• Reading

    Hamlet

    As I mentioned before Hamlet was my Classics Club spin pick. I put off reading it until literally the last day of May, and I finished it in one day while accomplishing other things like a ridiculously long process of hanging a very high curtain rod that possibly triggered a large nosebleed, but that is another story.

    I know I’ve skimmed this story version of Hamlet and possibly the real version ages ago. To me it seemed pointless, confusing, fatalistic, with lots of meaningless tragedy and angst. Oh, and overrated. My “where’s the love story?” teen/early twenties monomania was not satisfied with the left-over love story wreck I found. And philosophy has always eluded and bored me. Hence, my not reading this VERY (if not most) famous play and instead reading some lesser favored ones instead.

    I read Sparknotes No Fear Shakespeare (I apparently got an older version, but there is an expanded version?!) which has Shakepeare’s original one side and modern English on the other side. I’m proud to say I did manage to mostly read from the original, but I found the modern and notes helpful. I’m in love with this version and want to get all the plays.

    So many of the famous Shakespeare quotes are from Hamlet, I knew the most over-used of course, but “frailty thy name is woman (Brandon)” was the best because I just love when literature quotes literature.

    I remembered Ophelia died, and Hamlet’s death although rather forgotten was not a surprise. I was a little confused about Claudius since the notes threw a question on what the “ghost” actually was. Oh, he was guilty, he admitted it, but I was thrown off for awhile. And I was worried he wouldn’t meet his just deserts.

    I was pleasantly surprise by how quick my interest was caught. I found it less dull and melancholy (not really melancholy at all) than I’d remembered. I learned (unsurprisingly) some dirty Shakespearean modern English (yes, the modern period started around then) slang.

    Hamlet (surprisingly) was awesomely sassy. Full of smart comments and tongue lashings. And him popping up to annoy Claudius, especially at the end when he returns from the ship was just hilarious in timing and tone. And because of all this, was he truly mad or feigning madness or both? He sure seemed to enjoy pushing Claudius’ buttons! I’m not sure what the standard interpretation of Hamlet’s behavior is.

    Ophelia was as seemingly incidental in role as I remember, we didn’t “see” Hamlet and Ophelia during their love affair, nor do they seem to have any affection, particularly not he, when we do see them together. I loved her flower bit; her innocent rapier thrust with the language of flowers. Now, she was truly crazy.

    The evil pair did get their just deserts, but I felt the play dragged towards the middle end and then everyone was finished off in a slap-dash manner, and then it ends in a ludicrously quick manner.

    So, while I do think it is overrated in terms of depth, I am inspired to watch versions of Hamlet, and I did enjoy it more than I was expecting. And I’m especially inspired to read and re-read more Shakespeare. On to reading Coriolanus, so that I can watch the play which premieres on Youtube the day this post comes out!

  • Culture and Entertainment

    Shakespeare Tag

    So PioneerGirl from Tearoom Time blog tagged me with this awesome Shakespeare tag. Now, I feel like I’ve done a lot of the same or similar themed tags or ones where I gave them same answers, but this one, like the fairytale tag is like a breath of fresh air, and the last question is the BEST!

    I’m usually too lazy to tag/everyone’s already been tagged, but I will tag others because its so fun.

    1. What was the first exposure you ever had to Shakespeare?

    Some of the histories in high school as well as some versions made into stories to understand.

    2. How many of Shakespeare’s plays have you seen?

    In play form: Two, A Midsummer Night’s Dream at our local Shakespeare in the Park, and The Tempest at my college for my college Shakespeare class.

    In movie form: The Hollow Crown Henry IV parts one and two and Henry V (still need to watch the rest of the Hollow Crown). Kenneth Branagh’s Henry V and Much Ado About Nothing. I got part of the way (not very far) through the 60’s Romeo and Juliet years ago, still need to go back to that.

    3. What is your favorite Shakespeare play?

    Much Ado About Nothing.

    4. What is your favorite non-Shakespearean play? {musicals are permissible}

    The Importance of Being Earnest. Of course.

    5. What is an adaptation of one of Shakespeare’s plays that you like? Why?

    Kenneth Branagh’s Henry V and Much Ado About Nothing because it’s my Shakespeare play and it’s hilarious.

    6. Who is your favorite Shakespearean character?

    Benedick and Prince Hal.

    7. What is your favorite Shakespeare quote?

    Totally forgot to answer this one. I don’t think I had my quote book started when I read Shakespeare, but I might have some on my Pinterest, yes I do! But just tried to verify two good ones . . . and they were wrongly attributed to Shakespeare (figures, the English was too modern).

