A few different ideas are competing for my attention. The first one is: Much Ado About Nothing is a valuable play for middle school students to study because of its approachable language, insights into human nature, and entertaining qualities. It's a good segue into other plays. Its slightly more understandable language helps students feel less intimidated by Shakespeare and its humor gives students motivation to try harder to understand what they don’t. Also, while not being the deepest of Shakespeare’s works, this play does offer valuable insights into human nature including the easiness with which the characters find evidence for what they want to believe.
Number two: The lack of complete resolution that sets Twelfth Night apart from other Shakespearean comedies may have been due to the fact that it was performed on the last day of the feast before Lent in 1601 (The Feast of Epiphany). The play, like the season, ends with movements away from the suspension of reality. The play ends without the resolution of Malvolio threats of revenge on various characters and with Feste singing a somber song.
The Feast of Epiphany closed the festive spirit of the season before Lent. I got this info from the article "Actors Will Kemp and Robert Armin: Shakespeare’s Fools – An analysis and evaluation" by Joan Tucker of Drew University.
And last but not least: While She’s the Man is about liberating women its parent play, Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, is firmly patriarchal.
Viola in She’s the Man is out to prove that she is equal to men in soccer playing ability
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while Viola in Twelfth Night becomes subservient to Duke Orsino by dressing in “male’s weeds.” She isn’t out to prove anything about her sex, and she's content to be the Duke's servant.
Viola in She’s the Man is out to prove that she is equal to men in soccer playing ability
while Viola in Twelfth Night becomes subservient to Duke Orsino by dressing in “male’s weeds.” She isn’t out to prove anything about her sex, and she's content to be the Duke's servant.
Any insights?
I think that your first and third theses could be combined. If you remember anything about middle school/jr. high, or high school, you will remember that movie days were the best days. I think that using examples from the movie makes Shakespeare a little bit more accessible to the students, as is entertaining (two things that you mentioned are inherent in the play itself).
ReplyDeleteI also think that you could make some great claims about the different ways Viola is portrayed in the movie vs. the play, but I'm not sure how you would make it argumentative. Maybe some historical background could be helpful here?
I think the idea of a claim about historical differences between She's the Man and Twelfth Night would be really interesting, and you could have a lot of fun writing that. I do think, however, you'd have a lot of research to do to make it specific enough to be a fresh thesis, rather than just telling us what we all know: society was more patriarchal then, women have changed their social status, etc.
ReplyDeleteI like what was already said, and I have similar ideas (like Mallory's mention of combining the ideas of your first and third thesis). Twelfth Night was the play that we actually studied in school (I think a little later, though-- like 10th grade, maybe?), but it was definitely the Shakespeare play that I got the most out of studying in high school. She's the Man had actually just come out, and it was really fun in class to draw parallels between the play and the movie. We also watched another version of the actual play which I can still remember... essentially I just think this play is a good one for getting students (especially middle school/jr. high students) engaged in the language of Shakespeare... it's entertaining. It has interesting and comical gender issues. The characters are memorable. There are a lot of ways that you could make a play like this accessible.
ReplyDeleteI keep trying to post, but Google keeps deleting my comments! Ah well. Anyhow, I really enjoyed your insights. I think that if you focus on She's the Man, you will have to make sure it doesn't turn into a play-by-play comparison and that it draws some deeper insight into the play. I actually think your second thesis has a very interesting claim. You could do a lot with an analysis about how that particular feast affected the play or vice versa, and it would be a very interesting contextual analysis. You could even discuss the idea of Lent within the context of the play (if it comes up at all). Did Shakespeare originally intend to have the play be performed on the day of that feast as he was writing it?
ReplyDeleteLet me first say thanks for your blog post. I like the images. Next, let me give you the same advice I'm giving myself, write something that you are passionate about. For that reason, I think you should include "She's the Man" in your paper. It is a fun movie that everybody loves. It will keep you entertained. It's like that day in middle school when you walk into the classroom and the TV is there and you know you get a movie day. Let your movie be "She's the Man." I'm not saying that everything else is dry, I just think using the movie in some shape for form will be something our generation can relate to and therefore will draw people in. Does this make sense?
ReplyDeleteI am interested in the comment about the parent play being patriarchal. That could be interesting to contrast Twelfth Night with Much Ado About Nothing, since sexuality is such a prominent theme. It also could tie in with the reason this play is so accessible, because of its' romantic comedy elements
ReplyDeleteHey Sarah I found this blog that discusses Twelfth Night and I thought you might find it useful. (?) I think that it's a student's paper analysis of the characteristics of Viola but I was skimming rather quickly! here's the link http://moniquec717.blogspot.com/2012/10/duchess-and-twelfth-night-analysis.html
ReplyDelete