Bibliography part two

And my research into time and The Winter's Tale continues...
1. As I was reading The Arden Shakespeare edition of The Winter's Tale I came across a footnote I want to use that takes information from Joshua Sylvester's Du Bartas. Unfortunately, I've yet to be able to find a full text of it so I can figure out how to cite it. [source referred to in a scholarly edition of the primary text]
2. Being in Time: Self Consciousness, Time and Narrative in Philosophy and Literature. This had some useful information on the affect time has on mourning which I'm going to use in relation to Leontes. [source found through an academic archive, an e book]

3. Remembrance of Things Past by M. Proust. Dr. Burton actually mentioned this to me when I told him I was thinking about Leontes mourning and it has some interesting perspectives on grief/loss that I'm not sure whether or not I'll use yet [source recommended by a person, scholarly monograph, older source]
4. Broken Harmony: Shakespeare and the Politics of Music by Joseph M. Ortiz. I'm trying to interpret what it says about Shakespeare and music in terms of time (rhythm, dance, etc.) [monograph, recent source]
5. An excerpt from a biography of Shakespeare written in the 18th Century by Nicholas Rowe that talks about Shakespeare breaking the unity of time in The Winter's Tale. I found it in the library in one of the Shakespeare literary criticism volumes [source found browsing physical library shelves]
6. Also from the same literary criticism volume, I found an essay by Charles Gildon from the 18th Century criticizing Shakespeare breaking the unity of time [source found by browsing physical library shelves]
7. No Sweat Shakespeare Blog. The page I was looking at specifically was from a few weeks ago about Season imagery in The Winter's Tale and actually Rachel recommended it to me - I plan on writing some about how time constrains the characters via the seasons [source recommended by a person, source that came via a social network, an academic blog, very current]
8. I joined the Shakespeare fans group on goodreads and have been reading through some of the comments on The Winter's Tale. I think later this week I might work up the guts to start posting in it and asking people some questions about my paper! [very current, academic blog, source that came via social network]

Here comes J - er, Mikaela!

First off, I hope you all enjoyed my reference from The Shining. Second - some of you may have noticed that I didn't really post last week. The long and short of it is that I was fangoriously devoured by a gelatinous monster named illness and rehearsal and have only recently been vomited back up into the world of school work. Bear with me as compensate for last week and post incessantly this week.

Those who've been reading my posts know that I'm writing about the constraints/liberations of time and so in analyzing The Winters Tale I decided to look specifically at passages about the seasons. Some things I noticed:

Winter is heavily associated with Leontes and his suffering. Just before Leontes accuses his wife of having an affair, his son gives the audience a precursor to the story saying, "a sad tale's best for winter" (2.1.25). Paulina also tells Leontes, "A thousand knees, ten thousand years together, naked fasting/ upon a barren mountain and still winter in storm perpetual, could not move the gods/ to look that way thou wert"(3.2.230-3). I took "knees" as a synecdoche for prayer, and then read the quote again replacing "winter" with "Leontes' suffering," which made sense and reaffirmed my thoughts on winter's association with suffering.

Summer, contrastingly, is more associated with Perdita and with happiness. When Polixenes first meets Perdita he addresses her, "a fair one are you - well you fit our ages/ with flowers of winter" (4.4.77-8). Later on in the scene Perdita says,
"Sir, the year is growing ancient,
Not yet on summer's death nor on the birth of trembling winter,
the fairest flowers o' th' season
are our carnations and streaked gillyvors,
which some call nature's bastards" (4.4.80-5). A gillyvor, according to a footnote in the copy of the book I was using, is a July-flower. Reading these quotes I saw Perdita as these summer flowers - hence her being a flower of winter (born during Leontes' grief) and hence the flowers being bastards (just like Leontes wrongly supposed her to be a bastard). This would also explain the parallelism between Polixenes defining Perdita as "fair" and then Perdita describing the flowers as "fair."

