Romeo and Juliet: when was it set?

Tonight, I was talking with my aunt.  She said that the other day, somebody at the library asked her during which year Romeo and Juliet was set.  Although she never mentioned the exact year, she did say that it is the only play which has a traceable date during which the events were meant to have occurred.

Bad Dreams

Last night, I had a bad dream that there was something else we were supposed to post under our reflections on the learning outcomes.  It figures, because I always have school nightmares when I have had tests or it is the end of the semester.

Just wanted to say one more time, thank you everybody for a wonderful experience!  Have an amazing summer.

The Final Meleager Video.

Reflection, and a Fond Farewell?

• I am going to go over the ways I have worked towards the goals of my Shakespeare class.  Here goes:
• 1. Gain Shakespeare Literacy
  Demonstrate mastery over fundamental information about Shakespeare’s works, life, and legacy

  a. Breadth (knowledge of a range of Shakespeare’s works)

  Okay, this semester I was introduced to Shakespeare's History Plays.  I  have never read any of these before, and have now read two!

  b. Depth (more thorough knowledge of a single work)

  Richard III.  I actually quite enjoyed this play.  Although Richard is a villain, I absolutely loved him as a character.  I also learned a little bit more about this period in history, and the way that it was portrayed after Richard was overthrown, down through Shakespeare's day.

  c. Performance (stage and screen)

  Hamlet with David Tennant.  I adored this!  I love David Tennant!

  
  

  Henry V (the one the professor recommended.) I loved the music during the speech

  
  

  The Merchant of Venice (Or Stratford, depending on who you ask.) Really Cute.

  
  

  Love's Labors Lost (set as a live radio show during the war) Good acting for a play I didn't like.

  
  
  
  

  d. Legacy (history, scholarship, popular culture)

  I referenced a few books and songs in previous blogs, as well as a foxtrot comic.  I think I will continue to post about Shakespeare in pop culture.

  
  
  
  
  

  I already knew a lot about Shakespeare's time, and his way of writing.  I did not realize that there were events occurring that coincided with The Tempest, and which it may have been loosely based upon. 

  
  
  
• 2. Analyze Shakespeare Critically
  Interpret Shakespeare’s works critically in their written form, in performance (stage or screen) and in digitally mediated transformations. This includes 
  a. Textual analysis (theme, language, formal devices)

  I looked at a scene from Richard III in one of my posts.  It was long, but it showed some cutting dialogue.  Here is the link.

  Queen Margaret's Speech
  

  
  

  b. Contextual analysis (historical, contemporary, cultural)
  
  

  I looked into the War of the Roses, of which Richard III was part in the following post:

  
  

  The War of the Roses 

  
  
  
  c. Application of literary theories 

  I wrote the dialogue for an entire scene of Meleager.

  d. Analysis of digital mediations

  I tried to blog while watching Hamlet, reflecting on how it was portrayed.  We also watched many different portrayals of different scenes in class.  I learned to compare videos to the text, and also compare different renditions of the same scene.

  
  

• 3. Engage Shakespeare Creatively
  a. Performance (memorization, recitation, scene on stage or video)

  I was forced to read the dialogue I had written aloud.  I also tried to memorize Lady Macbeth's speech again, because I haven't recited it since tenth grade.  (Glamis thou art, etc.)

  
  

  b. Individual creative work (literary imitation, art, music)

  I dabbled in writing some Shakespeare lines, with fair results if I do say so myself.

  c. Collaborative creative project

  Oh, Meleager.  I almost want to read the entire play (oh, wait, we made it up!)

• 4. Share Shakespeare Meaningfully
  This includes engaging in the following:

  b. Informal Writing. This mainly means through regular online writing

  I have been mostly diligent in my blogging, and this is my 77 or 78 post.  I have had a blast with the blogging.

  c. Connecting. Share one’s learning and creative work with others both in and outside of class.

  I talked about Shakespeare with some great people at the bus stop, and I also linked to my blog on Facebook, which got me a few more followers.

• 5. Gain Digital Literacy
  a. Consume - Effective and independent selecting, searching, researching, 

  I learned how to use my blog efficiently, and how to upload videos and pictures.  I found some other, more professional blogs on Shakespeare as well.

