Midterm Assessment

Learning Outcomes

         1)     How have I gained Shakespeare literacy?

     One of the unique things about Shakespeare and literature in general is that to become literate in them or to even versed one must read the work.  There are many insights and bits of understanding that one can draw about Shakespeare and his time by studying his life, where he lived, who he grew up with, and every other facet of his life; however, it is only in reading/viewing his plays that one becomes literate.  One can study Martha Gram and her life but it is not until one views her work that one realizes why she was revolutionary.  Likewise i have gained literacy in Shakespeare's work but completing on time every reading assignment.  I have been in and enjoyed: Hamlet, The Winter's Tale, Love's Labor's Lost, Much Ado about Nothing, and The Tempest.  These works have covered a few windows of his works from tragedy and romance to comedy. 

The Pioneer Theater Company

I truly enjoyed this production!  It was an amazing experience!

One aspect of interpretation that was in stark contrast to that of Helen's interpretation of Prospero was that Prospero was very ... a bully, jerk, in a rage, don't cross him... In some ways this provided a very stark contrast for the great change that happens in him through out the play and in an other, one almost just goes wowow--not a nice guy!

One major example of this stark difference is when Ariel reminds Prospero of his promise to free him.  In the play Prospero recounts the horrible experiance of Sycorax. Here the play, Prospero forces Ariel to relive the horrible experience, in essence beating Ariel back into submission.  Here we see a very strong, manipulative Prospero.  He is set on revenge and has it in his heart.

This same scene with Ariel is completely different in the Helen production. Watch.  She is still very firm and persuasive but the inflicting of pain is not at all present.  This clip also leaves out some of the encounter.  But in the Helen production we see a much more noble and persuasive Prospero than that of the Pioneer company.  We see a truer change to compassion and virtue and a more pure forgiveness in the Helen production.  There is more of a theme of love in Prospero as well as forgiveness.

Your Affections Would become Tender

Ariel. 

        Your charm so strongly works 'em
        That if you now beheld them, your affections
        Would become tender.
Prospero. 

        Dost thou think so, spirit?
Ariel. 

        Mine would, sir, were I human.

Watch

This has become one of my most favorite passages from The Tempest.  One of the raising question in The Tempest could arguably be what dose it mean to be human?  Up to this point Prospero has been leading the islanders along in his plan.  They are being punished for their evil deeds and wrongs by rough magic.  It is here that Ariel comes in and reports to Prospero of the cast away's situation...your affections \Would become tender.  This is one of the greatest moments for this movie, for it is here that we see Prospero change in the same way that he is striving to change others.  He embraces nobility and virtue, he chooses to forgive instead instead of inflicting the full measure of justice. 

This is the great turning point of the play.  I love Prospero's character here, there is no rage nor anger only humbled enlightenment from a spirit he loves.  It adds a great deal of power and catharsis. In the words and the way they are said we get to see Prospero completely change, he becomes the great ruler, one in no need of magic, one who has power over action, and rules by virtue.

Social Report to A Rant on Education

Reaching out and getting to talk with people about Shakespeare has really been a lot of fun.  There is a kind of euphoria that comes when someone take a comment of yours and runs with it.


It also been fun to see how much people care about what you write in responce to what they have said.  Two amazing people that i have rubbed shoulders with so far are Sylvia Morris and Tue Sorensen as well as KJ.  Two of them have been trough blogs and the other email.


The point is this has been a lot of fun!  The one conversation i'm looking forward to right now is with Tue.  I told him i would be studying Lier and he sent me back some pointers, insights, and movie reviews, most of this has been through email.  I looking forward to writing him about with i learn and think.


Also Sylvia had an amazing post on The Tempest it's been fun to comment on her insight to productions that have been made.


I just reason for this post is to formally report.  I have also had some wonderful conversations with people throughout my ward.  One of my favorite answers to the question "how is school" is to bring up i'm taking a Shakespeare class--Boom!--they instantly want to know more.  One such conversation lead to Arthur writing on my blog and my post in response to his.  But this is just one public example, there have been many more.


It's been interest this Shakespeare class, it's thrown me completely out of my comfort zone, i'm no English major!  I do well with exact formula's and machines that are deterministic and finite.  So while i might fall way short of others, i have definitely grown leaps and bounds in my small book.


