"King Lear"
the audience gets to the point that we think of the actors in real time, thinking about the actors as if the physicality of the theatre is real. we can feel his pain. an elderly actor is used to portray Lear. he has to memorize a lot of lines, and screams alot -- the actor is exhausted, pushing limits of theatre & actor alike
April Yuan
Showing posts with label Section 1B Ian Hoch. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Section 1B Ian Hoch. Show all posts
Sunday, December 7, 2008
utopia
Utopia - a perfect place, literally means "no place", coined in 1511 by Thomas More.
Dystopia - "Brave New Word", means nightmare place.
In the Tempest, are we talking about utopia or dystopia? One person's utopia is another's dystopia, and vice cersa.
April Yuan
Dystopia - "Brave New Word", means nightmare place.
In the Tempest, are we talking about utopia or dystopia? One person's utopia is another's dystopia, and vice cersa.
April Yuan
Friday, December 5, 2008
King Lear ID - Apostrophe
Not, Nothing - works against language that has underscores driven by the apostrophe:
Call out upson Mytrical force (GODS HEAVENS) Jupiter, Jove Line 220 (2.4)
When Lear 1st does this it is grand because he is King Lear but by Act 2.4 it ends as an underscore scene of the empty theater.
All grandeo is not about calling on God because infact they are not there. Theater packed with gods, etc is an empty space.
Sententiousness: empty feels good.
Lear who's been in charge disinegrates infront of us. We have reached end of emotionality. There is no where else for him to go. (Line 259) 2.4
Christina Salinas (Chris)
Call out upson Mytrical force (GODS HEAVENS) Jupiter, Jove Line 220 (2.4)
When Lear 1st does this it is grand because he is King Lear but by Act 2.4 it ends as an underscore scene of the empty theater.
All grandeo is not about calling on God because infact they are not there. Theater packed with gods, etc is an empty space.
Sententiousness: empty feels good.
Lear who's been in charge disinegrates infront of us. We have reached end of emotionality. There is no where else for him to go. (Line 259) 2.4
Christina Salinas (Chris)
Prospero acknowledges Caliban
Max Porter Zasada
Professor Little called attention to how The Tempest's name is based on something which we assume is natural, but turns out to be artifice. Here Shakespeare is pushing the limits of theater by exploding the illusion it creates. Theater that draws the audience in is, in The Tempest, then revealed to be a simple series of tricks by a conjurer like Prospero, simply for his own betterment (or PROSPERity). It is as if, at the end of his career, Shakespeare is telling his audience look and see how he has so simply tricked them into believing his plays so he could make a profit.
However, it goes much deeper when we think about the desire of human beings to break through the artifice to something real. Despite the flat characters which can be so easily fabricated that fill up this play, there's a complex and serious backstory which is pointedly ignored. We learn that Prospero killed Sycorax, then enslaved her son, Caliban, we learn of this complicated treaty that Prospero's brother worked out as a result of his taking the throne from the uninterested Prospero, and these would normally make us question the morality of Prospero's retaking the throne. However, the flow of the play will not allow this question to come up, making a point of how the play must conform to the illogical desires of the audience.
Max Porter Zasada
TA Ian Hoch
Professor Little called attention to how The Tempest's name is based on something which we assume is natural, but turns out to be artifice. Here Shakespeare is pushing the limits of theater by exploding the illusion it creates. Theater that draws the audience in is, in The Tempest, then revealed to be a simple series of tricks by a conjurer like Prospero, simply for his own betterment (or PROSPERity). It is as if, at the end of his career, Shakespeare is telling his audience look and see how he has so simply tricked them into believing his plays so he could make a profit.
However, it goes much deeper when we think about the desire of human beings to break through the artifice to something real. Despite the flat characters which can be so easily fabricated that fill up this play, there's a complex and serious backstory which is pointedly ignored. We learn that Prospero killed Sycorax, then enslaved her son, Caliban, we learn of this complicated treaty that Prospero's brother worked out as a result of his taking the throne from the uninterested Prospero, and these would normally make us question the morality of Prospero's retaking the throne. However, the flow of the play will not allow this question to come up, making a point of how the play must conform to the illogical desires of the audience.
Max Porter Zasada
TA Ian Hoch
Dead as earth
Professor Little ended his discussion of King Lear by focusing on the phrase "dead as earth" in the last scene of the play (V,iii, Line 261). In his lecture he expanded this phrase to the play and indeed the whole world, for in the vast despair of this play, the world is viewed as a dead place.
Echoed again in Lear's cry, "No, no, no life," in line 305, this sentiment informs our reading--or hearing--of the entirety of the play, and connects the ideas of early history with the hopelessness of solving life's problems. We have the sense that because the whole world is dead, there can be no motion or development of a true being. if this play takes place in Albion, the name of early England, and they didn't have an answer, then what tells us we know now? Besides connecting to the religious turmoil and changes that England was going through during this period, this thought brings us to the ultimate impotence of the theater itself. As a mirror of the world, the theater cannot contain an answer and is as empty and dead as the thing it mirrors.
