Honestly, I am so excited to read this play. The plot summary was so confusing and twisted that I'm not even going to try and sum it up here, but this play had me laughing just reading the summary. What I got from it was a double wedding, debts payed in a pound of flesh, women dressed up as lawyers, and a Jew forced to convert to Christianity or give over half his property. I can't wait.

The only slightly disappointing thing about this comedy that I can see is it's romance. Like I talked about before, Shakespeare really only has two kinds of love. This one seems to fall right into the "love at first sight, meant to be together" category. Not once, but twice in this play do two people fall so easily in love it's like fiction. Oh wait....

I am, however, thrilled for the villain. His name is Shylock, and the Urban Dictionary definitions of his name are quite fantastic. Which is funny, because I didn't know Shakespeare was urban. But basically he is a ruthless, Jewish, money-lender. When the merchant Antonio takes out a loan for his friend, he promises Shylock a pound of his flesh if he does not pay the money back in full. When Antonio's ships are lost Shylock tries to cash in his debt. Can you think of any better villain than one who demands a pound of your flesh? I didn't think so.

As far as movie adaptations of the play, there have been at least 18 that I could find. (Well, that IMDb could find.) They all seem okay, but nothing really stuck out. There was a 2004 production that was looking pretty good, and it's the only one that's been really heavily advertised. I tried looking it up on the BYU library website to no avail, only to realize that it's rated R. Shucks... So I'll have to keep working on that. But I'm sure one of those other 17 movies are worth watching.

So what's my plan? Read the play straight through and be on the lookout for themes and motifs that interest me. Then watch a movie, noticing how the specific adaptation affects my views on the play. Hopefully this way I can completely focus on each media, rather than trying to read along to a movie and get distracted with edits and cuts.

As we are reading Love's Labor's Lost, it's almost comical (probably intentionally) how quickly the king and his three lords start to deviate from their plan to study and see no women for 3 years. Before they've even signed the agreement the king realizes he must meet with a princess soon. And once the king and his lords reach the princess and her ladies all hope is lost. Flirting ensues.

The conversations that go on between the men and women in Act 2 are quick and witty. They remind me a lot of the kind of talk in Much Ado About Nothing that goes on between Benedick and Beatrice. And since we know that Benedick and Beatrice end up together, even though they originally seemed to hate each other, it is pretty obvious what is going on here in Love's Labor's Lost:

Biron. Did not I dance with you in Brabant once?
Rosaline. Did not I dance with you in Brabant once?
Biron. I know you did. 605
Rosaline. How needless was it then to ask the question!
Biron. You must not be so quick.
Rosaline. 'Tis 'long of you that spur me with such questions.
Biron. Your wit's too hot, it speeds too fast, 'twill tire.
Rosaline. Not till it leave the rider in the mire. 610
Biron. What time o' day?
Rosaline. The hour that fools should ask.
Biron. Now fair befall your mask!
Rosaline. Fair fall the face it covers!
Biron. And send you many lovers! 615
Rosaline. Amen, so you be none.
Biron. Nay, then will I be gone.

Biron tries to be nice, Rosaline's a little fiesty, but by the end of their back and forth they've fallen into rhyme with each other. I can hear the wedding bells already.. Shakespeare is awesome at witty banter. It's one of the things that make his comedies funny, and his romances bearable. This art of witty banter seems to be Shakespeare's opinion of the best way to find your eternal companion. Lucky for us it can be mastered in just ten easy steps. Enjoy. But maybe don't try it out on the first date... Just in case.
Back on track, it seems to me like there is a pretty standard form of humor in Shakespeare's comedies. It's either love at first sight, or witty banter and insults until they realize they're meant to be together. Maybe Love's Labor's Lost's king and his lords with mix things up a bit for us. But so far I'm doubtful.. To illustrate, even taking into account that the movies below are both Kenneth Branagh films, the covers might as well be advertising the same play with different actors. Plus or minus a perfectly matched and awkwardly close couple. I'm anxious to see what makes this play different from others.

That's my question. We spend all this time worrying about the nut jobs in Hamlet and what their particular brand of insanity might mean, but no one seems to care about the one character who's got it all down. Horatio knows who he is. He's Hamlet's best friend, and the only good, stable person in this play. While everyone else runs around like chicken's with their heads cut off, Horatio is the voice of reason and sanity. And yet, he never once tries to stop Hamlet from what he has to do. He is Hamlet's "Damon dear". (Damon and his freind Pythias were the classical model of perfect friendship. Perhaps Horatio serves as a foil, of who Hamlet would have been if his father were still alive. Horatio's character is strong and unwavering, and Hamlet longs for the peace of mind that being so must bring:

