M.I.A

It's bad enough when you have one paper, but it's even worse when it turns out you actually have 4 papers due instead of just the one, and now you have to figure out all of those papers too. Lately I've been feeling like I'm drowning, and not just in papers, but in life. Nothing seems to be going right. I've managed to at least have some sort of direction with this paper, but I've put so much focus on it that my other papers almost ceased to exist. As I've been trying to catch up on those, this paper has taken a serious hit. Honestly, I'm starting to lose hope.

As far as feedback, I gave out a ridiculously incomplete draft that received a little bit of feedback from two people (I shouldn't be surprised that only two people had comments since it wasn't a complete draft). I liked what Paul said about making sure I don't say reality TV is as good as Shakespeare because I could how people could interpret my paper in that way. Nyssa also gave me some good feedback on my organization which really helped me out. I read Paul's draft and gave him some feed back on his organization as well and I actually found it helpful for myself. Paul and I have a few similar points in our paper, and reading his points helped me solidify my own.

One thing Nyssa pointed out was the need to ground my argument in the text. I haven't posted a single blog entry on this because frankly, I don't have any direction in relation to the text. I'm really struggling with this for whatever reason and I haven't been able to find help anywhere it seems. Just thinking about it makes me want to cry. I have stress dreams about this aspect of my paper and, as I mentioned earlier, I'm losing hope.

Any words of encouragement would be greatly appreciated because my sanity is hanging by a thread.

Back to the Beginning

        So I kind of had to rework a few things (well pretty much everything). I met with Dr. Burton on Wednesday and he pointed out that my thesis was too general, and everyone has pretty much analyzed Henry in this way. So naturally, I was quite discouraged. I started from the beginning (again), and scrambled for something that could help me. I began reading a book that I borrowed from Dr. Burton about rhetoric, and it reminded me of another concept we had talked about in another class. 

         In this class, we read Adam Smith's essay on sympathy. Smith's main premise was that sympathy wasn't necessarily a purely altruistic function, but that it was necessary for humanity to function. Smith says, "How selfish man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature, which interest him in the fortune of others, and render their happiness necessary to him." He asserts that the "greatest ruffian" can even feel sympathy. Essentially, we can never truly feel what another person feels, but when we see someone in pain, we naturally imagine ourselves in the same situation and how we would feel.
         Smith later applies this to capitalism and how it functions, but the part that was most interesting to me is how it can be applied to Henry. Henry no doubt has a powerful rhetoric, but instead of thinking of his rhetoric as the end result perhaps his speaking ability stems from the fact that he can sympathize better than other individuals. His ability to sympathize gives him the power to sway people rhetorically. I think this solves my problem of wanting to present Henry as both bad and good because as Smith defines sympathy, everybody is able to practice it, so therefore, Henry can have both characteristics.

         Any feedback is seriously appreciated. Thanks for your patience everyone! 

Things are just hard right now.

I've been trying to get all my ducks in a row to start writing my paper, but tonight has made it very hard.

My cat went missing while I was working at Leading Edge, and my husband and I have been up all night so far looking for her.

Funnily enough, the last time I was in Dr. Burton's class, my cat from childhood passed away. I don't want to be superstitious or anything . . .

Anyway, if you could send prayers our way, we would very much appreciate it.

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.

Some Thoughts

So I have a lot of theories swimming around in my head, and I’m just going to voice them here. My friend, Ken, helped me see that while Henry is genuine and is actually trying to do the right thing, he does make some mistakes. Before Ken, talked to me I was just convinced that Henry was a good person emphasizing genuine feelings in different ways. However, a lot of other people have mentioned Henry’s less than noble actions at times, and I found myself struggling with this because I still believed him to be a good person.

                   

Then I was talking with Paul and he mentioned how the English Symposium talked a lot about heroes and villains, and Paul thought that most of Shakespeare’s characters don’t really fit the hero/villain archetype. That made me think more about the hero/villain idea in context of Henry V and what I was already thinking about him, and I think I finally found the “so what?” factor of my paper:

Henry is a good person that makes a lot of mistakes, but the mistakes that he makes do not define him as a villain, and there is a danger in only seeing his character as purely good or purely evil. If we put him into these cookie cutter categories, we lose the complexity of his character and miss crucial things about him.

