Viola: Then think you right. I am not what I am.
Olivia: I would you were as I would have you be. (III.i. 148-9)
Viola is agreeing with Olivia, but not in the same way. Viola means that she is not the man (literally) that Olivia thinks she is. Olivia means that he/she is hiding something from her.
Olivia then saids that since she loves him she would have him be whatever she wanted him to be so that they could be together. She wishes that he would feel the same way about her as she does about him but no luck for her!
People in general tend to hope that they can change a person who they love into what they want them to be. Shakespeare recognized this common human characteristic and chose to incorporate it into this scene, which in my opinion, makes these lines very relatble.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Shakespeare at 3am...
Malvolio: ...and yet to crush it a little, it would bow to me... (II.v.143-145)
Malvolio muct change the MOAI to MAOI in the "letter" that "olivia leaves for him". He basically needs to bend the letter to his will to make it actually fit him therefore making him Olivia's love. Because he wants Olivia so badly he overlooks and ignore reality and tries to bend situations and read into things more than he needs to
I also think that this statement could be applied to Toby Belch and Sir Andrew. Malvolio cannot stand either of them and if he were to marry Olivia, he would be of a higher status and therefore be in charge of them instead of vice versa. He would be able to crush them a little so that they would bow to him.
Malvolio muct change the MOAI to MAOI in the "letter" that "olivia leaves for him". He basically needs to bend the letter to his will to make it actually fit him therefore making him Olivia's love. Because he wants Olivia so badly he overlooks and ignore reality and tries to bend situations and read into things more than he needs to
I also think that this statement could be applied to Toby Belch and Sir Andrew. Malvolio cannot stand either of them and if he were to marry Olivia, he would be of a higher status and therefore be in charge of them instead of vice versa. He would be able to crush them a little so that they would bow to him.
alot of shakespear
Viola: I am the man (II.ii.25)
Viola is "the man" that Olivia is looking for. However, she is not a man. THrought the scene she constantly referes to and asserts herself as a man, yet being a man prevents her from getting what she wants most in life....a man!
I think this sort of can be scene as Shakespeare using the phrase "I am the man" to symbolize all of the "doubleness" going on Viola's life. She is the man but she is also the woman. She desires love (Duke Orsino's) but denies love (to Olivia). She is a confidant and yet betrays. She basically has wayyy tooo much stuff going on at once in her life.
Viola is "the man" that Olivia is looking for. However, she is not a man. THrought the scene she constantly referes to and asserts herself as a man, yet being a man prevents her from getting what she wants most in life....a man!
I think this sort of can be scene as Shakespeare using the phrase "I am the man" to symbolize all of the "doubleness" going on Viola's life. She is the man but she is also the woman. She desires love (Duke Orsino's) but denies love (to Olivia). She is a confidant and yet betrays. She basically has wayyy tooo much stuff going on at once in her life.
What thematic strands have you located?
Heart-Love-Longing-Desire-Survival-Hart-stag-hunt-chase-capture-keep-
Where is the data you retrieved found? What is happening in context when Shakespeare employs this particular theme or image?
Act I, Scene 1- Duke Orsino
Act I, Scene 3- Sir Andrew (2x)
Act I, Scene 5- Viola (4x)
Act II, Scene 5- Malvolio
Act III, Scene 1- Olivia (2x) Viola (1x)
Act III, Scene 2- Fabian
Act III, Scene 4- Maria, Olivia
Act IV, Scene 1- Olivia
Act V, Scene 1- Duke Orsino
The use of Hart
Act 1, Scene 1- Curio and Duke Orsino
- Most of the time when the word heart is used it is a sad situation. Usually one person is longing for the love/affection (heart) of someone from whom they cannot have it. All of the characters of Twelfth Night are in love with, or have given their heart away, to someone who does not feel the same way about them. The word heart is also used in the context of a chase or a thing that must be tamed also.