One of the greatest blessings of this class is that it is so open.  There is no leveling exam that damns one thoughts and experience to a universal grave.  But i'v been able to learn and explore Shakespeare with out fear of it biting me in the butt on an exam!!  I have spent a lot of time in my blog and others and in the text because i have known my grade has the potential to reflect it, versus prepping for some exam. I think in many ways those who have devised the educational system have taken the city by fire(1)!  In an effort to "increase" education and measure it, they have burn it to the ground, lost it.  Burned everything, it's come around and bit not only them but their society in the butt!  There is so much more to education and this for example has been a really neat project!  I've spent more time with it because there is hope that i will be judged on my experience and not some other course i would have had to ambiguously hunt down.  

So what has been my experience, talking with people about the plays, recording and reporting on my study, talking in groups, tying Shakespeare to my life, following courses of analysis that interest me, and diving into thoughts that interest others, revisiting the books and plays, and taking time to see the plays!  Rap that up into a standardized exam! This has been a great class! I hope to be able to articulate it when time comes!


The pic, a C Round Robin Operating System analysis of it's virtual memory address space in 320 virtual frames of memory.  And it relates to Shakespeare! That is letter B on your ENG232 final exam!

With a Bang

It is interesting to me that this play dealing with the realm of magic and the fantastic really pulls me in. For some reason i can relate to it more than some of the other plays.

I find myself saying this is my favorite play but without a whole lot of evidence to back it up other than "it just is."

It is curious to me then...
Is our culture drawn to this idea of magic more so that other themes? Or it is we are more drawn to spectacle? And if so what dose this tell us about our society?

Or is it just telling of me?

Fishing

One of my favorite lines from Much Ado is

”Bait the hook well; this fish will bite”.

Sylvia Morris really opened my eye as to the reason why Shakespeare liked this conceit of fishing. (See the Comments)

Brave New World

You never know what your missing until you loose it and you never never know what your missing out on until you are told.

Let me introduce Arthur to you, Arthur is one of my good friends, we live in the same ward and he and his family are from Japan. We spent an hour or so last night talking about my ENG232 project.  As we talked about Much Ado and reporting, The Tempest and much more, i shared my blog with him.  Hence, Arthur's Comments "To Cherish" have really got me thinking.


Miranda is a truly innocent girl she has grown up on the island and known nothing more.  Her father tells her so, [thou] Art ignorant of what thou art: naught knowing Of whence I am, nor that I am more better Than Prosper, master of a full poor cell, And thy no greater father.  For example when she sees the prince of Naples for the first time, her first man save her father ever seen, she states, What is't? A spirit? Lord, how it looks about! Believe me, sir, It carries a brave form.  But 'tis a spirit. I might call him A thing divine, for nothing natural I ever saw so noble.


She is captivated by this new world, a world she knew nothing of, it nether haunted her nor did she dream of it.  But now she is captivated by it and can't live with out it.  I'll be his surety.  My affections Are then most humble: I have no ambition To see a goodlier man. 

Now that a map has been seen and there is a unexplored world to be had her island will not do any longer.
O wonder! How many goodly creatures are there here!  How beauteous mankind is!  O brave new world, That has such people in't.  


This is why there must be opposition in all things.  If not so, happiness nor righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad.  She lived on an island with little knowing no man nor relation save her father and a monster.  She knew no good nor evil, no world other than her own.  Now see the world it truth, it's grand measure, she will be happy on the island no long.

Like wise our world changes as we gain light and knowledge.  We either realize a better way one that will allow us to increase in happiness or that we are right were we belong and we receive justification for our previous actions.

We are such stuff As dreams are made on: and our little life Is rounded with a sleep.
In as much as we fail to comprehend it all we are asleep not knowing the beginning from the end and therefore failing to understand our actions and world in which we live.

Like Rain

Fair encounter

Of two most rare affections!  Heavens rain grace

On that which breeds between'em.

There is no word nor pen that captivate nor hav power to convey my feelings and thoughts of this play!  It was a master piece, it is a master piece.  The plot, characters, themes carried me away with such power as if it could be said against my will.  Stranded on a distant island i feel in love, cast spells and bleed to never wake up from this dream!  And when it was over i plead to sleep to dream!  