So . . . what do you think?

Lovely Leah's Learning Links

Hey Leah!
I've been reading through some of your posts, and I may have found a few things.
First, I noticed that you haven't found places to submit your article, so I googled some teaching journals that you could check out!

The Journal of Effective Teaching

Teaching and Teacher Education

Journal of Teacher Education

There are a ton on there, so I'm sure you can find a few that you feel would be interested in publishing your idea. They would especially work if your audience is those studying to become teachers, since most of the journals are about teacher education. 

I also found a few more articles/book of the scholarly sort that you might want to check out:

Teaching Shakespeare through Performance: It was written to be seen, so I'm sure a viable part of the learning process is actually watching the play. Maybe you could tie that in to you paper and talk about the way you could learn from the performances in tandem with analyzing and reading the play. 

Shakespeare and Youth Culture: This is an interesting book! It talks about way Shakespeare realtes to teenagers! Actually I think this book would be perfect for your paper because it could give you a dive board on what aspects of Shakespeare teenagers relate to and such.

Just look at that cover!

Teaching Shakespeare in America: This is 'Murica after all. 

We can talk more and do some more research in class today, or maybe we can meet up some time outside of class and help one another :)

Dear Amelia,

Dear Amelia,

I am looking forward to helping you with your paper. I want to be helpful enough to be able offer you some nugget of wisdom to give you encouragement or to push you forward in your work. 

Hanging on to the Bandwagon

As for many other people posting on the blog, this week has been hectic for me, and I feel like I haven't made as much progress as I would have wanted. I have been working on my annotated bibliography, but for right now, I'm going to do a brief post on a few other aspects of this process.

Be a Naysayer!

I want you . . . to be a naysayer!

CC by Nemo

I think I’ve narrowed down my topic to analyzing Henry’s speech with Katherine to show that because he is genuine with her, he is also genuine with his other audiences. HOWEVER, I want some controversy! I want to see those people out there that disagree with me! I want to hear (in a respectful way) how wrong I am. What about Henry makes you think that he’s manipulative? What about him just makes your blood boil? Believe it or not, these opposing opinions will actually help me. I need to get a feel for the opposing audience and how they respond to Henry. If I’m missing something, I want to know about it. I want you to be a naysayer!

Hitting a wall.

My research process.
Originally posted on architortureschool.tumblr.com

I've run into a bit of a wall, guys. I have several different topic ideas, but none of them really seem viable.

I've pretty much decided that I want to talk about Shylock from The Merchant of Venice. He's a surprisingly complex villain: he's definitely not a good person, but this is due, in large part, to circumstances, and, depending on who you talk to, is a very sympathetic character.

Here's the TL;DR version of my topics--please read further for an exploration of ideas.

-Viewing Shylock the Jew in terms of racism

-Viewing Shylock the Jew as a deconstruction of the Jewish-Christian power relationship

-Yes, Shylock is a deconstruction; why did Shakespeare write him this way?

-Comparing/Contrasting Shylock with other instances of prejudice, for example, Othello

-Shylock as he is viewed across time and space, and how this relates to the character

Feedback and/or ideas would be appreciated. Topics expanded on after the break. 

Too Many Possibilities!

After reviewing my Digital Dialog posts I’ve come up with three options for my final paper. There are advantages and disadvantages to each one, so if anyone is out there, please help!

Love’s Labour’s Lost – I want to analyze the conversation to show either of two things: there is a difference between understanding the words of the conversation and understanding the meaning of a conversation or how those who are witty are not always wise.

Henry V - Many people consider Henry V to be manipulative and overbearing. However, by analyzing his conversation with Katharine, one notices that Henry is in fact not as controlling as some claim him to be. Henry’s complex rhetorical power is not based on manipulative plans but genuine feelings and speeches adapted to be the most effective for his various audiences.

A Winter’s Tale -  Leontes unconscious obsession with all conversation maintaining adherence to the Gricean Maxims can be directly linked to his belief of Hermoine’s unfaithfulness.

Any feedback will help! I just need to get a feel for what everyone thinks. Thanks!