- When the word Hart is used it is used as a play on words. Duke Orsino says that he has been turned into a hart. What he means by that is that he has been turned into a heart, or love sick person. He then goes on to say that his desires pursue him. Comparing his love sick state to that of Hart trying to escape hounds his how Shakespeare chooses to metaphorically describe Orsino’s state.
How does the data you retrieved support your first thoughts on Shakespeare’s obsessive use of a particular image? What can you argue about Shakespeare’s figuration?
In most of Shakespeare’s plays affairs of the heart are never easily managed/resolved. He is fairly consistent in making the heart (or love) something that is often sought after but rarely returned by the person who is originally being sought. Instead by the end of the play each character (almost all of whom have displaced hearts) find someone else to be the recipient of his or her love.
Heart-Love-Longing-Desire-Survival-Hart-stag-hunt-chase-capture-keep-
Where is the data you retrieved found? What is happening in context when Shakespeare employs this particular theme or image?
Act I, Scene 1- Duke Orsino
Act I, Scene 3- Sir Andrew (2x)
Act I, Scene 5- Viola (4x)
Act II, Scene 5- Malvolio
Act III, Scene 1- Olivia (2x) Viola (1x)
Act III, Scene 2- Fabian
Act III, Scene 4- Maria, Olivia
Act IV, Scene 1- Olivia
Act V, Scene 1- Duke Orsino
The use of Hart
Act 1, Scene 1- Curio and Duke Orsino
- Most of the time when the word heart is used it is a sad situation. Usually one person is longing for the love/affection (heart) of someone from whom they cannot have it. All of the characters of Twelfth Night are in love with, or have given their heart away, to someone who does not feel the same way about them. The word heart is also used in the context of a chase or a thing that must be tamed also.
- When the word Hart is used it is used as a play on words. Duke Orsino says that he has been turned into a hart. What he means by that is that he has been turned into a heart, or love sick person. He then goes on to say that his desires pursue him. Comparing his love sick state to that of Hart trying to escape hounds his how Shakespeare chooses to metaphorically describe Orsino’s state.
How does the data you retrieved support your first thoughts on Shakespeare’s obsessive use of a particular image? What can you argue about Shakespeare’s figuration?
In most of Shakespeare’s plays affairs of the heart are never easily managed/resolved. He is fairly consistent in making the heart (or love) something that is often sought after but rarely returned by the person who is originally being sought. Instead by the end of the play each character (almost all of whom have displaced hearts) find someone else to be the recipient of his or her love.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
New post
First off i would like to say that strep throat sucks and the wellness center at hofstra has new clue as to what is giong on in the world.
With that said, onto the real assignment.
we were asked to use this concordance thing to look up words and see how they were used in twelfth night. I chose three words (light, love and youth) but youth came up as the most interesting to me. Actually there was one line in which Orsino tells Cesario (viola) that a woman should marry someone older than herself so that they will be matched emotionally.
I am not sure if there is a direct correlation between that concept and youth but whatever it made me think of the word youth so i looked up.
Unless someone was being addressed as a youth in the play, youth was usually linked with positive connotations.
"OLIVIA Your lord does know my mind; I cannot love him:
Yet I suppose him virtuous, know him noble,
Of great estate, of fresh and stainless youth;"
I am pretty sure that one of the reasons that Olivia loves Cesario so much is because of his youth and the fact that he is 'fresh and pure and virtuous'.
With that said, onto the real assignment.
we were asked to use this concordance thing to look up words and see how they were used in twelfth night. I chose three words (light, love and youth) but youth came up as the most interesting to me. Actually there was one line in which Orsino tells Cesario (viola) that a woman should marry someone older than herself so that they will be matched emotionally.
I am not sure if there is a direct correlation between that concept and youth but whatever it made me think of the word youth so i looked up.
Unless someone was being addressed as a youth in the play, youth was usually linked with positive connotations.
"OLIVIA Your lord does know my mind; I cannot love him:
Yet I suppose him virtuous, know him noble,
Of great estate, of fresh and stainless youth;"
I am pretty sure that one of the reasons that Olivia loves Cesario so much is because of his youth and the fact that he is 'fresh and pure and virtuous'.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Twelfth Night questions
1. Why is Orsino so chummy with Cesario? This guy a) use to be a girl and b) just popped out of nowhere only 3 days prior.