Leontes is characterized by winter and spends the majority of the play in anguish, and Perdita is correlated with summer an spends the play infatuated with Floriziel. Seasons are a manifestation of time, and in this sense time is a constraint, because each of the characters is constrained to joy/sorrow dependent on season.

...ok so obviously that needs some more development, but it's a start for one of the ideas in my paper!

Finding a Diversified Focus

Here is the start of a lot of necessary research for this monster of a paper.  It seems like a monster now at least.  I am still working on my exact angle but I am much closer than I was a month ago at least!

Carl Jung”. Personality Theories. http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/jung.html. 2006.

This is an outline of Jung’s theories, lacking specificity but nevertheless offering a start to deeper research. [Diverse Time of sources, Diverse Types of Sources]

“Personating Persons: Rethinking Shakespearean Disguises”

This article specifically analyzes the use of Disguise in Shakespeare, but in a way closer to what I am curious about, specifically how these disguises define character. [Diverse types of sources, diverse time of sources]

Engler, Barbara. Personality Theories. Wadsworth Cengage Learning. 2009.

My roommate is a psychology major and she showed this textbook to me, part of which is dedicated to Jung and his personality theories. It is one she is currently using for one of her classes.  [Diverse Methods of Finding]

Rand, Frank Prentice. “The Over Garrulous Iago.” Shakespeare Quarterly, Vol. 1, No. 3 pp. 154-161. 1950.

            This article is another personality analysis of Iago and analyzes to a certain degree the way in which Iago interacts with his fellow characters. [Diverse Methods of Finding, Diverse Time of Sources, Diverse Types of Sources]

Stempel, Daniel. “The Silence of Iago.” PMLA, Vol. 84, No. 2 pp.252-263. 1969.

            This essay analyzes Iago specifically and his moral ambivalence and lack of any moral sense.  [Diverse Methods of Finding, Diverse Types of Sources]

Rosenberg, Marvin. The Masks of Othello; the Search for the Identity of Othello, Iago. Berkeley, University of California Press, 1961. Print.

            This is a book focused around the identities of Iago and Othello and their relationship and how it factors into how each character functions in the plot of the play Othello. [Diverse Methods of Finding, Diverse Time Sources]

Carl Jung – Archetypes and Complexes – YouTube.

            This is a video, from YouTube as an excerpt from Psychology Classics looking back at the dynamics of Carl Jung’s psychological theories. [Diverse Time Sources, Diverse Types of Sources]

“Carl Jung – Archetypes.” Concepts of Archetypes at Carl Jung

            An analysis of Jung’s research and book, focused specifically on his research of archetypes. [Diverse Types of Sources, Diverse Time Sources]

Another Stab at My Thesis

I decided to tweak my thesis, and decided to make another video to help me refine my ideas. I'd appreciate it if you watched this and gave me some quick feedback.

(I just noticed that the last couple seconds are cut off. That's supposed to be "applied to our plays today")

Finally! It's here!

http://www.memecenter.com/fun/260108/when-easter-eggs-hatch

Here's my Bibliography. Also, I agree with David: I'm not going to subject you to a huge wall of text, so enjoy this cute little meme. Happy Easter! 

Whoops! It's a little late!

Social Proof

Over the last week, I’ve made some headway on my paper, and a significant number of people in the class have commented on the posts and have really helped and encouraged me. I know that this may not necessarily seem like a thorough or more advanced social proof exercise, but it has really helped me as I’ve gone through the process of writing.

Assistance to Others

Hopefully, I’ve been able to help Lizy (at least a little bit). I tried to find a scholarly article that will help her with her paper, and I’ve reviewed portions of her draft that she’s posted to the blog. So far she has been pretty great! She is really working through her draft and is already beyond the expectations of a typical draft. I’m thoroughly impressed. 

Social Proof Report, Pt. 1

On Monday, I asked Professor Burton what he thought about me adjusting my topic to focus more on Nazi-era and postwar production of Merchant of Venice, and he thought it was a good idea. I think this will help focus my paper, and make it a little easier for me to talk about my research.