Dost thou hear?
Since my dear soul was mistress of her choice,
And could of men distinguish her election,
Hath seal'd thee for herself, for thou hast been
As one, in suffering all, that suffers nothing,
A man that fortune's buffets and rewards
Hast ta'en with equal thanks: and blest are those
Whose blood and judgement are so well commedled
That they are not a pipe for fortune's finger
To sound what stop she please. Give me that man
That is not passion's slave, and I will wear him
In my heart's core, ay, in my heart of heart,
As i do thee. (III.ii.65-70)


Horatio bears stress and burden much better than Hamlet, and he is not a slave to his passions. So why does he stick around while Hamlet goes cucko for coco puffs? Because he's just that good of a friend. Maybe one day when I have a royal friend go insane and seek revenge I can be as supporting and loyal as Horatio. Just maybe do a bit better at steering him away from murder and revenge...


And, in honor of our To Be or Not To Be film montage in class yesterday, here's one of my favorite scenes in Hamlet. Notice how Horatio acts through this scene. Supportive, and yet a voice of reason.

And the best line: "This is I, HAMLET THE DANE!"
Goodbye Hamlet. I hope your dreams turned out to be good ones after all.

May I say that our class trip to the Shakespeare Festival in Cedar was great? Well, I'm going to say it anyways. It was great. I had a fun time getting to know the people in my car who I probably never would have interacted with any other way. And the play was really well done. Seeing Shakespeare live is such a big difference from reading the text or watching a movie. Although I will admit that every time the lights went down to the "winter" setting of black and purple I had a hard time keeping my eyes open...

One of the things that really interested me while watching the play was how they used costumes to promote a theme or develop a character. There's really no way to organize my thoughts on it without getting long and drawn out, so here they are in all their unorganized glory:

Hermione wearing white in the beginning and when she comes back to life, and Perdita wearing white. It emphasized their innocence, Hermione as faithful and Perdita as Leontes true daughter.

Purple and black clothes set the stage for winter. Winter colors. Shiny, black shoes and tuxes and formal clothing for winter.

The men changed to brown suits in the spring and the tones of the girls dresses were a lot more earthy and reminded me of spring and life. It was more natural.

The clown in striped pants. The clown in striped suit after he is made a "gentleman." Character continuity. Rank didn't change him. Helped make the actor recognizable after a wardrobe change.

Autolycus' coat. Can I just say it was awesome? Really, I want that coat. On the outside it was tan and plain, like the facade he is trying to portray. On the inside it was woven and messy and all kinds of crazy colors. Like his true personality could help bursting out every time he turned around. His clothes were so complex and interesting. The wig and the hat, his boots went all the way up to his knee. It was just a really unique combination and somehow it all worked, like the different sides and faces of his character.

Florizel's cape was kinda lame. Frilly and off one shoulder. Held on by a string that kept slipping off. Maybe it shows how insubstantial and pretty-boy esque his character was. He does take the cape off though, so maybe running away with Perdita is his growing up.

Paulina. Why did she make me think of a cranky British nanny? Well.. that's how they dressed her. I just couldn't get over how old and out of place she looked. But maybe that's a consequence of being the voice of reason, you feel out of place and get a bad name for it. And isn't she, in some ways, Leontes' nanny? She smacks him on the hand every time he does a "bad thing" and tries to be cheerful.

So there's my jumble of observations from a Winter's Tale. There's not really any opportunity to interpret a director's costuming decisions when we're just studying the text in class. So this was fun.
Until next time, Hakuna Mutata.

Oh, and P.S. don't forget the bear's costume. I'm so glad it didn't look like this:

Perdita-"lost one"

You have to admit, their stories are eerily similar. In the beginning, at least. Perdita, of Shakespeare's Winter's Tale, and Oedipus, of Greek mythology, are both cast off by cruel, paranoid fathers after the reading of an oracle. Perdita's father, Leontes, believes she is an illegitimate child of an adulterous queen. Born in prison, the babe is left in the desert to die, found, and raised by a humble shepherd. Oedipus' father, Laius, has been read an oracle that any son born to him will marry its mother and kill its father. Upon birth, Oedipus is given to a servant with the command to leave him somewhere to die. Instead, the servant gives the baby to a shepherd. Oedipus is passed between shepherds, until he is eventually adopted by the King of Corinth. Similarly, Perdita becomes involved with a royal family. She falls in love and runs away with Florizel, prince of Bohemia. Both Perdita and Oedipus eventually return to their places of birth.

Oedipus-"swollen foot"

Where their stories end, however, could not be more different. Perdita's return to Sicilia leads to the discovery that she is the Kings daughter, and rejoicing ensues. She rises to her true identity gracefully, and marries Prince Florizel. They presumably live happily ever after. Oedipus' tale does not end quite so happily. He fulfills the prophecy, unknowingly killing his father and marrying his mother. Upon discovering the truth Oedipus blinds himself and lives out the rest of his life in exile.

