Comedy- The Taming of the Shrew FINISHED

Passage: Act 4, Scene 3-

KATHARINA
The more my wrong, the more his spite appears:

What, did he marry me to famish me?

Beggars, that come unto my father's door,

Upon entreaty have a present aims;

If not, elsewhere they meet with charity:

But I, who never knew how to entreat,

Nor never needed that I should entreat,

Am starved for meat, giddy for lack of sleep,

With oath kept waking and with brawling fed:

And that which spites me more than all these wants,

He does it under name of perfect love;

As who should say, if I should sleep or eat,

'Twere deadly sickness or else present death.

I prithee go and get me some repast;

I care not what, so it be wholesome food.

GRUMIO
What say you to a neat's foot?

KATHARINA
'Tis passing good: I prithee let me have it.

GRUMIO
I fear it is too choleric a meat. How say you to a fat tripe finely broil'd?

KATHARINA
I like it well: good Grumio, fetch it me.

GRUMIO
I cannot tell; I fear 'tis choleric.What say you to a piece of beef and mustard?

KATHARINA
A dish that I do love to feed upon.

GRUMIO
Ay, but the mustard is too hot a little.

KATHARINA
Why then, the beef, and let the mustard rest.

GRUMIO
Nay then, I will not: you shall have the mustard,
Or else you get no beef of Grumio.

KATHARINA
Then both, or one, or any thing thou wilt.

GRUMIO
Why then, the mustard without the beef.

KATHARINA
Go, get thee gone, thou false deluding slave,
Beats him
That feed'st me with the very name of meat:
Sorrow on thee and all the pack of you,
That triumph thus upon my misery!
Go, get thee gone, I say.

Enter PETRUCHIO and HORTENSIO with meat

PETRUCHIO
How fares my Kate? What, sweeting, all amort?

HORTENSIO
Mistress, what cheer?

KATHARINA
Faith, as cold as can be.

PETRUCHIO
Pluck up thy spirits; look cheerfully upon me.
Here love; thou see'st how diligent I am
To dress thy meat myself and bring it thee:
I am sure, sweet Kate, this kindness merits thanks.
What, not a word?
Nay, then thou lovest it not;
And all my pains is sorted to no proof.
Here, take away this dish.

KATHARINA
I pray you, let it stand.

PETRUCHIO
The poorest service is repaid with thanks;
And so shall mine, before you touch the meat.

KATHARINA
I thank you, sir.

HORTENSIO
Signior Petruchio, fie! you are to blame.
Come, mistress Kate, I'll bear you company.

This interaction between Grumio (the servant) and Kate illustrates the comedic nature of the play by presenting Grumio as a character who likes to provoke ridiculous arguments and Kate as a very atypical woman of this time period (a "shrew") who also displays some ridiculous behavior herself. The argument at hand here begins with Kate, never living a day of her life in poverty between growing up in the home of her wealthy father to now being courted the wealthy Petruchio, complaining how she was taken away from her wealthy home and married only to be starved by her new husband. In relation to the length of the act and the play itself, this back-and-forth argument (where the two reach no significant consensus) between Grumio and Kate over something as trivial as beef is very lengthy and gives the play a comic tone by showing the ludicrous behavior that is hardly ever displayed in this society by a rich woman such as Kate.

Commentary on the Genre of Comedy

Shakespearean comedies, while they are obviously of a totally different nature from tragedies and histories in which the entire play is presented on such a dark and depressing note, do not really fit the typical definition of "comedy" that we know today, which usually involves stories that provoke actual laughter and are often of a more outward, obviously funny nature than those written by Shakespeare. The element of Shakespearean comedy that definitely sets it apart most from the other genres is the far lighter mood and ending that does not involve the murder or suicide of every major character. Often the subject of comedy in these plays involves courtship, so the focus is on love rather than death. The plays also come with a lighthearted nature that is brought to the audience through ludicrous scenarios that simply offer an enjoyable story that does not provoke any extreme emotion or require any deep, serious thought.