    So I’ll find an Beatrice and Benedick exchange and make sure to verify it (Sparknotes has original and modern side by side, I think I know how I’m reading Hamlet now).

    BEATRICE I wonder that you will still be talking, Signor Benedick.
    Nobody marks you.

    BENEDICK What, my dear Lady Disdain! Are you yet living?

    8. If you were in a Shakespearean production which play would you want to be in and which character?

    I can’t act and won’t act.

    9. Have you read any of Shakespeare’s sonnets, and if so, which is your favorite?

    Not a poem person, I’ve read them, had to for school, but didn’t get them.

    10. Have you ever written/tried to write a play?

    Can’t write and won’t write.

    11. Cast one of the big five {Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Richard III, or Much Ado About Nothing} with modern actors from either the stage or the screen.

    Much Ado About Nothing. Proceeds to forget every actor and actress ever. Why?!

    Ok, as far as I can figure: Don Pedro is older then it goes something like Benedick and then Beatrice, Claudio, and Hero. I feel like I watch a lot of movies that the actors were perfect at their age then, but now they are too old, and then other people are the right age now, so this was hard. I also feel like Don Pedro is hard to cast, all the guys of the proper age have a “type” like the bad guy or the good guy. While honest, open-hearted soldier seems a younger type, but that is him from my memory.

    Tom Hiddleston as Benedick. He’s a bit too old, BUT! I want to see him in this role.

    Saoirse Ronan or Daisy Ridley as Beatrice. This is a hard pick, I think they’d both be great, and I want to see either with Tom Hiddleston, not just a whole other cast, I’d want to see how they play against him.

    Felicity Jones as Hero. I was leaning Lily James, but since I picked Richard Madden, I didn’t want to have Lily, too much matching, too lazy. I also feel like Hero and Claudio are fairly easy to cast, pretty, meek, gullible. Claudio, the boy version pretty boy handsome and easily manipulated.

    Claudio. Richard Madden.

    Don Pedro. Richard Armitage.

    Don Juan. Luke Evans.

    I’m tagging

    Hamlette

    Catherine

    Ivy Miranda

    Cordy

    And anyone else who wants to join. I tried to pick people I thought perhaps liked Shakespeare AND tags. So, if that means you, you’re tagged.

  • Reading

    Romeo or Benedick? Knightley or Tilney?

    Romeo or Benedick?
    Knightley or Tilney?
    Jack or Algernon?
    John Brooke or Laurie?
    Gilbert or Barney?

    Do you prefer the more traditional romantic leading men? Or the ones with personality. You can probably tell from that whom I prefer :/

    How about the more popular or the overlook/rejected?
    Will or Norrington?
    Darcy or Bingley?
    Rochester or St. John Rivers?
    Pip or Herbert?

  • Reading

    Othello Mini-Review

    Again, a required read for class. My professor pointed out that Iago was the most interesting and developed character and this notification and the fact that we watched clips of the film version in which Kenneth Branagh plays Iago, caused me to really think that he alone was a interesting character. Okay not quite, Cassio caught my interest and someone very interesting played him in his younger days; I hope there is a video recording available somehow. Cassio at first appears a good character, but I think that he was rake. (What was the whole point of the mistress scene? He is immoral and cruel). Othello and Desdemona are flat and boring (as the professor taught us to see), and Iago, Cassio, and even Desdemona’s thwarted suitor and father seem to have more interest. Of course what I saw of the movie aided/formed those impressions.

    Rather heavy sexual crudity.

  • Reading

    King Lear Mini-Review

    I read this for my Shakespeare class. This is one of my least favorite of Shakespeare’s plays; one of the worst Shakespeare plays, I think. I “had” to read it for a class and dissect it,  and that certainly did not invite me to enjoy the play, but I still do not think I would have enjoyed it much anyway.

    I felt like this play had so many characters, but I am not sure that it contained any more than other plays, but the impression probably came from the fact that no characters really stood far and above any others in development and importance. The play has one and only one truly likable character and that is, Edgar, the legitimate son of Gloucester, and he does not dominate any more than does anyone else. Any other tolerable characters rarely appear.

    The play is mainly coarseness, vileness, and death, and Lear, the one wronged, is an egotistical old fool, so it is rather difficult to feel sorry for him. Shakespeare set this play in pre-Christian Britain, and the play is more brutal, senseless, and hopeless (which was a point in our class, and I think something of the point for our last essay) than Shakespeare’s other plays. Edgar  and some good and “better” characters survive amid the wreck and ruin, but I did not really know those characters; they just existed. The play is rather blah overall.

