Annotative Bibliography: Shakespeare not in Love

Working Paper Title: Shakespeare not in Love

Working Thesis:   Contrary to what the populous believes, William Shakespeare is not the grand writer of an idealistic love that has been within our culture but instead uses humor and exaggerations to show the ridiculousness of societies view on what love is and gives his own definition of love. 

Coullie, Judith L. "Jack Shall Have Jill": The Ideology of Love in A Midsummer Night's Dream." Sabinet Reference. Shakespeare in South Africa, 1992. Web.

Here Coullie talks about how the ideology of love functions in a way that serves societal systems of gender, class, and familial and political hierarchy. I will use this article to show how Shakespeare has used love, something that culturally has been viewed as pure, as a tool to support societal roles and hierarchy.

Karandashev, Victor. "A Cultural Perspective on Romantic Love." Http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/. International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology, 6 Jan. 2015. Web. 

Karadashev talks about what society thinks love is and gives a clear definition. I will use this article to define what the cultural perspective of love is and then compare that to how Shakespeare has written what love is in his plays. 

Schalkwyk, David. "Is Love an Emotion?: Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and Antony and Cleopatra." Literature Criticism Online. N.p., 2010. Web.

Schalkwyk talks about how the definition of emotions in the academic circle has changed and how that plays into these two Shakespearean plays. I wish to use this to cross reference with the other article that defines what people believe love to be. 

Scheff, Thomas J.. “Gender Wars: Emotions in "much Ado About Nothing"”. Sociological Perspectives36.2 (1993): 149–166. Web...

Scheff explains how Shakespeare, even in his lightheartedness, has shown love to be something comparable to pre-war like behavior between nations; it is an emotion that carries anger, shame, tension, and conflict. Shakespeare has used love as some kind of social commentary instead of writing it to show what an ideal romantic relationship is and I wish to use that and other articles to form what Shakespeare thought love was.   

Wheelock, C. Webster. ""Not Life, but Love in Death": Oxymoron at the Thematic Heart of "Romeo and Juliet"" The English Journal 74.2 (1985): 70-73. JSTOR. Web. 02 Dec. 2015. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/816274?ref=search-gateway:0a2c6811ed2f6734cc3cf55d6a156ec5>.

Wheelock writes a creative essay that the form of a story and interview combination with Shakespeare. Here they talk about the oxymoronic pun that Shakespeare has made in Romeo and Juliet concerning marriage, sex, and death. I want to use this article to show how Shakespeare has used this pun as a dark humor element to point out the ridiculousness the love between Romeo and Juliet is.  

Annotated Bibliography

Boyce, Charles, and David Allen White. Shakespeare A to Z: The Essential Reference to His Plays, His Poems, His Life and Times, and More. New York: Facts on File, 1990. Print.

I remember we talked a little bit about this in class so I looked it up. It turns out that the Provo library has a copy. This book is great for general information about all of Shakespeare's works as well as plenty of background information on Shakespeare himself. There is also information about different productions of the plays as well as theatrical and literary terms that are related to Shakespeare's plays and poems.

Crystal, David. "Shakespeare's Words." Shakespeare's Words | Home | William Shakespeare. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Nov. 2015.

Shakespeareswords is a great glossary that is linked on the HBLL web page under the Shakespeare section of subject guides. It has the poems and plays online as well as a generally glossary with a lot of terms and there definitions. There also sections for topics and themes where more information about certain things can be found within the text and a small explanation to go along with it.

Kay, Dennis. William Shakespeare: His Life and times. New York: Twayne, 1995. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web.

This is an interesting book that goes into detail about Shakespeare, his life, and what culture and society was like during his lifetime. I found it through the HBLL website under Shakespeare in the subject guides. It talks about historical events, Shakespeare's family, his life, his career, and what theater was like. It is a great source for background information.

Shakespeare's Early Plays

ENGL E-124 (14605)

Fall 2015

Joyce Van Dyke PhD, Lecturer in Extension, Harvard University

This is a syllabus that I had found by looking up Shakespeare syllabus on google. On the webpage, is a link to a pdf version of the syllabus. The syllabus itself has information about he course as well as a list of sources that students can look at one of which just so happens to be Shakespeare's words. 

 

"Shakespeare Searched." Shakespeare Searched. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Nov. 2015.

Shakespeare searched is an online glossary that enables the user to search key words in Shakespeare's works to find anything pertaining to the topic searched within his works. It is a useful took to find examples when needed and to find out which plays will be more relevant to the topic of your research paper. 