  
  

  b. Create - Producing content that demonstrates learning and which can be shared for others to profit from.

  I think this blog is the best example of this learning outcome.  I also made a video on Meleager, and used pictures and video clips to help emphasize my points.

  
  

  c. Connect - Engage with other learners within and outside of the class to develop thinking and share more formal work.

  I commented on other people's blogs, and also replied to comments on my own blog.  I talked about Shakespeare in my small group, and also talked about what I was learning with my aunt.

  
  Well, this has been a great ride.  I have loved this class, and loved getting to know  the people in it and see their visions.  This blog has also been a wonderful experience.  I hope that I can continue to blog, even if I opt to start a new blog that is not focused on Shakespeare.  As I said before, I would like to continue blogging here about connections to Shakespeare I see in popular culture.  For now, I say not Adieu but Au Revoir! 

The Final Product

Here is your introduction to our play.

Okay, so apparently this video does not want to load to my blog.  But don't worry!  I have it on my memory stick in my backpack, and one of the guys can help me get it on Youtube or something.  I was just so tired last night I didn't even care to try.

Got Shakespeare?

As we near the end of our journey through Shakespeare in my class, I pose this question to you: Got Shakespeare?

I hope that I will continue blogging after the class ends, but there is no guarantee that I will without the grade incentive.  I have loved rereading some of these plays, as well as being introduced to new ones.  Everybody has had great insights to share in class, and I have been led to thinking about things in new ways.

For the first time, I used Skype and I had a public blog.  I have also learned about filming and editing a video.  I still have more to learn about that tonight.  (Yes, Kent, I will finish it by tomorrow!)

I would finally like to thank everybody who has offered comments and suggestions.  This has been a new experience for me, and I appreciate your feedback.

Happy Finals Week!

Kent, Don't Read This!

 Okay, so last night I watched the video I took from the shoot.  Tonight I plan to iron it out and record the introduction to the play.  I can't wait to finish this project!  I know it is going to be great, and I also can't wait to see what everybody else does as well!

Good luck on Finals, everybody!

Huck Finn does Romeo and Juliet

I don't know why, but the other day I suddenly remembered that in Huckleberry Finn, there is a scene that mirrors Romeo and Juliet.  He comes across two feuding families that have been hurting each other for years.  Unfortunately, a daughter from one family and a son from the other have fallen in love.  When the two families find out, chaos ensues and they go to war.  The only difference is, they live in the wilderness on the banks of the Mississippi, and they have rifles to shoot each other with.  Does this story sound familiar to anybody?  Imagine if the two families had found out about Romeo and Juliet being in love and married before the couple died for love.

The End of March Madness

The final showdown between Beatrice and Lady Macbeth is finished, and the winner is: Beatrice.

She of the sharp tongue and witty mind, from Much Ado About Nothing.

Making of a Fight Scene

Okay, I meant to post this last night, but I fell asleep as soon as I hit the pillow.  I was exhausted.  I woke up at 5:00 yesterday morning to drive down to Sandy.  We met up at Kent's house, where I found out that he had had to make some last minute casting changes.  I had to do a lot of costume modifications, mainly cutting off sleeves and making v-necks on t-shirts.  Finally, we went to the location, where we had to hike down the path to a spot by the creek.  Unfortunately, this place turned out to be very popular with dogs.  After getting some great footage of everybody getting ready for the shoot, and a few practice runs, I had to go try to ward off the dogs.  Mostly, this worked, although a few still. got through.  I had to leave early, because I had a couple of family things going on that day as well.  Needless to say, I was perfectly happy to get in bed at 10:00 that night and fall instantly asleep.  I can't wait to edit my footage and put up the final video.

Happy Easter, y'all.

Conference, The Eagle, and Dialogue

Okay, so Friday my brother went to the video store and came home with "The Eagle".  We watched it that night, and it was great inspiration for figuring out good ways to write dialogue for a fight segment.  Saturday, I watched the morning session of General Conference and then started writing.  I have to admit, I rarely read over what I write.  I can keep a sentence in my head, and I can remember the flow and topic of what I am writing, but once I write it, it is done.  I usually get somebody else to read over my paper and edit it.  Anyway, here is the cut down version of the script for the play.

