Shakespearean Miscellany

The speech William Wallace give to the Scotsmen as they are about to flee from the battle is awe inspiring. It may be one of the best speeches given in cinematic history. The men lose their courage when they see the enormous English army across the field and decide that it is better that they leave the field with their lives. William Wallace convinces them to stay saying "They may take our lives, but they will never take our freedom!" His persuasive language and the inflection in his voice motivates the men to fight for Scotland. By odd circumstance, the speech this reminds me of comes from the people on the other side of the battlefield, the English, specifically King Henry in Shakespeare's Henry the V. On St. Crispen's day. The English army was also fighting against great numbers as noted by Westmoreland (4.3 lines 16 -18). Henry encourages the men by telling them about the honor that this battle will bring them and how the men who did not fight on St. Crispen's day will feel "accursed" that they were not there. (4.3 lines 23 - 68) The men were both able to rile the men up to fight using their impressive skill in language.

The “Game of Thrones” television series takes place in a land called Westeros. Westeros is split up into different lands which are looked over by lords, while the entirety of Westeros is under the control of a king who sits the Iron Throne. The North is the largest region of Westeros and worked peacefully with the rest of the land until the lord of Winterfell and primary force in the North, Ned Stark, was framed for treason and beheaded. His eldest son, Rob Stark became the Lord of Winterfell and the rest of the lesser Northern lords who had been loyal to Ned Stark, looked to Rob for direction. They eventually came to the decision that the North does not belong to Westeros and they would go to war with those who tried to stop them. During this war Rob Stark faces many difficult decisions, including his ability to remain true to himself and trying to be a good King for his people, as many people in leadership positions must factor in such as King Henry in Henry V. Rob Stark and King Henry both heavily consider the weight of the death of their soldiers and whether they are sending them to their death. They also experience the same distancing of themselves from the men they once considered their friends even as they walk in camp among them, although Rob was not in disguise as Henry was. Both men found that sometimes the best decision when in a state of war, is not always the most moral; sometimes it is important to appear strong in the face of your opposition.

As may be apparent, I spend a great deal of time on Tumblr. I follow many different types of blogs including feminism blogs. These blogs generally post when there has been a great movement forward in the fight for equality, as well as when we as a society have made a misstep. It has become clear to me from not only my own experience in the world, but also these blogs that women have an especially long way to go before we will be considered fully equal in society. Double standards between what is socially acceptable for men and what is acceptable for women are everywhere. What makes me the most heated is the different response to men and women concerning their sexual history. A man who has had a number of sex partners is seen as a “player” while women are labeled as “whores”. In my opinion this is because many men still see women as a type of property. They want a “new” woman, not someone who is used and dirty. Being with a woman who has been with others somehow threatens their masculinity and makes them more confident that their wife will be unfaithful to them. This is certainly seen as true in Much Ado About Nothing. Claudio wants nothing to do with Hero when he suspects that she has been with another man. The entire story of Much Ado about Nothing seems to focus on this idea of being cuckolded, and rather than confront Hero directly about her supposed infidelities Claudio chooses to make a public announcement to shame Hero and regain his masculinity.

Claudio in the distance, probably: "Not all men!"

Marina Abromovic performed Rhythm 0 in 1974 which is, in my opinion, one of the most moving and thought provoking performances ever done. Abromovic placed seventy two different objects on a table in front of her, some which could be pleasurable including a feather and others that could cause pain or even death. The audience was encouraged to interact with Abromovik using any of the objects while she sat through it without any resistance. In the beginning many people were timid and used more of the pleasurable objects, but as the people became aware that Abromovic was really not going to respond, the people became more violent. They cut her and stuck thorns in her and one man even held a loaded gun to her head. When the piece was over and Abromovic stood up, the people quickly fled. This art piece displays the battle between humanity and civilization versus brutality and animalistic behavior, which is also exhibited in Titus Andronicus. It would appear that most people are driven to animalistic urges and violence when there are not any repercussions for their behavior. Even in what we would consider a civilized society, we still see a level of violence just as exhibited in Titus Andronicus in Rome which the Elizabethans considered to be the height of civilization and the ideas they built their society from.

