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Posts from the ‘Shakespeare’ Category

25
Feb

#Classic: Hamlet

 

Quickscan:

  1. Lovers:  Ophelia and Hamlet
  2. Focus: revenge – the obsession to avenge can drive one mad
  3. Family issue: Uncle kills Hamlet’s father and marries his mother (yikes!)
  4. Plot twist: ghost of King Hamlet wants revenge. Triggers entire play!
  5. Hook: Ghost in Act 1…all acts end with cliffhangers!!
  6. Genre:  Revenge play
  7. Pivotal acts:  Act 3 and Act 5
  8. Soliloquies:  7 spoken by Hamlet
  9. Tragic flaw Hamlet: overthinks everything! “To be or not to be…” (Act 3, 1)
  10. Villian: Claudius manipulative, ruthless
  11. Ophelia: weak character compared to Desdamona!
  12. Minor character who plays major role: Laertes
  13. Symbol: poison (weapon, manipulation and madness)
  14. Motif: spying (eavesdropping) to seek truth)
  15. Spies: Hamlet, Horatio, Reynaldo, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, Polonius, King Claudius
  16. Victims: Queen, King, Ophelia, Hamlet, Laertes
  17. Shakespeare’s statement: “What a piece of work is man!” (Act 2, 2)
  18. Setting:  Elsinore Castle, Danish coast, graveyard
  19. Major themes:  revenge, madness. death. appearance vs reality
  20. Minor themes:  ambition, corruption
  21. …”Something is rotten in the state of Denmark”  (Act 1, 4)
  22. Body count: 9
  23. King Hamlet (before play starts)
  24. Queen Gertrude
  25. King Claudius
  26. Polonius
  27. Rosencrantz
  28. Guildenstern
  29. Ophelia
  30. Laertes
  31. Hamlet
  32. The only main character left
  33. …standing at the end is Horatio,
  34. …who is usually seen sitting on the ground,
  35. …cradling Hamlet’s corpse.
  36. So technically, he’s not standing.
    1 drowning
    2 beheadings
    1 simple stabbing
    2 simple poisonings and
    3 aggravated stabbings (poisoned blade/some poison)
  37. Now that’s what I call a tragedy!

 

Trend:   Theme: illusion vs reality

  1. In Midsummer Night’s Dream, Othello and Hamlet
  2. ….Shakespeare uses this theme to drive the plot.
  3. I will be looking at other plays by WS to see if he repeats this theme.
  4. Midsummer Night’s Dream: play-in-play (illusion)….is also used in Hamlet
  5. Othello: it appears Desdemona is having an affair ( lost handkerchief)…she is not.
  6. Hamlet: it appears Hamlet is in a legitimate duel…he is not, sword is poison tipped
  7. Hamlet: Claudius appears to be praying on his knees…he is not.
  8. Hamlet: Claudius must appear to be guiltless in death of Hamlet…he is not.
  9. Hamlet: Killing Hamlet must appear to be an accident….it is not, it is premeditated

 

Last thoughts:

  1. I have been avoiding this play for years
  2. …too difficult, complex plot.
  3. Finally I can strike this play off my Bucket List!
  4. I ordered the Kenneth Branagh’s film  Hamlet (1996)
  5. It is the only version that includes the complete text
  6. …nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
  7. …and is 4 hours long.
  8. #GetOutThePopcorn
12
Jan

#Classic: Othello

Lawrence Fishburne and Kenneth Branagh (1995)

 

Structure:

  1. Othello contains five acts with a total of 15 scenes
  2. If you go slowly…total reading time of three to four hours.
  3. I read the play  Open Source Shakespeare website
  4. while I listened to the audio book  (2 hr 36 min)
  5. It is an excellent recording of the
  6. November 2007  performance at the
  7. Donmar Warehouse Theatre in London.
  8. Chiwetel Ejiofor as the Moor Othello,
  9. Ewan McGregor as the scheming Iago
  10. and Kelly Reilly as the gentle Desdemona.

 

Quickscan:

  1. Love triangles:  Othello – Desdemona – Roderigo
  2. Focus:  race...Othello’s dark skin and humble origins (Moor)
  3. ..so important that Shakespeare put it in the title!
  4. Family issue:  Desdemona  marries an dark skinned  ‘other’.
  5. ….her father is furious!
  6. Plot twists:…too many to list here…just read the play!
  7. Betrayal: Clever Iago deceives character and  makes
  8. …them not trust a third party…Iago is never in the picture!
  9. Othello: main character, name is in the  title of play but…
  10. ..the spotlight is on Iago 70% of the time!
  11. Fatal flaw Othello:  jealousy
  12. Iago: spider, patiently making web that will ’emesh them all‘
  13. …character you love to hate!
  14. Desdemona: perfect Elizabethan wife (soft, passive, devoted
  15. Jealousy:  “…green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on.”
  16. Marriage:  soliloquy by Othello before killing wife… (Act 5,2  1-24) powerful!
  17. Shakespeare’s statement:  Who do you trust?
  18. Value of woman’s word, honor…Desdemona
  19. …vs that of a man  “Honest, Iago”.
  20. Setting: Venice symbol law and order, rational thought and reason
  21. Setting: Cyprus symbol of chaos and disorder
  22. Major theme: appearance vs reality (lies vs truth)
  23. Minor themes: jealousy, racism, manipulation
  24. Body count: 4
  25. Quiz : only 2 WS’s plays feature …non-white characters
  26. ….Othello, but who is the other?

 

Conclusion:    #MustRead  Classic

 

10
Jan

#Classic: Midsummer Night’s Dream

 

Quickscan:

  1. Love triangles:
  2. Demetrius and Lysander both want Hermia
  3. Demetrius and Lysander both want Helena (love potion working!)
  4. Plot twists:
  5. love potion, star-crossed lovers, unrequited love, mischievous fairies
  6. …magic and tangled web of love.
  7. Family issue: Egeus makes arranged marrige for Hermia with Demetrius
  8. Unrequited love: Helena’s love burns hot for Demetrius.
  9. Elopement: Hermia and Lysander flee to marry 
  10. Forest: Lovers end up in the forest…now the FUN begins!
  11. Puck: “night wanderer”/narrator/mischief maker
  12. Queen of the fairies Titania : falls in love with an ‘ass’.
  13. Four lovers….live happily ever after.
  14. Act 5: Play-within-a-play: “Pyramus and Thisbe”
  15. The Mechanicals (amateur actors)  provide comical ending
  16. Setting: Act 1-2 Athens — Act 3-4 enchanted forest — Act 5 Athens

 

Conclusion:

  1. Round characters:
  2. 4 lovers ( Hermia, Lysander, Helena, Demetrius) Puck, Bottom
  3. Flat characters:
  4. Theseus, Hippolyte, Egeus, Mechanicals, Oberon and Titania
  5. Major theme:  male power and oppression of women
  6. ….in patriarchal society (women are property).
  7. Shakespeare:
  8. creates empathy for female characters and
  9. ….feels they need more voice!
  10. Minor theme: love is unpredictable!
  11. Best quote that sums up the play:
  12. “Lord, what fools these mortals be!”
  13. #Classic   #MustRead

 

Last thoughts:

  1. BBC radio 3 – Good audio
  2. Note: Act 4,1
  3. ….some dialogue is placed in a different order!