global shakespeare.

Yesterday I came across a seemingly handy site, global shakespeares. I plan to explore it more in depth once I get into King Lear and Macbeth. I did a quick search on the site to see if there were any productions of Henry IV being done in Japan, but as far as the site indicated, there aren't.

But, if anyone is interested in seeing how Shakespeare in interpreted around the world via stage productions, check the site out. You can search by region, language, and by the play.

Anyway, now I'm off to finish Henry IV. 

chimes at midnight.

 I began watching the film adaptation of Shakespeare's Henry IV "Chimes at Midnight." It was my intention to read along with the movie, as I had done with the Branagh version of Hamlet, but it proved to be much more difficult. The movie adaptation jumps from scene to scene, and even from act to act, but because I have read most of the play i was able to track down where the movie was in comparison. Also, speeches are cut very short, and I'm not sure how the screenwriter decided on what to leave out, because oftentimes it would just be a word or two, and it didn't seem to safe much more time by eliminating a brief phrase. But there are a few other observations that I'd like to point out.

The opening of the film has a narrator who gives a brief explanation of how Henry Bolingbroke became king. It places him to be more of a villain than I thought he would be. While reading the play, I pictured Bolingbroke to be a victim of mutiny, but after watching a good portion of the movie, I'm rather confused...

Also, in act 2 scene 3 when Hotspur is speaking with his wife, I had a totally different visualization of what was happening than what was portrayed in the movie. When I was reading the text, I pictured Hotspur as gruff and mean to his wife, but in the movie it was all in good fun.

So with just getting to the middle of the movie, I have realized how beneficial it truly is to sit down and watch a production of a play you are studying as oftentimes you can misinterpret characters' personalities and so forth.

 I can't wait to finish the film and the text this weekend, and to think of some better final analysis on the whole history play genre.

o henry.

Well I began my reading of Henry the Fourth Part One. To get situated historically, I visited Wikipedia to get the brief rundown of the Plantagenet lineage. That helped a bit, and it will help to keep referencing back to short histories of the time of these monarchs. I also read the introduction before the play, and that really just set up what was to follow.

Since yesterday, I've only read the first two acts of the play, but that was enough for me to see a few differences from Hamlet. First off, the characters in Hamlet weren't nearly as confusing as in Henry IV. Because of the confusion and the who's-against-the-king thing in Henry I have made a little card with the characters' names and allegiances on them so I don't have to keep flipping back to the front page of the play. Secondly it seems that there are lengthier speeches for any given character in Henry. Perhaps in Hamlet no one had the patience to listen to long speeches, unless it was an individual offering a soliloquy to themselves. And lastly, this may not be so much a difference as me just noticing more, but I found myself having to refer more often to the footnotes during the dialogue between the two Carriers in act two scene one. Their speech patterns are by far very different from the more "sophisticated" usage of the royalty and upper-class characters of the play. If it weren't for the glosses, I'm afraid I wouldn't have the slightest clue of what they were talking about.
Well, so far so good.

just because.

Since this very well might be my last post on Hamlet, I'll just go ahead and share these finds now.

the firmament.

Last week I visited the library and grabbed several books on Shakespeare and various theories. A lot of the books I chose deal with the interest of science and in astronomy during the time of Shakespeare.

Last night I got into a book titled Shakespeare and Science . Although it is an older book, it gets right to the point without extra fluff and theory. Most of what I found to be interesting was how frequently, and even subtly, the heavens and the planets are mentioned in Hamlet. One of the chapters of the book dealt only with the sunrise and what it represents in Shakespeare's writings. "[the] dawn was the symbol of hope, freshness, youth, renewed strength, action, opportunity. It was the moment when man braced himself to meet his fate, be that good or bad." As I read this quote, I thought immediately of when the "cock crew" after the ghost of Hamlet's father disappeared again. After Hamlet spoke with the Ghost, he accepted to avenge his murdered father, thereby accepting his fate, which turned out to be pretty bad.

Another reference to the sun in Hamlet is when the prince is comparing his deceased father and his murderous uncle to his mother. Hamlet relates his father's image to that of Hyperion, the titan god of the sun.

Perhaps in Hamlet relating his father as the sun god, Shakespeare was able to manipulate King Hamlet as the center of all the events that occurred in the play. Bu then again, did Shakespeare believe in the Ptolemaic theory of the universe (earth as the center), or in Copernicus's model of the universe (sun as the center)? Either way, Hyperion was known and respected in the time of Shakespeare as  a pretty powerful god, deserving of praise and worship.

the prince and the queen.

