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.
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.
