Shakespeare and YA Lit: A New Genre for an Old Favorite

This post ties together my focus research on Shakespeare adaptations in young adult literature. If you haven't read my blog before, you should start here!

Research Question and Thesis
I started this project with a question rather than a thesis. That question (as found in my Focus Project post) is What elements of Shakespeare can be successfully translated into the young adult experience?

This served me well as I researched, and I've finally come to an arguable thesis: Teen lit adaptations of Shakespeare can make the Bard more accessible to young adults, adding to--rather than detracting from--Shakespeare's original texts.

In order to prove this thesis, I took a look at three types of sources: the Bard's original texts, specifically A Midsummer Night's Dream; several YA lit adaptations; and scholarly articles about YA Shakespeare.

Analyzing Original Texts
I read several Shakespeare plays this semester, and I chose to look closely at A Midsummer Night's Dream. As I read, I looked for themes that would appeal to teenagers reading the play or that authors could use when adapting the play into novel form. Two themes that I found were frustrated love and female friendship. I discovered that the Bard's plays are full of ideas that teenagers can appreciate at their unique stage in life; however, because the language is difficult, teens may need help exploring Shakespeare's themes. YA literature is one way that teens can have greater access to Shakespeare's stories and themes.

Self-Blog-Evaluation

Using the same criteria from Dr. B that I used when reviewing Caroline's blog, I'm going to take a look at my own blog. I reference Mandy's review throughout--she gave me some great feedback and I made adjustments accordingly.

The Author of A Loser's Guide

Hey, remember back when I did a review of The Loser's Guide to Life and Love? Well, tonight I had the pleasure of meeting the author, Ann Cannon! She and Betsy Burton, owner of the King's English bookstore in SLC, came to Rick Walton's publishing class to talk about the children's book industry and answer our questions. She was super nice and funny.

After class, I asked her about why she decided to write a modern teen lit adaptation of Midsummer Night's Dream. She said that she was teaching a class where she had students write a paper bridging a YA novel with a classic (I did a similar project--we both got the idea/assignment from Chris Crowe) and she thought, hey, I should try my hand at a novel that can be bridged to Shakespeare. Voila! Just like I mentioned in my last post, this book serves as a great bridge to MND. It was really fun to meet the author of a book that I've read and studied so recently. And hey, maybe I'll do a Shakespeare adaptation myself someday.

(Note to Dr. B: please don't grade my blog yet! I'm working on my hub post and evaluation but I had an exhausting day today that felt something like this and I'm going to bed right now.)

Blog Review: The Globe

This is a review of Caroline's blog, The Globe, and specifically her hub post and research focus. I'm basing this review on Dr. B's evaluation criteria.

Preliminary Hub Post

As we near the end of the semester and the end of this research project, it's time to pull in all the threads of my inquiry and see what I've discovered as I've explored Shakespeare and YA literature.

Research Question and Thesis
I started this project with a question rather than a thesis. That question (as found in my Focus Project post) is "What elements of Shakespeare can be successfully translated into the young adult experience?" This served me well as I researched, and I've finally come to an actual thesis: Teen lit adaptations of Shakespeare can make the Bard more accessible to young adults, adding to--rather than detracting from--Shakespeare's original texts. 


Primary sources
I wanted to read multiple books on Shakespeare, listed in my Focus Project post.
I originally planned to read multiple books based on each play as I planned in this post for The Tempest, but then I changed my plans to read one book for each play.
I reviewed Ariel and The Loser's Guide to Life and Love. I also read Dating Hamlet and The Wednesday Wars, but I didn't have the time to write up reviews.

Textual analysis
I looked in-depth at A Midsummer Night's Dream and made two posts about teen themes that could be used in YA adaptations. The first was about frustrated love and the second was about female friendship.

Scholarly Resources
I checked out a couple of books about Shakespeare and YA literature, which I overviewed here. I followed up by reviewing several articles, one comparing Hamlet to Bridge to Terabithia and another about Harry Potter and Shakespeare as a storyteller.

Book Review: The Loser's Guide to Life and Love

This book review is the second in a series of reviews of teen novels that adapt Shakespeare. As I explore what adaptations can do to enhance the Shakespeare experience for teens, I look at how A. E. Cannon's spinoff translates the text of A Midsummer Night's Dream into a modern setting.

Please note: Book reviews will contain spoilers, so if you want to read the book you might want to do so before reading my review.

Summary
Ed works with his friend Scout at a video rental store where he doesn't get enough respect even to afford him his own name badge. He and Scout spend boring work hours inventing a past for "Sergio" and Ed often wishes that he could be cool like made-up Sergio rather than being a boring nerd. So when beautiful Ellie comes into the store, Ed doesn't clarify the name badge mistake. He becomes Sergio, the suave Brazilian man who loves to cook and "laughs in the face of danger...[and] never sweats."