Personal Reflection

I would absolutely consider the genre of comedy to be my favorite Shakespearean genre, with The Taming of the Shrew being my favorite play that we have read this year. When I found out that we were being assigned something written by Shakespeare that did not involve hundreds of pages of death, destruction, murder, suicide, bloody violence, and suicide, it brought me a huge sense of relief. The reason why I had a negative predisposition to Shakespeare when we first started reading the plays in class is because I had formerly only known the story lines of Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet, both of which I found to be annoyingly and unnecessarily repetitive in their horrific events that take place throughout the entire play, and both of them I found to have extremely disappointing endings. The Taming of the Shrew and A Midsummer Night's Dream, gave me a much-needed break from the tragedy I had known as Shakespeare and actually gave me something enjoyable to read. As for the story itself, I knew right away that I would enjoy the story because the first scene starts out with cross-dressing. Typically, I don't find cross-dressing to be particularly funny, but the fact that it was found in a play that was written in the 1500's I found hilarious. In addition, while I didn't find the actual concept of the "shrew" of a woman to be funny compared to the things in today's world that are funny, the fact that these sorts of things WERE a subject of comedy in Shakespeare's time made me approach it with the attitude that it would be a comedic and enjoyable story, and it helped me to appreciate the play much more.

History- Richard III FINISHED

I love the little chart for this book with the little cartoon people on it.

Passage- Act 1, Scene 4:

BRAKENBURY
Why looks your grace so heavily today?

CLARENCE
O, I have pass'd a miserable night,
So full of ugly sights, of ghastly dreams,
That, as I am a Christian faithful man,
I would not spend another such a night,
Though 'twere to buy a world of happy days,
So full of dismal terror was the time!

BRAKENBURY
What was your dream? I long to hear you tell it.

CLARENCE
Methoughts that I had broken from the Tower,
And was embark'd to cross to Burgundy;
And, in my company, my brother Gloucester;
Who from my cabin tempted me to walk
Upon the hatches: thence we looked toward England,
And cited up a thousand fearful times,
During the wars of York and Lancaster
That had befall'n us.
As we paced along
Upon the giddy footing of the hatches,
Methought that Gloucester stumbled; and, in falling,
Struck me, that thought to stay him, overboard,
Into the tumbling billows of the main.
Lord, Lord! methought, what pain it was to drown!
What dreadful noise of waters in mine ears!
What ugly sights of death within mine eyes!
Methought I saw a thousand fearful wrecks;
Ten thousand men that fishes gnaw'd upon;
Wedges of gold, great anchors, heaps of pearl,
Inestimable stones, unvalued jewels,
All scatter'd in the bottom of the sea:
Some lay in dead men's skulls; and, in those holes
Where eyes did once inhabit, there were crept,
As 'twere in scorn of eyes, reflecting gems,
Which woo'd the slimy bottom of the
deep,
And mock'd the dead bones that lay scatter'd by.

This passage foreshadows one of the most important events that takes place in the play: the drowning of Clarence after his brother Richard III (Gloucester) orders him killed. In the Tower of London, the same place where he is later murdered by order of his brother Richard III, Clarence (Richard's brother) describes a nightmare he had to the keeper of the tower. In this nightmare, Clarence dreams of escaping the tower and fleeing by ship with Richard, only to be betrayed by his own brother on the journey to France and thrown overboard to die. His conversation with the keeper of the tower shows the trust he has for his brother and the denial that Richard in fact wants him dead. He is refusing to listen to his subconscious that is warning him that he will soon be betrayed. Because of this denial of Richard's evil capabilities (since they seem far too horrible for anyone to believe), this passage contributes to the evil and horror that the audience sees in the character of Richard.

Commentary on the History Genre:

Unlike the fiction-based genres of tragedy and comedy in Shakespearean plays, histories are based on true events, which makes for a unique approach to reading them. Although there are many similarities between tragedies and comedies written by Shakespeare (the main characters almost always die, there is usually a "tragic hero" and clear sides of "good" and "evil," many characters are betrayed and brutally murdered, etc.), the major difference between the two is the way the plays end. With tragedies, the story often ends on a hopeless note, not leaving any room for closure or uplifting events since all the characters, heros included, have inevitably all met their untimely deaths by the end and leave nothing else to be said or done. Histories, contrarily, are based on real events, so the ending of the plays such as Richard III, although the main characters die in this play as well, still leave room to continue the story, as true history never has an "end."