Max Porter Zasada
TA Ian Hoch
Echoed again in Lear's cry, "No, no, no life," in line 305, this sentiment informs our reading--or hearing--of the entirety of the play, and connects the ideas of early history with the hopelessness of solving life's problems. We have the sense that because the whole world is dead, there can be no motion or development of a true being. if this play takes place in Albion, the name of early England, and they didn't have an answer, then what tells us we know now? Besides connecting to the religious turmoil and changes that England was going through during this period, this thought brings us to the ultimate impotence of the theater itself. As a mirror of the world, the theater cannot contain an answer and is as empty and dead as the thing it mirrors.
Max Porter Zasada
TA Ian Hoch
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Gonzalo's Speech--I' the commonwealth I would by contraries
Act II.i.150
GONZALO
I' the commonwealth I would by contraries
Execute all things; for no kind of traffic
Would I admit; no name of magistrate;
Letters should not be known; riches, poverty,
And use of service, none; contract, succession,
Bourn, bound of land, tilth, vineyard, none;
No use of metal, corn, or wine, or oil;
No occupation; all men idle, all;
And women too, but innocent and pure;
No sovereignty;--
Little explained in class that in order to have a utopia one must have another person to keep that vision clear in order to reach that desired place. LIttle also said that to the key word is no. If utopia is supposed to be a sublime paradise then why is is so policed? Utopia in the play so heavily regulated and oppressive. Prospero's utopia is his own hell and therefore like Adam and Eve, he too loses paradise. What is interesting about Gonzalo's speech is that he ripped it off someone else. Shakespeare plagiarized from and essay called Michael Montaigne “of the Cannibals” translated into English in 1603 John Florio.
Ian Hoch
Alma Solis 1B
12/04/2008
GONZALO
I' the commonwealth I would by contraries
Execute all things; for no kind of traffic
Would I admit; no name of magistrate;
Letters should not be known; riches, poverty,
And use of service, none; contract, succession,
Bourn, bound of land, tilth, vineyard, none;
No use of metal, corn, or wine, or oil;
No occupation; all men idle, all;
And women too, but innocent and pure;
No sovereignty;--
Little explained in class that in order to have a utopia one must have another person to keep that vision clear in order to reach that desired place. LIttle also said that to the key word is no. If utopia is supposed to be a sublime paradise then why is is so policed? Utopia in the play so heavily regulated and oppressive. Prospero's utopia is his own hell and therefore like Adam and Eve, he too loses paradise. What is interesting about Gonzalo's speech is that he ripped it off someone else. Shakespeare plagiarized from and essay called Michael Montaigne “of the Cannibals” translated into English in 1603 John Florio.
Ian Hoch
Alma Solis 1B
12/04/2008
Metatheater in Othello
"In sleep I heard him say 'Sweet Desdamona,
Let us be way, let us hide our loves',
And then, sir, would he grip and wring my hand,
Cry 'O, sweet creature!', then kiss me hard,
As if he plucked up kisses by the roots,
That grew upon my lips, lay his leg o'er my thigh,
And sigh, and kiss, and then cry 'Cursed fate,
That gave thee to the Moor!'"
- Othello 3.3.423-430
As Iago acts out this fictitious vignette, he assumes the role of an author, Othello functions as the audience, and the fabrication of Cassio speaking of Desdamona in his sleep becomes the dram. The moment is metatheatrical as it calls attention to the construct of the play. The audience's awareness of the fiction is enhanced by the fact that Iago is relating an account that never actually transpired. Like an author, Iago utilizes dialogue and action to create a story, which he presents to Othello as reality. Interestingly, however, the power of action in developing meaning is undermined, as Iago's words are all that is needed to create an event. Even though the account Iago relates never actually took place, language is influential enough to deceive Othello into thinking that it did, and, as a result, the fabricated event yields real consequences.
Let us be way, let us hide our loves',
And then, sir, would he grip and wring my hand,
Cry 'O, sweet creature!', then kiss me hard,
As if he plucked up kisses by the roots,
That grew upon my lips, lay his leg o'er my thigh,
And sigh, and kiss, and then cry 'Cursed fate,
That gave thee to the Moor!'"
- Othello 3.3.423-430
As Iago acts out this fictitious vignette, he assumes the role of an author, Othello functions as the audience, and the fabrication of Cassio speaking of Desdamona in his sleep becomes the dram. The moment is metatheatrical as it calls attention to the construct of the play. The audience's awareness of the fiction is enhanced by the fact that Iago is relating an account that never actually transpired. Like an author, Iago utilizes dialogue and action to create a story, which he presents to Othello as reality. Interestingly, however, the power of action in developing meaning is undermined, as Iago's words are all that is needed to create an event. Even though the account Iago relates never actually took place, language is influential enough to deceive Othello into thinking that it did, and, as a result, the fabricated event yields real consequences.
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