Meleager: And to you, good sir, mighty with the bow,

Having struck the Boar first, deserves this prize

To you noble sire of, what be thy name?

Atalanta:  My lord, my name is Nikon, and I plead

                That you should take this trophy for your own

                As you did deal the final blow that brought

                A final death to this ferocious beast.

Meleager: Would you dare scorn this gift that I have gi’en

                Most freely to the one who earned the prize?

                You do yourself dishonor by your words.

                Come, friend, I do not wish to tarry on.

Atalanta: Your words convince me of the wisdom found

                In thanking you for such a precious gift.

                I must accept and in good grace give thanks.

Enter Toxius and Plexipus

Toxius: My nephew that young wretch will be our deaths.

                We must destroy her whilst we have the chance

                Before returning home to those who’ll kill

Us all, as is their right and is the law.

Meleager: What madness do you speak?

Iphicles: Your uncle’s fragile reason now is lost.

                Meleager we support you in your cause,

                We’ll join with you until the bitter end

                In order to protect this our new friend.

Eurypylus: I also stand with you through thick and thin

                My liege, my lord, and most of all my friend.

The two are slowly moving towards Atalanta, with malicious intent.  At that moment, they reach her and grab her.  Iphicles pulls a knife on her.

Meleager: You fiends, who flatter whilst betraying me

Atalanta goes postal and gets knocked out.

Meleager and family:

Meleager: my uncle asks of me

                To break the sacred law of the guest rights.

Meleager: Brother will you stand with me or him?

Plexipus: I value my own life against your own.

                Dear brother, I am sorry for this end

Meleager: Not half as sorry as you soon shall be.

Fighting ensues.  Meleager kills his uncle and his brother.

Euriponditis, Iphicles, etc.

Atalanta: My thanks, but I protect myself quite well.

Meleager: Milady, I am honor bound to fight

                In your defense. 

Atalanta: I thank you for your aid.

Iphicles and Euriponditis fight, Iphicles flees into the woods and Euriponditis follows.

Meleager: You always were too quick to rise to bait

                What was your weakness now has brought your fate.

Eurypylus is cowering in fear.

Eurypydus: Meleager, please I beg you spare my life

               

Meleager: If only you shall swear upon your soul

                To never speak of what has happened here.

Eurypylus: You have my oath, twill never pass my lips.

Meleager: Then leave, and never show your face again.

Switch to Euriponditis and Iphicles.

Iphicles: You thought that you could win my lovely wife

                You fool! I would not part with her for gold.

                Though she is young she knows to mind my will.

Euriponditis:  Sweet Chloe deserves more than you would give.

                She chose to love a blacksmith o’er a lord.

                And who would blame her?

Iphicles: The whole court knows

                That you and she are lovers; they would say

                You murdered me to wed my wife. You would

                Be cast out from the midst of them and shamed.

Euriponditis: Good sir, you talk to long. Be silent now.

Kills Iphicles

Meleager comes upon him moments later.  Euriponditis is badly shaken by Iphicles’ words.

Meleager: My friend, what makes you sigh, as though a girl?

                We are victorious, champions of the hour.

Euriponditis: My lord, when it is known that I have slain

                Fair Chloe’s husband I shall then be shunned.

                I cannot ask the maid to pay that price.

                Thus I must leave before I see her face.

Meleager: This day no one shall know twas done by you.

                We’ll claim that they had tried to steal the boar,

                And as we fought I claimed Iphicles’ life.

                Now come, we must prepare a detailed lie

                To hold up under closer inspection.

The Play's the Thing

Love's Labor's Lost, as performed down at BYU, was set up as a radio show during the war.  The question is, did this add to the theme of the play, or detract from it?  As the audience comes in to sit down, jazzy music is playing, periodically interrupted by war adds.  The play also ends with another add.  Throughout the play, there is almost constantly a jazzy background music.  This all adds to the atmosphere of a radio show.  But why would they choose this for the play?