The musical Wicked includes many eccentric characters such as a talking goat, Glinda the good witch and Elphaba. Elphaba is extremely intelligent, witty and hard headed. She came to school with her sister Nessarose to take care of her. While at the school she meets a boy named Fiyero. At first glance Elphaba dismisses him as a typical cocky rich boy. Later Fiyero proves that he is actually compassionate when he helps Elphaba save a lion cub. This act of kindness kindles a new love for him from Elphaba. Elphaba is similar to Katherine from the play Taming of the Shrew. They exhibit many of the same personality traits including their wittiness as well as their headstrong behavior. Both women also experience others trying to repress them from being themselves. Elphaba's sister becomes angry with her for causing such a scene with her overbearing personality and green hued skin. Petruchio attempts to "tame" Katherine by refusing her basic needs. Despite the appearance of conforming to societal roles, I do not feel that they really changed, they only found a better way to express their feelings without causing commotion. 

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a musical about a man named Benjamin Barker who returns to London after being exiled by a judge. When he returns to London he goes back to his old home and barber shop only to find that an eccentric woman has taken up residence. Mrs. Lovett informs Sweeney Todd that when he left London, Judge Turpin called Todd’s wife to his home to apologize, but it was really a trick. Judge Turpin raped his wife and took his daughter into his custody. Mrs. Lovett creates a plan where Sweeney Todd will kill the patrons of his barber shop, eventually killing Judge Turpin, and she will cook them into the pies of her failing business. The entire plot of this musical is based around revenge just like Titus Andronicus. The murder of Tamora’s son is the catalyst of the play and from that point on the acts of revenge move back and forth between Tamora’s family and Titus’s. Titus’s daughter Lavinia is raped by Tamora’s sons Chiron and Demetrius. Titus claims his revenge on them and Tamora later when he has Chiron and Demetrius baked into pies and fed to Tamora. It’s interesting to have two different revenge stories where matters are settled over a slice of meat pie.

The novel Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier is written from the view of an unnamed narrator. The novel focuses around the narrator’s fixation on her current husband’s previous wife Rebecca, who died a year before. The narrator convinces herself that Rebecca must have been extremely beautiful and an incredible homemaker. Later it is revealed that Rebecca was cruel and promiscuous, often rubbing her infidelity in her husband’s face. She also had the ability to deceive many of those around her into thinking she was the model of a perfect woman including the maid, Mrs. Danvers. This manipulative and licentious woman Rebecca is similar to Alice from Arden of Faversham. Alice is adulterous and spends a great deal of the play trying to have her husband murdered. Both Rebecca and Alice wrong their husbands and even drive them to violence. The women eventually die as a result of their behavior; Alice is to be burned and Rebecca is murdered by her husband.

Current events in Ferguson Missouri indicate a state of unrest with the community and its government. The people of Ferguson feel deeply wronged by the decision to not indict Darren Wilson, who fatally shot Michael Brown. Following the murder of Michael Brown, an eighteen year old boy, issues of racism and police brutality especially toward the African American community have been seen more in the public eye. Protests around the United States and even some in other portions of the world have been seen. I feel that this discontent in the government is similar to that seen in Titus Andronicus. The state of Rome was corrupt and there was visible mistreatment of its citizens caused by this corruption. The main connection that I see comes from the murder of Titus’ sons Martius and Quintus. They were framed by Aaron, who at this point has no reason to do them ill other than his own prejudices against them.  He made it seem that they killed Bassanius and for that they were imprisoned and killed. The media of today paints the African American community of the United States as thugs in an attempt to justify the wrongs done against them by our judicial system.

The relationship between Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger parallels the relationship between Beatrice and Benedick in Much Ado about Nothing.  Towards the beginning of the Harry Potter series they engage in teasing and other banter. Toward the fourth movie where the trio attends the Yule ball where a reluctant attraction is apparent between Ron and Hermione. They continue this flirtation into the last two movies where they finally seem to accept their affection toward each other and in the glimpse into the future provided by Rowling in the last book and movie we see that they eventually get married. The difference between this relationship and Beatrice and Benedick’s is that they were not first tricked to initiate the relationship, but I feel that the dynamics between the Ron and Hermione’s relationship and Benedick and Beatrice’s are very similar.