Meanwhile, Ed's nerdy friend Quark is falling for Scout. But Ellie is nursing a heartbreak of her own, and Scout acknowledges to herself that she has feelings for Ed. All the lies are stripped away one by one, and everything comes to a head at Ali and the Warrior Queen's Midsummer Eve Celebration.

Shakespeare's Legacy in YA Literature II

Hey, so I did some scholarly research again. That was unexpected. This time I looked at a few of the articles in the book Reimagining Shakespeare for Children and Young Adults, mentioned in this post. You can take a look at the first Shakespeare's Legacy post here.

The last article I looked at discussed how Shakespearean themes manifest in modern YA lit, looking particularly at Bridge to Terabithia. Two of the articles that I read continued that train of thought. (I read some other articles from this book, and they are interesting but don't pertain to my subject.)

The first article is "Harry Potter and the Shakespearean Allusion" by Miranda Johnson-Haddad. Woo-hoo, Harry Potter! Everything is better with Harry Potter. Even the Doctor thinks that Shakespeare needs some good ol' J. K. Anyway, the article is about moments in the HP books that parallel moments in Richard III and Titus Andronicus. Unfortunately, the article was written when only four books were out, so some of the speculation is outdated and the examples could be better. However, the main point of the article is still relevant: Harry Potter, like Shakespeare, is concerned with "the relationship--the affinity, even--between good and evil" (168). Modern YA lit builds on themes that are explored dynamically in Shakespeare.

Shakespeare's Legacy in YA Literature

In my ongoing project about how Shakespeare has affected YA literature, I've spent a lot of time looking at direct adaptations and spinoffs in YA novels. As such, I've been using primary texts far more than scholarly materials. To rectify this inadequacy, I read through one of the chapters in Heirs to Shakespeare that I mentioned in this post.

The chapter I read is titled "Hamlet: Prince of the Schoolyard" and it discusses how Hamlet shows up in modern YA lit beyond direct adaptations. The chapter discusses several novels that use Shakespearean themes and character types, but what I found most interesting was the comparison between Hamlet and Bridge to Terabithia. You may be thinking, what in the world does that novel have to do with Hamlet?? Okay, that's what I thought when I started reading. But Megan Lynn Isaac actually points out some surprising parallels.

Mark Zuckerberg

Just a quick post to say that I attended the Mark Zuckerberg technology forum. It was interesting and an enormous privilege to have him come to BYU, especially since he's never done such a big university presentation before. I wish it had been a little more organized and that he'd had time to answer more questions, but it was still cool. I liked his discussion of the interconnectivity of technology and sociology, that at the end of the day all problems are human problems. I think Shakespeare would agree.

Teen Themes: Female Friendship

This post is the second of two posts on themes in A Midsummer Night's Dream that appeal to teenagers, part of my ongoing project about YA lit adaptations of Shakespeare. You can see the first post here.

The second theme that I found in A Midsummer Night's Dream that I thought a YA author could take advantage of is the friendship between Hermia and Helena. Most YA lit readers are female (male teenagers read less in general, and those who do read gravitate towards non-fiction) and friendship is hugely important to teenage girls.

Teen Themes: Frustrated Love

This post is the first of two about themes in A Midsummer Night's Dream that appeal to teenagers.

When adapting Shakespeare, it's important to consider what themes the target audience will appreciate. This means that authors who adapt Shakespeare for a teen audience need to find themes in the original texts that apply to teen experience. The themes that the authors of YA Shakespeare spinoffs choose to explore may or may not be the main themes of the original plays. For example, Ariel by Grace Tiffany (see my book review) explores the ideas that imagination is powerful, that the search for power can ruin people's lives, and that friendly love trumps spontaneous romance. Some of these themes align with The Tempest but others do not.

As I read A Midsummer Night's Dream, I looked for themes that would appeal to teen readers, especially themes that I would capitalize on if I were writing a YA adaptation. One theme I thought would translate well is frustrated love.

Future Posting

This doesn't mean I'm posting from the future, ha ha. But as the semester winds down, I need to make sure that I know when I'm going to be posting on which topics. I've been shedding motivation like a snake sheds skin, and I didn't have much of it to start with.

To Read
Loser's Guide to Love and Life
Henry V
Scholarly research
Two other YA adaptations, probably The Wednesday Wars and either Dating Hamlet or Ophelia

To Post

Scholarly Resources

In my search to understand how Shakespeare is adapted for young adults, I need to focus more on the scholarly side of things, so I went to the library and checked out a couple cool books that I plan to peruse.