Personal Reflection:

When comparing the Shakespearean plays in the tragedy genre to those in the history genre (namely Macbeth to Richard III), I strongly favored Richard III to Macbeth. While Macbeth to me seemed like nothing more than a predictable plot filled with certain death for every character involved, Richard III, because of its basis on actual English historical events, left a lot more at the end to consider. Even though I don't have a very broad knowledge of English history, knowing that the events that occurred in Richard III led to so many more stories to be told of different rulers, struggles for power, wars, etc. made it much easier for me to enjoy the play and stay focused on reading it. When reading Macbeth, I found it so difficult to pay attention to the play while reading it because, knowing the events were fictional, it seemed like it was extremely exaggerated and just overdone with the murder and death. Richard III on the other hand, was far more interesting to me since I knew it was based on actual events, giving me more to think about (fathoming how a real historical figure could have been as evil and corrupt as King Richard III).

Tragedy- Macbeth FINISHED

Passage: Act 1, Scene 5

The raven himself is hoarse
That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan
Under my battlements.
Come, you spirits
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,
And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full
Of direst cruelty! make thick my blood;
Stop up the access and passage to remorse,
That no compunctious visitings of nature
Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between
The effect and it!
Come to my woman's breasts,
And take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers,
Wherever in your sightless substances
You wait on nature's mischief!
Come, thick night,
And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell,
That my keen knife see not the wound it makes,
Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark,
To cry 'Hold, hold!'

This soliloquy by Lady Macbeth is perhaps one of the most recognized and important passages in the entire play. In this quote, she is calling upon the evil spirits to inhabit her body, to take away her nurturing and compassionate feminine features and transform her into a strong, powerful, ruthless character with the power to convince Macbeth to kill Duncan. It is central to the play's theme of gender role reversal. Because Macbeth is too compassionate and weak-willed to kill King Duncan, even if his own future as king depends on it, so Lady Macbeth must assume the responsibility of plotting and carrying out the plan to kill Duncan to ensure that the prophecy of the Three Witches will become reality and Macbeth will become king. Because Lady Macbeth comes up with this secret plan to have Duncan murdered, she and Macbeth eventually becomes obsessed with it and begin envisioning permanent blood on their hands and seeing ghosts. The significance of this quote is that it shows that the power of Lady Macbeth over the male characters in this novel ultimately contributes to the deaths of everyone involved, includingherself.

Commentary on the tragedy genre:

This Shakespearean genre is characterized by its plots that always involve every major character dying a horrible death by the end of the play. All Shakespeare's tragedies convey a central message that a character's actions cannot be changed or forgotten about; even if all the characters are dead by the end, the events leading up to their deaths will never change. Essentially, tragedies simply dramatize the inevitable reality of every human existence: no matter how rich, powerful, or heroic a person is, no one can escape the defeat of death. While certainly not all deaths in real life occur as they do in Shakespearean plays, through bloody battles, poisoning, or anything else of that horrific nature, the graphic and extreme presentation of the deaths of both heroes and villains definitely emphasize this central message of tragedies.

Personal Reflection:

Tragedies are by far my least favorite genre of Shakespeare plays. The major reason for this is that it is always known before the play even begins that somehow, every single character is going to die some horrible death, and no one will be left at the end to give the play any closure. The two tragic Shakespeare plays that I have read are Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth, and I found both (particularly Macbeth, since I had no knowledge of the plot prior to reading it) to be some of the hardest works of literature to get through reading, not because of the language or the complexity of the plot itself, but because I just found the events to be so ridiculous and repetitively terrible. In Macbeth, Macbeth is portayed as an evil murderer even though he really should have been considered a hero. Macduff should really be the character who leaves his legacy as the villain because he kills the "tragic hero." I found that the play, like most other tragedies, did not give any of the characters justice based on their roles throughout the course of the play, whether they were portrayed as good or evil.