SUCCESS!!

I have successfully submitted my paper to the Scholar’s Archive at BYU. I am also planning on submitting my paper to Criterion. The requirements for submitting to Criterion are much the same as the actual paper requirements. Hopefully, they’ll accept me. :)

Life is a Highway

Don't judge me about the title. I was feeling sentimental when I wrote it. Anyway, let’s start from the beginning. My paper began after reviewing digital dialog posts and talking with classmates. I was really intrigued by both the rhetorical and linguistic aspects of Love’s Labour’s Lost and Henry V, and I couldn’t decide which one to do. However, after doing my literary analysis, I decided that Henry was the way to go. It seemed like nearly everyone disagreed with me in thinking that Henry was an overall good guy, and to be honest, they had some really good points. The comments discouraged me, but they also helped me realize that I really did want to show that Henry is a good person. My friend also helped me realize that Henry is not as black and white as I was making him out to be.

And now I feel like this baby! :)

            Here’s the part where I go around in circles for a couple of weeks. I went from lying and attachment theory to who knows what else. Along the way, I did research, returned to the primary text, and did research again. I was even able to come up with some sort of draft. I tried to be an altruistic scholar and help out others here and there, and I was even able to get some social proof feedback, but as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end. At this point, I realized that my thesis was generic and overdone. I had hit a wall. A really big wall. I had to revise my whole thesis and thought process and come up with something that I could be proud to put my name to. Ultimately, I used an idea from another class about sympathy and how it works. I claimed that sympathy is the foundation of rhetoric, and because of this, perhaps Henry’s rhetoric was not as manipulative as many claim it to be. Finally, I have a finished product. It was hard. It was rough, and there may or may not have been some tears along the way, but I learned and I tried. 

Kaylee Ficklin: “The Role of Sympathy in Henry V’s Rhetoric”

          In Shakespeare’s Henry V, Henry is often seen as a manipulative figure who uses his powerful rhetoric in order to accomplish a self-serving political agenda. Arguably, Henry’s greatest power is his rhetoric, and critics often cite this as his most manipulative tool-the means though which he accomplishes his own selfish desires. Rather than praising his rhetorical abilities, critics question Henry’s motives and point to his rhetoric as the proof of his manipulation. However, “The Role of Sympathy in Henry V’s Rhetoric” provides a different view of Henry. I argue that because Adam Smith’s concept of sympathy contributes a great deal to the foundation of rhetoric, Henry’s character changes. The role that sympathy plays in Henry’s rhetoric changes Henry from a solely manipulative individual to a character able to feel and identify with his audiences. Understanding the role sympathy plays in rhetoric is crucial to understanding Henry.

One rough, rough draft

So this is an incomplete draft. It doesn't even have an introduction or thesis statement, but my thesis is: traditionally, Henry V is seen as manipulative and conniving. However, by using Adam Smith's concept of sympathy to explain Henry's motives and source of rhetorical power, one understands a very different part of Henry than the previously accepted opinion of him being manipulative. (I know it needs work. It's a little wordy and confusing.) Anyway, mostly I'm looking to make sure that I explain Smith's concepts well enough for those who are unfamiliar with him. Thanks, guys! You're all awesome!

Progress Report

Hey there everyone. 

I just figured that I would post about what things I took away from my meeting with Professor Burton:

I'll add more onto this later...I wrote most of what we talked about down, but I don't have the paper in front of me. 

Things to improve

• More blatant transitions in my sections (rather that being lazy with JUST a section header. Not that section headers are bad).
• Introduce some general teaching standards that schools have for teaching Shakespeare in my opening. This will make my paper more publishable.
• Talk about how I came up with the criteria for a successful performance.
• Don't assume that the people reading my paper have seen the performance--describe the atmosphere created more in depth. Put this under the "audience involvement" section. 
•  Script cutting comparisons
• Pros and cons
• sometimes vital things are cut out for the sake of time, attention span, and clarity.
• Find a publication venue...
• look through past student's posts of similar topics and see where they submitted.  

