First off, I really enjoyed reading and seeing "The Tempest". I was disappointed that I missed the actual tempest part of the play, because of traffic, but what I did see of the play done up in Salt Lake City, I loved. I thought all of the actors did a great job, especially Caliban and Prospero. I enjoyed the youthful couple so much more than those who played in "The Winter's Tale". In general they seemed much more comfortable with each other, and it seemed more plausible that they could be in love then Perdita and her beau seemed on stage.
Something I found strange and what made me a little uncomfortable was the weird longing/love I sensed between Prospero and Ariel's characters. Especially the part when Ariel asks Prospero if he loves her. I guess when I read the play I didn't read it in a love-love sort of way, but in a friendly-love sort of way. Did anyone else feel that vibe, or was it just me?
Mid-Term Self Assessment:
1. How have I gained Shakespeare literacy?:
I have gained literacy by simply reading more of his plays and being able to talk about them with other people, who also read them, who have some genuine interest in them, and who come from different backgrounds and have different opinions about things than I do. Just being able to talk in depth about the plays we've read in class makes each play after easier and easier for me to comprehend because I'm looking for similar elements (themes, character traits, character relationships, language used, etc.) in Shakespeare's plays and because I was guided fairly heavily though one before I read others, I'm able to pick up on those things later, by myself before class discussions.
2. How have I analyzed Shakespeare critically?:
I feel like the times I felt most analytically critical of Shakespeare was after seeing productions of his plays, whether on stage or on screen. It's easier to understand Shakespeare when it's being put on, like it was meant to be. It's better for me to make a judgment call on something that happens in the play when I see the characters in the midst of it all. Shakespeare was writing about people and their strengths and weaknesses and how they reacted to certain things. Being an Anthropology major, and constantly studying society myself, I've found Shakespeare's portrayal of people very curious and mostly true to form.
3. How have I engaged Shakespeare creatively?:
At the beginning of this blog I had great fun trying to tie in what I was learning in my anthropology classes to what I was learning in my Shakespeare class. As the semester went on it wasn't always possible for me to do things exactly the same as I had at the start due to specific things we were asked to do and include. But I think I enjoyed my first, although usually smaller, posts more than the later ones.
4. How have I shared Shakespeare meaningfully?:
Naturally I've shared my opinions on Shakespeare with my group in class, which I find has been the easiest of my sharing experiences and I've gotten the most out of it. I've talked to my husband and co-workers about what I've been learning, but it's not as rewarding to try and share with someone when they have little interest (like my co-workers) or haven't read the same plays (my husband). After watching "Taming of the Shrew" with my husband though, we did have a nice discussion on dominance and submissiveness in our relationship and in general.
Self Directed Learning:
This semester has been very busy for me, but I've always made sure that I've read every play for this class, even if that means listening to it via audio book at work because that's the only "free time" I have to do so. This was my "fun class" for the semester and I really want to get as much out of it as I could. At the beginning of the semester I'd look up a summary of the play first so I wouldn't be lost, but after "The Winter's Tale" I would try reading the play before I looked up a summary to test my comprehension skills. I liked sharing my ideas with my group to see how far off I seemed compared to them on how I interpreted the plays. I tried to keep as consistent as I could with my blogging to put down my ideas, although I was a little late one some of them, because I felt it determined how well I felt I knew what I thought I knew.
Collaborative and Social Learning:
I usually hate working in groups and was worried about it at the start of the semester because it doesn't always work out so nicely. This class was an exception though. I have really enjoyed communicating my thoughts with my group and I feel like they all have something to contribute to it. Everyone has been really helpful in contributing to conversations in class and online. Sometimes it's interesting to discuss things we have different opinions about (like morals or even an interpretation of a line in the text). Everyone is really polite about their different views when they do come up, which makes things a bit easier to share them the next time they come up. I often connect things that I read in my anthropology classes and situations in my life and the life of my friends and co-workers to Shakespeare and how he depicts similar situations.
Future:
My plans to accomplish the final outcomes for this semester are to help with the one act of "Love's Labor's Lost" for the performance, memorization and final project aspect. I'm still planning on writing a modern "Taming of the Shrew" for NaNoWriMo for the imitation.
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