Prospero was one of the characters that enchanted me! His words were often short simple and yet transcendent.  Consider this line the previously quoted line...here his daughter has met her mate.  Just, honest, beautiful unexpected meeting, joining of fates. Unusual, sacred, not common gentle feeling of admiration, love and kindness.  Heavens--eternal, sealing, powerful, holly, pour, give life, strength and enabling power on that bond, love, marriage, and passion that grows between them. 

Lost

Lost in study Prospero lost his kingdom power and all, his library was dukedom large enough.

And when it hath the thing it hunteth most,

'Tis won as towns with fire--so won, so lost.

It is interesting to me how many times as a computer science major i feel this way.  Every week my professor asks so what are you doing this weekend, and instantly with those words i like Prospero begin to conger in my mind the devastating storm for his soul, indeed i plot my revenge for his malicious tyranny, his vial mutiny and spurning spite against my soul.  I think to myself i will slave for hours married, indebted, and therefore cordially "official" to my school work, to HIS assignment.

WHAT DO YOU THINK I'M DOING!? 

Ignoring your, can't be finished this semester unless you sell your soul to the devil first, project and, o yeah, by the way, YOU NEED TO DATE IT'S DATE NIGHT, i have loads of time!! I often look at my heart and feelings as if they have never been apart of my being, wondering what they were ever for because i have forgotten their feeling and use! So burning the town and conquering the library seem to be my Fate.

This is just Cool!

Much Ado About Nothing

Click To Play

Lose all to keep our oaths!

Love's Labor's Lost

Berowne:
Let us once lose our oaths to find ourselves,
Or else we lose ourselves to keep our oaths.
It is religion to be thus forsworn,
For charity itself fulfills the law,
And who can sever love from charity?

King:
Saint Cupid, then, and, soldiers, to the field!

Longaville:
Now to plain delaing. Lay these glozes by.
Shall we resolve to woo these girls of France?

King:
And win them, too...

Here we are again burning the town with fire!  At what price do we keep our goal and our dreams?


The Tempest

Prospero lost in is study:
I, thus neglecting worldly ends, all dedicated
To closeness and the bettering of my mind
With that which, but by being so retired,
O'er-prized all popular rate, in my false brother
Awaked an evil nature; and my trust,
Like a good parent, did beget of him
A falsehood in its contrary as great
As my trust was; which had indeed no limit,
A confidence sans bound.

Lost in study Prospero lost his kingdom power and all, his library was dukedom large enough.

A Hero Unfaithful!

So everything comes to this, one of the most violent reports to be made in the play--the accusation of fair Hero.  Here Claudio, supported by the prince, accuse Hero of being a harlot and of cheating on Claudio the very night before their wedding.

Claudio:
She knows the heat of a luxurious bed; Her blush is guiltiness, not modesty.
Here the theme of Reporting has truly reached a climax, Claudio's report weighs heavy on all who attend.  This report however is truly deceitful in nature also arguable one of the dominant themes of Much Ado. The reactions of King, Hero, Beatrice, Benidick, and the friar to which are most revealing.  Their reactions almost mimic the "classes and social groups" of types of people found in the world today.  In other words, cretin groups of people react in a specific way to reports, tragedy, etc.

Hero:
She, upon the horrific assault, turns to life itself for refuge, willing to bet her life, everything to show her innocence, Refuse me, hate me, torture me to death!  This is her plea if she is guilty.
Even today we people of this nature who turn to emotion for nullification, she is turning to human nature and empathy from others to release her from her guilt.  She is pleading that surly if she is willing to place all this on the table she is innocent.  Upon sympathy she puts down the report.

Beatrice:
In similar fassion first turns to her own soul for repose, O, on my soul, my cousin is belied!
This is the only public display of opposition in the written play that we receive, however, in the movie Beatirice throws up her hand in an attempt to stay the raging Claudio in defense of Hero.
Once in private Beatrice shows her true freelings, wishing she was a man she swares to kill Claudio for the offences heaped upon Hero.  She is not so much concerned about the root or cause or reason for the affence, but the vessel--Claudio. Kill Claudio, are her words! In our world there are those people who care not for the purpose or reason for an offence but just that the offender is dully punished and revenge paid.