Oh Benedick

So I am doing a scene from Much Ado About Nothing with a group. It is Act. 2 scene 3. I will be Benedick in this scene. He has a lot of lines in this scene so as a group we decided to cut down some of his line as well as others that have a lot of lines.

His lines:

Boy

In my chamber-window lies a book: bring it hither
to me in the orchard.

I know that; but I would have thee hence, and here again.

Exit Boy

I do much wonder that one man, seeing how much
another man is a fool when he dedicates his
behaviors to love, will, after he hath laughed at
such shallow follies in others, become the argument
of his own scorn by failing in love: and such a man
is Claudio. I have known when there was no music
with him but the drum and the fife; and now had he
rather hear the tabour and the pipe: I have known
when he would have walked ten mile a-foot to see a
good armour; and now will he lie ten nights awake,
carving the fashion of a new doublet. He was wont to
speak plain and to the purpose, like an honest man
and a soldier; and now is he turned orthography; his
words are a very fantastical banquet, just so many
strange dishes. May I be so converted and see with
these eyes? I cannot tell; I think not: I will not
be sworn, but love may transform me to an oyster; but
I'll take my oath on it, till he have made an oyster
of me, he shall never make me such a fool. One woman
is fair, yet I am well; another is wise, yet I am
well; another virtuous, yet I am well; but till all
graces be in one woman, one woman shall not come in
my grace. Rich she shall be, that's certain; wise,
or I'll none; virtuous, or I'll never cheapen her;
fair, or I'll never look on her; mild, or come not
near me; noble, or not I for an angel; of good
discourse, an excellent musician, and her hair shall
be of what colour it please God. Ha! the prince and
Monsieur Love! I will hide me in the arbour.

Now, divine air! now is his soul ravished! Is it
not strange that sheeps' guts should hale souls out
of men's bodies? Well, a horn for my money, when
all's done.

An he had been a dog that should have howled thus,
they would have hanged him: and I pray God his bad
voice bode no mischief. I had as lief have heard the
night-raven, come what plague could have come after
it.

Is't possible? Sits the wind in that corner?

I should think this a gull, but that the
white-bearded fellow speaks it: knavery cannot,
sure, hide himself in such reverence.

[Coming forward] This can be no trick: the
conference was sadly borne. They have the truth of
this from Hero. They seem to pity the lady: it
seems her affections have their full bent. Love me!
why, it must be requited. I hear how I am censured:
they say I will bear myself proudly, if I perceive
the love come from her; they say too that she will
rather die than give any sign of affection. I did
never think to marry: I must not seem proud: happy
are they that hear their detractions and can put
them to mending. They say the lady is fair; 'tis a
truth, I can bear them witness; and virtuous; 'tis
so, I cannot reprove it; and wise, but for loving
me; by my troth, it is no addition to her wit, nor
no great argument of her folly, for I will be
horribly in love with her. I may chance have some
odd quirks and remnants of wit broken on me,
because I have railed so long against marriage: but
doth not the appetite alter? a man loves the meat
in his youth that he cannot endure in his age.
Shall quips and sentences and these paper bullets of
the brain awe a man from the career of his humour?
No, the world must be peopled. When I said I would
die a bachelor, I did not think I should live till I
were married. Here comes Beatrice. By this day!
she's a fair lady: I do spy some marks of love in
her.

Fair Beatrice, I thank you for your pains.

You take pleasure then in the message?

Ha! 'Against my will I am sent to bid you come in
to dinner;' there's a double meaning in that 'I took
no more pains for those thanks than you took pains
to thank me.' that's as much as to say, Any pains
that I take for you is as easy as thanks. If I do
not take pity of her, I am a villain; if I do not
love her, I am a Jew. I will go get her picture.

As You Like It

When it comes to my paper topic As You Like It is one of the best examples of Shakespeare not supporting the idealistic love that everyone thinks he does. Many times during the play cliches like dying do to a broken heart are explicitly argued against. "and in all this time/ there was not any man died in his own person,/ videlicit, in a love-cause." Those who are in love are over the top when it comes to expressing their feelings and even do crazy things like giving or receiving lesson about love and how to woo someone. Everything pertaining to love is exaggerated in the most hilarious ways. There are other times where a kiss is compared to an orator spitting when he has nothing else to say. This play is a great play. It is a satire on the cliches of love and truly an entertaining play. I highly recommend giving this one a chance.