Missing piece for Kara?

Kara, you said you were waiting for a quote about how the director cut the text for a children's audience? This article talks about that from a teacher/director/enthusiast's point of view a little bit! Maybe it will be helpful! :)

Shakespeare Troupe: An Adventure in Words, Fluid Text, and Comedy

Susan C. Biondo-Hench

For Kara

Great paper! Very cohesive - the comment you're asking for about cutting the script will be cool but even if she doesn't respond, the paper seems complete even with out it!

I was a little bit surprised in the conclusion with the statement "Is Children’s theater worth the time? The answer: not always. However, if theater companies keep the goals discussed in mind, their audiences are more likely to leave with a greater appreciation of Shakespeare and theater as an educational tool in general." 
A perfect conclusion! Maybe you can more explicitly state this in the intro.
And when you talk about getting the attention of the child audiences and Love mentions the race through the audience I expected to read about the kids in the Henry V production who were actually SITTING on the stage and then took part in the war scene. Since I've seen the play you're referencing that just makes sense to me, but not all your readers will have seen that production, so whatever. :) GREAT PAPER! I can tell you've worked hard on it! It's a fun, interesting read and it's obvious that you're invested in the topic. Excellent.

What venues to submit it to? An educational blog or journal maybe, since you're writing about teaching kids about Shakespeare...?

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! 

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. 

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.

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...

Textual

text evidence to be integrated into my paper.

Act 3.6:

It actually works!!

bloodbludger4

Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! I am freaking out right now because one of the scholars mentioned in my annotated bibliography commented on my post! Dr. Burton kept talking and talking about how people get really interested in what we are doing, and I just kind of brushed it off like “Yeah, right. People really care what I’m writing about in my Shakespeare class,” but they do! They really do! AND I NEVER thought that I would be this excited about it. I don’t know if I’ll actually end up using the article, but who cares!? I can still get some feedback about how applicable she thinks lying is in terms of literary characters! I am ridiculously excited about this!

A Whole New Light

At last I see the light!
CC Lichtmagnet

Previously, I just wanted to show that Henry was a good guy, but I think there is value in understanding that he does have his faults, and looking back at the text helped me see everything again in a whole new light.  

Henry V Quotes

Act I

Chorus – “Then should the warlike Harry, like himself, / Assume the port of Mars” (I.chorus.5-     6)

Scene 1 – Allusion to Biblical “drink the bitter cup” 20.1-20.2

-          Canterbury’s description of Henry’s character (38-59)

-          Ely’s Response

Scene 2 – Henry’s caution to Canterbury (line 21ish)

-          “May I with right and conscience make this claim?” (ln 96)

-          Many fault Henry for going into France with barely a claim to the throne, but in this scene EVERYONE is telling him to fight and claim it.

-          Henry’s worried about leaving his country defenseless against the Scots. He’s the only one that cares about this. (ln 136-139)

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?

Scruffy Draft

I hit a huge rough patch this week on my topic, kind of getting tired of my own enthusiasm, if that makes sense. I almost had done too much research and thought about too many different angles to be able to get back to my initial point and brings things to cohesion. Doing this mini-paper really helped me find one way to bring it all together. I hope it works.

Brave New Worlds: Shakespeare’s Perspective on Video Games

A Girl Worth Writing For!

How bout an audience that has a brain, that always speaks their mind?
Who cares about the paper I'm writing?

• Me
• In the future, I hope to produce writing geared toward younger audiences. Not YA, but ages 9-14ish. If I want to convey themes, morals, subtle humor, etc, then it will be beneficial to learn how something as universal as Shakespeare makes these attempts. 

Progress

Hello friends.

I just wanted to update you on what I've been doing.

People I've contacted:

• Mackenzie Larsen
• played Henry in the Henry V production we saw

I'm working on it . . . Annotated Bibliography Version

Working Thesis Statement:

In Shakespeare’s Henry V, Henry is often seen as a manipulative and controlling individual. While at times Henry may seem calculating, Henry is sincere in his endeavor to do what is right and best for his people.