Final Thoughts

As the semester comes to a close, I cannot help but recognize how much I appreciated this class.  In a semester of hectic schedules and excessive amounts of work, Shakespeare gave me peace.  In his work, I could remember why I love the English language and literature.  During the times I was stressed by unit plans, and wishing teaching was not so difficult, I was reminded why I will teach.  Literature reflects our world, our lives, our hopes and dreams.  Shakespeare captures this perfectly.  This I will teach to my students; this class helped me keep my real goals in mind.  We began with a dream, and though we technically ended with an illusion, this semester ends in a dream for me as well.  With only one year left, I am faced with nearing the opportunity to achieve my dream of becoming a teacher.  I am also faced with the reality of leaving young adulthood behind.  These years have been wonderful and dreamlike, full of strange and amazing experiences.  I have one year left upon this particular stage, and I intend to make it epic.

Memorization

Oh memorizing.  For the second spring in a row, I've found myself faced with the task of memorizing a long passage and presenting it for Dr. Sexson.  Last year it was Kubla Khan.  This year, a speech from Henry V. Both memorizations have been enjoyable, albeit taxing, work.  Unfortunately, my brain tends to glitch when I have to actually perform these recitations in front of people.  As a result, I am afraid I did not quite do my Shakespeare passage the justice it deserves.  The piece is a moving, and powerful call to battle.  I have no experience with war, nor that passionate drive to sacrifice myself for my country.  Nonetheless, I was enthralled and empowered by this speech.  I find this passage appropriate given the recent events in Boston.  We, as a nation, are good about coming together in times of need and fighting for our beliefs and country.  This reflects what Henry says in his speech.  I ask you all to take a moment now to peruse this passage.  Let it instill in you a love for country, and passion for battle no matter the odds.  We will persevere.

If we are mark'd to die, we are enow
    To do our country loss; and if to live,
    The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
    God's will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.
    By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,
    Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;
    It yearns me not if men my garments wear;
    Such outward things dwell not in my desires.
    But if it be a sin to covet honour,
    I am the most offending soul alive.
    No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England.
    God's peace! I would not lose so great an honour
    As one man more methinks would share from me
    For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!
    Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,
    That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
    Let him depart; his passport shall be made,
    And crowns for convoy put into his purse;
    We would not die in that man's company
    That fears his fellowship to die with us.
    This day is call'd the feast of Crispian.
    He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
    Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd,
    And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
    He that shall live this day, and see old age,
    Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
    And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian.'
    Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
    And say 'These wounds I had on Crispian's day.'
    Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
    But he'll remember, with advantages,
    What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
    Familiar in his mouth as household words-
    Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,
    Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester-
    Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb'red.
    This story shall the good man teach his son;
    And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
    From this day to the ending of the world,
    But we in it shall be remembered-
    We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
    For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
    Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
    This day shall gentle his condition;
    And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
    Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
    And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
    That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

 

The Words of Frederick Turner

Like you all, I spent a valuable hour of my time this evening in attendance at the Turner event.  I had no idea what to expect, and found myself presently surprised!  While not a major fan of poetry readings, I quite enjoyed Turner's work, and his reading voice even more so.  Like Nicole, I would likely buy anything this man recorded for books on tape.  He reads with marvelous inflections and power, making his written word truly come to life for the listener.

One line of poetry in particular stood out to me tonight.  I do not remember which poem it was in, but the line went like this "We are given being by our own eradication."  To me, this line reflects Shakespeare's thoughts about our hour upon the stage.  We all know we will someday die; each of us is heading for our own eradication.  There is no escape.  As a result, we are stirred to action upon our stage.  To do what we can, and make what we can of ourselves, within the short time we have been given to perform.  Thus, we are given being.  We create souls, develop them, shape them, by our actions and speakings upon this world stage.  Maybe we create these beings in a hope of finding some sense of immortality, hoping our souls will live on in some afterlife once our time is up.  Maybe we search for immortality through our actions: to be remembered for what we have accomplished, or great things we have said.  Regardless of our goals, every thing we do stems from the knowledge that we will someday no longer be able to do anything at all.  We will physically return to dust, re-entering the greater cosmos which make up our universe.