Unfortunately, this new approach has made things a little difficult on the social end of things, and it took me a while to figure out how to respond. No one I know has studied German theater history. I also can't really post on Good Reads, because my topic is a little too focused for that site.

Nevertheless, I've made a few stabs.

David's Rather Uninteresting Annotated Bibliography.

A puppy learning to roll over.
(incidentally, about a third of my CC searches
return My Little Pony results. Anyone
else have the same problem?)
Via.

This will be another one of those uninteresting wall-of-text posts. So, I'm just gonna drop it all under the break. Here's a puppy to keep things interesting.

Focused Annotated Bibliography

Harold C. Goddard, Meaning of Shakespeare, vol. 2
Scholarly monograph, ebook found through library, a little over fifty years old
As can be inferred from the date on this scholarship, Goddard takes an old school approach to analyzing the blindness in King Lear. Despite the difference in approach though, I think he comes to some good conclusions that should be talked about.

Georgina Kleege, Sight Unseen
Scholarly monograph, found in physical library, between ten and fifty years old
This book has been my go-to source for literary stereotypes of the blind, and it really helped me dive into the field of disability studies. Though Kleege is legally blind, she still watches movie and takes part in visual culture, making her a valuable bridge between two worlds. Her comments are insightful if challenging, sometimes, but her book has been very helpful for reorienting my viewpoint on blindness in literature.

Kenneth Jernigan, "Is Literature Against Us?"
Speech given at National Federation of the Blind meeting (potential stakeholders), between ten and fifty years old
The article that started it all for me. Kenneth Jernigan brings this conversation about blindness in literature to a head when he claims that classic literature, including King Lear, has been doing the blind a disservice by perpetuating harmful stereotypes to mostly sighted readers. Writing that I need to address in my paper.

Sylvia Morris, "Sight and Blindness in Shakespeare"
Academic blog, very recent
Though this is much more of a traditional reading of blindness in literature, one not really informed by disability studies, it provides several interesting links to the history of sight and how it has been valued throughout the past few centuries. This could prove really interesting as a contrast to my research.


Robert B. Pierce,"'I Stumbled When I Saw: Interpreting Gloucester's Blindness in King Lear"
Academic Journal, within past ten years
Pierce takes much the same approach I do to King Lear, trying to work through the way that blindness is used in it. My work will in a way be building off his; he points to the interaction of the blind Gloucester and the mad Lear as a way of breaking away from the traditional presentation of the blind in literature, and his discussions of blind stereotypes are useful. My thesis will hopefully bring his work to a more pointed conclusion.

David Richman, "Smelling Their Way to Dover: A Blind Director's Take on Blind Gloucester"
Found through footnote in Pierce, academic journal, within past ten years
This piece is fascinating and evocative, immediately issuing a challenge to the sighted reader that the fear of blindness is restricted to the sighted. I don't agree with Richman's staging of the cliffs of Dover scene, which he wants to make as darkly humorous as possible in order to highlight the emotions the audience feels about the violent blinding of Gloucester, but I will probably be pushing back against this piece in my own work.

Hannah Thompson, "Andromaque: Audio Description in the Seventeenth Century" (or similar posts from the Blind Spot blog
Academic blog, very recent
Thompson, herself a legally blind woman, writes in this post about a French play that, like King Lear, featured extensive description of the scene, this time because people in the audience couldn't see what was happening on the small stage. It might be interesting to put this play into dialogue with the way this kind of ekphrasis is used in King Lear.

Amy Vidali, "Seeing What We Know: Disability and Theories of Metaphor"
Academic journal, within past ten years
Vidali takes a classic disability studies approach and deconstructs the metaphor we have of "seeing as knowing." She proposes ways that disability studies can deal with these deeply ingrained elements of sighted culture, and since the topic is about seeing and knowledge, this article is very pertinent to the Dover Cliffs scene, where Gloucester is supposedly fooled by the sighted Edgar.

Quick Update before the Bibliography

This week has been exhausting.