In Shakespeare's day, there were no radios.  The fact that the King was British and the Princess was French was significant, because France and Britain were enemies for most of their history.  Their love symbolized a uniting of the countries for the time, and thus had political as well as personal meaning.  In the play at BYU, the French and the British were both on the same side during the war.  The fact that they fall in love does not have the same meaning as it did in the play Shakespeare wrote.  It looses some significant meaning in the new context.  Although it doesn't seem likely, it might have made more sense if the play occurred at the end of the war, and the Princess was from Germany, or one of the other countries on the other side.  Then their love would once again have symbolized the joining of two enemies happily, the opposite of what happened in Romeo and Juliet.

March Madness Finals

For those of you who don't know, in a previous blog I mentioned that there is a group that does a Shakespeare March Madness.  Well, the finals have arrived, and it has come down to a fight between Beatrice and Lady Macbeth.  Who do you think should win?

The Play in Provo

Saturday, I drove down to Provo to see Love's Labor's Lost.  It was very funny, and the actors were great, but that is really all  I can say about it.  I did not care for the play much when I read it, and I still feel apathetic towards it.  None of the characters seemed very believable to me, so it was hard to care too much about what happened to them.  

Overall, I don't know if the three hour round trip was really worth it.  Traffic was terrible on the way down, and on the way back to Bountiful there was a crash on the freeway, and rubberneck syndrome kicked in full force.  When I got home, I went directly to see my little sister perform in Beauty and the Beast Junior.

My favorite thing about the play was the music.  Peter Murray was amazing.  I was good friends with his sister in high school, so it was fun to see him performing.  I loved the way the music set the atmosphere through the whole thing.

While I did not actually dislike the play, I didn't like it, either.  This had nothing to do with the actors, and everything to do with the play itself.

Casting Chloe

I am definitely open to suggestions on this one, but here are some actresses I could see doing the part.

Carey Mulligan: played Kitty in the Keira Knightly Pride and Prejudice, appeared on a Doctor Who episode, and was in Northanger Abbey.

So far, she's the only one to strike my fancy.  Like I said, any input would be great.

Kleopatra

Okay, I have totally fallen in love with the idea of Kleopatra being played by Katie McGrath.  She plays Morgana in "Merlin," the TV series about how Merlin became the great wizard and Arthur the great king.  At first, you absolutely love her, and feel sorry for her, but then she starts to become one of the villains in the show.

Casting Atalanta

Here are a few possibilities for Atalanta, from Meleager
Kelly Macdonald: played Helena Ravenclaw and "Peter Pan" in finding neverland

Penélope Cruz: from Pirates of the Caribbean, on stranger tides

Miranda Otto: Played Eowyn in Lord of the Rings

Updated Shakespeare March Madness

Here are the results of the first round.

Remember to cast your votes at: http://americanshakespearecentereducation.blogspot.com/

Love's Labors Confounded

Love's Labors Lost is all about a group of noblemen, and a group of noblewomen, and the battle of wits that ensues.  As it is often said, all's fair in love and war, and in this play there is plenty of each.  It is interesting to see the women get the better of the men, even as the men are talking in ways to suggest how intelligent they are.

Another way to describe this play is a battle of the sexes, where the women definitely come out the victors.  There is a series that follows this theme: Boys/Girls Battle. 
Here is a picture of the first book, which can be found on Amazon.

In the series, a family of girls moves in next to a family of boys.  The boys resent the girls, because their best friends used to live there.  They decide to prank the girls, and chaos ensues.  There is no clear winner in the end, although eventually the two groups of kids become friends. 

In Shakespeare's play, the women engage the men in battle, but the men hardly seem aware that they are being played with.  The men don't appear to catch the women's sarcastic remarks and witty barbs.  Although nobody cross-dresses, the women are portrayed as equals to the men, which was rare in Elizabethan society.  Once again, Shakespeare has played with the traditional roles of men and women in order to humorously make a point.