 

A Motley Fool

I remember that in class we had talked about the role of fools in Shakespeare's plays. We had said that they are usually the characters that say what needs to be said but can get away with it because they are the fools and are not taken seriously. In As You Like It, the fool, Touchstone, is the "wise fool" that we had talked about. In Act 1, scene 2, he is talking to Celia and Rosalind, telling them about a knight who swore on his honor. When Touchstone makes the comment that the story is related to Celia's father, Duke Frederick, Celia becomes angry and tells to stop or he will be punished. Touchstone's response is an amazing one. "The more pity, that fools may not speak wisely what wise men do foolishly." This line is the ultimate statement of what we had talked about in class. What makes this even more interesting is that Celia agrees with him when she says "By my troth, thou sayest true."


The next quote is from Act 2, scene 7. Jaques, who earlier was brooding, comes back to Duke Senior at camp much more happy than before. When asked why, Jaques gives his monologue about meeting a fool (Touchstone) and reiterates what the fool said. Part of what he said was, "Tis but an hour ago since it was nine,/ and after one hour more 'twill be eleven;/ and so, from hour to hour, we ripe and ripe/ and then, from hour to hour, we rot  and rot;/ and thereby hangs a tale." Jaques sings the fool's praises, even going as far as wanting to be a fool. Little did he know that Touchstone was really mocking/ commentating on Jaques brooding.

Shakespear the Anti-Lover

I want to explore the cynicism of Shakespearean romances. When it comes to Shakespeare's romances, they are always either unbelievable or they end in tragedy. I want to argue that Shakespeare is not the romantic that many people believe he is but one who does not believe in the idealistic love that many people hope is out there. He shows this through the romantic relationships in his plays.

I would like to read Hamlet, Julius Caesar, and Twelfth Night.    

The Light in the Dark

The ending of the play is full of tragedy and death but there is at least some small mercy for Lear and Gloucester and that for them at the very end the story was not tragic. For Lear, it was the moment right before he died when he thought he saw Cordelia starting to breath after her button was undone. In that moment he believed that his beloved daughter would be alright and not all is lost. He died believing that his mistake did not cruelly take his daughter's life and in that moment, he found some happiness. For Gloucester, he had found out that the stranger who was taking care of him was in fact his son Edgar. He had been shown mercy by knowing that his son was indeed alright and that there must be some feelings of love if Edgar had taken care of him until then. He died feeling torn between happiness and grief but there was at least a sense of bitter sweet for him. Both fathers had that one moment of hope and happiness, even if it was false for Lear, making life seem just a little bit more merciful from their point of view. The play may have been a tragedy for the audience and the characters that survived but for these two men, there was a small light at the end of a dark tunnel.

Escaping Reality

I'm going to play the devil's advocate for a moment. The more I read King Lear the more I feel that Lear's madness and Gloucester wanting to die are their ways of escaping the reality in which they have ruined. They have both shunned the only family that truly cared for them and have given power to the family that would rather have them dead. Lear's method to escape reality is his decent into madness. When he is out in the storm, his thoughts start to become more irrational but they always lead back to his two horrible daughters. Because of the way his daughters treated him and because he had started to realize what he had done, Lear starts losing his rationality as a coping mechanism to escape the reality that the daughters that he thought loved him didn't and the one who actually did he had sent away. With Gloucester it is similar but he instead wishes for his death as his means for escape. Both men realize that they have made wrong choices in their lives and their immediate reaction is to run away in an extreme way.  

The Apple Doesn't Fall Far

I couldn't help but notice the similarities between King Lear and his daughters, Goneril and Regan. At the beginning King Lear shows his self-centered attitude when he asked his daughters to say how much they loved him and based the amount of land they would get by how much they "loved" him or in this case how much they flattered him. When Cordelia didn't flatter him like he wanted, he immediately became angry and shunned her. When it came time for Lear to be at the mercy of his two daughters, they showed their self-centered attitudes and throw him out of their houses into a storm. His own attitude is thrown right back at him through his two evil daughters. It seems that karma is already coming into play right from the start. Lear's character flaw, his blindness of the truth and his self-centered attitude, has quickly taken affect in bringing his downfall.

This makes me wonder how Cordelia became so nice and generally a good person when all around her there were people like her sisters and her father.  

OTP Sonnet Revised

It was a difficult process to fix my sonnet. Some lines were too short, others were too long and some just didn't fit the rhythm. I had alter some of the lines to fit and some lines I had to completely rewrite. It was hard to rewrite lines and still make them fit into the rhyme scheme. For each line I would carefully count each foot to make sure I had the right amount of feet in each line.


