It's All Part of the Plan

As far as previous students' posts go, I was most interested in Ian MacArthur's posts because I know him personally and was in a class with him last semester while his writing process was going on, so I wanted to see how the story I kind of saw happening with him as he talked about it before and after this other class really played out in blog form. Two of his posts I read and really liked are here and here. It was cool to see how his thesis comparing Iago and The Joker developed, plus to see how solid some of his ideas were even early on (such as the awesome line about how villains are only interesting if they drive the story plot I found in his rough draft). I feel like he faced a lot of the same challenges I'm going to face, so it's a great resource to be able to look at his writing process.

I'm pretty sure connections like this is exactly what Dr. Burton was planning on happening. Like the Joker says, "It's all part of the plan."

The story of Ian's paper

This incredibly fun journey began with our discussions of Don John and how boring he is when compared to Iago and Edmund. I then began wondering what makes a villain like Iago and Edmund so interesting. After watching King Lear, it occurred to me that a great deal of a villain's draw comes from his soliloquies. After that  I began reading the soliloquies of Iago and examining their diction, meter, and theme. That is when I began to notice that Iago is incredibly similar to the Joker on many levels. I thought this idea would be interesting to other people outside of the highbrow Shakespeare crowd and began researching it. I shared the idea with my parents, English major siblings, my wife, and several friends who all have varying opinions regarding Shakespeare. The reception my ideas received was promising! I also noticed a buzz about this online. Movie reviews and blog posts devoted to villains popped up.

Branagh Twelfth Night

I also watched Kenneth Branagh's Twelfth Night. It was fun to watch but it wasn't at all my favorite version of this play. I typically enjoy the plot of Twelfth Night simply because of all of the ridiculous gender confused people running around everywhere. This play also has a dark side too it, though. The pranks that are played are really quite torturous and when one thinks about it, very disturbing as well. I guess we don't often think about the result of a prank on someone else, and if we do realize how hurtful it can be, it is all the worse when we go through with it. I think in that regard, Twelfth Night is very applicable to younger school goers who must deal with the dilemma of being bullied, or being the bully. I enjoyed this production. It felt very much like a play, but I have come to expect a little more cinematography from Branagh, so this was a bit of a let down, even if it was more authentic. Either way, it was still funny.

The Final Villainous Installment

Shakespeare Term Paper Click Here

This paper has been a real treat to write! I have thoroughly enjoyed myself and am excited to prep it for further publication possibilities!

I am interested in Criterion. I have been reading some of their articles and have noticed that each section of their essay has its own header to set it apart. I would probably want to add something like that too mine. I also noticed the articles tended to use less outside resources. I feel like my paper has a good balance at the moment, but to fit in, I might add more to my own observations. The articles aren't afraid of using "I" so I might want to add a little more of a personal touch to everything.

I found an AWESOME online journal published by UGA called Borrowers and Lenders: The Journal of Shakespeare and Appropriation.  They like authors to include sound bits, pictures, and videos into their essays to make them more interactive. I could use clips from Kenneth Branaugh's Othello and The Dark Knight! I wonder if I would need to get permission to do that. They require a short 150-200 word paper proposal that gets the point of your paper across. They also want a short author's bio. So, my biggest chore would be to compact my paper into a single tiny paragraph. I emailed their editor to see if a BYU undergrad was eligible to submit to his journal. I haven't heard back yet, but I just found this journal yesterday. Plus, this journal looks at how Shakespeare influences modern culture! That is perfect for my paper! http://www.borrowers.uga.edu/about

The third possible venue is the Shakespeare symposium at BYU. Their guidelines are the following:

1. A 200- to 250-word abstract (including paper title)
2. 5 key terms from your paper (for purposes of indexing)
3. Contact information (your name, phone number, and email)

, Once again I would need to condense my paper into a tiny proposal. Once that is done I would need to develop a verbal way of presenting my ideas and convert my written prose into a presentation. Perhaps a power-point would be a good start.

Anyhow, on to the main even! My paper is finished and it was a doozy to write!

More info on Criterion

In looking into Criterion I learned some more particulars. They accept undergraduate as well as masters work. They are interested in a wide range of topics, so it looks like Shakespeare will be right up their alley! The deadline of submissions is the 18 of January so we have time to tweak and perfect our papers! Fun stuff! I'm definitely going for it! I need to get some stuff published if I want to be a professor.
Here is the link to their website.
http://english.byu.edu/criterion/submissions.php

People are actually RESPONDING!!!

Here is the update of my annotated bibliography and a little more information.

Video and update on progress

Ok! So here is my video. I have been working on accruing more social proof to help me generate a stronger argument. I still have a few sources i want to track down. But, things are moving along much nicer now that I have hammered out my focus. I hope everyone enjoys this and that it works. I also hope you can't hear my dishwasher roaring in the background.

Progress on Thesis and Bibliography

I have tinkered with my first paragraph thanks to Gabe's and Malory's suggestions. I still don't think it is quite where I like it but it is helping. I have been trying to find some more social proof and while my bibliography isn't quite done yet, it has gotten better.

