Good morning,
Last night was a ton of fun, stressful yes, but all in all, I think that everyone enjoyed themselves. I noticed that a few people were taping the performance and I am actually very interested to see how it looks. I know that our final term paper is a comparison of our performance to our film actors performance and I think that a visual may help to provide a bit more detail than if we simple wrote from memory. I am excited to hear more of the reactions from my fellow classmates on Monday!
Honestly, I do not really know what to say in reference to Macbeth. Although the witches played a big part in at least planting the idea of King into Macbeth's head, it was indeed Lady Macbeth's brown-nosing remarks along with many negative cunning remarks that pushed Macbeth over the edge to murder his King and take over the throne. After killing King Duncan, Macbeth becomes very upset and begins to lose his sanity. After numerous betrayals and murders, Lady Macbeth begins to sleepwalk and eventually joins Macbeth in his insanity. In the end, it is Macbeth's head held in Macduff's fist that completes the play.
After having read the play a second time, I can now understand that the witches foreshadowed the entire play within the first few scenes. Although their contradictory language does leave some room for interpretation. All in all, I appreciated this play more in the class, reviewing the language than I did in my Theatre class where the acting itself was analyzed. One needs a bit of both to truly understand and appreciate one of Shakespeare's great works. Macbeth is no exception.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Thursday, November 13, 2008
MacBeth and Throne of Blood 11/13/08
Good morning,
Yesterday's class we discussed the three witches in Macbeth and the meaning behind the opening scenes of Shakespeare's play. I must reiterate that although I do see the point of many of my fellow classmates that the three witches are simply telling the future, I feel that those three witches are indeed evil and although they can see the future, their contradictory statements and odd word usage seemed to be deliberately professed in a way that confused the opposite party. Lady Macbeth also played a very big role in Macbeth's fate. She has always been power-hungry and truly wanted to be Queen. As Macbeth's wife, she has a lot of sway with her husband and has different, cunning ways of getting what she wants. Using the witches statements as support only made Lady Macbeth's position stronger. With that said, without the witches help, I do not believe that Lady Macbeth alone could have convince Macbeth to murder many different people including the King in order to gain power.
Each film based on Shakespeare plays (specifically Macbeth) has a different way of portraying each character. The way one expresses each character and their personality can shape the entire feel of the performance. With that said, in the case of Throne of Blood, I do believe that the characters, specifically Lady Macbeth did an excellent of portraying an evil, cunning woman who knows exactly what she wants from her husband and how to get it. She had Macbeth in the palm of her hand every step of the way. I did appreciate this version and could see myself using a unconventional version of a Shakespeare play such as Thrown of Blood or Ran in my future classroom.
Yesterday's class we discussed the three witches in Macbeth and the meaning behind the opening scenes of Shakespeare's play. I must reiterate that although I do see the point of many of my fellow classmates that the three witches are simply telling the future, I feel that those three witches are indeed evil and although they can see the future, their contradictory statements and odd word usage seemed to be deliberately professed in a way that confused the opposite party. Lady Macbeth also played a very big role in Macbeth's fate. She has always been power-hungry and truly wanted to be Queen. As Macbeth's wife, she has a lot of sway with her husband and has different, cunning ways of getting what she wants. Using the witches statements as support only made Lady Macbeth's position stronger. With that said, without the witches help, I do not believe that Lady Macbeth alone could have convince Macbeth to murder many different people including the King in order to gain power.
Each film based on Shakespeare plays (specifically Macbeth) has a different way of portraying each character. The way one expresses each character and their personality can shape the entire feel of the performance. With that said, in the case of Throne of Blood, I do believe that the characters, specifically Lady Macbeth did an excellent of portraying an evil, cunning woman who knows exactly what she wants from her husband and how to get it. She had Macbeth in the palm of her hand every step of the way. I did appreciate this version and could see myself using a unconventional version of a Shakespeare play such as Thrown of Blood or Ran in my future classroom.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
King Lear- final thoughts 11/6/08
Good afternoon,
Yesterday's class was rather educational. I was very surprised by the number of students who agreed with me that King Lear is not Shakespeare's best play. Although in may look better on stage, I feel that Titus or Hamlet would bring a better source of action and Othello's soap opera plot line is more powerful that Lear's ego driven self and lack of intelligence to understand his family and their lack of leadership. Lear does attempt to prevail in the end, but sadly both he and his daughter die before a true reconciliation could be made. I found King Lear to be one of the more easier reads from his long list of tragedies due to the language. The plot itself is complex enough to please an audience, however, I would be interested to see King Lear in film or stage version. Although Ran was well-made and professed the inner plot lines of Shakespeare's work, a Western / European version may have a different impact on us as students and viewers.
The next play that we are scheduled to begin is Macbeth. I have never been a fan of Macbeth since last year when I read and watch the film version in David Oswald's theatre class. I have a feeling that I will appreciate this classes analysis a bit more due to the literature emphasis rather that Ian McKellen and Judy Dench's performances. For those who have never read this interesting Shakespeare tragedy before, I assume that they will have a lot to say. I have always felt that this is different than other Shakespeare plays. Now, having read Hamlet, I can easily compare the two, stating that Macbeth is taking Hamlet one step further.
Yesterday's class was rather educational. I was very surprised by the number of students who agreed with me that King Lear is not Shakespeare's best play. Although in may look better on stage, I feel that Titus or Hamlet would bring a better source of action and Othello's soap opera plot line is more powerful that Lear's ego driven self and lack of intelligence to understand his family and their lack of leadership. Lear does attempt to prevail in the end, but sadly both he and his daughter die before a true reconciliation could be made. I found King Lear to be one of the more easier reads from his long list of tragedies due to the language. The plot itself is complex enough to please an audience, however, I would be interested to see King Lear in film or stage version. Although Ran was well-made and professed the inner plot lines of Shakespeare's work, a Western / European version may have a different impact on us as students and viewers.
The next play that we are scheduled to begin is Macbeth. I have never been a fan of Macbeth since last year when I read and watch the film version in David Oswald's theatre class. I have a feeling that I will appreciate this classes analysis a bit more due to the literature emphasis rather that Ian McKellen and Judy Dench's performances. For those who have never read this interesting Shakespeare tragedy before, I assume that they will have a lot to say. I have always felt that this is different than other Shakespeare plays. Now, having read Hamlet, I can easily compare the two, stating that Macbeth is taking Hamlet one step further.
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