Frier:
The frier attacks the acusation directly with an appeal to the princess and the missunderstanding of Claudio,
And in her eye there hath appear'd a fire, To burn the errors that these princes hold Against her maiden truth.  He also put his reputation on the line, calling for trust, his knowledge of the bible, his age, reverence, calling, and even divinity, to witnesses Hero's innocence.  From here the Frier add a new reaction to a report, he comes up with a plan to discover the truth.  There is a plan created, a hypothesis stated, and a test set into motion.  He reaction is to discover the truth through experiment and observation and then pass judgment.

Benedick:

His responce to the acusation is to look for the souce where did the report really come from and why was it given.  He appeals to the repuation and honor of both the prince and Claudio and concluds that the lie must have come from the bastard.
Two of them have the very bent of honour;
And if their wisdoms be misled in this,
The practise of it lives in John the bastard,
Whose spirits toil in frame of villanies.

Here we see the tendency to look through the reporter to the source of the report being given.

King:

The King, like many in our world today, took the bate hock, line, and sinker, he swallowed it all!  This reaction is extreamly vivid in the movie.  He reacts by wailing and joining in the abuse, he grabs Hero by the hair and throws her around, tries to beat her, only to be restrained by the friar.  In the text he questions why he had to have a daughter and wishes she had never been born or a least to die now and end the shame.  Because of the report Hero's reactions to the public dishonor and physical abuse show evidence to the king of her guilt, he sees every sign pointing to her guilt.  She blushes--guilty, cries--guilty, faints--guilty, Beatrice not her bed fellow--evidence, she's guilty!!  He completely over the looks the fact she could be innocent and skips right to condemnation, everything is scene through the eye of the report!  Making Claudios line, "are our eyes our own"  altogether fitting and proper.  How often this role in society is played.  We see people constantly painting a scene to fit the report they were given.

Even the movie itself in costumes and character casting was tailored to fit the report of the play:
I think this is also one of the great assets of the movie as well, all of the scenery, actors and costumes were painted to fit their stereo type.  We get the idea from the text that the king is this wealthy yet kind of fickle man, this image summons the image of someone middle height, with a beard and slightly plum--movie was a perfect match. The prince was unique in the text, in his reasoning, status, and prose--he was cast black; this fit perfectly with persona of the prince, for he did stand out and was noble.  Hero, young and fair, the castle, grand and noble, the bastard, tall dark and awkward, everything fit the stereotype or report perfectly.  I really think this was a great asset to the work.

Other View of Kennith's Production (See the Comments as well)

Why are things so Hard?

Well this is the first time i have caught a glimpse of tying my major into Shakespeare.  Ok, probably not but it's the first time these ancient words have come to life and bit me with this regard.

As the age old wizards daughter falls in love with the recently stranded prince Ferdinand, things move too quickly for the wizard.  She has never seen a man, a man so handsome, she has never seen such a god, (ps: why can't i be a god and receive such praise, anyway...), and she has fallen for him(DUAH!), literally she's just been launched over a 1000 foot cliff as is free falling, she's committed.  He on the other hand learns she is a virgin and tells her: O, if a virgin, And your affection not gone forth, I'll make you The Queen of Naples. Yep those are the first words out of his mouth; He's hooked too! Picture a fish with a hook, mortally desined never to free it's victim, piercing the fish's side as it struggles vainly for be free.  He's hooked! His will is bound, he loves her, he no longer takes commands from himself, Cupid is now his master, his king.

So what dose the wizard do about this netted couple, he breaks them up!--ok only for a time, BUT WHY?!

...but this swift business I must uneasy make, lest too light winning Make the prize light.

Now i've been too light in tone, let me change...