This line was a "carpe diem" moment for me today.  As the pressures of impending final projects for a myriad of classes weigh upon me, I am reminded that there is more to life than the accomplishments of these short few weeks.  My time here shrinks every day, every hour, every minute, and every second.  We must remember to enjoy these moments and make the most of them.  Do something great with your life.  Create, love, share, learn, explore.  This world is ours but for a few short hours.  Enjoy them before we are eradicated.

Disappearance of a Fool

Since I am interested in the role of the fool in King Lear, I am naturally curious about the same fool's disappearance from the play.  Throughout the first three acts, the fool is fairly present, speaking wisely and honestly to the King and providing valuable social commentary.  I rather enjoy this character and then *poof* he's gone.  The fool's last appearance is in Act 3, Scene 6, which leaves two acts without this intriguing character.  Why?  I have begun researching this mystery and have come across some interesting theories.

Schmoop (similar to Sparknotes) speculates:

"Some literary critics even speculate that the Fool and Cordelia were played by the same actor. They never appear onstage together, so some scholars hypothesized that the part was double cast, and that the Fool had to disappear when Cordelia came back into the play."

This is an interesting speculation.  Cordelia and the fool actually have a fair amount in common.  They are both wise, intelligent with their words and speech, and loyal to the king.  These are rare traits among the other characters (at least lumped altogether).  Additionally, in Act 5, Lear laments, "And my poor fool is hanged."  "Fool" here could be a pet name for Cordelia, or could refer to the fool himself who may have also been hanged.  This is not clear in the text.  Maybe they are essentially one in the same in the eyes of Shakespeare.

Another speculation (taken from Gradesaver.com) is that the fool disappears when King Lear realizes that he himself is the true fool.  He has squandered the love of Cordelia and Kent (the two truly loyal to him) and realized the wicked heart of Goneril and Reagan (not to mention their husbands).  As he realizes this foolishness, Lear descends into madness and takes on the role of the fool himself.  In this sense, the fool does not necessarily disappear, but rather takes on a new role manifested in a different character.

I like both of these ideas.  It is even possible that both are true.  Unfortunately, I cannot ask Shakespeare himself the reasoning behind this decision.  However, I think this will be my question for Turner when he visits this week.  I am interested to hear why he thinks the character of the fool disappears from King Lear.

Spiritual Music and Shakespeare

This Thursday, March 28 I have another band concert with the MSU Wind Symphony.  The concert repertoire has proven to be quite the food for thought for me.  The theme for this concert is "Angels and Demons."  Each piece we're playing is slightly spiritual, and reflects on the duality of light and dark within each of us.  I feel as though this is a theme Shakespeare touches on as well.  Many of his plays highlight the dichotomy of light versus dark.  In Midsummer Night's Dream, we saw the contrast of a light comedy set against moments of darkness discussing death.  In Hamlet, we see Hamlet debating spiritual matters such as killing his uncle in prayer.  Doing so would send his uncle to heaven, despite the nature of his dark deeds.  In King Lear, we see the contrast in several places.  One is Edgar versus Edmund.  One is light and noble, the other dark and sinful.  This same divergence(guess what? we're playing a piece entitled "Divergence") is seen in the sisters: Cordelia versus the two "sisty uglers."  Shakespeare was an astute observer of human nature.  He recognized that each human has the potential for both good and evil within them.  We can choose either route, and display our choice through our actions.  Sometimes there is an internal fight between dark and light.  Sometimes light wins, sometimes the dark triumphs.  I have been experiencing Shakespeare's reflection of this nature through his writing, and now I'm examining it through music.  Both media's present the message in a different, but powerful way.

Anyone who would like to experience the musical translation of this human experience themselves is welcome to come.  This is going to be an amazing concert!
Thursday, March 28
7:30
Reynolds Recital Hall (in Howard Hall on 11th)
Student cost: $5

For anyone who wants to hear a sample of the music we will be performing, here is a Youtube clip of my favorite piece.