    Sexual crudity included of course.

  • Daily Life

    My Birthday, The Hollow Crown, Knitting, and Etc.

    I do not want to write a review of The Hollow Crown (the first play is overwhelmingly evil, and the last two are painfully wonderful; this is my mini-review), but since I mentioned The Hollow Crown previously, I feel duty compelled to give a warning as there are content issues in all (in varying intensities). If you are super oblivious, perhaps you could avoid reading and miss the problems; if you read warnings you will catch the problems.

    ANYWAY. Back to not-mind-contorting fun.

    I have four (yes, FOUR!!!) finished knitting projects to show. This also means that I have only three in my unfinished/will do soon category before I can start on new projects.

     

    From top left clockwise.

    The last beret! I like this pattern best (Little Flower Beret or Tam). The beret is larger, the head band area is smaller (less like a beanie, ugh, girls should NEVER wear beanies-so unfeminine, and only a few types of guys can pull them off), and the design is gorgeous (I purposely used this my-least-favorite yarn for the prettiest pattern) . . . even though hard to see because of the color.

    Next is the forever pink sweater which is quite tight but can at least go on me. If I tried this pattern again, I would need to go up a size. I think I might want to go up another size more and downsize on the needles since I prefer a tighter knit. The neckline is too tight and not flattering period; I would make it more of a scoop.
    White cuffs (Hetty’s Sunday Cuffs from the Jane Austen Knits magazine, May 2012; also available to purchase and download here) to match the white beret for my youngest sister. I had to go up a needle size and probably could have gone up another. I knit tight, but I think these also must have been sized small because the cuffs are still tight. I mean I know we have largish hands in our family, but I do not have issues with the fingerless glove patterns I have tried.

    Pink cowl for a gift (part of my longest ever gift procrastination . . . think like a decade :/). Do not look closely at this. I found this changing project irritating for a variety of reasons and so made up a stitch pattern and did not try to remedy all the mistakes (which it is a pain and sometimes danger to do with this yarn because it is easily destroyed). Oh, and despite the weird tinge of my iPhone app photo, the cowl is really just a light cotton candy pink.

    Ah, yes. I bought new yarn, sue me. Probably not enough in each ball for a complete project, so I will have to order more which requires a huge order because of course I must get the discounts! Oops 🙂

    I bought a lovely binder, so I can carefully store all my patterns in page protectors instead of dragging around the paper/magazines/leaflets and destroying them.

     Birthday:

    I turned 24 recently, so we had a girls’ shopping day. I picked out loads of items from Half-Price and that was my gift from Mom. My brother gave me a Kohl’s gift card and my grandparents $50 (yarn?!) and a blouse. The cupcake is from Panera where we had lunch. Oh, and the box I bought from T.J. Maxx. I love these types of boxes. They are so elegant.

  • Reading

    Measure for Measure

    Angelo immediately enforces Vienna’s previously neglected harsh laws against immorality. What I cannot make out is if this was against the Duke’s wishs, concurrent with them or neutral.

    To what end did the Duke observe Vienna in disguise? He already knew the effects caused by his neglect of punishment. Was he thinking about making Angelo his heir? Why?

     Whatever the reason for Angelo’s accession to power, he certainly utilizes it instantly when he condemns Claudio to death for fathering a child out of wedlock (or rather the deed which led to the child :P). The laws are inconsistent—both are humiliated, but only Claudio condemned to be executed. Why not fines, a public humiliation, and jail for both?

    Claudio is soooo despicable. He knew he was doing wrong, and I believe he also knew the punishment. They were not married because of some complication of Juliet’s dowry—to me this makes it worse because he was excusing himself saying they were all but married. He also has no scruples with his sister saving his sorry neck with the same sin that has earned him capital punishment.

    I think (maybe) Isabella could be justified in condemning (to Claudio) Angelo’s response to her plea for mercy. All praise and commendation is due to Isabella for so forcefully rebuking her brother and guarding her virtue.

    You could argue that she was committing murder by not sinning to save her brother’s life. I am in complete disagreement with this stance. Claudio knew he was sinning, and he knew that according to the law this sin deserves death. He flouts the moral and legal systems and then expects his sister to do the same to save him from punishment.

