In Her Defense

If the dagger halted before it tore
The skin of that legendary beauty
What would she find to prolong her life for?
What other man would find her not filthy?
Romeo's touches, tender at the time
Would turn to blows of condemning, mad hate.
His soft poetry, his most sincere rhyme
Would force upon the girl a lonely fate.
To those who would judge her action
and label her hasty, rash, or foolish;
I would ask for some human compassion
For the teen who saw her love turn bluish.
  Would you rather be grounded forever
  Or find an escape from all the pressure?

This is the sonnet I promised you Professor Burton. I know bluish sounds forced, but I looked it up and it is a legitimate adjective. I couldn't think of another word to describe a man dying by poison, and I thought blue is associated with cold, a stark contrast to the heat love produces. This can cause the line to perhaps expand from just a description of Romeo dying and turning blue, for if the word "love" does not refer to Romeo, it might refer to Juliet's feelings of love for her life. I also tried to use some language that would remind one that Juliet was a teenager (grounded, girl, teen) to further defend her position. One might also take a feminist angle and claim that a woman in her position had little other choice than death, considering her parents would be furious that she faked her death, and her status as a widow and a psycho who faked her own death would tarnish any chance of her finding another husband, which was the only route a woman could take during Juliet's generation, save joining a nunnery (which might not be a suitable route for Juliet, since she has already known the pleasures a wife of Romeo would know and not want a life of celibacy). I am not trying to promote teen suicide, I am condemning the society that had a hand in Juliet's decision.

Back to my Roots

My Focus
Good Shakespeare manga exists, and one of these mangas shall be mine. I have decided to purchase one of the manga editions of Shakespeare's plays, and I might go with Romeo and Juliet. King Richard III might be the wiser choice, but I am still debating.

Which would you buy?

Rather than creating a new focus, I am reestablishing the manga focus. Professor Burton said that I could combine the manga focus with Psychological Criticism, therefore things are about to get way tripped out, because: "once you get inside my head, there's no turning back maybe." I am going to post highlights of the interview I claimed to have with my friend Seth a few posts back, since the actual conversation is overrun with static. I am going to ask my former psychologist if he can make time for me to interview him about the psychoanalytical critic's view of Romeo and Juliet and how the couple's attitude correlates with the modern teenage suicide epidemic.

FRUSTRATION

I had to post this picture. It gives a visual of my current mood. I have been so frustrated with my lack of time. It seems I have to be falling behind in at least one of my classes in order for the cosmic balance of the universe to remain sound. Work, tax returns, and other responsibilities have me wearing thin, but I know there are people who have ten times the load I have and they are thriving. So, I guess my real complaint is with myself. Time to man up, self! If you can't shoot the dog, shoot all the ducks and MAKE him stop laughing.

LATE Peer Review of Mandy Teerlink: "The Little Corner of Shakespeare in my Life"

This post is four days late, and I have nothing but lame excuses and misreads to defend this lateness. Nevertheless, enjoy.

1. Number of Posts
   Mandy has 19 posts so far.
2. Quality of Posts
   The stated standard is "two substantial posts weekly." In your opinion, to what degree has your peer met this standard? (A substantial post is one that keeps focus on learning outcomes, shows critical engagement, personal relevance, and social connection)
3. A Strength
   The post "Point of Decision" was intriguing. The graphic picture caught my attention, and the analysis of the soliloquy was specific and well written. 
4. Suggested Improvement
   A few meatier posts would help a bit, and more critical research. It seems that you are going in the right direction, though, with your latest post about going to the library.

Oh, and since I cannot help but make everything about me, I am confused as to who actually did their peer review on my blog. Rebbecca Ricks is before me on the class list, but she did her review on Sara. I feel so alone. Could someone review my blog just for fun?

LATE Progress Report!

This is what my evaluation with Professor Burton is going to look like.

I misread the due date, and had to get some more work hours on Wednesday, therefore, this post is late and next to useless, but I figured why not post in spite of my stupidity. At least I got to show a picture of an explosion.

