So, this week in AP Lit. we discussed even more in depth about Shakespeare. We reviewed another one of his sonnets, Sonnet 130 "My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun" which kind of rubbed me the wrong way at first. Initially, I found the sonnet to be rude and demeaning as he line by line criticizes and draws attention to every imperfection of her outward appearance. However, as I continued to read, I discovered that the poem was meant to be ironic. These negative things he explains about her are not blatantly stated describing her as ugly. The speaker does not specify what these short-comings mean. He says, "if hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head" (4) not "if hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head and therefore she is not good enough for me". Woman tend to be very critical of their appearance too, so these statements could very well be the speaker's way of mocking his mistress' unrealistic ideas of beauty. His mistress sees other women by "false compare" (14), and fails to see that she is blinded by her insecurities and is comparing herself to the image of a "goddess" (11) which does not exist. So, after explicating the poem, I was less irritated by the speaker's statements. It was an interesting take on expressing one's love and what other's find beautiful, and I found this poem to be much more insightful than I originally thought it would be.
We also began watching King Lear this week (only about the first twenty minutes) and somewhat revisited our critical theories. My group decided to change our critical theory because a few other groups had the same exact theory as us; we thought as a group it would be more beneficial for the entire class if we found a different topic to focus our attention on so that when we present, we can cover more of the topic and therefore our classmates will be learning new ideas and perspectives as opposed to the ones that they have somewhat already heard. Anyway, I am pretty excited to really get this project rolling because explicating Shakespeare's poems is actually really fun. There are so many underlying messages and hidden meanings in his plays, there is an endless possibility to the themes he is trying to subtly draw attention to.
I have also heard from many students who chose to do their group project on Macbeth. I have heard that watching it is very different than watching King Lear. Macbeth is filmed in a modern-day setting apparently while King Lear is not that way at all. I find it would be really interesting to see each film in a modern-day version and in a time period conducive with the actual play. I remember the first time I saw the more recent Romeo and Juliet with Leonardo DiCaprio (only real reason I wanted to watch it), and I understood the connections but it was so weird! It made me appreciate the original and the language used by Shakespeare that much more, and it really reinforced the idea that many times the modern remakes of classics do not do the classics justice. In watching both, I discovered a greater appreciation for the original Romeo and Juliet.
We also began watching King Lear this week (only about the first twenty minutes) and somewhat revisited our critical theories. My group decided to change our critical theory because a few other groups had the same exact theory as us; we thought as a group it would be more beneficial for the entire class if we found a different topic to focus our attention on so that when we present, we can cover more of the topic and therefore our classmates will be learning new ideas and perspectives as opposed to the ones that they have somewhat already heard. Anyway, I am pretty excited to really get this project rolling because explicating Shakespeare's poems is actually really fun. There are so many underlying messages and hidden meanings in his plays, there is an endless possibility to the themes he is trying to subtly draw attention to.
I have also heard from many students who chose to do their group project on Macbeth. I have heard that watching it is very different than watching King Lear. Macbeth is filmed in a modern-day setting apparently while King Lear is not that way at all. I find it would be really interesting to see each film in a modern-day version and in a time period conducive with the actual play. I remember the first time I saw the more recent Romeo and Juliet with Leonardo DiCaprio (only real reason I wanted to watch it), and I understood the connections but it was so weird! It made me appreciate the original and the language used by Shakespeare that much more, and it really reinforced the idea that many times the modern remakes of classics do not do the classics justice. In watching both, I discovered a greater appreciation for the original Romeo and Juliet.