use us well; else let them know the ills we do, their ills instruct us so." This is similar to a scene in the Comedy of errors where Adriana talks about marital equality: Act 2 scene 2 


"For if we two be one, and thou play false
 I do digest the poison of thy flesh,
 Being strumpeted by the contagion
 Keep then fair league and truce with thy true bed I live unstained, thou undishonoured"

 In Othello both Emilia and Desdemona are misused by their spouses. They're called whore and treated like sinners while in reality their spouse are the ones in league with "devils".  Shakespeare actually uses the theme of wrongful accusations in a few plays. For example, in Much Ado About Nothing Claudio exposes Hero for infidelity (which was false) He publicly humiliates here and even though it all works out in the end a similar motif of inequality of gender comes up again. Historically in Shakespeare's day women were taught to be obedient and compliant in Marriage but his plays often challenge the idea. For example, in Merchant of Venice Portia defies her husband and follows him to court. She then acts as a judge (bold for a woman) and then questions his fidelity (as a test) and one point threatens to cheat on her husband. In there relationship she seems to be in control which was the opposite trend of the Elizabethan times. Another example of this is Taming of the Shrew. In this play Katherine appearing to be "tamed" by her husband but if you read between the lines she's really just her spouse is just teaching her how to be a partner in a marriage. In the final scene of the play she gives a speech about her duty to her husband to follow his "honest will" and the mutual respect of a relationship. Othello and Desdemona obviously don't have this kind of a relationship and it was ultimately their down fall. 

Othello didn't trust Desdemona or confront her about his worries. Then, due to the manipulation of Iago, he went mad with jealousy. Desdemona appears to be the a weak compliant woman but when Othello hits her she defies him saying " I did not deserve that". I Don't think Desdemona is weak she is just in love and expects a relationship with mutual respect. I think At the beginning Othello did to because he honored her request to accompany him to cyprus. but the loss of a mutual respect and trust between the two of them eventually led to both their death. I think by using this idea in his plays Shakespeare is tying to show that love and lasting relationships die without equality/mutual respect.

Hamlet vs. Hamlet Part II

Another interesting difference between the Kenneth Branagh and David Tenant was the role of Gertrude, Hamlets mother. "Frailty thy name is woman" is one of Hamlets first descriptions of his mother. The character of Gertrude is the most questionable among the cast. Several things about her character are left open-ended for interpretation in the play. For example: Did she conspire to kill her husband? Did she cheat on her first husband? Did she betray Hamlet when she confides in him after her Act III scene with Hamlet? etc. 

The differences in interpretation are usually seen in Act III Scene IV  and Act V Scene II. In Act III Hamlet goes to his mothers bedroom and they discuss his behavior and hers. Hamlet end up telling his mother about Claudius' role in the Kings death and killing Polonius. Gertrude's reactions and actions in this scene determine whether you think she's a murdering adulteress or just a "frail" woman dependent on men to fulfill her. In the final scene of the play Gertrude drinks the poison meant for her son. Depending on your interpretation, This could be done of guilt or ignorance.


In Act III of the David Tenant version Gertrude was shocked at the Idea of Claudius killing her first husband. Yet she still had inconspicuous motives when she rats Hamlet out to his uncle. At the end of the play when Claudius tells her not to drink the cup she exchanges an all knowing look of discovery and disgust with her current husband before basically committing suicide. Gertrude is portrayed as innocent woman fallen to the passions of her heart when she finds out her lover is a murderer she feels guilty and kills herself. 


In the Kenneth Branagh version Gertrude is shown flirting with Claudius while her first husband is still alive. This gives the impression that she is unfaithful and therefore you wonder if she was a conspirator in the kings murder or just an adulterer. In the Act III scene you can't really tell what Gertrude is thinking. You can tell she's scared of and for her son based on her reactions, but she's never really on his side. Therefore when she rats him out to Polonius it is more consistent. In the final scene she's oblivious to the poisoned glass that causes her death. Never do you really see her feeling guilty so either she was in on the murder or never accepted it when Hamlet told her. Over all, I liked this interpretation the best. I felt it was most consistent with the test and plot. 

Hamlet vs. Hamlet

I recently viewed both the Kenneth Branagh and David Tenant Film adaptations will a group from class. Both films were exceptionally good .... and extremely different.  The David Tenant version is set in modern times but has a distinct old world feel. They wore modern clothes but kept the original language. This was a little distracting at first but by the end of the movie I was comfortable with it. Some interesting things they did was using security cameras and having the same actor play Claudius and Hamlets father. The Security Camera's were used to spy on hamlet and open/shift scenes. I felt like the cameras made the film choppy at some points however It gave an interesting spin on Hamlets choice to play crazy. At one point Hamlet breaks the camera in the main hall to and says "now I can truly be alone". He then goes into his soliloquy but he still acts crazy even though he's completely alone. This gave me the impression that Hamlet had really lost his mind by the time he kills Polonius. When he returns from England he seems to be of sound mind even during the ophelia burial scene.
I thought this was a good interpretation of Hamlets character. I loved Hamlets character in the film but I felt some of the other character were lacking in the acting, or at the very least, Shakespearian department. Ophelia bugged me and though she played a good crazy person I felt her role/character was made to modern and independent. The point of Ophelia's character is she's dependent of men and having people make decisions for her. For example, she was almost sarcastic in the scenes with her father which I thought distracted from the themes of the play. 

