Family Life in the Age of Shakespeare

While searching for scholarly articles on "filial theories" in Shakespeare (I'm feeling out this focus to see where is takes me) I found this book by one of our fellow Cougs, Bruce Young. Dr. Burton actually referred this book to me as well. 

The volume begins with a look at the classical and medieval background of family life in the Early Modern era. This is followed by a sustained discussion of family life in Shakespeare's world. The book then examines issues related to family life across a broad range of Shakespeare's works. Later chapters then examine how productions of the plays have treated scenes concerning family life, and how scholars and critics have commented on family life in Shakespeare's writings. The volume closes with a bibliography of print and electronic resources for student research. 

 Synopsis on Google Books

Bibliography--definitely woot worthy! Woot woot! I'm really interested the content, but the bibliography at the end will be an excellent resource for further research.  Some of the chapters included in this book are: Family Life in Shakespeares World (so a bit of history), Family Life in Shakespeares Works (textual analysis), and Family Life in Performance (I'm interested in the visual as well so this is the best of both worlds).

Reviewing Laura D.'s blog

I get to review Laura D.'s blog which is great because hers is another blog I enjoy reading and learning from. She has written 16 blog posts, all of which are insightful, informative and interesting. Laura's strength in her recent posts is making connections and comparisons between the texts we read like Antony & Cleopatra to Romeo & Juliet, and characters like King Lear and Antony. One post that was especially interesting was about Classes. Take a look at it--Dr. Burton also referred to it in class. Laura's posts are aesthetically pleasing with the pictures she includes, which is a definite strength as well. I would recommend organizing her posts so that the things she writes about catch the readers eye. While her post are substantial, they are all lengthy and difficult to skim for main points.

Progress Report

Learning outcomes: The goals I drafted in my learning plan were to read the entire play assigned, watch two performances of each play, attain a breadth of knowledge of Shakespeare's popular plays and learn more about the history of Shakespeare. I have met those goals, but changed the two performances to one performance for times sake. I haven't blogged much about Shakespeare's life but I am in the process of watching a series of episodes about his life that BBC made. I have fulfilled learning outcomes--1: A,B,C,D, 2: A,B,C,D, and 4:C. For learning outcome 3 I'm planning to either be a part of the flash mob or memorize a passage on my own. 

Reading and Research: I have read Hamlet, Richard III, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Macbeth and The Tempest. I've referenced the journal Shakespeare Quarterly a few times for critical articles on the plays. I have also pursued film adaptations of the plays, looked to my peers and family for information and study, browsed the internet, and used our textbook as a resource for introductions, bibliographies, and timelines. I plan to check out what the library has to offer, as well.

Personal Impact: I've been amazed and how much I've enjoyed simply reading the text. I guess I have been so caught up on the "Shakespeare is hard to understand" dilemma that started long ago that I assumed I would still struggle with it. I think that this class has shaped that experience because 1) I choose to read the plays I am interested in 2) I have to take the time and search for things beyond the text that bring the play to life 3) I have to also take the time to see explore my questions/thoughts/ideas on Shakespeare. I am motivated, not only for this class but for other inquiries I have in the future, by the fact that there are so many enriching resources out there! I am being drawn to the visual, hands on, aspect of Shakespeare like art, scenery, costume etc. I am also interested in a psycho-analysis of the plays. Both are broad but I'm searching for a specific focus.

Personal Evaluation: I think I've done well analyzing the text and performances of the plays, searching for ties within our contemporary world, culture and my own personal life and consistently sharing what I've learned through blogging. Some of the posts I feel I put a lot of work into and got a lot out of are Scansion and An Actor's Point of View. Shakespeare's plays are very rich and I don't feel like I've even scratched the surface with each play that I've read. I need to pay more attention to what is behind each character, plot, and the language with literary theories and analysis. 