The first book analyzes how Shakespeare appears in young adult literature today, giving lists of books that have Shakespearean themes as well as making direct comparisons of YA texts to the original plays.

Isaac, Megan Lynn. Heirs to Shakespeare: Reinventing the Bard in Young Adult Literature. Portsmouth: Boynton, 2000. 

The second book discusses children and young adults as a new audience for Shakespeare and how Shakespeare has been modified to help children understand and appreciate the Bard. I'm especially excited for the chapters "Playing with Shakespeare: Making Worlds from Words" and "Harry Potter and the Shakespearean Allusion."

Miller, Naomi J. Reimagining Shakespeare for Children and Young Adults. New York: Routledge, 2003. 

Also, I didn't check this book out, but it looked like it might be useful to Claire. It has multiple articles about different aspects of teaching Shakespeare; the article that caught my eye was about using Robert Cormier's The Chocolate War to ease teenagers into a critical approach of Macbeth.

Davis, James E. Teaching Shakespeare Today: Practical Approaches and Productive Strategies. 1993. Library Catalog: PR 2987 .T37

And Now For Something Completely Different

Just a quick fun post in case there are people out there who haven't seen this yet. It never fails to make me giggle. (Warning for language at the end.)

Book Review: Ariel

This book review is the first in a series of reviews of teen novels that adapt Shakespeare. As I explore what adaptations can do to enchance the Shakespeare experience for teens, I look at how Grace Tiffany's adaptation interprets the characters of The Tempest.

Please note: Book reviews will contain spoilers, so if you want to read the book you might want to do so before reading my review. 

Summary

Ariel is born out of the mind of a dying sailor in the first century AD. A spirit of whimsy and magic, she dominates her island and creates other spirits whose names reflect her nature: Madness, Mind, and Fantasy. She thrives for centuries on the power that the sailor gave her, but when she realizes that she cannot cross a barrier onto the other half of the island, she becomes determined to find new people who will strengthen her with their belief in her power.

She latches hope onto a human girl who lands on her island, but Sycorax is practical and has no use for the fantasies that Ariel creates in the air, and when Ariel refuses to help Sycorax through her difficult childbirth, Sycorax traps Ariel in the form of an ant and imprisons her in a tree. Ariel's only hope is that she can convince Sycorax's son, Caliban, to believe in her power and let her go. She tricks Caliban into murdering his mother, hoping that with Sycorax gone the spell will be broken. When Caliban realizes what Ariel has done, he turns on her and leaves her helpless--until yet another man shipwrecks on her shore. 

Focus Project: Shakespeare and YA Literature

Main Research Question
What elements of Shakespeare can be successfully translated into the young adult experience?

YA Books
Ariel by Grace Tiffany (The Tempest)
The Loser's Guide to Life and Love by A. E. Cannon (Midsummer Night's Dream)
Lady Macbeth's Daughter by Lisa Klein (Macbeth)
Enter Three Witches by Caroline B. Cooney (Macbeth)
Ophelia by Lisa Klein (Hamlet)
Dating Hamlet by Lisa Fiedler (Hamlet)
Shylock's Daughter by Mirjam Pressler (Merchant of Venice)
Romeo and Juliet Together (And Alive!) At Last by Avi (Romeo and Juliet)
Romiette and Julio by Sharon Draper (Romeo and Juliet)
The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt (multiple plays)
King of Shadows by Susan Cooper (historical)
Swan Town by Michael Ortiz (historical)

I won't be able to read every single one of these books, but I plan to read at least five.

Excuses, excuses

Eep! I haven't posted since the self-reflection last Monday, and I haven't posted anything substantial for two weeks. I don't have time to post at the moment, but I can report that I've finished The Tempest and a graphic novel version of that play, plus I'm halfway through Ariel by Tiffany Grace. In the next couple days, I will be posting a review of the YA books along with a big planning post that will define my research focus and explain how I intend to fulfill the learning requirements from now on.

Mid-semester Progress Report

Time for a little self-reflection.

Blog Review: Thine Own Adventure

This is a review of Chris W's blog, Thine Own Adventure.

Number of Posts: 11

Quality of Posts: The blog doesn't have quite two posts a week, but Chris's posts are well researched and detailed.

Strengths: Chris does a great job at looking at genre conventions, like in his posts about history and comedy. I like that he posts his questions as well as his thoughts after reading a play. His latest post does a great job of using Shakespeare to interpret modern events.

Suggestions for Improvement: Most posts could benefit from the use of paragraphs and careful proofreading. (Don't hate me, I'm an editor.)

