News about Shakespeare

Can he be the the Johnny Depp of the 16th Century?


Photograph courtesy of Telegraph.co.uk

How would you feel if the assumed image of Shakespeare that you have in your head might not be the actual image? On the 18th march 2009, a new portrait of Shakespeare was revealed to the public with much fan fare. Suddenly the image of Shakespeare is as exciting and intriguing as some of the plays he have written. See the news here:

Do you think that just how Shakespeare really looks will have any impact on how readers approach his works?

Hot Stuff Part A- Complete

With the previous blog post in mind, watch the provided video and see if the clip is in sync with what you had in mind. Why or why not?

Hot Stuff Part A

DESDEMONA
[Singing] The poor soul sat sighing by a sycamore tree,
Sing all a green willow:
Her hand on her bosom, her head on her knee,
Sing willow, willow, willow:
The fresh streams ran by her, and murmur'd her moans;
Sing willow, willow, willow;
Her salt tears fell from her, and soften'd the stones;
Lay by these:--

Singing

Sing willow, willow, willow;
Prithee, hie thee; he'll come anon:--


Read the above excerpt and think of what come to mind? Can you visualize how the scene will be like and how the melody of the song will sound like? What imagery comes to mind with the use of the word "willow"

Something to think about

For students who are going to research on the contemporary audience and the audience of the past, the above video is something that might help you guys get started. The video shows a set of contemporary audience, what you guys can keep in mind is what type of audience is the RSC catering to?

Reminder

Students, a word of reminder, please post on the comment box instead of the The Red Room chatbox in case the chat box does not register your comments.

Second blog post.

Task for student


The second group of student will be in charge of researching on one socio-historical factor that came into play during Shakespeare's Othello. Please look at

Firstly: List some of the socio-historical factors that is relevant during Shakespeare's times.

Secondly: Select one socio-historical factor and discuss just how it played an important role in relation to one theme in the play.

Do not panic if you think that you don't know what are the themes in Othello since you have not gone through it yet. Here are some themes that you can look at. Please do not plagiarise or use only resources provided in this site. The idea is to engage you guys in critical thinking and not wholesale copying.

First Literature Blog Post

Welcome to the first Literature blog post! I'm really excited and happy that you are checking out the literature blog. Firstly I hope that we'll all start afresh and not look at literature or remember literature of our past experiences. That is I do not want us to remember the droning of our teacher's voice at the back our head with our minds a wandering when the teacher is going through Julius Caesar. . .

Starting afresh means allowing ourselves a chance to learn and look at things from a new vantage point and one of the class project that you guys will be involved in would be just how similar or different the audiences of Shakespeare's time and the modern audience are. Please pay particular attention to the performances venue of then then and now and what is the social class of the audiences.

Task for Student: One group of students will take charge of researching on the difference between audiences of the past and the present. The focus should be on the audiences who attended Shakespearean plays and nothing else. There is so much one can talk about the audience and in order for easier research purposes I want the students doing this particular research to

Firstly: Pay attention to the various classes of audiences, discuss which social class make up the bulk of the theater-goers and why?
Please keep in mind that I hope to see a compare and contrast between audiences of the past (Shakespearean) and present.

Secondly: What is different about the venues that the plays were staged in, in relation to the theaters of old and the modern.

Write a short review of what have you learned from your research and why do you think this would be relevant to a budding stage director. Please keep it short and succinct, with a maximum of only 3 paragraphs.