Peer Influence: These three stand out in my mind, and when I checked in my "Starred Items" in Google Reader their posts were listed most often. Brooke R. focuses on interesting visuals of Shakespeare in her "behind-the scenes" approach. I specifically remember her post Beauty is Pain about the cosmetics in Shakespeare. Cara C.'s posts have incredible amounts of historical context that range from gee-whiz-facts to essential information. I'm especially impressed by the post she did About the Author, and motivated to dip more into the life of Shakespeare. Also, Bryan M. not only has substantial posts but I've also noticed on IntenseDebate and with one of my own posts that he does really well with carrying on critical conversation--contributing to other classmate's blogs with substantial comments. 

Shakespeare Behind Bars

I've been waiting and waiting for Romance week so that I could watch "Shakespeare Behind Bars." The inmates in this documentary perform The Tempest and that is the play I am studying this week. As soon as I can find a copy of the movie I'll be back to report on it!

 

Andrew Carnegie

"A change in my tastes came when 'Gust' Adams, one of the most celebrated tragedians of the day, began to play in Pittsburgh a round of Shakespearean characters. Thenceforth there was nothing for me but Shakespeare. I seemed to be able to memorize him almost without effort. Never before had I realized what magic lay in words. The rhythm and the melody all seemed to find a resting-place in me, to melt into a solid mass which lay ready to come at call. It was a new language and its appreciate I certainly owe to dramatic representation , for, until I saw 'Macbeth' played, my interest in Shakespeare was not aroused."

From The Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie

'Twere Best Not Know Myself: Othello, Lear, Macbeth

I was browsing through a journal I found called Shakespeare Quarterly which sounded really familiar--I'm sure it's some renown journal that I, of course, had never read. Anyway, I was looking for something Macbeth related and was intrigued by the article titled "T'were Best not Know Myself: Othello, Lear, Macbeth." It discusses the complexity of Shakespeare's tragic heroes and their opposition toward "anagorisis" or self-discovery.

Robert B. Heilman explores the fact that the three plays were written back to back within a time period of 3 years (1603-1606) and how Shakespeare takes "anagorisis" one step further in each play. Beginning with Othello, it's not until the end of the play that he discovers the truth of his situation and reflects on his horrible acts. At the beginning of King Lear, Lear "explodes into injustice...so that more than four acts of the play are left for the drama of self-understanding." But, with Macbeth, he was fully aware of what was right and true but he was constantly trying to escape from self-consciousness. Heilman argues:

"When a protagonist 'knows' that his course is morally intolerable, but strains frantically against that knowledge lest it impair his obsessive pursuit of the course, the tension between knowing and willing may itself destroy him."

and alternatively that "self-knowledge would be an appropriate magnanimity, a grace of spirit, or a mode of salvation."

When I have read a tragedy, I've always tried to keep in mind the flaw of the "tragic hero" but can't help feeling like they're more of a victim than the cause of their circumstances. There always seems to be other characters manipulating them or pushing them towards destruction. After reading this article that focuses on the psychology of the tragic hero, I have to agree that these men are all intelligent, political leaders that try to blind themselves from the reality of themselves--that, ultimately is their downfall. I like how Heilman ended the article:

"It would be supererogatory [beyond what is needed] to praise these different dramatizations of a psychological realism whole validity we sense even more strongly, perhaps, after four hundred years."

Scansion

Macbeth

Last week was "one of those weeks", you know? I did have the time to read Macbeth and look more into the play, but alas, I didn't get around to posting. Here's some of last weeks work:

When my mom mentioned scansion in my interview with her sudden flashbacks of my sophomore literary analysis class came flooding back. I hadn't scanned lines for awhile, so I thought I should take another stab at it with Macbeth's "dagger" speech. Shakespeare tends to stray from straight iambic pentameter in moments where character's are conflicted with emotions, or mentally out of whack. What better play to pay close attention to that than a tragedy? Macbeth's "dagger" speech is an important moment in the play where we watch him grapple with murdering King Duncan or not. Driven by ambition and Lady Macbeth's approval, Macbeth addresses the dagger in his hand almost as if it's his conscience.

I went through the speech and marked the stressed & unstressed syllables, the feet, and wrote notes and terms to the side. I'm a visual person so I thought this would be an excellent way to delve into the language of Shakespeare while at the same time delve into the character of Macbeth & his emotions. I've scanned this into the computer so my handwriting might not be the easiest to read, I apologize.