The Tempest: Shakespeare and YA Literature

Because this is the last week of assigned genre reading, I'm going to take a bit longer for The Tempest. (Also, I have all my midterms this week. Whee!) I've decided that for this play I'm going to focus on how Shakespeare has been adapted for children and young adults. This week, I'll read the original play, and then next week I'll read adaptations and do reviews about each book's effectiveness and appeal.

Here's what I'm planning to read:

Ariel by Grace Tiffany. A novel about Ariel's side of the story.

The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt. An eighth-grade boy is forced to study Shakespeare with a teacher he hates but learns to appreciate the Bard in the context of his tumultuous friendships, his uneasy family life, and the Vietnam War. I read this book last semester, so I'll review just the parts about The Tempest.

Lizard by Dennis Covington. A young boy runs away from an institution for mentally handicapped boys and at some point is part of a production of The Tempest.









The Tempest (Graphic Shakespeare) by Daniel Connor and Cynthia Martin. A comic-book style version of The Tempest that uses the original words of the play.

I'll also read several picture books that the library has. Since I've been in several classes for children's and adolescent literature, I'm going to enjoy seeing how authors adapt the Bard's work to appeal to a younger audience and make them want to tackle the real deal.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

Yay! I finished Macbeth on Wednesday but I haven't had time to post about it until now. The best part of the play for me is Macbeth's speech after his wife has died:

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,

Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,

To the last syllable of recorded time;

And all our yesterdays have lighted fools

The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!

Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,

That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,

And then is heard no more. It is a tale

Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,

Signifying nothing.

Macbeth doesn't have the sophistication of Hamlet, and it's hard to imagine the savage, rough Macbeth saying anything like Hamlet's To Be or Not To Be soliloquy, but this moment is just as tragic. Macbeth has lost his wife and the one person who understands him, who stood by him in all his scheming and aided him to the throne. As awful as his bloody ascent was, we have to feel sympathy for Macbeth as his world falls apart.

I remembered hearing an interview with Patrick Stewart about this speech, so I found it on Youtube. He tells some of the advice that he got from Ian McKellan as Stewart was beginning his run of Macbeth:

I watched both his and Ian McKellan's versions of the speech, and I can definitely see the influence there. However, I don't really like either version! Blasphemy, I know. But I think this speech is more beautiful on the page than read aloud. Aloud, it needs to be read with apathy or bitterness or desperation, and the shape of the words lose some of their beauty. What do you think--can you find a better version of the speech, or have I missed something of value in these two renditions?

30 Post Ideas

Most of my class notes are ideas for posts and approaches to the plays, so I thought I'd gather them all here for easy reference.

1. Post class notes and continue the class conversation.
2. Make connections between the text and my life.
3. Take photographs and add Shakespeare quotes in InDesign.
4. Watch Reduced Shakespeare and comment.
5. Write notes summarizing each scene.
6. Write from the perspective of an actor or director. 
7. Compare multiple cinematic versions.
8. Read children's adaptations or YA spinoff novels (A Loser's Guide to Love and Life, Lady Macbeth's Daughter, Romiette and Julio). 
9. Research historical and cultural contexts, especially censors, relations with France, and the monarchy.
10. Watch the BBC animated versions.
11. Look at interpretations in other cultures or time periods.
12. Write an adaptation or parody.
13. Read two editions that have different footnotes.
14. Write creatively from the perspective of a minor character.
15. Make an analytical argument.
16. Interview someone.
17. Compare the usefulness of different resources.
18. Discuss how reductions and parodies affect Shakespeare literacy.
19. Reply to classmates' blog posts.
20. Find and attend a local performance.
21. Reference the learning outcomes.
22. Post webcomics.
23. Search Twitter.
24. Copy the post formats of blogs I enjoy, like Hyperbole and a Half or Mark Reads/Mark Watches.
25. Compare two plays, like Macbeth to Hamlet.
26. Use literary theory! Campbell would be fun.
27. Look at maps.
28. Do a theoretical teaching plan.
29. Propose a production--"fantasy Shakespeare."
30. Compare Shakespeare to modern playwrights and examine how Shakespeare might treat their stories, or vice versa: How would Shakespeare stage Phantom of the Opera, and how would ALW do Othello?

Macbeth Act I

A place map for "the Scottish play."

Diving into Macbeth! I've never read this play before, although I did see it over the summer in Cedar City. I didn't like it at all. It dragged and didn't make much sense. So I decided, heck, I should read it!

It is possible that I'm a masochist.

