Saturday, June 7, 2008

History- Richard III

Shakespeare’s histories take real life events, often involving the British royal family, and exaggerate and dramatize them for stage. Histories were a way for people to learn about there past without the aid of a text book. Richard III incorporates many dramatic and tragic elements that are found in other genres of Shakespeare’s plays.
ActIII Scene I
YORK
I pray you, uncle, give me this dagger.
GLOUCESTER
My dagger, little cousin? with all my heart.
PRINCE EDWARD
A beggar, brother?
YORK
Of my kind uncle, that I know will give;And being but a toy, which is no grief to give.
GLOUCESTER
A greater gift than that I'll give my cousin.
YORK
A greater gift! O, that's the sword to it.
GLOUCESTER
A gentle cousin, were it light enough.
YORK
O, then, I see, you will part but with light gifts;In weightier things you'll say a beggar nay.
GLOUCESTER
It is too heavy for your grace to wear.
YORK
I weigh it lightly, were it heavier.
GLOUCESTER
What, would you have my weapon, little lord?
YORK
I would, that I might thank you as you call me.
GLOUCESTER
How?
YORK
Little.
PRINCE EDWARD
My Lord of York will still be cross in talk:Uncle, your grace knows how to bear with him.
YORK
You mean, to bear me, not to bear with me:Uncle, my brother mocks both you and me;Because that I am little, like an ape,He thinks that you should bear me on your shoulders.
BUCKINGHAM
With what a sharp-provided wit he reasons!To mitigate the scorn he gives his uncle,He prettily and aptly taunts himself:So cunning and so young is wonderful.
GLOUCESTER
My lord, will't please you pass along?Myself and my good cousin BuckinghamWill to your mother, to entreat of herTo meet you at the Tower and welcome you.
YORK
What, will you go unto the Tower, my lord?
PRINCE EDWARD
My lord protector needs will have it so.
YORK
I shall not sleep in quiet at the Tower.
GLOUCESTER
Why, what should you fear?
YORK
Marry, my uncle Clarence' angry ghost:My grandam told me he was murdered there.
PRINCE EDWARD
I fear no uncles dead.
GLOUCESTER
Nor none that live, I hope.
PRINCE EDWARD
An if they live, I hope I need not fear.But come, my lord; and with a heavy heart,Thinking on them, go I unto the Tower.
A Sennet. Exeunt all but GLOUCESTER, BUCKINGHAM and CATESBY
This passage disturbed me the most out of the horrible thing Richard did. Richard gives his dagger to Prince Edward as a gift, a noble gesture. Richard acts as if he is the good Uncle that is acting in Price Edward’s best interest, when he really plans to kill him as he killed Prince Edward’s father. Richard is extremely manipulative in how he plays off of the price’s fear of the tower, and convinces him that it is the safest place for him to be. In this passage, Richard meets the most opposition to his plans, and it comes from the least likely suspect, his young nephew, which makes the scene more disturbing. Prince Edward, despite of his age and innocence, is able to see that Richard is up to no good when Richard has fooled many adults. Somehow, Richard convinces the prince that he has nothing to fear, and Prince Edward goes to the tower where he will be murdered like he suspected.

I enjoyed Richard III the most out of the Shakespeare works we read because Richard is a very interesting character. Richard is a horrible person, but he is intriguing at the same time because he is manipulative, evil, and has no conscience about his actions. Richard creates so much drama throughout the play; he is like a puppet master. I hate Richard because he is an extremely evil and cruel person, but I could not wait to see what he would do next because he is absolutely brilliant in the way he can control everyone even though they know he is controlling them.