As you can see from my notes, this speech evokes a lot of questions and is open to interpretation. Some think that Macbeth hasn't yet decided when he ends this soliloquy whether or not he will murder Duncan. I think that line 14 where his mind is imagining blood on the dagger is an indication that his subconscious has already decided and Macbeth's mind is about to overtaken by that

.

I also highlighted the "extra" syllables on ends of some of the lines. With some searching I found here that they are "masculine endings" if the last syllable is stressed, and "feminine endings" if the last syllable is unstressed. It made me think about the gender focus in this play and I wonder if Shakespeare consciously thought the same on such a micro level. The lines ending in a "feminine ending" refer to the dagger, false creation, being marshaled to murder and murder itself, which makes me immediately think of Lady Macbeth and how, in my opinion, she is more the murderer than Macbeth. The lines ending in a "masculine ending" refer to witchcraft and design, which are what Macbeth feels trapped and propelled by--a sort of destiny he has no control over.

 I may be reading too much into it, but it's definitely got me thinking about how much more I can find in the text if I really look closely. 

An Actor's Point of View

I had another fantastic interview, this time with the famous
Ann Bosler, my mother. She was a theatre major at BYU long ago and continued with a career in acting on stage & film. Ever since we discussed in class the imagery of Shakespeare's words versus the importance of stage art, costume, etc. I have been very interested in looking at the performance aspect of A Midsummer Night's Dream and what it lends to the audience and the actors. I thought I'd interview my mother, since she played Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream.

When did you play the role of Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream?

Around 1979-1980. It was a performance off campus at the Lighthouse Repertory Theater.

Do you think performing in a Shakespeare play added to your knowledge and understanding of Shakespeare? How so? Definitely. Performing Shakespeare gives you a much greater understanding of the characters. Acting a part, and watching others around you doing the same, forces you to understand why each characters says what their saying. With that knowledge, then your challenge as an actor is to make the words sound just as they should've sounded coming out of the mouths of those characters. 

Did you do research to prepare for the part of Titania? And/Or what advice did the director give you on the role? I didn't do much actual research because was an imaginary character. I did "scan" the lines/perform "scansion" on my lines, which is writing the iambic pentameter accents over all of the lines so that I could figure out what emotional state the character was in. For example, in Hamlet Hamlet's lines are often skewed from iambic pentameter to echo his depressed/insane state of mind.

My director (John Huntington) was responsible for my approach to the mythical character of Titania because of his specific vision for the play. He wanted Titania to be "art nouveau"--flowing costumes, ethereal yet earth, dark and libido driven, very passionate but not overtly animalistically sexy. 

Were there certain themes the director consciously highlighted in the performance?

Mainly the obvious theme love & romance. The actors approach was based on "realness" not a stagy dramatization.

Do you feel that the visuals (scenery, costumes, etc) were necessary in carrying the overall tone of the play? The director mixed the "art nouveau"with a minimalistic approach. We had almost no scenery or props. The bed Titania laid down to sleep on was just a pillow. Because the scenery was minimal and modern, the costumes were essential. Titania and her fairies were draped in flowing, loose material. Usually Titania and Oberon have the typecast of blonde, and light skinned, but me and the man cast as Oberon were dark skinned, dark hair which added a different feel to the fairies. 

Do you think A Midsummer Night's Dream is more of a romance or comedy?

Romance, definitely--especially from an actor's point of view. The romance pulls on the heart-strings because you feel for Helena.

Did you have any personally comical moments while performing? (hint hint!)

Hmmm..whatever do you mean??! Yes, this classified as my "most embarrassing moment " of my life!  When I was supposed to be asleep and waiting for Bottom to wake me, I experimented with a relaxation exercise that would be so real that my eyelids wouldn't  even flutter so the audience could tell I wasn't asleep. It worked! I fell asleep! What's more is that I was supposed to wake up at the musical cue which they played three times to no avail. Finally the "comic" fairy came onstage and pretended to trip and fall on me to wake me up! I woke up and the whole experience threw me so that, although I didn't forget my lines, I got through the following scene in half the usual time!