Just kidding. Actually, I'm reading because it occurred to me as I was watching the production in Cedar City that the set, which was minimal, was not carrying the weight that it should be. There are lots of lines in Macbeth that help the audience see the setting, especially of the house where the murders take place, but the set didn't look at all like what I imagined the setting should be.

Now, I'm in my English capstone class right now, and we're discussing the Gothic in literature and film. Much of the Gothic is connected with setting, especially of "haunted" houses. Therefore, I want to direct my reading of Macbeth by looking at what elements could contribute to a Gothic adaptation of the play.

All I've read so far is Act I, but there are already things that a director could use to make Macbeth into a Gothic story.

• The witches in the beginning. I can picture them appearing slowly in a dying field, saying their crazy lines, and then fading away into the swirling fog. 
• Scene two doesn't have anything particularly Gothic in it, but setting makes all the difference. If it takes place outside, fog would work well, or it could take place inside a creepy, dark room. The wounds of the Captain and Ross would provide the brightest color.
• Macbeth and Banquo are trying to get back but are lost and meet the witches--this would work well in a foggy field or a "dead marshes" kind of setting. The witches are supposed to be supernatural, "So withered and so wild in their attire, That look not like th' inhabitants o' th' Earth, And yet are on ’t?" (I.iii.40-42) and I can picture them dressed in wispy clothes, appearing neither male nor female, with eyes that faintly glow. 
• Is Macbeth already a little off his rocker? As soon as he hears that he will be king, he immediately starts thinking about murdering King Duncan. A Gothic portrayal of Macbeth might have him be crazy from the beginning. 
• Scene 4 would probably be staged inside. It can't be too far from the battlefield, though. Where was the battle? Is it close to where all the characters live? Maybe the king has a tent set up. This scene is probably warmer than the others, but there could still be something in the setting and the music that foreshadows Duncan's murder. 
• Unlike most Gothic films, a Gothic Macbeth would not deal with repressed females. Lady Macbeth is far from repressed--in fact, it would have done everyone good if Macbeth had reined her in. However, the "unsex me" speech is about Lady Macbeth repressing her own femininity, so that could fit with the Gothic conventions. 
• Macbeth's home at Inverness would definitely be one of those huge, drafty, stereotypical Gothic castles. The first lines of scene 6, remarking on the warmth of Macbeth's house, could be played ironically, or in an awkward attempt to be polite. Birds are nesting in Macbeth's castle, which could point to neglect, draftiness, and disrepair. 

This is probably coming through a lot better in my head than it is in this post, but it's a lot of fun! I'm not a visual reader, so it takes some slowing down to imagine a detailed setting, but it adds a new dimension to the text.

Macbeth: Planning

Schedule for next week:

M: Act 1
T: Act 2 and 3
Th: Act 4 and 5
F: Look at criticism

Posts:
Thought posts for each day/act
Explore the possibilities of a Gothic production of Macbeth (I'm in a Gothic lit&film class)
Review a critical article

Taming Things I Hate About Shrew

Yeah, so, I'm alternating reading the text of Taming and watching 10 Things. They have almost nothing in common besides basic plot...ish. Certainly the frame story is left out. I think I like the frame. It doesn't make much sense as a practical joke, but it does put up red flags about the meaning of the play. If it's framed as a trick, does that mean the story of the shrew is a trick?

I'm already appreciating how different the comedies are from the tragedies, in that they are funny. Hamlet has some funny bits, but Polonius is no Grumio. It's too bad Whitney's doing As You Like It--I'd love to hear what she has to say about the humor in Taming.

It's interesting how the characters use the words "shrewd" to mean "shrewish." Today, "shrewd" means "clever, cunning, mischievous, savvy." Indeed, according to the OED the word has had many meanings: it can be used as a simple intensifier or to mean "harsh," "unsatisfactory," "irksome," or "piercing." Lots of versatility there! Most of these meanings were around in Shakespeare's time--I wonder if he played around with the meaning at all. (Psh, of course he did. It's Shakey.)

Finally, I think I'll use the line "Tis a very excellent piece of work. Would 'twere done." in my everyday life now. Brilliance.

Tropes

I could spend (and have spent) hours and hours on TV Tropes reading about all the different plot and character devices that my favorite television shows use. So I thought, Why not Shakespeare? I looked around, and there are several pages about Shakespeare that are worth looking at. Each play has its own tropes page, and several adaptations do as well. Old Shakey has his own place of honor in trope history: The Zeroth Law of Trope Examples. If you follow through to different trope links, you can find other works that use the same devices as Shakespeare, which would be a good way to start a critical comparison.

