If We Shadows Have Offended | Shakespeare Birthday Event

By -

Yo I don't have time to go to any of these events WUMester events so let's-a talk birthday parties. Particularly our man Shakespeare's and how our lovely guest speaker talked about people other than Shakespeare. No sarcasm there, it was great. A bit typical in this day and age of subverting all expectations, but that's fine. 

And I guess I could be talking about the fey while I'm at it. That seems to be a running theme with my posts. But hey, it works, right? Right? Let's just pretend it does. 

Whitney Sperrazza's talk on Archival Absence reminded me a bit of the ending of a Midsummer Night's Dream - and not just because I was half focussed on making sure I still had it memorized. If we shadows have offended, think but this and all is mended - that you have but slumbered here while these visions did appear. It's an interesting line, with Puck encouraging the audience to not take the events of the play with a grain of salt. 

If you're offended by it, simply forget about it, pretend it's nothing but a dream. One has to wonder if that played a part in the archival absence we see today. We see hints of it in more modern media. If I remember correctly, there's a scene in Wonder Woman in which a whole room of men were completely ignoring the title character until she revealed that she could read whatever language they were struggling with (apologies for being vague, it's been a minute). Parents tell their kids not to dress or carry themselves in ways that draw attention to themselves, in hopes that if a boogeyman is out there, they'll grab the next person. And while some use this lack of presence as a defense mechanism, we've also seen a plethora of examples of how diminishing the importance of an event is more counterproductive. Older folk like to use the line of 'Back in my day, ____ wasn't a problem.' 

Sorry, not sorry, Joe, it absolutely was a problem, you just didn't hear about it. 





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Where are the female writers?

By -
    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...
Read more

A Winter's Tale of Conflict and Contrast

By -
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...
Read more

Celebrity Deathmatch: Early Modern Edition

By James -
Do we all remember the Claymation spectacle "Celebrity Deathmatch" from the turn of the last century? The irreverent show featured clay models of celebrities engaging in ridiculous battles to the death. I’m going to consider some match-ups from each play we discussed this semester, and how they might proceed… Henry v. Catherine: Henry bears an awkward display of limp swords and a moderate understanding of French. Catherine wears a billowing, layered white gown that allows her to hover, and, when cornered, spouts a waterfall of French insults. Catherine is insulted by Henry’s limp attacks and reaches her final Limit Break, “Je Ne Sais Pas Ca” (“I don’t know that”), which puts Henry in a state of Confusion. Then, Catherine floats away and the judges awkwardly declare Henry the de facto winner. Antonio v. Portia: Bassanio enters the ring after the bell and both Antonio and Portia seem to be competing to protect Bassanio. Jeers from the crowd toward Antonio get louder...
Read more