Should Shakespeare be read so that it is obvious it's written in verse?

I was trained to perform the lines according to the scansion and I believe that can be done without it sounding stilted and so you can't "hear" the verse.  I'm not a fan of the modern actors who perform the lines with such a modern cadence to make it sound real, that they give no respect to the unique iambic rhythm form in which it was written. Performing Shakespeare is NOT like performing just any other kind of script.

What did you do to make the experience of seeing Titania and reading Titania different?

Well to be honest, I didn't have much to base that on. I don't think I ever saw a performance before I did the part--it was before VCR's!

What other Shakespeare characters have you portrayed? What were the similarities and differences in performing those characters?

I was also in As You Like It and played the shepherd girl who falls in love with the shepherd boy--I don't remember her name. I found myself leaning heavily on the director's vision both times--in fact the two characters were a lot alike.  The director wanted me to play her as a "pastoral"character--earthy, simple, naive to her physical power and charm, sexual but innocent. 

My thoughts:

• I remember learning about "scansion" but I have yet to have practiced that with any of Shakespeare's plays I have read so far. I think I will try that with the next genre we read--Tragedy--since I'm sure the characters emotional states won't be the most stable. 
• I'm interested in her director's different approach to A Midsummer Night's dream because reading the play I wouldn't think "Scenery: minimalistic". I would tend to lean towards over the top, but then I can see how that would be too much paired with the rich with imagery dialogue of the play. 
• Ever since I saw the question on Ian Mckellen's StageWorkMckellen  I've been interested to ask more actor's the question of whether Shakespeare should be read so that it's obvious it's written in verse. At first, I thought that question was an obvious no, but I thought my mom's answer was very interesting--"Performing Shakespeare is NOT like performing just any other kind of script." I agree with her that there is needed respect to be given to the art form of Shakespeare's words, but I think there also needs to be a balance of executing them in a cadence the audience understands. 
• Although my question "What did you do to make the experience of seeing Titania and reading Titania different?" was going in a different direction, my mom's answer shedded some slight on something I would have never really thought of. How often did people, let alone actors, get to see performances of Shakespeare's plays--even just 30 years ago? How much of an actor's portrayal now is based on what they have already seen of Shakespeare? Not to discount them, but I think since Shakespeare is easily reachable on YouTube, Netflix, etc. that performances now are much different. Seeing Hamlet performed the same way over and over again forces actors to take more creative liberty with the characters and add their own twist, or go in a completely opposite direction. Does this take away from Shakespeare or add to it?  
 

 

Thank you to my mom, Ann, for taking the time to answer my questions and for guiding my interest into specific directions.

A Midsummer Night's Dream Review

I decided to watch the movie before I read the play so that I could get the characters straight. Just reading the introduction to the play made my head spin with all the different characters and their lovers. Now when I read Demetrius I think "oh yeah, Christian Bale!", or Bottom--the very funny Kevin Kline. Kevin Kline did an incredible job with the character Bottom--hilarious, arrogant, but with a tinge of innocence. 

The movie didn't stay very closely to the script, although I think most of the lines were directly from the play. I think it was a smart move to shorten the dialogue because, although their words are very poetic, the characters are can be quite winded. The movie had its funny moments but until the last scene of the play I would've categorized it in Romance rather than Comedy. But, like I said, that was until I saw the last scene where Bottom and a buddies act out the play of Pyramus & Thisbe. That was the most comical, and in my opinion, the best scene of the movie! The movie ended on a lighthearted, romantic, magical note that made the whole experience simply enjoyable. I don't think you could get as much out of A Midsummer Night's Dream without seeing it performed because the visual aspect seems necessary to the overall theme of the play.

Four and half stars for staying true to Shakespeare's vision of love and comedy, creating impressionable scenery and great characterization. It's too bad Hollywood thought it was necessary that the young couples be naked ALL THE TIME. It doesn't show anything, but still, they're naked a lot.