1. Learning Outcomes --I have made progress on Learning Plan Outcomes one, two, and three. As suggested by Professor Burton, I handled the breadth requirement first and foremost during the past two months by reading Measure for Measure, Richard III, Romeo and Juliet, and The Tempest. I have tried to go over a sonnet once a week, except last week. I decided to apply the same principles I used in analyzing the sonnets to learning about Prospero's epilogue. I decided to include the label list I have as a widget on my blog to demonstrate my specific advances in each of my goals: 

   Labels

   LP 1C (1) LP1A (2) LP1B (1) LP2A(6) LP2B (1) LP2D (2) LP3A (1)
2. Reading and Research -- On top of the four plays I signed up to read (Measure for Measure, Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest, and Richard III) I also read and did some critical work with sonnet 147, sonnet 116, sonnet 94, and sonnet 18. I read segments from Robert Matz's "The Scandals of Shakespeare's Sonnets"  and Kuiper, Konrad. "Shakespeare's SONNET 116."What secondary (critical) works or other resources have shaped your learning? What independent kinds of inquiry have you pursued?
3. Links and Connections -- Within the report, do you link back to blog posts that demonstrate meeting the course learning outcomes? --Yes. Do you make explicit connections to other learning and learners or to non-Shakespearean texts?--Yes
4. Personal Impact -- I interviewed my friend Seth a few weeks ago, and his vision of Shakespeare was enlightening. He believed the opinion of his current director: Shakespeare should be performed today in a manner that would provide the same effect it would have when it was written. For instance, to achieve the same reaction of a black Othello in Shakespeare's time, Seth's director produced a version of the play with a female Othello. This theme allowed us to speak of more personal terms of how we thought Shakespeare affected the audience and what it was meant to do. I learned much about myself through what I believed a Shakespeare play should be and do. For instance, my belief that the language should not be altered, but the setting could and should match the director's theme shows that I am attached to poetic words, but less attached to spectacle. Analysis seems to be the chief concern with most of my posts, and I find my mind wandering further and further toward Psychoanalytical Criticism. The minds of Shakespeare's characters fascinate and terrify me, quite similar to the way my own mind fascinates and terrifies me. This class has solved my issues with blogs and blogging. I have much more faith in social networking now. Professor Burton has helped me see how much better people are at informing me of Shakespeare and such than Google.
5. Personal Evaluation -- I have done well posting two times a week, except for last week when work and Italian had me drowning in work. I have not done a good job on blogging about my progress with actually reading the plays, and keeping track of the media I watch. I have yet to even post the interview I had with my friend Seth because of various technical difficulties with the recorder I used. I have done well at analyzing the sonnets, and I think my work with them will carry into future posts on the plays.
6. Peer Influence -- Bryon has been a great help. His comments on my blog have been useful and encouraging, and his own blog has inspired me. I particularly enjoyed how he pointed his followers to Cara's blog because his interest in her page let me see why he talks about Cara's blog so much. Thanks to Bryon, Cara has also inspired me. Her post on Shakespeare's family and a bit of his history helped me get a better visual on how he was able to become such a successful playwright. Martin's blog is another favorite of mine, but he is such a genius that I always get intimidated when attempting to comment on his mind blowing posts. His research on insane world leaders opened my eyes to how those with might too often are allowed to choose what is right.

The Tempest

Prospero's Epilogue

I decided to switch to The Tempest, mainly because of Prospero's speech. When I participated in my High School's production of the play, I was always charmed each time I heard my friend Sam Thornton recite this famous epilogue. I decided to perform an analysis on the piece because it strikes a few cords for me. The movie has the epilogue sung, a form I have not encountered for this piece before.

Now my charms are all o'erthrown,
And what strength I have's mine own,
Which is most faint: now, 'tis true,
I must be here confined by you,
Or sent to Naples. Let me not,
Since I have my dukedom got
And pardon'd the deceiver, dwell
In this bare island by your spell;
But release me from my bands
With the help of your good hands:
Gentle breath of yours my sails
Must fill, or else my project fails,
Which was to please. Now I want
Spirits to enforce, art to enchant,
And my ending is despair,
Unless I be relieved by prayer,
Which pierces so that it assaults
Mercy itself and frees all faults.
As you from crimes would pardon'd be,
Let your indulgence set me free .