The things in life that are worth fighting for come at a very high price.  This is a transcendent truth, universally applicable!  Regardless of time, space, or purpose if it is worth something there's a price to be paid.  Freedom, education, love, friends, peace, joy, life, it all comes with a price.  When one wants to become something great many wants, desires, passions are sacrificed to the end.  I think of this beautiful country in which I live, the freedoms i have, to dream, the possibly to become anything i want, there is literary no law, no force that bans me from reaching any dream, save my own choices.  I have the freedom to worship God, to go and come as i please, and speak freely with my own voice.  This great freedom was purchased long ago from those who wanted to rule and persecute, it was purchased with many lives and much time.  Today there is still a price that is required.  How true it is, because such a price was paid for freedom, I cherish it.  O, I cherish it! I have family that has fought for this end, a brother that went to war, a brother that continues to serve to keep the peace here at home as well.  He puts his life in harms way so that my life doesn't have to be.  The strongest among us don't wear crowns.  To loose him would be unthinkable--the winning is heavy therefore i will forever hold the prize great.  The winning heavy made the prize great.  

As i look at future opportunities for employment and my career, still apart of this freedom, the same principle is true.  To enter these companies that interest me there is a great price to be paid.  Each company requires a grueling interview process.  To give one a taste, if you had to take a final exam before one could graduate from college, an exam that covered every year one spent there and then one had to prove it, perform one's work in front of a board scrutinizing one's every move, this is the interviews that i speak of.  Then this thought came to my mind....lest too light winning Make the prize light.  That which I work for I appreshiate.  Work hard!  "What wilt thou have pay the price and take it!"  As i have paid the price, the dream becomes more and more cherished--granted the price has yet to be paid in full!!  

I hope one day someone will see in me something great, i hope one day someone will see the potential that i feel in myself, that i will get a chance to fill great shoe at someones feet.  I hope and pray i will get a chance to shine, to make the world a better place--in that sense to put my name in history.  ...for all this the burden great and hence so to must be the prize...

Beatrice, Beatrice, Beatrice

Beatirce

• Beatrice. Good Lord, for alliance! Thus goes every one to the 
  695
  
  
  world but I, and I am sunburnt; I may sit in a
  corner and cry heigh-ho for a husband!

• Don Pedro. Lady Beatrice, I will get you one.

• Beatrice. I would rather have one of your father's getting.
  Hath your grace ne'er a brother like you? Your 
  700
  
  
  father got excellent husbands, if a maid could come by them.

• Don Pedro. Will you have me, lady?

• Beatrice. No, my lord, unless I might have another for
  working-days: your grace is too costly to wear
  every day. But, I beseech your grace, pardon me: I 
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  was born to speak all mirth and no matter.

• Don Pedro. Your silence most offends me, and to be merry best
  becomes you; for, out of question, you were born in
  a merry hour.

• Beatrice. No, sure, my lord, my mother cried; but then there 
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  was a star danced, and under that was I born.
  Cousins, God give you joy!

In the book there was no room for me to love Beatrice, but in the movie she was for almost the main player. She grabbed my eye and wouldn't let it go! I too found myself sworn to never love, to never marry a fictional character, but Beatrice stole my heart and soul right along with Benedick. I love this rendition of Beatrice in Kenneth's Much Ado about Nothing. The way that her character is portrayed bring a great admiration and respect for her. She is given life, a happy and noble one , not the sower puss that i imagined her to be. This brought whole new life to the entire play. There was a lot more ado about her! Over all i was bum founded, i loved this play, i must admit when done right Shakespeare's clowns almost always still the show!

Another of the scenes that the movie add power to for me was the one of Hero's accusation.  It was extremely powerful and socking to see the reactions of all the those present to the REPORT of Claudio.  It was interesting(Interests and Questions) to see how I viewed the report versus when i read it.

Another reason this play was so moving to me was because of the music. The actual songs in the play were sung and the ambient music was altogether powerful! It brought powerful meaning and depth to the words of the play.

He Man women Haters Club

Love's Labor's Lost

That's it i have proof!!  All the time men hear how we are the stumbling block in the commandment to go forth and multiply and replenish the earth--OK, i really mean asking girls out on dates, but still, we get the wrath and accusations of being inactive, lazy, hanging out munching bumbs.  So what do we do, we go forth and ask girls on dates, fall in love, and get married.

...Suuuuuuurrrrrrrrrreeee...

What really happens the men go out and try it, and we end up the pupet of a girl, a pone in here sadistic plot.  We end up cross legged, stary eyed and on the floor.  We get are intellects mocked, our hearts broken, and the butt of a joke, it's all our fault....