Since finding out last week that I didn't get an internship that I was counting on, I've been frantically job hunting, and that's hard to do in Provo. It takes far more time than I ever thought it would (why does every single company have its own application site? Why can't they just take my resume?), and it's discouraging when you get rejected again and again. Discouraging enough to detract from schoolwork.

Also, it doesn't help that no one I've emailed for my paper has gotten back to me. More discouragement.

Sorry this post doesn't specifically have to do with Shakespeare, but I'll try to pull it together later tonight. If you guys could post encouraging comments, I would really appreciate it.

Mid-Wishing-it-Were-Summer Social Process

Dr. Burton helped me find an English Teachers Google community and they have been giving me good feedback on my ideas about why MND is/isn't beetter than R&J and how to deal with sketchy Shakespeare topics. You can see our interaction here and here.

When Bailey and I were talking about our first drafts I really liked what she said about reality, and how Shakespeare plays make things look like reality when they're fake and Reality TV makes things look like fake when they are real (sort of). I connected that to the forest performance in MND when the Snug who plays the lion takes care to assure the ladies that he is not a REAL lion - as if they might be fooled by his authenticity. Reality drama!

I also found a JSTOR article that might interest Bailey, too, or any other classmates writing about gender roles.

The Bib.

Stepp, Edwin, and Bill Welch."Reality Bites." Vision. 2002 (scholarly article; 10-50 years) Article written in 2002 when reality TV was first emerging. Interesting because the creator of Survivor, Mark Burnett, is quoted in the article as admitting everything on Survivor to be “completely contrived”. At the end of the article, they start to argue towards the negative side of reality TV, and pose the question of how reality TV might become really horrid (possibly even resembling the “gruesome events that occurred in ancient Rome”) in the next 10 years. Being 10 years in the future, I can assure them it’s gotten graphic, but not that graphic.

Bouncing around ideas for Beautiful Bailey

So a big part of reality tv - especially The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, among other things - is gender roles, right? I found a JSTOR article about gender roles in Shakespeare. Maybe this would be interesting for you! 

Where are the Mothers in Shakespeare? Options for Gender Representation in the English Renaissance

by Mary Beth Rose

Sso Many Ssources

Diverse Methods of Finding (at least four of these)

• a source found by way of a library research guide (Shakespeare, Literature, but consider subject or research guides from other institutions)
• A JSTOR ARTICLE ABOUT A HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER WHO TAUGHT MDS AND OTHER PLAYS FOR 20 YEARS. SHAKESPEARE TROUPE: AN ADVENTURE IN WORDS, FLUID TEXT, AND COMEDY (BY SUSAN C. BIONDO-HENCH) HTTP://WWW.JSTOR.ORG.ERL.LIB.BYU.EDU/STABLE/40503324 
• a source found by browsing physical library shelves (with help of the Library of Congress cataloging system)

• A Midsummer Night’s Dream Edited by Jonathan Bate and Eric Rasmussen. Copyright 2008 Royal Shakespeare Company. Pretty recent. Within the last 5-10 years.
• a source recommended by a person with whom you've discussed your project (the instructor, a scholar, an enthusiast).
• Google Scholar – my friend (he’s a BYU student, so, a scholar, right?) showed me how to use this to search for scholarly articles and I found a book called ShakespeareanMetadrama: The Argument of the Play in Titus Andronicus, Love's Labour'sLost, Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Richard II by James L. Calderwood. 
• a source that comes by way of a social network you've identified as an audience or group of stakeholders. This could be a conference, a publication, teaching media, etc.
• This is from a Google community of English teachers who have been giving me advice on teaching Shakespeare. Here is part of our conversation. You can click here to see the rest of it.

Kim Carnahan6:17 AM

Leah, here's my take on the question about the sexual subtext. When teaching Shakespeare, it is utterly impossible to teach every detail and subtext. Shakespeare is too rich, and you could literally spend a vast amount of time on one play, disproportionate to the time allotted or suggested by your curriculum. It is necessary to choose the themes, motifs, etc. that you feel are most important to the play. In doing so, you will be excluding other equally valid themes, etc. The same can be said for subtext. Although it is true that sensitive readers will detect the sexual subtext, it is unlikely that ninth grade readers will do so unless you specifically point it out, which you won't do, of course. It is a comedy and a love story, after all! So if you want to teach it, go ahead! And if you decide to do so, I have a recommendation for you for an incredible, wonderful text that I leaned on very heavily for the teaching of MSND. Let me know.