Cold Read
When I first heard this speech read, I compared it to Peter Pan's plea to the audience for an applause in order to save Tinker Bell's life. I assumed that Shakespeare was not sure if the audience would clap on their own, therefore he had the main character of his last performance break the fourth wall and appeal to the better part of the attendants for a liberating applause. However, there are a few things I noticed beyond the cheap way of influencing a positive close for the production.
Prospero dabs into the black arts by enforcing the aid of Ariel and the other spirits, however he requests prayers closer to the end. He also claims that his charms are gone, more than likely willingly sacrificed. Though this gives a poor perspective of Prospero in the sense that he is willing to employ any means to get what he wants (comparable to Sebastion's ambition to kill in order to steal the crown), it does give him credit that he used the dark arts justly. However, I remember Professor Burton explaining that one could delve into the literature of the magics in Shakespeare's time and still be considered an upright Christian if the person would continue attending church. This might explain how Shakespeare thought it fitting to finish his works with such a character.
Shakespeare might have portrayed a bit of himself in this character. He had been guilty of toggling burlesque performances into his work, which is similar to Prospero's abandonment of Christian beliefs for a short time. But both character and writer feel justified because of their purpose: "to please."

According to Manfred Pfister

Beginning on page 77 and ending on page 78, Pfister gives a decent analysis on the form of the speech and how it is set apart from the rest of the play in both meter and language. One correction she makes to my cold read is that Prospero uses white magic, not dark magic. This makes his pagan practices less hethenistic, I would assume. The words Pfister emphasizes are "charms," "strength," "project," "Spirits," and "art." These words supposedly are not just descriptions of Prospero's magic, but also linked to the play. I did not consider this before. Pfister also shoots down my original theory that Shakespeare was intending to represent himself with this speech, but does not give many details on why this is not the case.

Conclusions

1. Prospero is not a metaphysical instertion of Shakespeare into his own play.

2. This epilogue has less to do with Prospero and is more a commentary on the play as a whole.

3. The abandonment of free verse along with the breaking of the fourth wall gives this epilogue a mystical feel that compliments the production as a whole.

Bibliographic information

Title	The theory and analysis of drama European Studies in English Literature
Author	Manfred Pfister
Translated by	John Halliday
Edition	reprint, illustrated
Publisher	Cambridge University Press, 1991
ISBN	052142383X, 9780521423830
Length	339 pages
Subjects	Drama Drama / General Fiction / General Literary Criticism / Drama Literary Criticism / Semiotics & Theory

Another Sonnet

Sonnet 147

My love is as a fever longing still For that which longer nurseth the disease, Feeding on that which doth preserve the ill, Th'uncertain sickly appetite to please. My reason, the physician to my love, Angry that his prescriptions are not kept, Hath left me, and I desperate now approve Desire is death, which physic did except. Past cure I am, now reason is past care, And frantic mad with evermore unrest; My thoughts and my discourse as madmen's are, At random from the truth vainly expressed:
For I have sworn thee fair, and thought thee bright, Who art as black as hell, as dark as night. Cold Read The context of this sonnet is still alive and well, and seems to be the focus of many modern day pop songs. A love that hurts and burns, but keeps both parties coming back for more is a love that everyone loves to hear about and share sympathy over, but never empathy, of course. This is the love that strikes true for Romeo and Juliet, but I will get to that later.First I want to link the painting above with sonnet beneath it. The light colors surrounding the skull, and the glittery eyes, give the impression of an ugly symbol of death fused with the colors usually acquainted with Romantic pictures. I found it on a great blog dedicated to the art of its creator. The painting accomplishes the same affect as the sonnet: the reader and observer learn that deadly conditions are not always ugly. The polar opposites draw me in to the piece, especially those presented in the concluding couplet. I love the term "black as hell." Usually I picture hell red, not black. However, I usually do picture a black haze and aura that emits from hell's grounds. In other words, I would say that hell is black, in the sense that it is filled with black emotions and black regret, if these things have a color. They are the polar opposite to the objects and emotions associated with the word "bright." Therefore, Shakespeare gives me a deeper visual of this lady's character rather than a surface description of her physical traits. A Little Contextualizing I would link this sonnet to Romeo and Juliet. While Juliet's character is not black by any means, the love the two star crossed lovers share causes blackness to erupt out of their previously predictable and orderly lives. I would not picture Romeo mentioning this sonnet, but I could see Juliet going over these words in her head when she learns Romeo has just killed Tybalt. According to Peter Jensen

"He believes he caught both love sickness and venereal disease from the dark lady, who perhaps caught it from her husband. (Today, of course, people have to do such path of infection charts when faced with tracking the much more deadly, sexually transmitted disease, AIDS.)" I found this information interesting. Apparently, the disease goes beyond just the metaphysical.