We've been told to get out and date, because it's such a wonderful experience!

And one wonders why there is a battle of the sexes.

And for all those who need proof here it is...Shakespeare catured it perfectly..this is why men's love's labors are lost, speak Rosaline:

They are worse fools to purchase mocking so.
That same Biron[add men in general here] I'll torture ere I go:
O that I knew he were but in by the week!
How I would make him fawn and beg and seek
And wait the season and observe the times
And spend his prodigal wits in bootless rhymes
And shape his service wholly to my hests
And make him proud to make me proud that jests!
So perttaunt-like would I o'ersway his state
That he should be my fool and I his fate.

...Our fate, Her Fool...

O the die has been cast!

Much Ado About Nothing

One of the major themes of Much Ado is the power of a report. 

I have recently went to a basketball game to visit some family.  I had just returned from my mission and was anxious to see them again, as i contemplated the past, the time before my mission, i wondered why my sister and my nieces and nephews had drifted apart.  We used to spend time together and enjoy family, but the time right before my mission life had gotten crazy and we hadn't taken time waste together.  

Now back from my mission however i was determined to remedy the situation, my attitude was one of assurance resolve and power, we were going to be close and i was going to sacrifice time to see them.  I immediately shared my goals with parents and began to walk through the commitment pattern locking them on board as well.  But it was then that a ill thought was proposed a view was given of my sisters family that brought my dream, aspiration, and goals crashing to the ground.  Some demigod had just smashed my dreams with a hammer! I had seen the the scene and could not un-see. The scene my sister was hostile--family feud!

My sister was recording the game but all i say was neglect and failure to yield to a brother come two hours to see her.  I wasn't important!  My niece refused to give me a huge throwing up her hand saying "i'v a bubble", i saw a brutal attack on my soul, i was unclean. My brother in law wouldn't even acknowledge my person, i saw out right war! The scene was painted red and black! The wool had been died and no other color would stain.

It wasn't that my niece was shy or my sister busy, nor my brother occupied! 

For I had received the report, seen the scene, I could not un-seen the scene.

Similarly Much Ado has a major theme--reporting.  The whole play is driven by reporting!

Here are some of the reports:

Messanger reports to Leonato -> Prince and Company back from war. A1.S1 Line 1.

Brother of Leonato reports to Leonato -> Prince loves Hero. A1.S2 Line 5.

Borachio reports to Don John -> Prince and Claudio's plan. A1.S3 Line 40.

Don John reports to Claudio -> Prince has stolen Hero. A2. S1 Line 140.

Claudio, Leonato, and Prince report to Benidict -> Beatrice loves Benidict. A2. S3 Line 100.

Hero and Ursula report to Beatrice-> Benidict Loves Beatrice. A3. S1. Line30.

Don John reports to Claudio and Prince -> Hero's unfaithful. A3. S2. Line 80.

Claudio reports to the Court -> Hero's is a wench. A4. S1. Line 30.

First Watchman reports to Sexton & Court -> Don John a villain. A4. S2. Line 55.

Leonato reports to Prince & Claudio -> Hero's dead. A5. S1. Line 70.

Dogverry reports to Prince and Claudio -> the evil plot. A5. S1. Line 260.

It is from these encounters, these reports that the plot is driven, that characters act.  I'm much like these characters in that i too when told a person's mote or a suspected hostile, I see the mote and they are hostile!! It is for this reason i strive to tolerate no ill word of another and have told my family such!  Let me paint my own scene and make of it what i will, that the truth may be in my eye, that i might make it something someone else could not.

Cupid's Army

Love's Labor's Lost

 Dread prince of plackets, king of codpieces,

Sole imperator and great general

Of trotting paritors--O my little heart!

And I to be a corporal of his field

And wear his colors like a tumbler's hoop!

O, rhymes are guards on wanton Cupid's hose.

By earth, she is not, corporal.  There you lie.

This is a very interest Conceit that Shakespeare continues to uses, because of the use of love associated with Cupid and his dreadful power love takes on a whole new meaning.

Love is now not just a feel that wells up inside one, but something that is inflicted by a king, a prince, a great general, a dreadfully powerful God--Cupid.  He is commander of a great army and by force consumes ones oaths, ransacks ones home, and take one captive into his army, to serve him and him alone.  