Leah Anderson8:06 PMEdit

Oh tell me about his wonderful text?

Kim Carnahan8:27 PM

It's the Folger Shakespeare Library's Shakespeare Set Free. Here is the Amazon link:
I used it very successfully for several years. It is a performance-based unit that you can simply pick and choose from - you don't have to follow it exactly. Loads of great ideas and fun activities! The bonus is that the book is a "three-fer" - it also contains units for R&J and Macbeth!

Leah Anderson8:52 PMEdit

thank you!

(I would have taken a screen shot of that but I couldn't figure out how because it was too long and didn't fit on my screen??)

Diverse types of Sources (at least 3 of these)

• a scholarly article (from a peer-reviewed journal)
• TAKEN BY THE FAIRIES: FAIRY PRACTICES AND THE PRODUCTION OF POPULAR CULTURE IN A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM (BY MARY ELLEN LAMB) HTTP://WWW.JSTOR.ORG.ERL.LIB.BYU.EDU/STABLE/2902152 
• an academic blog (one hosted by an educational institution, kept by an educator, or otherwise showing a disciplined focus on topics or texts) 

• http://theshakespeareblog.com/tag/a-midsummer-nights-dream/ The most recent MND post was March 4, 2013! Very recent.
• an eBook (see this list from the HBLL). (I looked at said list.)
• Teaching With Shakespeare: Critics in the Classroom edited by Bruce McIver, Ruth Stevenson http://books.google.com/books?id=1boA2hUZl8kC&printsec=frontcover&dq=ebook+about+teaching+shakespeare&hl=en&sa=X&ei=TgxVUeP9NePliALt0IGoCQ&ved=0CEUQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q&f=false Published in 1994 so it falls under the category of 10-50 yrs old

back to the basics - again. PRIMARY TEXT

Another couple of quotes that will be useful in some of my arguments.

1. Why people dispute teaching Shakespeare:

2.2.115-116 Lysander
The will of man is by his reason swayed, 
And reason says you are the worthier maid. 

According to the version I am reading, edited by Jonathan Bate and Eric Rasmussen, in this case "Will" refers to "Inclination (plays on sense of “sexual desire/penis”)" (p 30). This play (and most of Shakespeare's work) has too many sexual references and it's not appropriate for young people.

2. A quote to combat that:

5.1.415-430 Puck
If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumber'd here
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream,
Gentles, do not reprehend:
if you pardon, we will mend:
And, as I am an honest Puck,
If we have unearned luck
Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue,
We will make amends ere long;
Else the Puck a liar call;
So, good night unto you all.
Give me your hands, if we be friends,
And Robin shall restore amends.

3. A way MND is interesting to HS kids - the conflict between illusion and reality (very appealing, according to an article from TeacherVision): 
5.1.222-228 SNUG (lion)

You, ladies, you, whose gentle hearts do fear
The smallest monstrous mouse that creeps on floor,
May now perchance both quake and tremble here,
When lion rough in wildest rage doth roar.
Then know that I, one Snug the joiner, am
A lion-fell, nor else no lion's dam;
For, if I should as lion come in strife
Into this place, 'twere pity on my life.

Paper Progress

Okay, so this really doesn't have to do with my paper
but this is a picture of the Bell X-1, which was the first
manned plane to break the sound barrier! Pretty cool!
Creative Commons: dctim1

Okay, so I think I need to streamline my thesis a little bit, but with the positive feedback I got on my current thesis from you guys, I decided to forge ahead with a rewrite of my paper!  I think I can use a lot of my points and research from the previous draft, but this paper hopefully feels like it has more of a direction to it and a unity in the argument. I hope you enjoy!