Taming of the Shrew

Just a quick post: I haven't started reading the play yet, but I did check out the Wikipedia page and look at the critical history. I'm worried about the misogyny in the play, because nothing cheeses me off like chauvinists, but I know that my roommate who loves the play (hi, Sarah!) wrote an essay last semester about how the play is actually not misogynistic at all, so I'll bug her until she lets me read it.

Beyond that, I'm not sure what I want to do with the play. I'll probably do more Thought posts because making lists of comments as I read is a good way to come up with questions and avoid dozing off. I may compare the play to 10 Things I Hate About You, because I've seen that movie several times and wouldn't mind seeing it again. I doubt I'll watch a more faithful adaptation unless someone else in the class really likes one.

I should also begin looking into academic criticism, because despite my disdain for academic conventions, there's a wealth of information to be found there. Perhaps I'll spend some time perusing the Shakespeare subject guide on the library website. I also need to look through my class notes again and see what suggestions of Dr. Burton's that I haven't looked into yet.

So much time and so little to blog! Wait, strike that, reverse it.

Henry V, Act One

I've read several classmates' posts about Henry V, but I didn't do any additional research before beginning to read (mostly because holy cow, how is it Thursday already??). Much like Cara did in her post, I'm just going to list the thoughts that occurred to me as I read through Henry V, act one. Maybe some of these will turn into questions that I research in depth later on.

THOUGHTS:

Prologue

• Hey, there's a chorus. That's...Greek. Okay.
• Shakespeare, you and your words. Why are you so excellent? "the very casques / That did affright the air at Agincourt," beautiful. Affright the air, affright the air. I think I'll just say that over and over and make my roommates wonder what's wrong with me. 
• "For ’tis your thoughts that now must deck our kings, / Carry them here and there, jumping o'er times, / Turning th' accomplishment of many years / Into an hour-glass" So, Shakespeare totes wrote this after he met the Doctor, didn't he? (Sorry, non - Doctor Who fans, all my references are probably annoying. You can solve this problem by watching some Doctor Who.)
• So, wait, why is there a chorus? Is it a history-play convention? Would it have made the audience of the time think the play was more genuine?

Scene 1

• Canterbury's comments about Henry (or Harry, I guess. So why isn't this play called King Harry?) are quite interesting. It's an easy way to transition from Henry's behavior in Henry IV to his more kingly behavior here, but it's sloppy as far as character development goes. Tsk, tsk, Shakey. Still, it sounds like I'll be rooting for this guy.
• Seriously, Shakespeare and his WORDS. How does everything sound so sonorous? 
• Canterbury: "It must be so, for miracles are ceased, / And therefore we must needs admit the means /
• How things are perfected." That's a pretty grim view! Is this a commentary on the kind of man Canterbury is, or was this an everyday view?

Scene 2

• BORING HISTORY IS BORING
• Canterbury, this sounds like a terrible argument. "The Bible says you can have the throne!" Would the audience have thought this was legitimate and rousing, or would they have been skeptical about all this sophistry?
• Ely: "You're strong and young and powerful, you should go kill people." Exeter: "That's what kings are 'post to do." THANKS DUDES.
• Henry, I think you should probably focus on the Scots thing and forget the France thing. ...No? Okay, so no. Maybe I'm just not very patriotic...to England...six hundred years ago. 
• On the upside, at least they don't want to invade Russia. 
• Canterbury, are you like the Polonius of this play only not funny? I AM DISAPPOINT.
• Ambassador, I appreciate your brevity, but did you decide that tact wasn't part of your job that day? Wake up on the wrong side of the bed? Decide to TRY to incite a war?
• TENNIS BALLS ROFL BRB DYING FOREVER 
• Henry, you rock. I'm not sure I believe you about the whole "mingling with the common people totes on purpose" thing, but you sure know how to deliver a stinging retort to this ambassador, who should probably be fired. Or, more apropos of the times, beheaded.
• Wait, so is all of this happening because the Church doesn't want this bill to go through, so they're directing the king to get money by invading France instead? SCUMBAGS. What would the audience of the time have thought of this?

Hey, this is pretty good so far. Maybe I will actually like this play...or at least I'll enjoy raging about it.

Blargh

I haven't posted since Wednesday, so I thought I'd pop in and say that I do not have anything to post. I have not yet started reading Henry V. I have five essays to write by Thursday and I just took on two freelance editing jobs, so my enthusiasm for Shakespeare is less than, erm, enthusiastic. I plan to do the bulk of my reading on Thursday, after the essays are all turned in, and then post on Thursday and Saturday. Hopefully next week will be better than this one, which can essentially be summed up with BLARGH.