Meleager's Family History

Meleager's parents, Althaea and Oeneus, had an arranged marriage.  They came from two warring clans, the Calydonians and the Curetes.  When Meleager kills his uncles, the tentative peace is shattered, and the two groups go to war, where Meleager dies.  For more information, check out the following link:
Oeneus
Althaea

The War of the Roses

As many of you probably know, my individual play for my Shakespeare class was Richard III.  This play was one of many plays dealing with the fights between the House of Lancaster and the House of York, two branches of the Plantagenet family, over the throne of England.  I just finished reading a book called "Crown Duel," and in it a girl and her brother are plotting to overthrow a corrupt king.  They claim to be fighting on behalf of all the people of the kingdom, but the girl eventually finds out that most of the commoners don't care.  In fact, most of the people just want to be left alone, eking out an existence until the king raises the taxes too high.  This got me thinking.  Although the girl in the book truly believes that she is doing what is best for the people, not caring about power, it doesn't matter to the subjects.  I believe this was also true in Richard III's time.  The people of England did not care who was on the throne, so long as they were left in piece.  Although war seems noble to others, the commoners who lived in times of  war were hit the hardest.  Their men were forced to fight in the armies, their food was used to supply the armies, and their homes and fields were destroyed in the battles of war.  I can see why the peasants at that time were sick of the fighting, and did not care who was sitting on the throne, if they could provide stabilization and peace to the country.

Scene from Act V

Kleopatra enters Althaea's sitting room.  She is obviously upset.
Kleopatra: Oh, mother! I cannot believe my eyes!
                  Your son, my husband, has slain his kin.
                  Your brother lies dead, and my brother lies dead!
                  To live to see the day when such a thing
                  My mother I know not how to face him.
                  How can I live, my daughter live
                  With such a monster, our lord, her father
                  Who willingly did slay for love of she
                  The wild, unwomanly Atalanta
Althaea( aside): No! It cannot be true! What lies are these?
              And yet, I felt that some dark cloud loomed near
              It seemed to me the howling wind brought woe
              Alas! My brother, my baby, kin-killed
              Meleager you are no more called my son
Althaea (to Kleopatra): daughter, fetch Europinditis hither
              I must have speech with my son's favored servant.
Kleopatra: Mother, I go.
Exit Kleopatra
Althaea: My heart has died, my hatred overflowing.
              Oh Fates, you once foretold my son's end.
              Well, now, I pray that I may have the strength
              To bring the prophecy to pass, and use
              My son;s most loyal friend to seal his doom.
              May the gods forgive my traitorous act!
A moment of silence, while Althaea steels herself
Enter Euriponditis

Oh, Shakespeare

I have been looking at some of the common themes in Shakespeare's tragedies.  A big one is fate: are we subject to destiny, or are we able to make our own decisions?  Hamlet's fate is that he must kill his uncle to avenge his father.  Throughout the play, he struggles against his fate, so at the end, once he has finally accepted it, he dies.  Was his destiny unavoidable, or could he have lived if he had simply avenged his father at the beginning?  Was it really fate, or simply his own nature that led to his demise?

Romeo and Juliette were destined to end sadly.  Their love was forbidden, and they were unwilling to forget each other.  Their fate was to end tragically.  But were they simply the product of fate, or were their actions what led to their demise?

Finally, Macbeth.  When the witches foretold his destiny, was he already bound to be king?  Or, by hearing the prophecy, did he choose to follow a path that would fulfill the prophecy?  These questions are never answered, and the reader is left to wonder whether the witches told Macbeth his fate out of spite, or gave him a destiny that would lead to chaos in Scotland.

Shakespeare did a great job of subtly exploring the idea of fate.  Although most of the characters are never told their fate, they are all subject to what would seem to be an unavoidable end.  However, was it really fate, or did they have the ability to choose a different end?  At what point do you seal your fated doom?  This are questions that society has always struggled with, although rarely as openly as the Greeks.  We use excuses of "that's just how I am"  but are we really saying "that's just the way it was meant to be?"  Shakespeare was very good at using themes that echo in the hearts of his audience, and those themes are still applicable today.
So I leave you with the question: is it fate or choice?

Chloe

Chloe is Euriponditis' love interest.  She was Iphicles's wife, yet although he loved her and treated her well, it was an arranged marriage and she does not care for her husband, who is ten years older than her.  When she meets Euriponditis, she initially thinks that he is handsome, and as preparations begin for the boar hunt, she spends a lot of time in his company.  He is strong, noble, and a witty conversationalist.  She is a clever woman, but her husband doesn't see this.  He believes in the traditional role of women.  Chloe feels trapped in her marriage, and at first Euriponditis is a good friend, but by the time the hunt has finished, she realizes that she is in love with him.  She has no children. 