Comedy- A Midsummer Night's Dream

Shakespeare’s comedy is characterized by with, puns, and sexual innuendos. A Midsummer Night’s Dream does feature some slapstick comedy in the scenes set in the woods. These scenes feature a lot of buffoonery; humor that is funny because of its stupidity, not because of its intellect. The Taming of the Shrew exhibited these same qualities. The Taming of the Shrew also utilized the fact that people tend to find humor in the pain of others as long as the pain is not severe. For example, the royalty had fun at the expense of the drunk my making him believe that he was a king. The tactics used by Shakespeare can be found in today’s comedy. Slapstick and buffoonery are used in standup and variety shows, and the other tactics are implored in various TV shows, movies, and comedy shows.

ACT III Scene i
Bottom
There are things in this comedy of Pyramus andThisby that will never please. First, Pyramus mustdraw a sword to kill himself; which the ladiescannot abide. How answer you that?
SNOUT
By'r lakin, a parlous fear.
STARVELING
I believe we must leave the killing out, when all is done.
BOTTOM
Not a whit: I have a device to make all well.Write me a prologue; and let the prologue seem tosay, we will do no harm with our swords, and thatPyramus is not killed indeed; and, for the morebetter assurance, tell them that I, Pyramus, am notPyramus, but Bottom the weaver: this will put themout of fear.
QUINCE
Well, we will have such a prologue; and it shall bewritten in eight and six.
BOTTOM
No, make it two more; let it be written in eight and eight.
SNOUT
Will not the ladies be afeard of the lion?
STARVELING
I fear it, I promise you.
BOTTOM
Masters, you ought to consider with yourselves: tobring in--God shield us!--a lion among ladies, is amost dreadful thing; for there is not a more fearfulwild-fowl than your lion living; and we ought tolook to 't.
SNOUT
Therefore another prologue must tell he is not a lion.
BOTTOM
Nay, you must name his name, and half his face mustbe seen through the lion's neck: and he himselfmust speak through, saying thus, or to the samedefect,--'Ladies,'--or 'Fair-ladies--I would wishYou,'--or 'I would request you,'--or 'I wouldentreat you,--not to fear, not to tremble: my lifefor yours. If you think I come hither as a lion, itwere pity of my life: no I am no such thing; I am aman as other men are;' and there indeed let him namehis name, and tell them plainly he is Snug the joiner.
QUINCE
Well it shall be so. But there is two hard things; that is, to bring the moonlight into a chamber; for, you know, Pyramus and Thisby meet by moonlight.
SNOUT
Doth the moon shine that night we play our play?
BOTTOM
A calendar, a calendar! look in the almanac; findout moonshine, find out moonshine.
QUINCE
Yes, it doth shine that night.
BOTTOM
Why, then may you leave a casement of the greatchamber window, where we play, open, and the moonmay shine in at the casement.
QUINCE
Ay; or else one must come in with a bush of thornsand a lanthorn, and say he comes to disfigure, or topresent, the person of Moonshine. Then, there isanother thing: we must have a wall in the greatchamber; for Pyramus and Thisby says the story, didtalk through the chink of a wall.
SNOUT
You can never bring in a wall. What say you, Bottom?
BOTTOM
Some man or other must present Wall: and let himhave some plaster, or some loam, or some rough-castabout him, to signify wall; and let him hold hisfingers thus, and through that cranny shall Pyramusand Thisby whisper.

In this passage, there is a great deal of buffoonery in the woods. This passage is humorous because of the stupidity of Bottom and the other cast members. They are so worried about the ladies being scared by the killing and the lion because they believe it will appear so real on stage. This is humorous because the audience knows that the cast is composed of horrible actors, so the fact that the actors believe that their parts will appear life-like is funny. The scene also shows the arrogance of the cast, especially Bottom, which is humorous because he is the worst actor of the bunch. It is humorous that several prologues are included into the play to explain that the events are not real because every one watching the play knows that the play is imaginary, and there would never be a prologue before every action in a good play. The description of the wall is particularly amusing because a wall is an inanimate object that really does not need to be acted out in the first place, and the idea of a person trying to be a wall, one with a hole no less, is particularly amusing. Acting out a wall is not the most intelligent idea, or the most necessary element of the play. The funniest part of this entire passage is that the cast spends so much time and puts so much effort into the little, unnecessary nuances that they are adding to the script instead of working on their acting, which is atrocious.