The Kenneth Branagh version was a more traditional Shakespeare interpretation. I wasn't quite sure if it was sett in a Elizabethan time period but it was in the past. One interesting thing they did in this version was create back story. Though the script was true to the play, several times throughout the movie there would be blips voiced over with the lines from the play but showing interpretations of past implication found in the lines. Such as Gertrude flirting with Claudius while the kings still alive. Sometimes I enjoyed the clarifications of the flash backs but sometimes I disagreed with the films interpretations. All in all I loved the film but I didn't think it was Kenneth Branagh's best role. I much preferred David Tenants Interpretation of the character. His character was allusive like Hamlet is supposed to be but he added a more dimensional personality to it. Also David's portrayal of madness was much more convincing then Kenneth's. I felt Kenneth was over the top at some parts and While Hamlet is supposed to be off the wall and inconsistent It was too much for me. As for the rest of the film I much preferred the Kenneth Branagh version because it was creative but true to the atmosphere of Shakespeare.

Self Assesment

Gaining Shakespeare Literacy:This semester I've been trying to expand my knowledge of Shakespeare's works. I read Merchant of Venice for the first time in this class. Through films and the play of Merchant of Venice I've be exposed to performances of the plays we've read in class. For example, I watched the kenneth Branagh version of Hamlet with some people from the class and then we watched the David Tennant(royal acting company) version. watching & comparing these to movies helped me see the possible ways to interpret Shakespeare's play differently. As for the Legacy of Shakespeare I've watched modern/pop culture adaptations to see the influence he's had in the world today. For example, The Shakespeare episode of Doctor Who and the Japanese interpretation of Hamlet (The Bad Sleep Well).


ex. Legacy http://petersonmarina232.blogspot.com/2012/02/hamlet-japanese-style.html

Performance http://petersonmarina232.blogspot.com/2012/01/merchant-of-venice-for-kids.html


Analyze Shakespeare Critically: Through class discussion, blogging and personal research I've increased my ability to contextually analyze/interpret Shakespeare's plays as I read them. Analyzing the text is something I need to work on. I find studying and interpreting the themes to be fairly easy, but I have a hard time analyzing the language.


ex. Contextual Analysis http://petersonmarina232.blogspot.com/2012/01/tempest.html
http://petersonmarina232.blogspot.com/2012/01/casting-merchant-of-venice.html

Textual Analysis
http://petersonmarina232.blogspot.com/2012/01/all-that-glitters-isnt-gold.html


Share Shakespeare Meaningfully/gain Digital Literacy: Through this blog I've been able to share my thoughts about Shakespeare as I learn more about his works. Also looking at others' blogs and various websites devoted to the bard has helped me engage in Shakespearian discussions with others. Outside of class (and the internet) Shakespeare has come up a lot in my everyday conversations. I blogged about talking Shakespeare with one of my co-workers but my latest conversation  was with my grand mother about her experience with Shakespeare (Which I'll post about later). Speaking with random people about Shakespeare helps me see the influence of his writings and how he's still popular today.


Ex:connecting 
http://petersonmarina232.blogspot.com/2012/01/henry-v-second-chance.html


Personal Learning Plan:
One of the things I need to do is engage in Shakespeare creatively. This is the section I will be trying to improve the most. One of the courses out come I need to work on is Depth. I plan on studying my individual play in depth and to Gain Shakespeare literacy.

Hamlet Japanese style

I've always been interested in how things effect the entire world not just mine. When I studied Shakespeare in High school, I wanted to know How his plays were used in other cultures. I Found this Japanese film adaptation of Hamlet online. It had really good reviews and had won several awards so I ordered it from Netflix. 

The Bad Sleep Well was made in the 1960's by Akira Kurosawa who actually has made a few Shakespeare film adaptations of the tragedies. This adaptation of Hamlet is set in the Japanese corporate world. Though there are some plot differences Overall I thought the film was a very cool take on the classic story. The Themes of the film are still revenge and Identity but changes in the plot such as  Koichi Nishi, the Hamlet character, gets married to the Ophelia counter part give  Koichi Nishi a moral conscience that works as a stumbling block on his path to revenge.


http://www.cinelogue.com/reviews/the-bad-sleep-well


THe Film is shot in a kind of noir style and it's scenes are directed in  a dramatic suspenseful tone. The movie opens with a wedding much like Shakespeare's play but a twist  Koichi Nishi is marrying  the daughter of his fathers business partner who killed his father. thus changing the role of Gertrude, Hamlets Mother. The Polonius character ends up being the uncle-family character. The cultural influences and plot twists make this a very good/interesting film. Its cool to see Shakespeare's influence on such a different culture (Japanese) as opposed to western civilization.