Conclusions

1. Shakespeare is not always subtle in his poetry, but can be quite literal when called to be.

2. One knows one is in love when there is no benefit for the bearer of the emotion, but is proven when the emotion exists after the relationship has caused pain or a venereal disease.

3. This sonnet makes me glad that I fell in love with someone "bright."

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

SCANDAL!

The Call to Action

Romeo and Juliet 
Via Cappello, 23, 37121 Verona, Italy


Yeah, this is not Juliet's house. In fact, Romeo and Juliet is a work of fiction, in case you didn't know. Yet thousands of tourists come to this little house in Verona every year to be fooled by this fake built in the early twentieth century. I Google Earthed Verona so that I could fulfill my geography goals, and this bugger came up. Though I was appalled that people were taking advantage of uneducated tourists, the claim peaked my curiosity over whether the feuding families existed at all.


The Research
According to Olin H. Moore, the two families did not exist at all. The Italian equivalents are nicknames for two very different political parties in Verona. His source is Rolandino's work, a Paduan notary in thirteenth century Italy. Of course, this statement is clearly based on material that might be flawed, and there are plenty of critics that romantically claim the families existed and left evidence. This is all speculation, of course.


That's Right
If you go to Verona, I suggest boycotting this place, unless you are into the whole unauthentic landmark thing. However, it looks like a pretty spot, and there is a golden statue of Juliet in the courtyard. Is it worth it? I will leave that to you.


To More Pressing Matters

Romeo and Juliet is coming along. After "Measure for Measure" it is a breath of fresh air. I know Measure is a problem play, but I just did not find any character I could latch onto as I did with Richard, Hamlet, Laertes, Mercutio, and Benvolio. I am trying to read out loud, but I think I might be reduced to taking silent notes soon, since my voice is beginning to annoy me. Although, I might try reading to my unborn child, if my wife lets me. You know, get him started on the classics early.


Sources
Moore, Olin H. (July 1930). "The Origins of the Legend of Romeo and Juliet in Italy". Speculum (Medieval Academy of America) 5 (3): 264–277. 

Fun Plans

Alright, I have officially convinced my friend Seth to answer a few questions about how it feels to perform a modernized version of Romeo and Juliet that focuses on the violence and fight choreography of the script. Seth Thygesen is a good friend from High School. He is playing Mercutio, I believe. He is the dead one in this shot, and no, those tattoos are not real. They are marks of a Russian clan, interestingly enough. I might try to find out how Impact Theater has dealt with Shakespeare within the last few years and how the reception has been. Does anyone else know what I could ask him to make the conversation more academic?

Saturday's Sonnet: Sonnet 116

Let's Start with a Good Read of the Sonnet (not me)

Original Text

Modern Text

Let me not to the marriage of true minds Admit impediments. Love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds, Or bends with the remover to remove. O no, it is an ever-fixèd mark That looks on tempests and is never shaken; It is the star to every wand'ring bark, Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken. Love’s not time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks Within his bending sickle’s compass come: Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, But bears it out even to the edge of doom. If this be error and upon me proved, I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

I hope I may never acknowledge any reason why minds that truly love each other shouldn’t be joined together. Love isn’t really love if it changes when it sees the beloved change or if it disappears when the beloved leaves. Oh no, love is a constant and unchanging light that shines on storms without being shaken; it is the star that guides every wandering boat. And like a star, its value is beyond measure, though its height can be measured. Love is not under time’s power, though time has the power to destroy rosy lips and cheeks. Love does not alter with the passage of brief hours and weeks, but lasts until Doomsday. If I’m wrong about this and can be proven wrong, I never wrote, and no man ever loved.

No Fear Shakespeare helped me out this week by providing this modern version to critique. BWAHAHAHA!

Does the Sonnet's Context Stand on it's Own?