I had a thought I wanted to bring up yesterday in class, but our time was spent rather quickly.
When I read act three, scene four earlier this week, I was trying to pay careful attention to why this scene is often adapted into a very incestuous exchange between Hamlet and his mother. It's true that there are many accusatory words placed on the queen by Hamlet, but think of how enraged you would be if your mother or father quickly fell in to the arms of another so soon after the death of your other parent. I think he was expressing his disgust at his mother's actions, but nothing more than that.
I had a brief discussion with my mom about the matter, and we came to an agreement that the incestuous adaptations of this scene came about at a time when there was a trend to read everything in an Oedipal light. Just like how many t.v. shows, plays, movies, etc., now have a homosexual read into it, there was also a time not too long ago when the public looked into incestuous relationships as the default psychological background.
I did think of another explanation as to why these adaptations of incest between Hamlet and the queen occur, and I think it comes with modernity and a better understanding of the psychology behind men who are rapist. The heated discussion between Hamlet and his mother could be seen as a need for Hamlet to prove his power, therefore forcing himself upon his mother who he sees as being "whorish" for so quickly marrying his uncle.
Anyway, I guess in order to look at the psychology behind different adaptations of Shakespeare's plays, we need to look at the psychology of the times in which the adaptations were performed.

the act of decay.

I live in Salt Lake, my mom lives in Salt Lake. She works on campus, and I go to school on campus (imagine that). So we carpool back and forth every day. We get a lot of talking done in those commuting hours, and the other night as we were headed back north, I read an essay out loud to her from last year's Criterion. It's titled "Something Rotten: Hamlet's Onto-Ecology." We were able to discuss several elements of Hamlet with each other as they came up in the essay. The essay focused largely on the body and the existence of the soul, and how human beings are a part from other creatures because we know and can ponder on our own existence. We sorted through that philosophy a little, and then we went off on another tangent about the conspiracy that Shakespeare was a closet Catholic in the very Protestant England. If you read Hamlet that way, as Shakespeare being a Catholic, there is a lot of underlying proof, mostly in respects to purgatory and the salvation of the soul.
Very interesting stuff.
The essay also focused largely on the theme of decay in Hamlet. Because of the death of his father, Hamlet was undoubtedly cornered by thinking of decay, and he mentions so frequently the matter of bodies lying in the earth becoming rotten and decomposed. After reading this mentioned essay on onto-ecology, I read more of Hamlet, and in act four, scene three when Hamlet is being questioned on where he put the body of Polonius, Hamlet tells his uncle that Polonius is "at supper...Not where he eats, but where 'a eaten." Then he goes on to say, "A man may fish with the worm that hath eat / of a king, and eat of the fish that hath fed of that / worm." This quote right here illustrates the cycle of decay, and that once our souls separate our bodies, our bodies become sustenance to maintain other forms of life.
Anyway, I'm glad I read the ontology essay before finishing Hamlet so I was able to read in to the theme of decay and death.
After all, something was indeed rotten in Denmark.

learning outcomes.

I was a little lost, at first, on how to execute my experience with Shakespeare this semester. But now after reading several other learning outcomes, I can feel more comfortable with how to outline my own exploration of Shakespeare.

1. Gain "Shakespeare Literacy."

a.       Breadth.

                                                              i.      The Comedies. I have never before read Twelfth Night, As You Like It, or Measure for Measure. I assume that would be a good start right there. If I have time, I will read my favorite A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and maybe even Much Ado About Nothing.

                                                            ii.      The Histories. I haven’t read any of these, so I’ll start with The First Part of King Henry the Fourth, and perhaps later The Life of King Henry the Fifth.

                                                          iii.      The Tragedies. I’d like to read King Lear and Othello. Possibly even Antony and Cleopatra.

                                                          iv.      The Romances. Since our book only has two, and I’ve already read The Tempest, by default I’ll read The Winter’s Tale.

                                                            v.      The Sonnets. I’ll try to read maybe ten of these…?

b.      Depth. Perhaps I’ll get in to King Lear or Twelfth Night.

c.       Performance. I’m really disconnected from the world, so if anyone knows of any productions of any Shakespeare plays that will be happening, please let me know.

d.      Legacy. For this I will read more in to how Shakespeare is and was received in Japan, as well as in the Victorian era.

2.      Analyze Shakespeare Critically.

a.       Textual Analysis. For this aspect, I think I’ll focus more on the language and theme of any given play I’m reading.

b.      Contextual Analysis. I’ll probably be most interested in focusing on the cultural aspects of the plays and read up on what was going on during the time of Shakespeare.

c.       Application of Literary Theories. Not sure yet on this one.

d.      Analysis of Digital Mediations. I think I’d like to take Japanese film adaptations of a few of Shakespeare’s plays and compare them with American, or British, adaptations of the same play.

3.      Engage Shakespeare Creatively.

a.       Performance. I’ll try to recruit someone in my family to do this with me. Maybe I’ll just record our “performance” and post it on my blog…maybe.

b.      Literary Imitation. Maybe I’ll sample writing a few sonnets.

c.       Misc. I also want to summarize various scenes from the plays I’ll be reading by sketching and drawing what comes to my mind.

4.      Share Shakespeare Meaningfully. I think all of the aspects of formal and informal writing will be fulfilled by my blog postings. Same goes with connecting and sharing of my research and creative work. 

intro.

I love British literature. I love Japan. I love British literature that exists in Japan; therefore I would like nothing more than to explore how Shakespeare is received and adapted in Japanese culture. 
My exploration of The Bard in Nihon will consist of me watching movies from the legendary filmmaker Akira Kurasawa, among other Japanese directors, and analyzing the various interpretations of Shakespearean plays in Japan. I will also be looking at traditional Kabuki plays to find elements of Shakespeare that are used.