Calling All Whovians

David Tennant has played both Hamlet and the Tenth Doctor, and this video combines the two to flesh out the Doctor's tragedy with Shakespeare's words. It couldn't be more appropriate in describing the struggles of Tennant's Doctor, who both fights to preserve himself in his current incarnation and yet also puts his life at risk on purpose many times because he keeps losing everything. 

 

I'm old enough to know that a longer life isn't always a better one. In the end, you just get tired; tired of the struggle, tired of losing everyone that matters to you, tired of watching everything you love turn to dust. If you live long enough, the only certainty left is that you'll end up alone.

To Be or Not to Be

I'm fascinated by this soliloquy. I love the heaviness of emotion tempered by logic. I appreciate how Hamlet weighs his options, level-headed but in so much pain. He tries so hard to justify taking his own life, but cannot, and with weariness returns to struggling with the mission of revenge that he undertook against his will.

I've watched the Gibson, Branagh, and Tennant versions over and over. Probably all of you have seen the first two, but if you haven't seen Tennant, you should watch his rendition.

It's trimmed down a bit from the original, which I didn't notice the first time I watched it because it still flows seamlessly. Actually, I like the cut better than the original: it leaves out the long, repetitious list of ills that makes the speech lose forward momentum.

I also like his exhaustion. Tennant's Hamlet yearns for sleep, a symptom of his depression. I love the way he says "awry," and how he's cut off by Ophelia's entrance: maybe Hamlet really did have more to say on the subject.

I watched a few other versions and mostly didn't like them: Lawrence Olivier's was stilted, Kevin Kline's was underwhelming (although his little smile after "to sleep" was cute), and Richard Burton's was unnatural. Derek Jacobi did a good job at a frenetic, hysterical Hamlet, which isn't my preferred interpretation but mixes things up interestingly:

[For all you Whovians out there, a fun bit of trivia: Derek Jacobi played the Master in the episode "Utopia," and in his version of Hamlet, Ophelia was played by none other than Lalla Ward, known best as Romana.]

I think that before the death of his father Hamlet was a happy person. He was friends with hilarious people at school and he loved to watch players. This speech may be the first time that he seriously contemplates the idea of suicide. Some readers/viewers complain that Hamlet is "emo" and teenager-ish in his constant complaints, but one must appreciate how good his life probably was before his father died: he had friends and a loving family, and he was a prince secure in his future. Claudius destroyed every aspect of his happiness, rending his family apart and even preventing him from returning to school. Then his father's ghost laid the task of revenge on him, making it impossible for Hamlet to grieve normally and rebuild his life. No wonder he desperately grasped for an easier option.

Of course, you can argue about whether or not he's sincere. If he knows he's being watched by Polonius and Claudius, he may just be acting to the full extent of his grief for their benefit, playing the madman. If he knows he's being watched by Ophelia, he may be pleading for sympathy or trying to renew their love. But if he believes that he's alone, then his speech is a cry to the universe:

Shall I go on?

Must I go on?

And by a sleep to say we end the heartache and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to. 'Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished.

The Weirdest Hamlet Video You Will Ever See

Surprisingly, Hamlet's ordeal would probably transfer well into Klingon culture. They wouldn't be very sympathetic to all his waffling or to his "Am I a coward?" soliloquy, but they'd love the end.

THE PLAN

Okay. So I have to figure out this whole self-directed learning thing. Here's what I have so far for how I plan to fulfill the class goals.

Reading
I've already got a decent handle on the tragedies, so I want to focus more on the comedies and histories. For the comedies, I want to read Taming of the Shrew, The Tempest, Twelfth Night, and Pericles.

I still haven't figured out which histories I want to read because I don't know anything about them--I'd appreciate some guidance. Maybe Richard II and both Henry IVs? That would make sense for getting the beginnings of the full story, but I don't know which plays are the kindest to beginning readers.

Perhaps I'll also throw in some more of the sonnets. Sonnets are fun.

Watching
Ideally, I want to watch at least one production, either stage or screen, for each play that I read. Where possible, I'd also like to watch a modern adaptation: for Taming of the Shrew, 10 Things I Hate About You; for Twelfth Night, She's the Man, etc. I think it would be interesting to look at which elements of Shakespeare's plays easily translate into the modern world, which seem forced, and which need to be discarded in a modern retelling.

Creating
It would be nifty to get together with a group of fellow classmates and read a play out loud together. Would anyone like to join such an endeavor?

I might also write an imitation sonnet or soliloquy. I've written sonnets before, but never blank verse soliloquys. Or maybe I could make something cool in InDesign and post it here. Possibilities are endless!

