Washburn Shakespeare (Spring 2019)

    Dr. Whitney Sperrazz a’s lecture on the ignored female writers under Shakespeare’s shadow was really inspiring, as it reminded me of the invisible female writers throughout Chinese history. At first, she asked us to name a few women writers in Shakespearean time, and I found it interesting that many of us didn’t have an answer. After the lecture, as I reflected on my literary education in the last 15 years, I found that I could also rarely name any female writers in Chinese history. The only names I knew was Cai Wenji who could write beautiful essays in late Han Dynasty, and another female poet, Qingzhao Li who lived in Song Dynasty. It was weird to have only two famous female writers in two thousand years of civilization. Also, like Shakespeare’s works, the works of important male writers in ancient China were also collected, sorted and revised over and over again, therefore having easier access than those female writers.     It is interesting to find out how gender inequali

When I first started this class I have a vague understanding of who Shakespeare was. I had read Romeo and Juliet  in high school, studied his sonnets in my second year of college, and had otherwise ignored him until beginning this course. I knew the basics: he was a writer, part of the common core, was not always well received, and could be problematic at times. The last part is what got me interested. While I didn’t enjoy all the plays that we read, I gained a deeper understanding on how they connected to issues we as a society are dealing with today. Primarily the issues with sexuality/consent, gender, and racial biases.  While these issues were occurring hundreds of years ago, they’ve continued to be a constant issue even today. Measure for Measure, Merchant of Venice, and Othello are prime examples of this, and I believe that until we solve these issues that remain to run rampant, Shakespeare should still be taught for people to realize that there is a problem.  It’s easy to jus

After our end of class discussion,I was think about all the places Shakespeare pops up. I think you could study Shakespeare for years and still not be an expert. I think that says a lot about just how complex he and his works are. While every author leaves some kind of footprint, Shakespeare's is just so massive. I found a lot of intriguing quotes within quotes. When working on my commonplace book and reading Shakespeare it was amazing to me how much insight was in every single line. It seemed like underneath the plot in even the casual dialogue was even more text which I felt offered meaning. I think the plays themselves show much larger problems, the little lines here and there throughout the play offer even more insight into the day to day hardships of being human. When I started taking the class I guess I just didn't realize quite how large of a span of issues that are brought up in his plays. I've also noticed a lot more Shakespeare references this semester,more than I

I’m going to start this off with if my loved one was a statue I wouldn’t complain that they look older instead of being happy. The King’s reaction of “oh there’s my wife, why does she look 16 years older” is ridiculous. First off, she’s been gone 16 years. Do you expect time to not pass? I’d be more apt to be upset at the statue maker for taking so long to make the statue! I didn’t expect his wife to come back, but after the statue had shown the age and passing of time, I thought just maybe this would be a happy ending (and while there was) I’m still having a big “What the hell” reaction to it just with how the king reacted. I enjoyed the play (don’t get me wrong) but was disappointed in the King nearly the entire time. I know we don’t know everything that has transpired between all of the characters but I still found myself siding with Hermione. Even IF she had done wrong, she was treated terribly before judgement had even passed (no time after having her child and zero time for rec

So this was originally  going to be about 'Fool' by Christopher Moore and the Star Wars quote would just be a silly pun. But then I forgot and the book was due. Either way, I hear it's a good book. Like good enough that someone - a librarian no less - recommended it to me on two separate occasions with over a year in between the instances so you know the second wasn't just a follow-up. But again, didn't get around to reading more than a couple pages. So let's talk about Star Wars instead.  Or rather, instead of talking about looking at Shakespeare through different words and different characters taking the spotlight, let's look at other franchise through a Shakespearean lens. And Star Wars just so happens to be perfect for that, since most of the movies have been rewritten as if they were Shakespearean plays .  Pretty cool, right?  And I'm well aware there's plenty of nay-sayers out there, complaining about the quality of the translation

There is no denying A Winter's Tale is full of contrasting ideas. As weird as this play was, I thought it was kind of poetic that all of these different tones, emotions, and symbols were woven in together to create this tragedy/romance.  The Winter's Tale is a coin, with two sides of the same settings, tones, and characters. The following are some of my observations on these apparent opposites: The first half of the play is set in a cold, harsh, and condemning tone.  Sicilia is depicted as being not a happy place, and its king is paranoid to the max.  All we see of Sicilia in the play is the castle/stronghold that is home to the royals, and a court room.  Castles are traditionally cold and dark due to being created out of stone, and of course the court room in the play is the site of the condemnation of an apparently innocent woman (Hermione) and the sentencing of a little baby to exile.  If that isn't cold, I don't know what is.  On the other hand, the second half