The characters mentioned are an English Teacher called Blanche who is the protagonist together with Stella her sister and Stanley, Stella´s husband.
As regards the setting, I can see that they live in a messy and small apartment. Apparently, they have not enough money to prosper or live in better conditions. It seems that death and sex combined with humor are the main features that developed into this novel. I can deduce from what the author says in the video that we will be trapped by the perfect amalgam of comedy and tragedy of this novel.
Thursday, 18 October 2012
Post II: After reading Act III
Mi first impression about Benedick and Beatrice was that they would be a sort of enemies throughout the whole play. Obviously, this prediction was immediately contradicted as they, with a little help of their friends, fall in love with each other.
I really like Beatrice as she has a strong character, she shows herself as being a clever woman, very talkative, who always says what she really thinks without caring about other people's opinions and usually making use of a mocking tone. She is a confirmed bachelorette who refuses to marry anybody and what's more striking is that she seems to be happy about it!
Later in the play, we learn that her decision about marriage is not so irrevocable as she falls in love with Benedick and I imagine she will reconsider it. As Walter mentioned before, another noticeable change in the play occurs at the level of the tone, as it starts as a happy comedy but, by the end of the 3erd Act, it becomes dark and almost tragic, as it involves a lot of suffering on the part of Claudio and Hero who are about to get married but are tricked by Don John and his men who convince Claudio that Hero is unfaithful to him.
Humour is achieved mainly by 3 characters. First, Beatrice is in charge of it as she constantly mocks Benedick, but then, 2 funny characters appear on scene: Dogberry and Verges who are 2 watchmen who bring about a series of innocent misunderstandings that prevent Hero and Claudio from having a happy wedding.
Quotation:
Beatrice: " What should I do with him? Dress him in my apparel and make him my waiting gentlewoman? He that hath a beard is more than a youth, and he that hath no beard is less than a man; and he that is more than a youth is not for me, and he that is less than a man, I am not for him. Therefore I will even take sixpence in earnest of the bearherd, and lead his apes into hell." (Act 2. Scene 1)
I chose this quotation because I think this is a very witty remark that clearly portrays Beatrice as she really is. While reading it I thought she may adopt this posture towards love to protect herself from her own vulnerability and to avoid being damaged by men. I imagine she had bad experiences with men before or maybe she has not found the correct one...yet.
I really like Beatrice as she has a strong character, she shows herself as being a clever woman, very talkative, who always says what she really thinks without caring about other people's opinions and usually making use of a mocking tone. She is a confirmed bachelorette who refuses to marry anybody and what's more striking is that she seems to be happy about it!
Later in the play, we learn that her decision about marriage is not so irrevocable as she falls in love with Benedick and I imagine she will reconsider it. As Walter mentioned before, another noticeable change in the play occurs at the level of the tone, as it starts as a happy comedy but, by the end of the 3erd Act, it becomes dark and almost tragic, as it involves a lot of suffering on the part of Claudio and Hero who are about to get married but are tricked by Don John and his men who convince Claudio that Hero is unfaithful to him.
Humour is achieved mainly by 3 characters. First, Beatrice is in charge of it as she constantly mocks Benedick, but then, 2 funny characters appear on scene: Dogberry and Verges who are 2 watchmen who bring about a series of innocent misunderstandings that prevent Hero and Claudio from having a happy wedding.
Quotation:
Beatrice: " What should I do with him? Dress him in my apparel and make him my waiting gentlewoman? He that hath a beard is more than a youth, and he that hath no beard is less than a man; and he that is more than a youth is not for me, and he that is less than a man, I am not for him. Therefore I will even take sixpence in earnest of the bearherd, and lead his apes into hell." (Act 2. Scene 1)
I chose this quotation because I think this is a very witty remark that clearly portrays Beatrice as she really is. While reading it I thought she may adopt this posture towards love to protect herself from her own vulnerability and to avoid being damaged by men. I imagine she had bad experiences with men before or maybe she has not found the correct one...yet.
Wednesday, 17 October 2012
Post 1: Before reading
Much Ado About Nothing
I found really interesting the description of the theatre and how the audience was distributed. The distribution is different from the one we have now as the nearer to the stage you are the more expensive the tickets are.What's more you have to be in the open air even though you pay more to see the show and as it is shown in the video, people who pay only one penny was closer to the stage and in the open air. I did not like to learn the fact that people enjoyed going to see how a bear was attacked by dogs and that this was a way of entertainment. Much Ado About Nothing-Film-Tv play After watching both versions of the play I think that the trailer shows that the language used is not exactly the one used in the book, while the Tv play used the same words as the original play. May be as the movie is more recent than the tv play the language was needed to be changed as some expressions were really difficult. I think the protagonists will be Beatrice and Benedick.Tough they seem to hate each other (after wathcing the trailer my opinion changed) they will love each other at the end.