Rough beginings indeed, though hope remains!

Here is my four page rough rough rough draft. I am still trying to decide what ideas i want to elaborate on. My citations are rough and I wasn't able to get into Refworks or some of the articles I have found on the Library's website. So the last two pages don't have the references or quotes to back them up that I will have in the finished paper.

Responses to my tweethis were few...one in fact. I got one like. Pitiful. I am, however, shifting my approach and am asking general questions about what makes a good villain and so forth. Any way, here is my ROUGH draft. It has certainly helped me to hone my thoughts in.

A wicked new thesis

Shakespeare’s villains embodied the fears of 16^th century England. They were fascinating and terrifyingly complex characters. Perhaps then, Christopher Nolan’s Joker, as a representation of post 9/11 fears, is a descendant of Iago, Edmund, and the rest of Shakespeare’s reprobate band.

I just posted that on Facebook and am awaiting the virtual tar and feathers. I tried to shave it down but this is the best I could get for right now. I decided  to focus primarily on the point that contemporary villains are still based off of Shakespeare's model. I am going to dedicate some part of the paper to further exploring the villains, particularly through their soliloquies, and then come to my main point.

What's a hero without a villain?

Awesome! This took me forever to figure out! I am not much of a blogger but I am excited to learn more about it. Anyway, I have been putting some serious thought into this paper. I am going to be applying for Grad School next year so I want to start getting some good stuff out there.
As you all know, I am rather fascinated by the concepts of villainy in drama and cinema. I think that a good villain makes a good hero. I have been trying to think how I could make Shakespeare more fun and interesting for people who...er...can't quite swallow him. I think that a paper exploring Shakespeare's influence on modern popular film might snag some peoples interest.

These are my proto-papers. I think, however, I may end up writing a hybrid of all three. I wonder if that would have an appropriate scope, or if it would collapse on itself.

Textual

The villains of Shakespeare are self-assertive, aspiring, calculating, and clever individuals. They push hard against the society that often pushes them first. It is this rugged determination to fight against all odds that we as the audience find so fascinating. We become their confidants and often co-conspirators. Though we dread their success we long to see them exercise their intelligence against societal norms. As characters they almost always undergo a transformative moment during a soliloquy as they conceive an image of who they are. The Shakespearean soliloquy is vital to the power and draw of his most famous villains. 

This “proto-paper” would delve deep into the soliloquys of some of Shakespeare’s most compelling villains. Special attention would be paid to figures of speech, rhetorical strategies, and other methods used in presenting the character. The real interest would be that it is the rhetorical essence of these soliloquys that causes Shakespeare’s villains to be so fascinating, not necessarily the plot alone.

Contextual

Shakespeare created villains who exemplified all the classic tropes of villainy that abounded in sixteenth century England. Marauders, border thieves, murderers, and assassins were not uncommon. A few of the most famous brigands of the Renaissance are Geordie Bourne and Guy Fawkes, both of whom had gained a certain level of notoriety. The characters and crimes of these men are of such audacity that they too could have been villains of drama. This suggests that Shakespeare drew from actual criminals of his time to create his most dastardly villains.

Exploring the most famous criminals of the 16^th century reveals a great deal about likely sources of Shakespeare’s villains. There are a few records of wardens and other government officials that describe the crimes and punishments of the era’s most notorious bad guys. By comparing these actual criminals with those of Shakespeare’s drama, I hope to indicate how Shakespeare managed to create such lasting villains. His plots were not entirely original, they were based on history, folk lore, or other plays. Why should his villains be any different? This does not demean his accomplishment. On the contrary, it further exemplifies his skills as an artist.

Critical Engagement

Villains represent the fears and dangers of society. Often times we create villains in art to express what we are truly afraid of. Shakespearean villains are often a conglomeration of what society truly feared. Usurpers, murderers, and schemers, they form a wicked community. It is the realism and accessibility of villains such as Iago and Edmund that brings them their appeal. This is what set Shakespeare apart. His villains expressed Machiavellian ideologies, pushed limits, and were anything but simple. These agents of evil gave birth to our modern concepts of villainy in cinema, literature, and drama. Today, we too express our fears through terrifyingly real and potent villains. The Joker of The Dark Knight is a modern descendant of Shakespeare’s Iago and Edmund.

This prospective paper would involve contextual as well as critical sources. The previous prompts might even fit inside of it. I found an interesting book titled, “Villains and villainy : embodiments of evil in literature, popular culture and media”. I have also found countless other sources that discuss and critique the villains of Shakespeare on an individual basis from multiple different angles of interpretation. I plan on fusing these two themes to explore the impact Shakespeare had on our modern concepts of villainy in modern culture.

All in all, I really am leaning toward all three. I just wonder if that is too much material. A really interesting source on modern day villains was this,  

 Villains and Villainy : Embodiments of Evil in Literature, Popular Culture and Media. Eds. Anna Fahraeus, Dikmen Yakalı Çamoğlu, and Global Villains and Villainy Conference (1st : 2009 : Oxford). Amsterdam; New York: Rodopi, 2011. Print