One follows His Orders.

One interesting thing about this use of love is that it removes choice.  It suggest that one does not have a choice as to when love will come in and rule ones life.  It leans toward unbridled passion, it comes in and cannot be controlled. It also gives light to the battle of the sexes going on this play, for it is the men that are the voices of Cupids power, as if it is man's plight to be overcome with passion and lust.   

Much Ado About Nothing

~ Learning Plan ~ For ~ Much Ado About Nothing ~

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Characters:

Leonato - An elderly noble at whose home, in Messina, Italy, the action is set.

Hero - The beautiful young daughter of Leonato and the cousin of Beatrice. 

Claudio - A young soldier who has won great acclaim fighting under Don Pedro during the recent wars. Claudio falls in love with Hero.

Don Pedro - An important nobleman from Aragon, sometimes referred to as “Prince.” Don Pedro is a longtime friend of Leonato, Hero’s father, and is also close to the soldiers who have been fighting under him—the younger Benedick and the very young Claudio.

Benedick - Soldier who has recently been fighting under Don Pedro, and a friend of Don Pedro and Claudio. Benedick is very witty, always making jokes and puns.
Beatrice - Leonato’s niece and Hero’s cousin.

Don John - The illegitimate brother of Don Pedro.

Margaret - Hero’s serving woman, who unwittingly helps Borachio and Don John deceive Claudio into thinking that Hero is unfaithful. Margaret is lower class.
Borachio - An associate of Don John. Borachio is the lover of Margaret. He conspires with Don John to trick Claudio and Don Pedro into thinking that Hero is unfaithful to Claudio.
Conrad - One of Don John’s more intimate associates, entirely devoted to Don John.

Dogberry - In charge of the Watch.
Verges - The deputy to Dogberry.
Antonio - Leonato’s elderly brother.
Balthasar - A waiting man in Leonato’s household and a musician.
Ursula - One of Hero’s waiting women.

Synopsis

Summery

Outside Sense of the Play

Renaissance antitheatricality and the politics of gender and rank in Much Ado About Nothing

Much Ado is filled with playlets, staged shows, actors, and interior dramatists. Don Pedro and Don John both devise pageants designed to deceive specific audiences; most of Messina pretends to be someone else at a masked ball at the outset of the play; Claudio plays the role of mourner before an empty tomb, then the groom to a woman. Consequently, critics have often thematized the play as being "about" truth, illusion, and how to live in a world of deceptive appearances.

One very interesting reading would be to look at how play, acts, and costumes are used in this work. How Shakespeare runs with the actors and plays within Much Ado. Also to look for lessons given as to what the play could teach about living in a world of deceptive appearances, to analyze how what we are told profoundly influences our perceptions and judgments. One could look at the characters and see how their actions and thoughts change based on what they are told--the power of the report.

Much Ado about Nothing by William Shakespeare.Shakespearean Criticism

Perhaps the most notable feature of Much Ado is the near universal tendency of audiences and critics alike to devote more attention to what is formally a subplot--the battle of the sexes staged between the characters of Beatrice and Benedick.
One very interest reading of the play would be to focus on this aspect...find the battle between the sexes and characterize it, follow it, and flesh it out.

Another great view of the play is the foil of the two couples...Beatrice and Benedick with Hero and Claudio.

Another interesting angle would be to see how Shakespeare works with the deep contrast rooted in this play. We have huge accusations, betrayal and sedition, but we also have romance, love, and comedy. How does Shakespeare blend these in way that allow the audience to feel the passion and gravity of betrayal and sedition, but while being entertained and wooed by the comedy and romance.

Video Productions

Much Ado About Nothing, by William Shakespeare, 

Directed by Stuart Burge, performed by Cherie Lunghi, Katherine Levy & Robert Lindsay, (British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), 1984), 147:24 min. 

Much Ado About Nothing 1993 

Director: Kenneth Branagh

Writers: William Shakespeare (play), Kenneth Branagh(screenplay) 

Stars: Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson and Keanu Reeves

Interests and Questions

I think the one thing that has most caught me eye is this idea of a report. We completely change the way we view a situation or thing based on a report that we are given.