In a nutshell, no. The modern translation proves this. The iambic pentameter and rhyme make the sonnet original. Take those away, it is a stack of cliche's to be read by a rip off of the Cookie Monster. Without the form, you could say the poem is no longer a challenge to understand, therefore becomes a bore to the reader. It is similar to the reason people love Jamba-Juice and In-In-Out: the secret menus. After putting in just enough effort to discover the secret menu, the buyer feels accomplished and important. Finding a good product is just icing on the cake. This is the same case in this and many of the sonnets: part of the beauty is the puzzle, finding meaning amid the rhythm and the rhyme.

Previous Experience

Of course, the rhythm and rhyme also play key roles in the full meaning of the poem. A good example of this is line five. For years I pronounced "fixèd" "fixed". This mistake lead me to not emphasize "mark". Without this emphasis, my mind settled on the word: "fixed" rather than "mark." Why is this important? Mark is the subject of the line and the sentence. Fixed is simply an adjective. I allowed my focus to slip from the described to the description. Thinking of fixed forced me to think of something static and predictable, quite the opposite view poets usually associate with love. After correcting myself, I thought more on the the word mark. Mark reminds me of Cupid's arrows, of a goal to focus on and reach for, of a perfection to be aimed at though possibly unachievable. It is clear that a shift in emphasis can destroy a sonnet. Think then what taking away the sonnet's signature rhythm and rhyme.

Something Personal

I found out that my wife and I are going to be parents in six months. Therefore, I thought it would be interesting to try something new this week.

My Cold Read Before I Knew I was a Father
Shakespeare sets the bar high for an emotion to qualify as love. How is one supposed to know if he is truly engaged in a joining of a true mind when the test takes an eternity to prove? I would say I love my wife, and look forward to loving her for an eternity. But according to Shakespeare's definition, I would not know I loved her until after time has proven so. I still believe I love my wife, and look forward to proving so every day, but according to Shakespeare I do not yet know I love her. Perhaps I am confused at what Shakespeare defines as love.
Shakespeare seems slightly arrogant to use his writing skills to help prove his point. I mean, what does his writing have to do with cosmic truth?


My Cold Read After I Knew I was a Father
I don't know the sex of our kid, and I don't know what he or she will look like, but I love the jelly bean. The reason lies beyond the fact that he or she carries my genes, that I had a hand in making him or her, or that he or she will represent me and my family line when I am gone. Since the moment I knew it existed, I knew I loved it. It is an invisible grip that I cannot explain. Therefore, I already know this feeling qualifies as love, in Shakespeare's definition, because it is not affected by looks, presence, or tempests.
The fact that Shakespeare proves his point using his craft at the end of the sonnet makes much more sense to me now. When I think of love, I think of all the things I do to express this love. This expression is displayed in the effort I put into my schooling and the dedication I put into my craft. The craft no longer seems an obsession that will distract from my family, but a means of showing my love for them. Therefore, to use his craft to prove that love is a "fixèd mark" only proves to me that Shakespeare was not good at writing about love because he loved writing, but because he loved others.


According to Konrad Kuipe

On my scholarly search this week, I found Konrad had similar views of the sonnet as I did, but he considered many more aspects of the text: "As in the logical-inference route from the intransitive reading suggested by Kerrigan, so too with the transitive route; the evidence for the falsification of the proposition that the poet is in error lies in the sonnets themselves, whose presence is manifest, and in the love of the poet for a man, also manifest in the sonnets themselves (including Sonnet 116). That being so, error in the articles of faith does not exist, nor can it be proved of the poet. Consequently, impediments to the marriage of true minds cannot be admitted. The argument is thus solipsistic because the evidence for the truth of the propositions of the sonnet is to be found in the sonnet itself."


Conclusions
1. Although Shakespeare symbolically married himself to his male inspiration though use of subtle irregularities in the grammar and language, the poem gives one of the best visuals of what love is and how to test for it.
2. After looking up what solipsistic means, I have found that the final lines in Sonnet 116 turn the sonnet into living proof of its own argument.
3. In light of conclusion number two, it is all the more clear that modernization (or manipulation) is heretical.

Works Cited

Kuiper, Konrad. "Shakespeare's SONNET 116." Explicator 64.1 (2005): 8-10. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 6 Feb. 2011.