Chloe's lines
Oh heart, that cannot find the strength to love
where I am wed but turns to one whom I
may never have. Oh! Fate, that I were free
to give my love to Euriponditis
A man so kind, and noble, and loyal
He doth deserve the heart and hand of one
Still fair, and young, and free, not such as I

My husband lies dead, by my lover's hand
Ye Fates, why give me what my heart desires?
Will I be cursed if I so choose to go
And wed, so soon a widow, to the man
Who sent my husband down to Hades' realm?
Yet I can feel no grief in my freedom.

The Boar Hunt, or Act III

In the previous act, Atalanta challenged Meleager and Euri. to a boar hunt.  Everybody gathers at Meleager's home for this epic event.  Meleager's uncle and brother join the hunt, as well as two other men who live nearby.  Atalanta dresses up as a man for the event.  Once everything is ready, the group goes into the woods to hunt the giant boar living there.  They split into groups, and Atalanta and Meleager are the first ones to find the boar.  Atalanta draws first blood, seriously wounding the boar.  Around this time the others barge into the clearing, and the boar is confused.  Eventually it heads for Meleager, who just manages to deal the death blow.  The group skins and cleans the hide, and strip the meat from the carcass.  They bring the remains back to Meleager's, and the servants cook the meat and prepare a feast for that evening. At the feast, Meleager is awarded the skin as prize for killing the beast; however, he feels that Atalanta deserves the victory more than him, and so he gives her the skin.  She then reveals herself to be a girl, and everybody is shocked. Kleopatra returned during the time of the hunt, and when she realizes that Meleager has awarded the skin to a girl, and sees the way he looks at her, she becomes jealous.  The act ends with her speaking to her uncle and brother-in-law, riling them up against Atalanta.

Kleopatra

Okay, so I think that Meleager was married before he left with Jason and the Argonauts.  He left his wife, Kleopatra, pregnant with their daughter, although he probably didn't know this at the time.  Kleopatra had just left to visit her family when Meleager returned from his trip, as there was no way for her to know when he would be back.  Meleager sees Atalanta at an inn, and falls in love with her.  After all, he hasn't seen his wife in awhile.  Kleopatra eventually hears about her husband's return, and is excited to tell him about their daughter.  Unfortunately, she returns in time to notice Meleager's attraction to Atalanta.  She becomes jealous, and even goes so far as to encourage Meleager's brother and uncle in their actions against Atalanta.  Unfortunately, Atalanta leaves and Meleager kills his brother and uncle, which then results in his death.  Kleopatra is left alone,  widowed with a daughter.

More on Atalanta

Here is the love triangle for the story, first of all.

So Atalanta was left in the woods when she was a baby because her father was devastated that she was not a son.  She was raised by a mother bear, and learned to live and fight the way bears do.  This is where her wild and rebellious nature comes from.  When she first meets Meleager, at an inn, she has been living among humans for awhile.  When Meleager, who has been gone from home for awhile, sees her, he falls in "love" with her, and wants her. . . even though he is already married and has a daughter.  Atalanta has dedicated her life to the goddess Artemis, and thus has made a vow of chastity.  She sees Meleager the same way she sees all men:  they are fun to hunt with, but they also treat women as inferior.  This rubs her the wrong way, as she knows she is faster and a better fighter than other men.  This leads to her challenge to a hunt with Meleager, which she participates in while dressed as a man.  Meleager and his friend are the only two who know who she really is.  Atalanta can easily keep up with the other men, and when they finally find the boar, she draws first blood, wounding the animal with her spear.  Meleager finishes the beast off, and then gives her the hide as a trophy.  When the other men find out that she is actually a girl, they try to take away her trophy and insult her.  As Meleager steps in to defend her honor, Atalanta receives news of her father, who is now willing to claim her as his heir.  She leaves, against Meleager's protests.  Eventually, after being reunited with her father, her father demands that she choose a husband.  Staying true to her vow, she says that she will only marry the man who can beat her in a race, and any man who challenges her and looses will be put to death.

*Blue text indicates occurs after story.  I included this last bit in order to show more of Atalanta's character.