What we are told profoundly influences our perceptions and judgments.

This is interesting to me because i found myself preaching this sermon. It's only awkward if you make it awkward . This situation is what you make it. Attitude is altitude. I have told my mom so many times never to tell me something bad about a situation or person because if i don't know i will go into with the power to make it good--and i will. However, by tainting the glass or tinting the lens somehow that power is almost utterly vanquished and it seems forced to fit the report! As if we are so used to prophecy that we think everything that we hear is. It will be awesome to read this play with this in mind.

Another of my interests is in how metaphor, personification, and conceit are used to add power to the language and word. How do they breath life to the play. How do they draw the reader and audience in and create their own universe to live.

Hamlet and Longaville

Hamlet and Longaville are brothers, ok maybe not brothers but they share the same character trait according to  Maria.

Maria speaking of Longaville:


Is a sharp wit matched with too blunt a will,
Whose edge hath power to cut, whose will still wills
Is should none spare that come within his power.


He is very bright and smart, yet his will is weak, he has no power to act.
Shakespeare is taking a character that he knows very well and placing him in another one of his plays.  This time the purpose is quite different but none the less one can find Hamlet in Love's Labor's Lost.  Granted this is just  a view of Longaville in act II.

Hamlet is a genius of wit yet cannot find courage for action, here is an example.  Hamlet views an army of men going to die and fight for a piece of worthless ground in the name of honor yet he with a father murdered has yet to act.

When honour's at the stake. How stand I then,
That have a father kill'd, a mother stain'd,
Excitements of my reason and my blood,
And let all sleep, while to my shame I see
The imminent death of twenty thousand men
That for a fantasy and trick of fame
Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot
Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause,
Which is not tomb enough and continent
To hide the slain? O, from this time forth,
My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!

Out of Context?

Won as towns with Fire LINKED TO Vox Populi

It is interesting to me how one could make the argument that both of us have pulled bits of Shakespeare out of context to apply them to our lives. We in school have taken our background and applied it to the work.. We have goals that we are desperately battling for.. it is fare to call it a war.. a war against all those with the same dream because of the competition that grades and this society has forced on us.. that this university has forced on us!! The goal is to be the best and the sword, if your not you will fall to way side, you will be killed!

Its interesting to me that all though out time we have and seam to forever be at war with something and that is what Shakespeare chose to base his conceits on.. it is therefore something that every human being can relate to, so then the question is it therefore really out of context or is that the point. I'm with you i think that is why Shakespeare was great, he pulled from the most basic and lifelong struggles and principles and therefore we can relate even today.

Won as towns with Fire

Love's Labor's Lost Act I

So study evermore is overshot.
While it doth study to have what it would,
It doth forget to do the ting it should.
And when it hath the thing it hunteth most,
'Tis won as towns with fire--so won, so lost.




Here Shakespeare is using a powerful technique called personification he is giving the abstract idea of studying a body to go hunting and an army to burn and over take a town. This technique gives amplifies the meaning and power of Berowne's argument, that the King and his followers are overdoing their oath to study for three years. It also allows for a timeless application of the truth: to much of a good thing.

For example:
Study can miss it's target? Study is used to reach some aim, some goal, wither it be to speak fluently, to obtain a job, to gain understanding, or to win a girl. Eventually study will obtain it's goal like a hunter it's prey, but if the goal was to have the prey alive, study should have been a trapper. Studies goal, like an army, could be to over take a beautiful city, but in the anxiety and fervor of battle the army burns the town to win it. O it's won, but it's ash!

I, like an army like a tyrant, have pillaged through school. I have ran over every friend, roommate, extra curricular activity, and career fair in the name of study! If it wasn't directly related to school it was burned! To this day some of my friends will say, "Its good to hand out with you before to get buried in your work!" How many times i have set the town ablaze only to realize the goal was reached but with flame. To walk the streets of a dream only to have them smell and look of ash is no dream. Life is about balance and dreams. When we set the dream as the only goal we can loose perspective of what it is we really want, what is really needed.

Take time to smell the roses! Build bridges and then never burn them. Enjoy life on the way to the dream and if needs be change it! What wilt thou have pay the price and take it! BUT NOTE THE PRICE!