Writing
Obviously, I will be posting things here. For as long as possible, I want to stay away from scholarly research. I had to do four research papers last semester and I wrote about 35 essays total, and two weeks of Christmas vacation was not enough to get me over the burnout. Frankly I'm not excited to write anything about literature ever again, but since I'm about to graduate with an English degree, it's a bit late to start stewing over my educational choices.

So! My goal in writing this blog is to HAVE LOTS OF FUN. I will be posting stuff about Doctor Who. I'll make lots of commentaries about the stuff I think is awesome. Hopefully I will write at least one of my famous-among-my-roommates BREATHLESS PARODY ABRIDGMENTS. Above all, I will strive not to bore myself or my audience.

Sound peachy?

Branagh, Gibson, and Tennant

My focus so far in reading Hamlet has been to look for a diversity of interpretations. I'm reading the full text along with the "No Fear Shakespeare" translation and watching excerpts of three different versions--Kenneth Branagh, Mel Gibson, and David Tennant.

Thoughts:

• Although NFS clarifies the more difficult passages, it makes the easier ones quite ridiculous and saps the life out of Shakespeare's verse. "About, my brain" is translated to "I need to get myself together here!"...*sporfle* I'm digging the exclamation point. 
• With the exception of NFS, I like all the versions of "to be or not to be." I love the setting of Gibson's and the way he interacts with the objects around him to bring more feeling and depth to his rendition--actually, the entire Gibson production does this marvellously. I wasn't convinced by Branagh's version at first, but by the time he got to "When he himself might his quietus make / With a bare bodkin?" I was completely enraptured. Tennant's, however, is my favorite. His sheer exhaustion makes me believe that Hamlet is depressed and ready to give up. What's the point of going on when everything is pointless and draining? When nothing good can possibly happen? He finds no hope, only resignation. 
• All three interactions with Ophelia are played very, very differently. Gibson acknowledges that he's being watched the earliest (immediately before "Are you honest?"), while Branagh seems to be somewhat aware throughout yet doesn't acknowledge the possible viewers until before "Where is your father?"; Tennant seems to be completely unaware that he's observed until just before "Where is your father?" Also, Branagh, while the least "mad" throughout, is the most violent; Gibson is the most sane and also the most genuinely angry; Tennant plays Hamlet as insane throughout, despite not believing he's being watched. (Maybe this is just because Tennant is so darn good at playing crazy.) Of the Ophelias, I think I believe Helena Bonham Carter the most and Mariah Gale (in Tennant's version) the least. 
• The scene with Polonius is one of my favorites, in any version. I love Tennant's especially--both Tennant and Oliver Ford Davies have brilliant comedic timing. Oh, here, just watch it:

 

It's a little confusing trying to find the parallel parts of all these versions because Tennant's has changed the order of many scenes. I'm not sure if Branagh's and Gibson's do. I think I'd like to watch all three versions all the way through, back to back. Maybe I can persuade my roommates to have a Hamlet Saturday.

First post

Yeah, Shakespeare, woohoo! I'm not sure yet what I want to focus on this semester or even what I want to read. I've had only limited experience with the Bard, and it's been a mixed bag.

Plays I've Read
Romeo and Juliet: read it in ninth grade, hated it except for Benvolio
Julius Caesar: read it in eleventh grade, was ambivalent
King Lear: read it in twelfth grade, thought Cordelia was the bomb-diggety
Much Ado: read it on my own after seeing the film, loved it
Othello: read it sophomore year, thought it didn't measure up to Lear
Hamlet: read it sophomore year, thought Hamlet was an emo poser

Films I've Seen
Romeo and Juliet (Baz Luhrmann): saw it in ninth grade, thought it was terrible
King Lear: FOREVER SCARRED by the eye-gouging scene
Much Ado (Kenneth Branagh, of course): thought it was hilarious, minus the part in the beginning with all the butts--seriously, what is that?
Hamlet (David Tennant): BEST PLAY EVER. This view was probably influenced by my love of Doctor Who, but I thought Tennant absolutely nailed Hamlet, the production was clever, and to my surprise Hamlet is actually a pretty funny play!

Performances I've Seen
A Midsummer Night's Dream: saw this when I was six and had no idea what was going on
A Comedy of Errors: saw it in ninth grade; again, it was funny, but I really couldn't understand what was going on
Macbeth: saw it in Cedar City, thought it was boooooring
Merchant of Venice: saw it in Cedar City, was completely blown away by the moral complexity of the characters

So that's my direct Shakespeare experience in a nutshell. I think I'd like to read Taming of the Shrew, because it's my roommate's favorite, and The Tempest, because I'd like to go see the film and I think I should read it first, and probably one of the Richard or Henry plays, because I feel like I'm 'post to.