Define a Fool

As I think about my project (The role of "the fool" in Shakespeare) I must start with one essential question: what exactly, IS a fool?  In my mind, "fool" can have a few meanings: a jester in a court (such as the one in King Lear), a person lacking common sense, and one who behaves foolishly or without thought or consideration.  However, I figured for a project as grand as this, I should probably do some research into the ofiicial definition.  Being a knowledgable English major, I am quite aware we have a handy little tool at our fingertips for looking up definitions of words: the Dictionary.  So I opened a new tab to Merriam Webster's Online Dictionary and these were the definitions I found for "fool."

1: a person lacking in judgment or prudence

2

a: a retainer formerly kept in great households to provide casual entertainment and commonly dressed in motley with cap, bells, and bauble

b: one who is victimized or made to appear foolish : dupe

3

a: a harmlessly deranged person or one lacking in common powers of understanding

b: one with a marked propensity or fondness for something <a dancing fool> <a fool for candy>

4

: a cold dessert of pureed fruit mixed with whipped cream or custard

 

So most of my definitions were proved correct, and a couple new ones came to mind.  But which version of the fool does Shakespeare use?  I think, for this project, I can safely throw out definition #4.  Perhaps this desert does appear somewhere in his vast works, but I am unconcerned with its relevance to his work and characters as a whole.  However, I believe Shakespeare employs all other definitions when creating the fools for his plays.  Additionally, one definition may stand exclusive of the others.  For example, the fool in King Lear fits definition 2a: a court jester.  He fulfills his role of entertaining the king through absurd acts and witty banter.  However, he does not fulfill definition 1, or 3a.  Lear's fool does not appear foolish in personal thought or action at all.  In fact, he seems quite prudent and intelligent.  This so-called fool realizes Lear's mistake in banishing Cordelia.  He mourns her loss and indeed lables Lear a fool for dismissing her (here Lear takes on the role of definition 1-and later takes on definition 3a).  Lear's fool is also prudent in his actions.  He realizes that condemning Lear's actions outright will likely get him in trouble and result in his whipping.  As a result, he hedges his actions, using witty words to convey his true feelings about Cordelia's banishment and Lear's other foolish actions. 

 

King Lear contains several other role reversals and definitions of "the fool" throughout the play.  Therefore, we can conclude from this work alone that Shakespeare employs multiple meanings of the words and manifests these in his characters.  For this project, I think I will explore how he uses fools fitting each definition throughout these four works, and the effect this has on his works as a whole.

The Wisdom of Calvin and Hobbes

As I was stumbling the other day, I happened across some quotes from my favorite cartoon: Calvin and Hobbes.  This imaginative, spunky, sarcastic child and his toy tiger hold wisdom beyond their years.  This is frequently reflected in their conversations.  One such quote happened to relate to Shakespeare's metaphor of the stage.  It goes as follows:

On realizing God is more Woody Allen than Michael Bay

Calvin: They say the world is a stage. But obviously the play is unrehearsed and everybody is ad-libbing his lines.

Hobbes: Maybe that’s why it’s hard to tell if we’re living in a tragedy or a farce.

Calvin: We need more special effects and dance numbers.

Here, Calvin reflects on how we are all actors on a stage.  We are playing parts, maybe these roles are designed by God.  This fits with Shakespeare's frequent comments throughout his plays.  Our world is a stage, to act, to speak, to create.  But Calvin is astute.  He realizes life doesn't always follow a specific script.  We can plan and plot, but things rarely turn out according to plan.  We find ourselves improvising, trying to find a way to fill our brief performance with meaning, to achieve some outstanding review.  As we stumble through, we create both tragedy and farce within our lives.  We make mistakes.  Sometimes these are comical.  We trip over some stairs.  We fumble our lines and say something unintentionally funny or inappropriate.  Sometimes our mistakes are tragic.  We hurt someone close to us.  We lose them.  This is particularly seen in King Lear as he distances his youngest daughter and closest friend, the only two who were truly loyal to him in the first place.  Regardless of our mistakes, we must attempt to make the most of our few brief hours upon this stage.  Be grand, live life, throw in some outstanding effects or spectacular dance numbers to jazz things up a bit.  Anyone who reads this cartoon knows Calvin is all about living a life full of adventure. If the young Calvin can remember this, we too must strive to live our performance to the fullest.