Taming of the Shrew, Globe Theatre

On Monday in class we worked on one of our major assignments, the summaries of Le Morte D’Arthur. I worked on these and my journals for the majority of the day. This evening we had a class trip to see Taming of the Shrew at the Globe Theatre. On Tuesday in class we talked a bit about the differences between the 1967 film we saw in class and the play we saw at the Globe Theatre. Today is also our last class.

I really enjoyed having the experience to see Taming of the Shrew at the Globe Theatre in London last night. It actually really exceeded my expectations in so many ways. When we watched the film in class, I could not follow along at all. I felt it was boring and dry, and I have a hard time getting into older films like such –especially Shakespeare films. I was expecting the same exact film, except on stage, when I entered the Globe Theatre. However, when a drunk man dressed in England paraphernalia came stumbling on stage, and the cast members dressed him up as a lord while he was passed out in order to trick him into thinking he was a lord, I knew it would be a bit different than the film.

Like I mentioned, one of the main differences I saw between the 1967 film and the Globe Theatre play was the way the genre was presented. I don’t remember laughing once while watching the film in class. It was more to-the-point and less of a comedy, in my eyes. The play at the Globe Theatre was absolutely hilarious – Petruchio even shows up to his own wedding wearing a metal bowl on his head with a carrot inside for his “horse”, mismatched socks and boots, a vest with nothing under it, and pants that he ended up tearing off to reveal a man thong.

Of course, besides the introduction with the drunk English lord, the entire concept and story line was the same in both the film and the play. Once again, this Shakespeare play presented the double lives theme very well. I loved the entire performance, but I personally did not agree with Kate’s speech at the end. I thought she was too submissive to her husband and even appeared to be a weaker woman. Of course, I do think Shakespeare’s intent was to make the shrew as submissive s possible to make the point clear.

Amsterdam, Holland

On the 21^st, we watched the film The Taming of the Shrew in both classes. It was interested to watch this film after seeing Kiss Me Kate, which, like I said, is an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew. The film starred famous actress Elizabeth Taylor as Kate, the shrew, which I thought was funny because her husband was one of the co-directors and actors in the film. Biased? Perhaps. But she did do a great performance as the shrew.

After lunch and class, a group of us headed to Holland for the weekend! We took a bus to a train, to another train, to the ferry, to another train… Quite the journey! The ferry was nice because we departed around 9 PM and arrived early at 7 AM, so we slept in our cabins on the ferry. When we got to Amsterdam Friday morning, we got some lunch, looked around in the flower markets on the sides of the streets, and then went straight to Anne Frank’s house. I couldn’t believe I actually touched that famous bookcase that covered the secret door to the Frank and friends’ annex. The rooms had nothing in them, and were not allowed to be inhabited by anyone after Otto Frank made the house a historic place in the late 60’s. He did so to visually express the vacancy that the Holocaust left behind, one that cannot be mended. Later, we went out to dinner at an Argentinian grill.

On Saturday, we began our day by heading straight to the Van Gogh Museum. We stayed there for over 2 hours. I really enjoyed this museum because his work actually does interest me. I remember learning about Van Gogh’s late life in Art History my freshman year of college. Van Gogh began to “see red” and had absurd thoughts about death. His work would gradually begin to reflect that (Think, “Scream” and “Starry Night”). The museum also displayed various other artists’ work that had influenced Van Gogh in some way. I enjoyed the lithography because I did that in my honors art class in high school, and it was by far the most difficult thing to do! We ended up going to a few more museums, then ended the evening with a canal cruise through Amsterdam. Lovely weekend!

Sonnet 138 & Phantom of the Opera

Today in class we presented our Shakespeare sonnets. Ashley, Brittany, and I chose Sonnet 138 to analyze and prepare for the class. Sonnet 138 presents a man and and her mistress, and both of their hypocrisies. Certainly she is still very much the poet's mistress, but what is interesting is that the poet is under no illusions about her character, for example: "When my love swears that she is made of truth, I do believe her, though I know she lies." He accepts her lies without protest and expects nothing better of her. However, he too deceives his mistress with how young and simpleminded he presents himself to be. He is comforted knowing that the fact that he is no longer fooled by the woman's charade of fidelity to him and that she is no longer fooled by how young and simpleminded he presents himself to be.

