The story of my paper all began on a boring, run of the mill, Saturday night. My wife and I were just hanging out and decided to watch a movie at home. This naturally lead us into the Netflix trap. After spending a sizable amount of time just trying to choose a movie we both could agree on we finally settled on a little known Shakespeare adaptation starring Ralph Fiennes and Gerard Butler. After watching this adaptation of Coriolanus I became really intrigued. The movie was so great I couldn't figure out why this particular Shakespeare play didn't receive as much attention as the others. Because of this, and my own unfamiliarity with the play, I decided it would be a fun and interesting play to research.
After deciding on my play I really didn't have any idea what particular aspect I wanted to research. Initially, I thought looking into and breaking down the theme of 'exile' but that idea fizzled out pretty fast. Struggling with research ideas actually turned out to be a really helpful process because it caused me to really read between the lines of the primary text. Coriolanus was always on my mind. I was constantly trying to correlate the play to whatever it was I was occupying myself with. Eventually this payed off one night as I was watching T.V. and John Hughes' classic "The Breakfast Club" came on. All of the sudden the lessons I had taken from Coriolanus were being reflected back at me through the character of Andrew. My Breakfast club post goes into greater detail about these ideas. I began to get great feed back from the class about these parallels and I began to explore Coriolanus as the basis of T.V. tropes. I didn't end up following through with these ideas very long as I became more interested in the Nature vs. Nurture aspects of the play.
As I looked at what was causing me to draw comparisons of Coriolanus and other popular T.V. and movie character I found that it was similar nurturing factors in their characters that drew me to them. As I did more research of the primary text as well as outside research I found that there was a lot of material to support my claim that the tragedy of Coriolanus was the fault of the peoples cultivation of his pride. However, the more I researched the more I felt that my idea was lacking something. Getting some great feedback from Lauren R. and Britton and a meeting from Professor Burton helped me to refine my ideas one last time. Through their outside perspective I was able to direct my paper more towards the innovations that Shakespeare was doing with the genre of tragedy. Bringing in my research on Nature vs. Nurture as well as applying Aristotle's definition of tragedy. I argued that Shakespeare was transcending the classic ideals of tragedy being defined within the individual by applying the tragedy to society as a whole.
I really appreciated the way this class was set up and how it facilitated the refinement of my paper. Though I didn't have any great enlightening experiences with social media I did have some great enlightening moments with many of my fellow class mates and I feel that made all the difference with the way my paper turned out.
Showing posts with label Coriolanus film. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Coriolanus film. Show all posts
Friday, April 19, 2013
Monday, March 18, 2013
Anotated Bibliography. . . . (finally)
Thesis: Though Coriolanus is commonly seen as a tragedy centered around the downfalls of pride in the individual the tragedy actually is found in the faults of a culture and society that cultivates such extreme pride to such extent that it breeds contempt among its people.
Social Graph: 1. My wife, Michelle Kesler. She is more brilliant then I will ever be so she is a great person to bounce ideas off of when she can find the time away from her own studies to shed some light on the things that I'm doing. 2. My mom, Carla Verschoor. I love my mom, but she is more of just a yes person for me. I seek her feedback when I need encouragement. She is amazing at so many things and I could never hope to be as awesome as her but literary studies are not her strong suit. 3. My good friend Peter Dangerfield. Peter graduated from the BYU English program back in 2009 and he knows his stuff pretty darn well. I have often had him look over my papers in the past and he has never lead me astray with his insight.
New Media: 1. One of the obvious forms of new media I have consulted is the recent Film adaptation of Coriolanus Starring Ralph Fiennes and Gerrard Butler that came out in 2011. (trailer) This version gives a really great portrayal of the conflict in a modern setting. (the film is great I highly recommend it) 2. http://theshakespeareblog.com/2011/06/shakespeares-fathers-nature-or-nurture/. This blog had some great insight about the nature vs. nurture argument in regards to father figures in some of Shakespeare's plays.
Social Networks: 1. I went ahead and posted my rough thesis on Goodreads. I am hoping that since Coriolanus is one of the lesser loved Shakespeare plays that maybe that will play to my advantage and my post will bring out all the Coriolanus geeks and I will get a lot of feedback.
Traditional Scholarly Resources: These are a few articles that I found that I thought could potentially lend insight and support to my argument. All of them dealt in some shape or form with the ideas of nature vs. nurture or helped me understand in greater depth the details of the play.
Passion, Prudence, and Virtue in Shakespearean Drama
'There is a world elsewhere': Tragedy and History in Coriolanus.
By: Meszaros, Patricia K. Studies in English Literature (Rice). Spring76, Vol. 16 Issue 2, p273. 13p.
Subjects:
TEXTUAL criticism; CRITICISM; CORIOLANUS (Theatrical production); SHAKESPEARE, William, 1564-1616
Social Graph: 1. My wife, Michelle Kesler. She is more brilliant then I will ever be so she is a great person to bounce ideas off of when she can find the time away from her own studies to shed some light on the things that I'm doing. 2. My mom, Carla Verschoor. I love my mom, but she is more of just a yes person for me. I seek her feedback when I need encouragement. She is amazing at so many things and I could never hope to be as awesome as her but literary studies are not her strong suit. 3. My good friend Peter Dangerfield. Peter graduated from the BYU English program back in 2009 and he knows his stuff pretty darn well. I have often had him look over my papers in the past and he has never lead me astray with his insight.
New Media: 1. One of the obvious forms of new media I have consulted is the recent Film adaptation of Coriolanus Starring Ralph Fiennes and Gerrard Butler that came out in 2011. (trailer) This version gives a really great portrayal of the conflict in a modern setting. (the film is great I highly recommend it) 2. http://theshakespeareblog.com/2011/06/shakespeares-fathers-nature-or-nurture/. This blog had some great insight about the nature vs. nurture argument in regards to father figures in some of Shakespeare's plays.
Social Networks: 1. I went ahead and posted my rough thesis on Goodreads. I am hoping that since Coriolanus is one of the lesser loved Shakespeare plays that maybe that will play to my advantage and my post will bring out all the Coriolanus geeks and I will get a lot of feedback.
Traditional Scholarly Resources: These are a few articles that I found that I thought could potentially lend insight and support to my argument. All of them dealt in some shape or form with the ideas of nature vs. nurture or helped me understand in greater depth the details of the play.
Passion, Prudence, and Virtue in Shakespearean Drama
By: Meszaros, Patricia K. Studies in English Literature (Rice). Spring76, Vol. 16 Issue 2, p273. 13p.
Coriolanus and the Roman World of Contradiction: A Paradoxical World Elsewhere. By: Polka, Brayton. European Legacy. Apr2010, Vol. 15 Issue 2, p171-194. 24p. DOI: 10.1080/10848771003647923.
The Common Good and the Necessity of War: Emergent Republican Ideals in Shakespeare's "Henry V" and "Coriolanus." By: Banerjee, Rita. Comparative Drama. Spring2006, Vol. 40 Issue 1, p29-49. 21p.
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