In the vein of...

Kara's post, I just wanted to say thank you to your quick and positive responses on my latest post about the development of my thesis. I sincerely appreciate it and it makes me want to get down to just writing out this paper!

So Happy Together: Social Scholarship

Chris Bateman's Beyond Game Design 

So I have more to report about effort on this subject this week than results, but I still think what I did was important. I emailed three people directly who I think would have great insights on my project: Jane McGonigal, Clint Hocking, and Chris Bateman. McGonigal is a very famous game designer and game activist (she kind of made that a thing all by herself) who believes games can change the world. Hocking is an influential game designer and thinker. Bateman is a philosopher, game designer, and author of Beyond Game Design: Nine Steps Toward Creating Better Video Games. I emailed all three of them slight variations on the following:

My name is Paul Bills and I'm an undergrad English Major at Brigham Young University. I'm currently doing a research project on Shakespeare and video games and I've found your book Beyond Game Design helpful and very insightful.

My basic point is that we need a "Shakespeare of Games." Shakespeare was himself as much an innovator as a storyteller, mostly taking old stories and adapting them to the new medium of English theater. He took this medium from simple popular entertainment to a true art form. Sometime, I argue, someone could/will do the same for video games and change the world of art and expression all over again.

My question for you, then, is simple: What do you think it would take to create such a "Shakespeare of Games"? Is it possible for just one person, or will it have to be a whole team? Or has it already happened, in your opinion? If so, who?

Also--do you see games ever being studied as part of the "liberal arts" with a "canon" and "conventional interpretations" and other such academic dressings, or will games remain part of "cultural studies" more for sociologists/psychologists? Or are they something entirely new?

Any insight you have would be great.

Thanks,

Paul Bills

I chose this messaging because I'm hoping to add any comments I get back from them to the conclusion of my paper--my "so what?" point about calling people to action to take game design to the next level and strive to seek/become the "Shakespeare of games." I haven't received any response yet, but the other reason I chose these three is because they all were very open to being contacted on their websites and all encouraged opening conversations with them. I also was sure to specifically reference the work of theirs that I had read and appreciated to show that I knew what I was talking about (you can see I mentioned Bateman's book in the example above).

Also, Mikaela's post about possible publishing venues got me really excited because the Shakespeare festival is specifically looking for papers on The Tempest this year (already bought my tickets to go see it August 15th!). David has also been a huge help. Dr. Burton, he, and I just sat and talked about my paper for a straight hour on Wednesday. David also offered to have me come over and play some of his favorite games to help me out, an offer I'm pretty sure I'm going to take him up on sometime soon.

As far as helping other people, I think it was last Friday that I talked with Kaylee about her thesis in class and brought up a panel I had attended during the English Symposium that talked about heroes and villains and we talked a lot about the lack of strict heroes or villains in Shakespeare, and whether or not Henry V was an exception. It was a great discussion and Kaylee's since integrated it into her work.

Also, since Britton's topic is so close to mine, talks with him have been very helpful and I feel like I've helped him in return. I brought up the theme of free will v. fate in Julius Caesar and how that would be low-hanging fruit for a game theme because games give players the illusion of free will when really the player is fated to one destiny no matter what they do because the designers (or narrative games, anyway) have to bring the story to a conclusion.

Lame, I guess?

Crash and Burn.
Creative Commons License (finally found one!) 

Just a quick update: I just got an email from the conference I submitted to, and they said that my topic doesn't fit closely enough for them to work it into their conference.

On one hand, I'm kinda let down; on the other, I'm relieved. I've been stressed about this paper recently, and it feels good to know that, at this point, I'm not going to have to read it in front of hundreds of intellectuals that do this kinda thing for a living. On the other hand, I would have loved to go to the conference, and it would have been a huge boost to my career (especially since I'm still an undergrad).