So what happened? These two characters, who started out so similarly, seem to have been slaves to fate. Their destinies were foretold before or shortly after their births. Perdita's predicted return to Sicilia would not have been necessary if Leontes had never gone into his jealous rage and thrown his daughter out to die. Even Oedipus' self-fulfilling prophecy would have been useless if Laius had not acted on it. Both Perdita and Oedipus' futures were decided by the actions of their fathers. Are we, too, cursed by the actions of those who have come before us?

In a Winter's Tale, we read of the King of Bohemia, a sea-side, peaceful and relaxed country. Here there are sheep-shearing parties,babies abandoned in deserts, and bears that eat people. The king sails home when fleeing Sicilia. Ladies and gentlemen may I present to you, Bohemia, a land-locked country whose border's are defined by no less than four mountain ranges. Bohemia is now the western two-thirds of the Czech Republic, and there is no way anyone could have ever sailed to it. Also, no deserts. And while I can swallow the idea that there were bears here, a coast and a desert beside each other in a land-locked country just doesn't float my boat.

Another example of Shakespeare not being true to location is in Hamlet. I actually visited Denmark this last summer, and spent some time with a Danish family. So reading through Hamlet recently was a little bit of a different experience. The one thing I noticed the most on my trip, and my Danish friend made sure to point out to me, was the importance of family. Denmark is an extremely peaceful country, and their view on family relationships is pretty cool. Children are respected and looked to for opinions, elders are honored and obeyed. And I'm not just talking ideal, it's actually illegal for parents in Denmark to hit their children. But we can debate the effectiveness of spankings some other day. What startles me most about Hamlet is how such a violent and manipulative royal family is set in such a peaceful and friendly country. The Danes have a word, "hygge", which doesn't exist in any other language, and can't really be defined. Don't try to pronounce it either, you can't. But think of everything that reminds you of home, and warmth, and contentedness. I was on a Danish ranch over the summer, my hair was wet from a recent drizzle, we had just finished a "Danish barbeque", people were singing about the start of summer in a language I didn't need to understand, the sun was setting at 11pm, and I was happier than I had been in a long time. It just felt so right, this community I didn't know was so complete. I told my friend I could just stand staring at the fire and be happy for the rest of my life. She told me, "That's hyyge."

Now think about Hamlet. Chaos, lies, trickery. A man goes insane because his family is corrupted. No, Hamlet is definitely not Danish. He's just an English character Shakespeare implanted into a land that sounded distant and mysterious. I'm not saying nothing could ever be rotten in the state of Denmark (there's way too many fish for that..), but Hamlet is in no way a representation of Danish culture.

So why did Shakespeare do it? Why does he not seem to care that his settings don't match up with reality? Was it just that, that he simply didn't care? Do we, as a collective Shakespeare readership, enforce disregard for truth by letting him get away with it?

Just for fun, Hamlet's castle in LEGO.

Today's blog posting is going to be a little less about Shakespeare, and a little more about me... I know, gasp. How selfish of me.

So as we are getting more into this blogging business, a point that seems to keep coming up is finding an online identity. Blogs are interesting when you know who you are, know what you like, and are witty about sharing it. Right? But we aren't all born knowing the answers to these questions. Some people never figure out just who they are. I usually count myself as one of those. So the question is, how do I create an online identity, when my identity in reality is still up in the air? I don't have a major (it got the X about a week into this semester) and I don't have a single clue about what I am vaguely interested in. Inside my head there's this battle where on one shoulder is a little kid saying Hakuna Mutata, it means no worries. I can grow up to be anything in the world, as long as I believe. And on my other shoulder is a grumpy old lady telling me she's tired of working, just give up now, I'll never find anything I want to major in. Actually, she looks kinda like this:

But the point is, blogging Shakespeare related to something that interests me is actually kinda scary. Because what interests me is everything and nothing. And yet, as I was reflecting on my hopeless situation today I had a thought. A brilliant thought, if I do say so myself. If Shakespeare knew so much about the nature of humanity, he must have known about people like me, too. The world is full of indecisive people who are struggling to find themselves. And although they may not be the great protagonists of Shakespeare's plays, I am sure he included them somewhere. So that's what I'm here to do, look for me in Shakespeare. As we read through some of his great works this semester, I'll be on the lookout for the lost and confused, the people who are in the midst of self discovery. And who knows, maybe I'll discover a little bit of myself along the way. Hopefully it won't be the old, wrinkly part:)

FYI: The title is a Merchant of Venice quote