7th Blog

The texts we have read so far have been both challenging and engaging. I found Richard II to be the most challenging of the works so far. The language, to me at least, read a little more complex than the other pieces we read. For me it was a little more difficult to extract what the characters were saying from the Shakespearian English. Because of this reason, I enjoyed this play the least of all the ones we’ve read so far. I guess a study aid like ‘No Fear Shakespeare’ or something to that effect (which I could not find for this text) would have helped me to better understand what the characters were saying and meaning, and then the text may have been more enjoyable to me. I have used these translation devices for other texts we have read to great success as the break down exactly what the characters are intending to communicate. When you place the actual text and the aid side by side, a lot is accomplished and the reader benefits more from these texts in my point of view. I did however enjoy very much the group performance for this piece and I think they did a fantastic job! The man who played Richard in the first performance was great and very enthusiastic about his role.
The Merchant of Venice was by far my favorite play of the semester so far. I don’t know if it’s because I’ve been to Venice before so I pictured it and the plot worked great, or weather the story itself was so interesting to me but I thought that play was very interesting and well written. I thought the characterization in that story was excellent and the diversity among the characters was great. The cross-dressing and disguise found in some of the plays we have read also adds a dynamic and interesting addition to the play. Gender roles are confused and toyed with and this makes the plays more interesting and unique.
I believe that this class will be very relevant to my future work in classes because as of yesterday I signed up for a senior seminar with the subject of Shakespeare’s sonnets. I chose the subject of Shakespeare’s sonnets specifically because we studied them in this class and I enjoyed them very much. I also felt they were taught excellently in this class and that I had a firm grasp on the concepts found in the sonnets as well as the meaning of them. I chose that seminar topic because after Merchant of Venice, the sonnets were my favorite part of the class. The sonnets are very interesting to me because even though many are similar and related in some sense, no two are exactly the same. Each one adds a sense of uniqueness and has its own character.
All in all the semester has been both challenging and interesting thus far and although I have enjoyed some texts more than others, the class as a whole has been thoroughly enjoyable.