A did not enjoy A Midsummer Night’s Dream that much because I miss a lot of the suttle bits of humor that Shakespeare incorporates into the play when reading it. The scenes of buffoonery or slapstick humor are clearly funny, but that type of humor is much more effective when acted out because how humorous the scene will be is determined a lot by timing. Timing, expression, and context are very import to humor, and so much of that is missed when reading a play. One can understand much of the implied emotions when reading the play, but plays are truly meant to be performed for an audience.

Tragedy- Macbeth

Shakespeare’s Macbeth is not a tragedy merely because of the numerous deaths that result from evil intentions, but because of the corrosive transformation of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth into the deathly ambitious people they become. Shakespeare presents this transformation in a subtle way that becomes increasingly dramatic way. Lady Macbeth is very womanly, polite, and upstanding, but upon learning of Macbeth’s rise in power, she is hungry for more. This is when Lady Macbeth exhibits an example of gender role reversal; she takes charge of the situation upon realizing that Macbeth does not seem to have the confidence to take the next step needed to put himself ahead, and murder Duncan. Shakespeare presents these characters in a way that the reader or viewer of this play follows the Macbeths along their journey of rising power all the way to the summit of the mountain, and then stumbles back down the mountain with them.

ACT II SCENE II
Macbeth
I am afraid to think what I have done.
Look on’t again I dare not.

Lady Macbeth
Infirm of purpose!
Give me the daggers. The sleeping and the dead
Are but as pictures. Tis the eye of childhood
That fears a painted devil. If he do bleed,
I’ll gild the faces of the grooms withal,
For it must seem there guilt.

She exits ( with the daggers) Knock within

Macbeth
Whence is that knocking?
How is’t with me when every noise appalls me?
What hands are here! Ha, they pluck out mine eyes. With all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand?
No, this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnasube,
Making the green one red.

Enter Lady Macbeth
My hands are of your color, but I shame to wear a heart so white.
[…]
Macbeth
To know my deed ‘twere best not know myself.

In this scene, clearly Macbeth is distraught over his decision to murder Duncan. He feels uncomfortable in his own room; every single noise gives him fear because he knows so little of himself anymore. His actions have stricken him so terribly that nothing could change what he has done. Macbeth is extremely distraught, while Lady Macbeth is fine with the situation, and a bit ashamed at Macbeth’s skiddish behavior.
Macbeth’s behavior is characterized to be like that of the stereotypical woman; timid. Lady Macbeth is extremely bold, disgusted by Macbeth’s behavior. She has to take the daggers back to the scene, or do the dirty work. The way that Lady Macbeth says that her hands are the same color shows that she does feel badly about what has happened, but she has to move on, and Macbeth should be ashamed that he needs to be comforted, and just move on because he has more important things to focus on. Lady Macbeth has to take control of the situation, and be the one that is comforting the other, when one would normally expect the roles to be reversed.
The gender roles reversal plays into Macbeth’s demise, because not only his own ambition is his driving force, but more so the ambition of Lady Macbeth. She is the dominant person in the relationship, and her ambition is corruptive of the upstanding, rising members of society that she and Macbeth were.


I enjoyed the gender role reversal in Macbeth because it put an interesting twist on societal norms for the time period. The role reversal leads to intense language that exhibited desire and disgust, amongst various other emotions throughout the play. Shakespeare painted a picture with his words that even without seeing the play acted out, one could visualize the look on Lady Macbeth’s face when she has to hold Macbeth together, and the fear in Macbeth’s face when he sees the visions. Other than the major scenes involving Lady Macbeth and the Weird Sisters, I had trouble following most of the remainder of the play. It was not that the words did not make sense, but that I could not visualize what was happening. It probably would have helped to see Macbeth acted out.