Final Hub: Wrapping up Shakespeare and the Family

Focus:
My research focus started out as a filial analysis on Shakespeare's works. Once I realized "filial" was specific to parent-child relationship I thought I'd broaden my research to a familial analysis of Shakespeare. But then it felt too broad and overwhelming so I broke the familial analysis into five parts and then shortened it to three:

• Love & Marriage
• Tragedy in the Family
• Filial: Parent-child Relationship 

Finally, when it boiled down to the wrapping up of the blog, I realized what my focused had turned into: Shakespeare and tragedy in the family. This focus encompasses some of his plays, biological information about Shakespeare's own life, and how responses to tragedy parallel between the modern family and the Elizabethan family. 


Thesis:
Familial relationships in Shakespeare's works parallel directly with his own life and the views of the time. I argue that the Elizabethan familial relationships are the same as today, and that we can use these relationships portrayed in Shakespeare's literature as tools to learn from the pitfalls and successes. 


Support/Evidence:
First, I began learning about the life of Shakespeare in Michael Wood's documentary "In Search of Shakespeare" and wrote about Shakespeare as a son, husband, and father in one, two, three and four parts.
Then I researched Elizabethan marriage in Bruce Young's Family Life in the Age of Shakespeare. I wrote about the three types of marriage in Elizabethan times that are illustrated in A Midsummer Night's Dream:  love, lust and companionate.
Next, I wrote about how families are central to most of Shakespeare's tragedies. Shakespeare used tragedy as a way to illustrate the values of family and how the bonds are strengthened through adversary. I referred to modern examples of tragedies that affect the family like the shooting in Brazil and the earthquake/tsunami in Japan. I also referred back to the biographical research I wrote about on Shakespeare and how when his son, Hamnet, died Shakespeare responded by mending the relationship he had with his father.
Shakespeare also illustrated through some of his plays that tragedies can tear families a part. Tragedy in Hamlet is a result of "family feelings" and Hamlet being forced to internalize those feelings. I mentioned a psychological study that concluded young people have a higher risk of suicide attempt when they've experience the death of a biological parent. Shakespeare also demonstrated how tragedy can further detriment a family had an affair after his son, Hamnet's, early death.
Finishing my research focus with King Lear, I discussed how King Lear actually portrays the ideal filial relationship. I used the example of Lear and his daughter, Cordelia's, reconciliation through repentance, forgiveness and unconditional love.


Conclusion:
Shakespeare's illustration of the family not only reflects Elizabethan society but modern society as well. Focusing on subjects such as tragedy, Shakespeare's characters become timeless and their issues hauntingly familiar. Because Shakespeare experienced tragedy in his family first-hand--a failure of father, a gun-shot possibly love-less marriage, and the death of a young child---his characters are genuine and their experiences are real. We can learn from much of what Shakespeare illustrates about families in his, plays, their successes and their failures. 

The Ideal Filial Relationship in King Lear

As I conclude my focus on the familial Shakespeare, I end with the play King Lear from which my research was inspired by. In King Lear, Shakespeare focuses on the filial relationships of Lear and Gloucester. "Lear and Gloucester are both flawed fathers who learn from what they suffer and are finally reconciled with a child they have mistreated" (Young 91)*.

"Though the play initially grounds the parent-child bond in nature, duty, and reciprocity, by the end, when Lear and Cordelia are reconciled, it becomes something of even greater value and significance." When Cordelia and Lear reconcile their relationship they use language of repentance, forgiveness and unconditional love. Cordelia asks for her father's blessing, and he kneels to ask for her forgiveness (Young 92).


King Lear, Act IV Scene VII 

Shortly after the father and daughter have been reunited, Cordelia is captured and hung. Because Shakespeare made their earthly relationship short-lived, perhaps he was alluding that the importance did not lie in physical manifestations. How tragic the ending may seem, Cordelia and Lear captured the essence of an ideal parent-child relationship, and maybe even any familial relationship. Cordelia asks her father, "Sir, do you know me?" and he admits that his foolishness, ignorance and skewed perspective had previously made that question difficult to answer. But now, he is aware of his flaws and humbly accepts his daughter, "I think this lady/To be my child Cordelia". Hand in hand, Lear asks for his daughters support and forgiveness "You must bear with me./Pray you now, forget and forgive. I am old and foolish." I believe this is the scene where Shakespeare speaks the most about family. We see that repentance, forgiveness and unconditional love are the vehicles through which we may truly know those we call family.

After a career of fame, wealth, and status Shakespeare returned home to live out the last days of his life. Having been an absent father, I assume that as Shakespeare wrote King Lear, 10 years before his death, that he longed for the day when he could ask his family for forgiveness and to accept him back into the home. This is probably more speculation than not, but if you watch, listen, read and truly see the familial relationships in Shakespeare's literature, there is no doubt of the feelings--whether they be longings, lofty ideals, or realities--for his family.