2. Just for clarification? Did both Olivia and Viola's brothers die?
3. Is her brother really even dead.. it seems like she is assuming that he is dead even thoug it has yet to be confirmed.
4. Why does Orsino think that Cesario will prove to be so useful in helping him get Olivia?
5. Is there any reason besides his age and social standing that Olivia is refusing to marry Orsino?
6. I don't know if i am just thinking into this too much but is malvolio a bad person (usually mal as a prefix of a word means bad) i know thta sometimes shakespeare did symbolic naming such as this?
2. Just for clarification? Did both Olivia and Viola's brothers die?
3. Is her brother really even dead.. it seems like she is assuming that he is dead even thoug it has yet to be confirmed.
4. Why does Orsino think that Cesario will prove to be so useful in helping him get Olivia?
5. Is there any reason besides his age and social standing that Olivia is refusing to marry Orsino?
6. I don't know if i am just thinking into this too much but is malvolio a bad person (usually mal as a prefix of a word means bad) i know thta sometimes shakespeare did symbolic naming such as this?
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Virtual Iraq
Soldiers kill people. That is essentially what they are enlisted to do. To spend any amount of time in an occupation that possesses such a purposefully violent objective would eventually cause a person to become completely out of touch with reality. In Virtual Iraq, editor Sue Halpern, presents to readers a small recap of the harsh realities of war through her subject Travis Boyd. Boyd, who had been involved in two tours of duty in Iraq found himself unable to assimilate back into normal American society when he returned home. Halpner explains that, “he was haunted by memories of Iraq. He couldn’t sleep. His mind raced. He was edgy, guilt-racked, depressed. He could barely do his job”. What Boyd was suffering from was a typical case of P.T.S.D. (post-traumatic stress disorder) that was taking over (and taking away from him) his post-Iraq life.
One of my sister’s girlfriends was an ex-Iraq veteran and I recall one time when she came to our house for thanksgiving shortly after arriving back at home, she clearly was not the same person she was when she left. She was silent, yet clearly irritated by all the commotion going on in the house and seemed to always be scanning the room as if in search of something or someone.
The Virtual Iraq program discusses in this piece might indeed prove to be an excellent way to get armed service veterans to confront and cope with their Iraq experiences and eventually help them to move on and lead normal lives. By engaging in a game, “in which patients work through their trauma in a computer-simulated environment”, many veterans, such as my sisters girlfriend, might be able to open deal with issues that they feel normal US civilians cannot understand or relate to.
Halpern portrays the feelings of many veterans when quoting Paul Rieckhoff , “I’m not someone who responds to sitting with some guy, talking about my whole life”. Maybe this game will give veterans, or soldiers in between duties, a chance to deal with their Iraq experience on their own terms. Besides, as Rieckhoff puts it, “we’re a video game generation, It’s what we grew up on.”
One of my sister’s girlfriends was an ex-Iraq veteran and I recall one time when she came to our house for thanksgiving shortly after arriving back at home, she clearly was not the same person she was when she left. She was silent, yet clearly irritated by all the commotion going on in the house and seemed to always be scanning the room as if in search of something or someone.
The Virtual Iraq program discusses in this piece might indeed prove to be an excellent way to get armed service veterans to confront and cope with their Iraq experiences and eventually help them to move on and lead normal lives. By engaging in a game, “in which patients work through their trauma in a computer-simulated environment”, many veterans, such as my sisters girlfriend, might be able to open deal with issues that they feel normal US civilians cannot understand or relate to.
Halpern portrays the feelings of many veterans when quoting Paul Rieckhoff , “I’m not someone who responds to sitting with some guy, talking about my whole life”. Maybe this game will give veterans, or soldiers in between duties, a chance to deal with their Iraq experience on their own terms. Besides, as Rieckhoff puts it, “we’re a video game generation, It’s what we grew up on.”
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