Shakespeare help?

[Izzie]

Originally Posted by catwalker808

Based on your age, you're probably a Junior in college. What about comparing literal interpretations of significant speeches by selected characters in different plays, versus probable or possible alternate meanings of their words, based upon their roles and personalities in the plays. This is an important type of character analysis for Shakespeare's works. Or maybe analyses of character development (of several characters) based on their words & actions during early, then subsequent Acts & Scenes. And go to the library & look up critical works on Shakespeare for ideas. There should be shelves upon shelves.

I will definitely take this into consideration.

[Izzie]

:/ still not sure where I could go with my paired female roles theme.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Originally Posted by Izzie

:/ still not sure where I could go with my paired female roles theme.

Maybe compare and contrast the differences between each character, idk.


1. I'd first identify whether the play is a comedy or a tragedy. (I'm betting the ones you're thinking about are tragedies.)

2. What is each character's role in the script?

* Are they tragic characters? Are they comedic characters?

* Are they anti-heroines? Are they heroines? Are they protagonists? Are they antagonists?

3. What's the setting (time period and physical place)? What's it like? How does this affect the character's thoughts, behaviors, and feelings?

4. What are the characters' backstories?

- Do you know any information about each character's past? Is it explicitly said? Is it implied? Do they come in flashbacks or memories (soliloquies will usually give this away)?

- What socioeconomic background does each character come from?

- How does the character's history affect their feelings, thoughts, or behaviors?

5. Look into their current situations. (This would be the main plot.)

- How similar are they to each other?

- How different are they from each other?

6. What's comedic or tragic about each character's situations?

*** Here's a little tidbit... ***

a.) In dramas, there're always bits of comedy sprinkled in there, can you find them?

b.) In comedies, the opposite is true, there are dramatic bits sprinkled in there, are you able to pick them out?

7. What does each character want or need in the story told?

8. What's their plight? Can you identify the obstacles that get in the way of what the character wants or needs? Are they similar or dissimilar from each other's problems?

9. How do the characters resolve or don't resolve their problems?

10. Can you identify any subplots that these characters are either directly or indirectly involved in?

- How does it affect the characters you want to write about?

11. What is the state of mind each character is in? (Soliloquy time! Shakespeare makes good use of these to tell the audience what the character is thinking.)

12. Other than what's explicitly said by each character, are you able to read between the lines and find out what's not being said, but is conveyed? You've gotta remember, characters in a story can lie or imply things, especially if it's written in there by the playwright. (In acting lingo, this'd be the subtext. BTW, Shakespeare uses subtext alot, if you just read his works literally much of it won't make too much sense.)

*** Remember Shakespeare is a playwright, not a prose writer! Take into consideration who he's writing for. The characters are written for actors, and the plays are written for a specific audience during a specific time period. His plays reflects this.

[Izzie]

What about how the women are portrayed/acted in a historic, comedic, and tragic play, respectively?

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Originally Posted by Izzie

What about how the women are portrayed/acted in a historic, comedic, and tragic play, respectively?

If you think you can do it, then go for it!

Just remember they're plays. They're for entertainment.

I was told by a friend of mine (a former aspiring actor) who studied in London, that actors back in the day would not receive entire scripts. They'd receive what are called "sides", which is a section of the script that may contain only one scene, or a few scenes. Actors would then receive more sides as the production went along.

The reasoning was that there were no copyright laws back then, and plagiarism was pretty rampant in those days.

Have fun with them. They're really great characters!

[catwalker808]

Izzie.

You could discuss the depiction of women in traditional & non-traditional roles within the various plays. After all, you only have 5-6 pages. But focusing on women's roles kind of eliminates Richard II from discussions.

Since you want to focus on women's roles, you should initially look at all kinds of themes concerning their roles, characters & personalities in the various plays & see how much you can write about each idea.

Hint: don't try to write this or any paper from beginning to end in one straight line. With computers, you can write pieces as you think of them. Write a subject or thesis statement to guide you. Then read & develop some essay arguments & evidence in as much detail as you can. If it's just not there, dump your essay theme before committing too much time & find another. If you find that you can write a lot of supporting argument & evidence, your essay will fall together easily & then you can cut & paste & do lots of re-writes. Basically, you find & describe the character evidence, then you can make arguments & summaries using the evidence to back you up.