*Family Life in the Age of Shakespeare by Bruce Young

Familial Involvement and Reponse to Tragedy

Familial relationships in Shakespeare's works parallel directly with his own life and the views of the time. I believe that Elizabethan familial relationships are the same as today, and that we can use these relationships portrayed in Shakespeare's literature as tools to learn from the pitfalls and successes. 

One section of my focus, familial Shakespeare, is about tragedy in the family. I believe this is an important connection to make between the contemporary family and Elizabethan family because tragedy is universal and, quite frankly, has occurred and will occur every day. 

When I think of tragedy in the modern world involving families, I think of the latest incident in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, when a man opened gunfire in an elementary school. He killed 12 children, and injured another 12. 

Disclaimer: This video contains disturbing images.

Tragedy, like this, is sickening and depressing. It brings with it fear, anger, sadness, feelings of hopelessness and lack of control. Anything can happen, anywhere, and to anyone. You can't help but be weighed down by the disastrous reality of it. We feel and see the same thing happening in regards to the earthquake/tsunami in Japan.

 

So many helpless people were killed, homes were destroyed, and resources diminished. It's easy to become overwhelmed by darkness, yet there is always a light that emerges. Somehow familial bonds are strengthened through death and tragedy.


In Shakespeare's plays families are central to most of the tragedies. This means that families are "subject to horrific strains including betrayal, deception, egotism, jealousy, hatred, violence, and the accidents and assaults of fortune, nature and human family. Although the families succumb, in many cases, to these strains, the plays nevertheless demonstrate the value of families--otherwise we would not be moved by the tragic outcomes--as well as the powerful emotions, both positive and negative, associated with family life. The tragedies also deal with the ethical and philosophical issues, including the nature of familial love, the relation of family and personal identity, and the role of family in social and political life and in the cosmos." (Young 90)

Shakespeare's son, Hamnet, died at the age of 11 from a terrible sickness. Michael Wood believes, in In Search of Shakespeare: The Duty of a Poet, that one way Shakespeare reacted to Hamnet's death demonstrates the strengthening and/or mending of familial bonds in the midst of tragedy. Immediately after his son's death, Shakespeare applied for a coat of arms for his father, John, as a way to recompense his reputation. He was granted the coat of arms, gaining the title of a gentleman and restoring his father's name. After losing his son, it seems as though Shakespeare wanted to mend the relationship with his father as a way to cope with his son's death.

Thus, tragedy not only directly affects families but illustrates the value of families at the same time. Toru Kikawada realized the importance of families through loss. Others are reunited through tragedy, both physically and emotionally. Either way, those of us affected and those of us on-lookers, gain a renewed perspective of family when tragedy strikes.

Pre-Hub Hub

"hubs" via here

To be honest, I was a little shocked when Dr. Burton announced on Wednesday that we needed to write a hub post for Monday. I was planning on another week, at least, of posts that would further develop my focus of familial Shakespeare! Thankfully I was able to talk to Dr. Burton after class and share my anxiety. I told him that this hub post would not be filled with very many links or as developed since I hadn't planned for a hub post so soon, but he told me that it was fine and that this was more of a chance to get things going. Phew! I thought Mandy's hub-post was clearly formatted and informative but not intimidating, so I will follow her example with a few changes.


Focus:
I began my focus on the familial Shakespeare. I decided this was too broad to write about with each post so I broke it into 5 parts which I have now shortened to 3:

• Love & Marriage
• Tragedy in the Family
• Filial: Parent-child Relationship

Within each category is Shakespeare's own biographical information, historical information of the time, an in-depth analysis of the topic in one of Shakespeare's plays, and how it relates to the modern family.

Thesis: 

Familial relationships in Shakespeare's works parallel directly with his own life and the views of the time. I argue that the Elizabethan familial relationships are the same as today, and that we can use these relationships portrayed in Shakespeare's literature as tools to learn from the pitfalls and successes. 

Support/Evidence:

• First, I began learning about the life of Shakespeare in Michael Wood's documentary "In Search of Shakespeare" and wrote about him as a son, husband, and father in one, two, three and four parts.
• Then I started 1 of the 3 sections I am focusing on within my topic by researching Elizabethan marriage in Bruce Young's Family Life in the Age of Shakespeare. I wrote about the three types of marriages in Elizabethan times that are illustrated in A Midsummer Night's Dream.
• Next will be Tragedy in the Family with a close analysis of Hamlet. I will compare the reaction of families to tragedy in Elizabethan and modern times.
• Finally, I will spend the majority of my time analyzing filial relationships within King Lear. This was the beginning inspiration for my familial focus so I think it is appropriate to end where I began.