In a relationship without affection or trust, the two lovers agree to a relationship based on mutual deception. Both agree never to voice the truth about just how much their relationship is built on unspoken truths, for example: "But wherefore says she not she is unjust? And wherefore say not I that I am old?"

The main theme of the concluding two lines is lust, but it is treated with a satirical sense of humor. The poet is content to support the woman's lies because he is flattered that she thinks he is young when he is not because, according to what we learned about Shakespeare, he is self-conscious about his age. On the other hand, he does not challenge her pledges of faithfulness, even though she knows that he is aware of her infidelity. Neither cares enough to unveil the other's faults. Ultimately the poet and the woman remain together for their physical relationship, and because they are obviously comfortable with each other's lying.

In the evening, Ashley, her mom, Claire, and I went to dinner in Leister Square then to see The Phantom of the Opera. This was by far one of the best things I have done on this trip because this has been my favorite play ever since I could remember it. I saw in once on Broadway when I was about 14, but to me it is one of those plays I could see 30 times and never get sick of it. It was great to see it in London, where the play was first cast. It was absolutely incredible and the entire audience was teary-eyed at the end.

Warwick Castle & Stratford

Today we had an excursion to the Warwick Castle and Stratford, England. I personally was very dissatisfied with our trip to Warwick Castle. We got to the castle, which was nice from the outside. When we got in I began to notice the age groups present in the castle. The only age groups I noticed were 6-8 year olds on school field trips, and 70-80 year olds in tourists groups. Our group stood out like a sore thumb. I actually did not learn a thing at the castle, and felt it honesty was a waste of time and money. Our time could have been better spent in Stratford for the entire day, or historic London. Warwick castle was so geared toward little kids that a few girls on our trip tried to go to the “Princess castle,” but when they got there they weren’t allowed in because it was for 8 year olds and under…

We then drove to Stratford, which was the pleasant town where Shakespeare lived. It was a really nice town, but we spent such a short time there that I felt like we were missing out on a lot that we could have seen and done. We did, however, visit the church where Shakespeare and his wife, Anne Hathaway, were buried. We also saw the site where his house used to stand. However, it was knocked down a few hundred years later when the owner was so distraught that people were coming into his yard and taking “memorabilia” from his yard (for example, clipping the flowers off his tree and taking wood off his house) because it somehow had some relation to Shakespeare. We also saw the school Shakespeare attended, as well as some of the well-known tudor houses.

Welsh Language

Today in class we talked about Wales. Dr. H showed us lots of Youtube videos on the Welsh language. The Welsh language is spoken in Wales, of course, and is also known as “Cambrian,” “Cambric,” or “Cymric.” About 22% of the population in Wales speaks the language, and of those speakers only about half consider themselves fluent. We watched an interesting brief documentary about the language. Many of the interviewees spoke about how the Welsh language is becoming not exactly extinct, but less prevalent and less widely used in Wales. It seems to be upsetting to many true Welsh people, as it is a reflection of their roots and true British identity that is different from other British identities.

In Shakespeare we worked on our Sonnets. We prepared a presentation for the class that we will present on Wednesday.

Weekend in Putney

This weekend I didn’t really do much because Ashley’s mom came to visit and she was spending the entire weekend with her, and Claire sleeps all day. So, I spent most of my weekend working on journals and doing summer planning for my sorority back home. It was great to have this down time because there is a lot to do over the summer that I can’t put off much longer.

In the evenings, Claire and I went to get dinner in Putney. We also stopped by Asda on Saturday to pick up some groceries for the rest of the week. It was a very quiet weekend.

The Importance of Being Earnest

Today in both of our classes we watched the film The Importance of Being Earnest.  This film was an adaptation of a play by famous Irish writer, Oscar Wilde. It presented two couples that were both engaged to each other and the problems that they faced because of the lack of honesty and then men living double lives. Based on the Shakespeare plays we have studied here in England, as well as having seen One Man, Two Guvnors, I have noticed that the concept of a double life or identity is widely used in British literature. It is predominantly known as a Shakespearean theme, because of how much Shakespeare used this theme in his plays.

I found The Importance of Being Earnest very comical. Oscar Wilde intended for this play to be a satire of the lives of very wealthy Victorian people. It could perhaps work with people across all socioeconomic statuses, but I find that it works best with the wealthy. It seems that their problems are so petty, as they do not face daunting problems like the lack of food, money, shelter, and healthcare. These characters in The Importance of Being Earnest find their greatest struggles being that they do not fancy the names of their husbands, etc.