 Shall I explain to thee my OTP?
Because their love so true, their bond so strong
why whatever else could they be to me
but loving, living now forever long.
some people are too stupid, foolish to see
the light that brightly shines within his eyes,
the gentle upturn of his lips is free
a shame if such a love you could deny
compared to suns and moons eternally
oh the horrific shipping wars that come
they argue, insult, rage, ridiculously
the warriors of ships will beat their drum
     as sure as suns and moons again will rise
     my love for OTP shall never die

OTP Sonnet

I looked closely at Shakespeare's Sonnet 18. I closely molded my sonnet based off of this one. I would write about four lines then take a break to write the next four lines so that I wouldn't jumble the rhymes up in my head.

Here is my sonnet:

Shall I explain to thee my OTP?
Their love so true, their bond so strong
why whatever else could they be
but loving each other and for so long.
Sometimes people are too stupid to see
the light that shines within his eyes
or the gentle upturn of his sweet lips.
A shame if such a love you could deny,
because he is the moon, the other his sun.
The wars, oh the horrific shipping wars,
we are all scarred, covered in painful sores.
    So long as the sun and moon will rise
     love for my OTP shall never die.


I must admit that the subject matter of my sonnet was fun to write about. I had a hard time keeping the rhythm of the poem. I would have to rewrite lines multiple times before it would be in rhythm and still rhyme with the line it was supposed to rhyme with. Sonnets have always been a huge challenge for me.
  

Different Pucks for Different Plays

I wanted to compare the acting for the two Pucks of the live performance and the Rice University performance. In the Rice University performance, the actor gave Puck a more juvenile personality. When he went to report to Oberon that Titania had fallen in love with a man with the head of an ass, he came onto stage by walking on his hands. When he hears Oberon, he drops down and quickly runs to him with his arms stretched out wide. His body language seemed to be like a dog looking for a treat from his master. Puck's tone of voice was giddy as he bragged about what he did. This Puck's facial expressions were wide eyed and open, making him seem young. This Puck main agenda was to please Oberon.

The Puck from the live performance at the castle amphitheater was much more flamboyant, confident and just a little smug. It wasn't just about pleasing Oberon for him. He also wanted to entertain himself. I could see a gleam in his eyes that screamed trouble and a smirk that made him seem like he had more control over the situation than he actually did. While the other Puck ran and almost crawled around the stage, this Puck love to strut. He command the stage like he was his own, unless Oberon was there of course. But when he was, Puck never lost the mischievous gleam in his eye nor that smirk of his. This Puck was full of energy.

It was fun and interesting to see the different Pucks that can be portrayed. Both had the same lines and yet two different Puck's were created.

A Midsummer Night's Funniest Dream

I must admit that this was the first time reading A Midsummer Night's Dream and I was not disappointed in the least. The play, although written hundreds of years ago, does not lose its hilarity. This play is a good example of how people's sense of humor does not really change. For example, the unknowing puns Bottom made when talking about himself. In fact, his name becomes part of the pun!
And then there is Puck. The mischievous mind who started the pun in the first place. Puck and Oberon were quite the funny duo. They start out trying to trick the queen of the fairies by making her fall in love with some beast (Bottom with his donkey head), but they end up mixing up the two couples that entered the forest with the same flower juice they used on the queen. The fact that these magical being could make mistakes like that makes it all the more funny because they are known for being above common human error. I also thought it was quite funny how Puck threw insults at Demetrius and Lycander in their voices to confuse them and make them lost so that they don't kill each other.
I think it is interesting how something that was written so long ago can be just as funny today as it was then. The way people talk may change but their sense of humor evidently does not.  

Richard II, Costumes Tell the Story

I had watch the Shakespeare Series: King Richard II version of the play. At the very beginning of the film, when the names of the actors were being shown, the background was of a chess set with a white king laying down as if defeated. This picture is reflected throughout the play by the colors of the costumes. King Richard wore white while he reigned as king. This bright color made him stand out, making him easy to spot even when he was in the background watching things unfold in front of him. Along with this, anyone who sided with Richard wore bright pastel colors. To counter Richard's bright colors, Henry Bolingbroke and those who supported him wore dark colors. When Richard is stripped of his crown, he is stripped of his glorious white clothes and is left in his cell with nothing but a dark blanket and underwear. Bright colors in the clothing become a rarity and darker colors become the norm when Henry Bolingbroke becomes king. The color schemes of the costumes reflect the two different kings and their supporters much like the pieces of a chess set.