Overall, though, this has been a positive experience. Having to think about how to fit my paper to the conference has helped me develop my idea further, and given me a more clear direction to move in. Also, the conference organizers (Fred and Monika) were very kind, and I'm thinking about asking them if I can resubmit a proposal for my reworked paper topic, which lines more closely with their conference. I see now how having to submit our papers is an important part of writing them: it helps us ensure that we have good topics, and that we're doing a good job.

In any case, it's time to follow the advice of a very wise man:

From Disney's The Rescuers.
Screencap found via Google Images. 

EDIT: I asked them if I could resubmit, and they said they'd already finalized the program. Oh well, back to the drawing board...

Annotated Bibliography.

Annotated Bibliography: 

Johnson, Nancy J. "Children's Books: Interacting with the Curriculum." The Reading Teacher , Vol. 55, No. 2 55.2 (n.d.): n. pag. JSTOR. Web. 27 Mar. 2013. 

• Has some great things to say about how to connect text directly with a curriculum. 

Gilbert, Miriam. "Teaching Shakespeare Through Performance." Shakespeare Quarterly 35.5 (1984): 601-08. JSTOR. Web. 27 Mar. 2013. 

• Awesome article. This really hits the nail on the head as far as how performance related activites are beneficial to adolescents understanding Shakespeare's plays. 

"Company History." Propeller Theatre. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Mar. 2013.

• Gives  insights about their "Pocket" productions of Shakespeare; which are shortened, aimed toward young audiences and are generally successful.

"Teresa Love Biography." David O. McKay School of Education. Brigham Young University, 2012. Web. 27 Mar. 2013.

•  Gives a Bio about Teresa love, a BYU professor and expert in children's theater.

MOST of my information, however, comes from interviews that I've conducted...

Let me know what you think!

Okay, I'm formulating a better thesis than my rough draft one, still going off the research that I have, but including this idea of the oracle. This is probably too long to be considered my finalized thesis, but I wanted your thoughts and suggestions before I dive into my paper again. I hope this one has more direction than my previous draft and can appeal to a more specific audience (although I'm not totally decided on what that audience is yet).

When asked what genre is most true to life, most people would answer tragedies. We have a tendency as a society to believe that the worst is going to happen, and hoping anything positive will is wishful thinking. Romances, however, are a mix of tragedy and comedy, and while Shakespeare's romance The Winter's Tale has been criticized since its beginning as being unrealistic, Leontes' experience with the oracle within the play becomes a metaphor for the audience's rejection of The Winter's Tale, seemingly based on a desire to be realistic, but in reality predicated on an inability to see recognize the romantic elements of life.  

A closer look at the Primary text: Coriolanus

After returning to my play, and getting lost in it all over again, I reassured myself of my ideas and even found some new quotes to analyze here are a few of them.

At the beginning of the play there is a great piece of dialog that takes place between a few of the citizens about the intentions of Coriolanus.  Breaking down and analyzing this discourse would be a great way to introduce and ground my thesis regarding nature vs. nurture in the text:
-First Citizen

"I say unto you, what he hath done famously, he did it to that end: though soft-conscienced men can be content to say it was for his country he did it to please his mother and to be partly proud; which he is, even till the altitude of his virtue."

Second Citizen 
 "What he cannot help in his nature, you account a vice in him. You must in no way say he is covetous."

As my paper continues and I argue that Coriolanus is a victim of the dangerous nurturing practices of his mother and the Roman society here are a few passages that could help support this idea.

This discourse between his wife and mother reveals the way in which he was raised and, in part how his extreme pride was cultivated.
-Volumnia
To a cruel war I sent him; from whence he returned, his brows bound with oak. I tell thee, daughter, I sprang not more in joy at first hearing he was a man-child than now in first seeing he had proved himself a man.
VIRGILIABut had he died in the business, madam; how then?
 
VOLUMNIA

Then his good report should have been my son; I therein would have found issue. Hear me profess sincerely: had I a dozen sons, each in my love alike and none less dear than thine and my good Marcius, I had rather had eleven die nobly for their country than one voluptuously surfeit out of action.