    As to the other hypocrite, Angelo, why he was so strict with the laws and faithless with promises is beyond me. He doesn’t intend to save Claudio (another strike against Claudio’s dreadful wish), and he leaves Mariana—there are plenty of this type of rogue. He is a tyrant as well but why he chooses to enforce morality laws and keep up the appearance of stringent morality boggles my mind. The Duke was obviously not of a keen mind with regard to the ability to perceive and penetrate faҫades.

    The Duke himself does not have a spectacular character. He neither enforces the laws nor seeks to find improvements for his rule. He disappears for no obvious purpose, and he makes a highly dubious moral choice by substituting Mariana for Isabella in the deputy’s lascivious plan. Isabella risks her reputation and safety in assenting to such a plan. Of real concern is Mariana’s immorality. She was promised to Angelo—but was not Juliet to Claudio—or was Angelo and Mariana’s parental, official, and binding (would that really make the sin less?!) and Juliet and Claudio’s merely consensual and emotional? It is fornication either way.

    There are two positive aspects of the play: Isabella’s true virtue and the “rightness” of the ending. Claudio is saved and must marry Julietta while Angelo is exposed and forced to marry Mariana. Lucio, friend of Claudio and a horrid rake, is forced to marry a “woman of the evening” that he got with child and promised to marry (hah, I looove when such men are trapped like that—which is why I enjoyed All’s Well that Ends Well). The crowning touch is that the Duke has fallen in love with Isabella.

    The public discovery of Angelo takes too long—Mariana and Isabella are made to look like fools and the truth regarding the “death” of Claudio was cruelly kept from Isabella merely so that the Duke could see her relief when she sees Claudio in life. And yet she loved him, how convenient for him!

    Since writing this I took a Renaissance Culture course in college wherein I read the story of Boccaccio’s that Shakespeare borrowed to use in All’s Well that Ends Well, so I wonder if this play has an original story since I believe that many of Shakespeare’s plays had borrowed plots. I shall have to look into this further. 

  • Reading

    Midsummer Night’s Dream

    I have been on a reading spree ever since I have finished with school on Friday May 4th, and it was mostly a Shakespeare reading rush in the beginning. That last day of school I started A Midsummer Night’s Dream and finished it the next day. To date I have read twelve plays since the end of the semester (I had previously read Much Ado About Nothing a few years ago, and last fall I read last fall Twelfth Night for school). I have started Hamlet…and there died my Shakespeare attempt for the moment (I am reading other books now-so I guess I cannot exactly blame Hamlet). I am going to attempt to post my thoughts, feelings, etc on each one that I have read. I will start with the short, light first play which started my Shakespeare summer: A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

    Sweet but boring pretty much sums this play up. I am not a Shakespearean scholar, and I tend to miss subtleties of humor, so maybe if I, with aid, delved deeper then I might appreciate this play more. The “subplots” took up a great amount of the story. The love triangle and solution was not dwelt on very deeply. Granted this play was one of the shortest if not the shortest  at 22 pages. I also do not remember there being overmuch in humorous lines which is one of the best aspects of Shakespeare.

    As it is this play is to me light and trifling. The “main” plot is a love triangle. All of course ends well, but as this feat is contrived with fairy magic the love does not feel sincere and real to me. The minor plots involve  ignorant, silly laborers and the fighting king and queen of the fairy realm. It seemed to me that the minor characters had a better shown personalities than the main ones.

     The subplot (which was kind of in two parts that blended to one which eventually blended to the “main” story line) was mediocre and embarrassing at the same time although the play (sub-play :P)-or rather the responses to the play was/were humorous. I did not exactly care for the ending of this side story either. Why did exactly did Oberon get what he wanted? Titania’s reason for keeping the page was perfectly legitimate-she made a serious vow. All was not well at the end because Oberon’s selfish wish was satisfied. So, yes he is king and lord, but that does not give him the night to break vows!

    As to the main characters I preferred Lysander and Helena. Demetrius is dishonourable; he was engaged to Helena, but he decided to try to steal another man’s lady. (Not that I am stating that he stay engaged unloving but that he was a cheater and a thief). Hermia’s father was part of this dishonour in countenancing this faithless man’s suit against true love. I dislike Hermia for the logical reason that both of the leading men love her. I like Helena because she is the unloved one, and she does seem sweeter too; she thinks the best of everyone whilst Hermia thinks the worst. I wish that magic was not involved in Helena and Demetrius’ love, but it worked with the plot I suppose. I am not sure I could forgive Demetrius even if his second turning of favour was sincere!