Monday, March 11, 2013

Nature vs. Nurture... vs. TV tropes

Thanks to the incite-fullness of some of my fellow class mates I think I have been able to boil down some paper ideas.  The first idea is a common argument often made in literary circles  that deals with the nature vs. nurture aspect of the characters. This is an argument that has often intrigued me while reading other pieces of literature and I'm ashamed that I did not fully pick up on this theme while reading my play till some perceptive classmates read the writing on the wall for me (thanks Kaylee and Amelia!).  In my paper I would argue that the tragedy that befalls Coriolanus cannot be fully prescribed to his uncompromising pride but, on a more broad level, Coriolanus is nothing more than just the sad outcome of a society or that cultivates or nurture's the type of destructive pride that breeds contempt for others.

The second idea that I am tossing around came to me through the genius of Paul and David (you guys rock!).  In this idea I would research various forms of popular media (TV, movies, comic books) and search out characters that fall into the same tragic trajectory that Coriolanus fell into. After identifying these characters I would analyze the different approaches to this Shakespearean trope to see how it has evolved over the centuries.

I have circulated these ideas among some of my friends and family via email and am waiting response (Im crossing my fingers that they will actually write back to me). I will post an update as soon as I get some feedback but thought that it would also be a good idea to solicit the class for more  refinement and criticism.  Any and all comments are welcomed!

Could your favorite Disney character be nothing more than a Shakespearean trope?! . . . . . . Probably.

            Coriolanus
           


    =
                      Gaston                                                                      

       
Posted by at
Labels:

4 comments:

  1. UnknownMarch 11, 2013 at 8:54 PM

    Steve--my caution would be to remember that it doesn't necessarily follow that characters with nature-nurture conflicts are Shakespearean. I don't know for sure, but I have to imagine that writers were exploring this conflict even before Shakespeare. It might be safer to look at nature-nurture in Coriolanus, but I realize that could sound a little boring. I would just err on the side of caution before making such big claims.

    ReplyDelete
  2. KayweeMarch 12, 2013 at 11:30 AM

    I'm partial to the nature vs. nurture argument just because I think human nature is fascinating, but I also think that a comparison with other media characters might be interesting. It just depends on how much support you can generate for each argument.

    ReplyDelete
  3. pobblesMarch 12, 2013 at 1:57 PM

    Shakespeare would definitely agree with your nature/nurture argument. That conflict is all over Shakespeare and I think it accounts for much of the complexity of his characters. (Hamlet's vengeful dad tells him to kill his uncle and it makes him crazy--or was he just crazy to begin with.) I almost wonder, talking to Nyssa's point, if Shakespeare established this conflict as a trope and made it influential. Something to look into, I think.

    ReplyDelete
  4. pobblesMarch 13, 2013 at 9:34 AM

    Hey Steve, I used this website last semester for a Book of Mormon project--I did a quick search and they have a whole section on Shakespeare tropes.
    http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Creator/WilliamShakespeare?from=Main.WilliamShakespeare

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)