As my paper progresses I will show how the tragedy lies not in the pride of Coriolanus but in the blind naivete of a society that cultivates its military leaders in such way that they expect hardness from them on the battlefield and prize their victories but off the battlefield they condemn the attitude that is necessary for such victories to be won.
This praise from Coriolanus's commanding officer shows this dynamic.

-COMINIUS If I should tell thee o'er this thy day's work, Thou'ldst not believe thy deeds: but I'll report it Where senators shall mingle tears with smiles, Where great patricians shall attend and shrug, I' the end admire, where ladies shall be frighted, And, gladly quaked, hear more; where the dull tribunes, That, with the fusty plebeians, hate thine honours, Shall say against their hearts 'We thank the gods Our Rome hath such a soldier.' Yet camest thou to a morsel of this feast, Having fully dined before.

Here, this dialog between a friend of Coriolanus and  two tribunes of the people displays this conflict.

MENENIUS The augurer tells me we shall have news to-night.
BRUTUS Good or bad? 
 MENENIUS Not according to the prayer of the people, for they 
love not Marcius.  
SICINIUS Nature teaches beasts to know their friends.
MENENIUS Pray you, who does the wolf love? 
 SICINIUS The lamb.  
MENENIUS Ay, to devour him; as the hungry plebeians would the noble Marcius.  
BRUTUS He's a lamb indeed, that baes like a bear. 
 MENENIUS He's a bear indeed, that lives like a lamb. You two are old men: tell me one thing that I shall ask you. 
 Both Well, sir. 
 MENENIUS In what enormity is Marcius poor in, that you two have not in abundance?  
BRUTUS He's poor in no one fault, but stored with all. 
 SICINIUS   Especially in pride.
MENENIUS Because you talk of pride now,--will you not be angry?
Both Well, well, sir, well.  
MENENIUS Why, 'tis no great matter; for a very little thief of occasion will rob you of a great deal of patience: give your dispositions the reins, and be angry at your pleasures; at the least if you take it as a pleasure to you in being so. You blame Marcius for being proud?

I realize that all these passages are way to long (Sorry for the lengthy post) I would of course cut them down to size and paraphrase when I incorporate them into my paper (I just haven't got that far yet).  There are a few more passages that I could go into detail about but I think these give a decent foundation to my argument and show something of the substance that my paper will consist of. 



 

I Want to be on the One that Leads to Awesome!

As far as social proofing, I will admit it has fallen off a little because I have started writing my paper and focusing on advancing the ideas I already have developed, but I have talked a little more with my English teacher from senior year and I am always bouncing ideas off my roommates.  My roommate Paige is a psychology major and she has just spent a good portion of one of her classes studying Jung and so she has been a trove of knowledge, secondary sources, and scholarly analysis.  Which has been awesome!


As far as assisting others goes, I was partnered with Steve last week and although I am not sure how much help I was able to offer him, he really helped me ground my argument and get it going.  Steve is working on the nature vs. nurture aspect of pride in Coriolanus and his own investment has helped me as much as it has him.  Sometimes we all need a little motivation right?

So here is a little motivation for you!

Textual

text evidence to be integrated into my paper.

Act 3.6:

Possible Paper Venue: Online Shakespeare Conference

Guys, this online Shakespeare conference has some great comments and threads on lots of different topics of Shakespeare in its archives; I would definitely suggest checking out if your play or topic is mentioned! They also accept posts from all ranges of people, academics to enthusiasts, college students to PhDs.

It might be a great place to post your paper as well!  The site includes announcements of other possible venues for papers and "[a]nnouncements of conferences, of calls for papers, of seminars, of lectures, of symposia, of job openings, of the publication of books, of the availability of online and print articles, of Internet databases and resources, of journal contents, of festivals, and of academic programs of study are a regular features as are reviews of scholarly books, of past and present theatrical productions, and of Shakespeare and Shakespeare-inspired films – in addition to “popular” culture references to Shakespeare or his works."


"SHAKSPER also provides occasion for spontaneous informal discussion, eavesdropping, peer review, and a sense of belonging to a worldwide scholarly community."

Have fun!