Annotated Bibliography

1. William Rose, Benet. "William Shakespeare." Benét's Reader's Encyclopedia. 3rd ed. New York: Harper & Row, 1987. Print.
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The entry on Shakespeare explained that many of Shakespeare's plays and poems have been heavily inspired by classical works like Ovid and Seneca. Even though he's viewed as the peak of creativity and hailed as the best English writer, Shakespeare was doing to old works what millennial are doing to his works today-- remixing them, modernizing them.

2. "Twelfth Night." Shakespearean Criticism. Ed. Michelle Lee. 3rd ed. Vol. 34. Farmington Hills: Cengage Gale, 2001. Print.
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In the introduction of the Twelfth Night volume, Shakespeare's influence by classical works is further established. He's always touted as a man of original content, but draws so much inspiration and plot points from others' works! I also learned that Twelfth Night is a good play to look at if I'm studying millennial application of gender issues in Shakespeare.

3. Bowers, Fresno. "William Shakespeare." Dictionary of Literary Biography: Elizabethan Dramatists. Vol. 62. Detroit: Gale Research, 1987. Print.

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The Shakespeare entry helped me situate where Twelfth Night (and several other works) fall in the timeline of Shakespeare's career. It also has provided a bit of context for the creation of each play, especially listing the source material from which Shakespeare drew. This will be helpful as I frame my paper with the idea that Shakespeare himself approves of adapting to fit one's era.

4. Shakespeare-online.com, especially Mabillard, Amanda. Why Study Shakespeare? Shakespeare Online. 20 Aug. 2000.
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The section "Why Study Shakespeare?" in particular helped me pinpoint what exactly about Shakespeare's works have universal appeal enough for them to remain relevant in our modern day. (It also listed some excellent modern adaptations of his works to look into.)

5. "A-Z Guide to Shakespeare: Twelfth Night." Oxford Reference. Web. 3 Nov. 2015.

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After reading sources that explained that a lot of Shakespeare's works were inspired or loosely based off other works and legends, I was excited to find out what he used for inspiration when working with Twelfth Night. This entry provided background material specifically about this play such as performance notes and timelines-- very useful information!

Leah's Learning Outcame

History, Context, Genres and Themes, and Ethics  - I felt like I exponentially increased my Shakespeare Literacy by studying the plays, watching the movies, and attending the performance. The different genres make Shakespeare accessible and enjoyable - the setting, characters, diction, allusions, themes, and of course the PLOTS make a lot more sense now.

Secondary Scholarship 

I benefited from the other books and articles and blogs and conversations that I read about Shakespeare and his work. I learned to appreciate all that is available about this and other topics.

Scholarly Research 

1. Gain Shakespeare Literacy 

I loved the things I learned about original Shakespeare and about Shakespeare today. I understand it has a huge part in education and entertainment all over the country, around the world, and across various interests and investments (i.e. Shakespeare video games!). I understand Shakespeare better by getting familiar with him/his works through all these different genres.

2. Analyze Shakespeare Critically 

In my essay I compared A Midsummer Night's Dream to Romeo and Juliet and other plays, and had to think critically to decide why MND is, in my opinion, the best option for teaching ninth graders. This required me to focus on this and the other plays and their similarities and differences, strengths and weaknesses, appeal to audiences, and impact on society. I feel like I own Shakespeare in a whole new manner!

3. Engage Shakespeare Creatively 

When we wrote and filmed our sonnets I felt like this helped me to engage creatively with Shakespeare. That was fun and interesting and provided a bit of insight into the bard’s mind, if nothing else than just to think like a poet for a few minutes.

4. Share Shakespeare Meaningfully 

People said they liked my sonnet that I posted on facebook and google +. That’s a good way to share Shakespeare. And I am hoping that the essay I wrote about how to teach Shakespeare will influence teachers and students in a way that is meaningful. I am excited about the venues to which I submitted my paper. I think all the blogging in class was a sort of way to share Shakespeare meaningfully – not really my cup of tea, but required for this class, so I did it. Talking to people about Shakespeare in person was fun and I plan to do more of that for the rest of my life.

5. Gain Digital Literacy 

I learned how to blog, how to upload videos to youtube, and how to find social media groups about pertinent things, like google communities. My digital literacy has been increased. I might even end up blogging this summer as part of my job. Imagine that! I did not think that this kind of research was necessary or the most valuable way to learn and write about Shakespeare, but I guess every thing has its place somewhere. 

Having Second Thoughts

I've started working on the actual paper. It's coming slowly. I've been focusing on the legitimacy part of my thesis, that is:

The legitimacy of characters in Shakespeare is fixed by birth but is subject to change because of frustration with one's own label of legitimacy and a desire to take advantage of others with more or less secure legitimacy, as was the case in the Tudor period. 

Me being a very verbose writer and making long, extensive quotes, I am almost up to six pages. I'm starting to wonder if I could save myself the trouble of writing [extensively?] about my other two topics, ambition and family relations and focus solely on the legitimacy issue. I could get away with it, at the rate I'm going.

 I feel like if I did that I would be making less of an argument. I want to argue that the events of the Tudor dynasty not only influenced Shakespeare's politics but his literary themes in general. You could argue that politics and thematics are one and the same in Shakespeare, but I don't think so. I think that I could make a case for Shakespeare using "Tudor" themes without him making please-patron-only political statements. I want to say, "This is propaganda, but it's still art because..." The original audience would have understood that the Tudors did the exact same horrible things to each other? These are the forces shaping Shakespeare's plays because they are shaping his world? I think I'm on to something. I just need to know how to argue it.

An Annotated BIbliography

1.      SOCIAL GRAPH

·         Paige: my roommate and a psychology major who loves, more than anything, to talk about her opinions and philosophies on life, particularly those regarding Feminism.

·         Aimee: another of my roommates.  As an art history major who has just completed her senior thesis, I find that she analyzes art in the same way that we English Majors analyze literature.

·         Ms. Block: My senior English teacher, she has taught the play I am studying Othello for years and years and her points of view are experienced as well as very grounded in the text.

·         Katy: an English teaching major and a fellow Spanish student, she is a great admirer of Shakespeare and eager to offer her opinions concerning the disguise angle I am working on.

·         David: my older brother and an English major ready for graduation, he has very remarkable views on literature and an eager tongue when it comes to input as regards anyone’s opinions which he usually disagrees with.

2.      NEW MEDIA

·         Blogging Shakespeare: a blog dedicated to a Year of Shakespeare, currently highlighting Othello.  It outlines current productions as well as analyzing portions of the play.

·         Star City Blog: A blog post analyzing the most recent production of Othello put on by Flatwater Shakespeare.

3.      SOCIAL NETWORKS

·         Twitter: @phillyshakes a Shakespeare performing company in Philadelphia who is currently working on a production of Othello.

4.      TRADITIONAL SCHOLARLY 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.