I used to keep a pencil & note pad next to my bed. Sometimes I would have a eureka moment for something I had been mulling over but could not pin down. Wait till morning & it's forgotten. Turn on the light & the focus vanishes. Use one hand as a guide, the other to write as much of the idea as you. You can actually write in pitch darkness. Thus the thought is preserved to develop in greater detail when you are awake. But this is about the creative process, not about the subject matter.

[What about how the women are portrayed/acted in a historic, comedic, and tragic play, respectively?]

This is really too general. Also, again, what do you do about Richard II, the historic play ... which women there. You need to pin down your subject more.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

If I wrote the paper, my strategy would be to keep the main focus on the women, but touch bases on the male characters.

Don't stray. These plays are usually centered around male characters, it'd be easy to go off on a tangent (a way off tangent). Back then, there was no such thing as women's suffrage and women's rights and stuff like that.

If I'm not mistaken, men played the roles of women back then (don't hold me to this).

Like I said 5 to 6 pages for Shakespeare is rather short.

As catwalker said, the more specific the better. I'll add, the simpler the better. Shakespeare's already pretty complex.

I want to stress this, because I think this will help you out tremendously...

They're plays. Read them like plays. Analyze them like a play. Break them down like a play. In your case, you'd be doing what are called "character breakdowns" instead of "scene breakdowns".

Character breakdowns are much simpler. Focus on character breakdowns, not breaking down the scene or entire script.

I'm sure that when you break each character down, you'll find the things you want to focus on and write about.

This will also keep the focus on the characters you want to write about.

Try not to think of them as literary works, it might overwhelm you.

Actors have got to read this stuff and perform it. There's a method to getting the job done.

I've already given you an outline, and that's exactly how an actor is trained to break down a character.

Character break downs come before breaking down a scene or script. Without an understanding of the character, there's no scene.

The caveat being that you must also understand the context of the setting of not only the play, but "your audience".

Think like an actor and a playwright. Don't think like a prose writer or a literary student, it's a different world.

Like I said, it's entertainment. It's showbiz!

[kiki-do]

Originally Posted by Izzie

Thank you everyone, particularly catwalker.
Here's my details.
-deep breath-
1. The hardest thing about this paper is that it has to be 5-6 pages. Dear. lord.
2. Focuses on an issue (idea, subject, topic) that emerges from a minimum of three of the plays we've read.
3. Must include materials found in secondary sources

Plays we have read:
Comedy of Errors
Richard II
The Merchant of Venice
Twelfth Night

Unfortunately, I have not read these. Sorry I can't help more. However, I've always been drawn to the female characters as well. For instance, I liked to focus on their strengths in there time period, the effects they had on the men in their lives (Fathers, sons, husbands, lovers), and perhaps compare them to the strengths of today's women????
Or analyze/compare the type of woman they were, and the influence they possessed given their position in life. I think most of the women in Shakespeare plays tend to be secondary characters (but again, I didn't read that many of his plays).
So this is me just spouting about nothing, really, and ages since I wrote any essays. Just tossing ideas out there. Catwalker and King are more on target with the help you need, but

[Triffid]

Arh... Shakespear!

You've got some good advice already, but I will add a little bit for future reference.

In Shakespearean times, Female roles were played by Male actors (there weren't female actors, just not the done thing at the time) and that's what make the play Twelfth Night especially interesting. Why because you have a female character dressing up as a bloke. A bloke playing a woman acting as a man.

Shakespeare's works were never really meant to be read, after all they are plays. Finding a good movie or even managing to go to a productions is the best way to understand Shakespeare, because unless you understand the old tongue well enough you are likely to miss the little things like the punch line and the double meanings.

Yes read the books (because that's the entire play), but having an acted emotionally driven reference can help tremendously just don't take the films as Shakespeare Cannon (as they can often be adjusted or bits missed out or brushed over)

The plays were, for want of a better description, interactive. Heckling was the done thing, almost like a pantomime.
I actually went to one production where the introduction included the cast telling the audience something along the lines of "don't be afraid to heckle, we want this to be authentic."........ Great Fun

Richard II was not historically accurate........ Far from it. And suspicion is that is was written to appease the family history of Elizabeth I.

You've more than likely finished your papers by now, but I hope that helps for future bits.

Remember Shakespeare doesn't have to be boring

[Izzie]

You're right about appeasing the history of Queen Elizabeth- Shakespeare had to make sure to not cast any ancestor of hers in an entirely villainous sense- hence the ambiguousness of characters like Richard II, Bolingbroke, Henry V and the like- none of them were written as completely lily-white or completely villainous.