I found really interesting the description of the theatre and how the audience was distributed. The distribution is different from the one we have now as the nearer to the stage you are the more expensive the tickets are.What's more you have to be in the open air even though you pay more to see the show and as it is shown in the video, people who pay only one penny was closer to the stage and in the open air. I did not like to learn the fact that people enjoyed going to see how a bear was attacked by dogs and that this was a way of entertainment. Much Ado About Nothing-Film-Tv play After watching both versions of the play I think that the trailer shows that the language used is not exactly the one used in the book, while the Tv play used the same words as the original play. May be as the movie is more recent than the tv play the language was needed to be changed as some expressions were really difficult. I think the protagonists will be Beatrice and Benedick.Tough they seem to hate each other (after wathcing the trailer my opinion changed) they will love each other at the end.
Tuesday, 16 October 2012
Post 2- A Street Car Named Desire- Clarisa Franceschelli
So far I’ve
confirmed that humour and mystery are included in the play since some of the conversations
are quite humorous or ironic at times. There is also violence in the play, some
of the characters doesn’t get on very well and some others loose their temper
easily like when Stanley
get angry with Stella.
For me
Stella is the most transparent character, she is the one who shows her real
feelings. While her husband and her sister are a bit mysterious to me,
obviously Blanche is more mysterious then Stanley.
I believe
that stage directions and setting are very useful for us, since we are not watching
the play and we could miss some details if the directions an the setting weren’t
present. It would be only dialogue which would make the play very unpleasant to
read.
As I sad
before Stella is the one who is more constant with her behaviour while Stanley is a bit
temperamental, may be when he is under the influence of alcohol. As regards
Blanche, I really don’t know. She puzzles me.
“I wasn’t so good the
last two years or so, after Belle Reve had started to slip through my fingers”-
Blanche
I like this
quotation because after criticizing her husband’s sister and telling her off,
Blanche is finally admitting she is not so good after all. May be the rumours
about her (I don’t know which rumours) are true…Blanche has her hands in something.
Monday, 15 October 2012
Post 2: After reading Act III
So far, my predictions about the characters have been spot on. Benedick and Beatrice are two confirmed bachelors, who are in a kind of merry war betwixt them. They scorn love, and swear they will never marry. Evidently they are in love with each other; they just don’t know it yet. At least that is what their friends think, for Don Pedro, Hero, Claudio and Leonato decide to resort to a ploy and try to convince Benedick that Beatrice is in love with him, and vice versa.
The other characters I like best so far are Dogberry and Verges. They are two watchmen who provide comic relief. They bring humour to the play by their misuse of words, often by confusing two words of similar sound.
The play starts as a happy comedy, one in which misunderstandings and eavesdropping set the plot in motion. But at the end of Act 3, the villain is about to be successful, having led Claudio and Don Pedro to believe that Hero is not chaste. Therefore, the atmosphere of the play grows dark, as Claudio and Don Pedro intend to shame Hero publicly, exposing her as a slut.
Humour is achieved through the use of witty ditties, puns, and extended metaphors which amount to analogies. There are also malapropisms (incorrect uses of words) via Dogberry. As regards the use of verse and prose, we can observe that prose is predominant in the play, with verse restricted to serious matters, and only spoken by aristocratic characters.
The other characters I like best so far are Dogberry and Verges. They are two watchmen who provide comic relief. They bring humour to the play by their misuse of words, often by confusing two words of similar sound.
The play starts as a happy comedy, one in which misunderstandings and eavesdropping set the plot in motion. But at the end of Act 3, the villain is about to be successful, having led Claudio and Don Pedro to believe that Hero is not chaste. Therefore, the atmosphere of the play grows dark, as Claudio and Don Pedro intend to shame Hero publicly, exposing her as a slut.
Humour is achieved through the use of witty ditties, puns, and extended metaphors which amount to analogies. There are also malapropisms (incorrect uses of words) via Dogberry. As regards the use of verse and prose, we can observe that prose is predominant in the play, with verse restricted to serious matters, and only spoken by aristocratic characters.
BENEDICK Ha, against my will I am sent to bid you come in to dinner:I choose this quotation because it is simply hilarious. After having been tricked into believing that Beatrice is madly in love with him, Benedick sees second meanings where there are none.
there's a double meaning in that: I took no more pains for those
thanks than you took pains to thank me: that's as much as to say, any
pains that I take for you is as easy as thanks: if I do not take pity of
her I am a villain, if I do not love her I am a Jew, I will go get her
picture.
Friday, 12 October 2012
Post 1 A Streetcar Named Desire- Clarisa Franceschelli
The
characters mentioned are Blanche who is the protagonist and an English teacher,
her sister, Stella, and her husband. The setting seems to be pretty derelict,
they live in a small place and apparently they don’t have enough money to live
in better conditions.
Taking into
account some of the comments that appeared in one of the videos the play themes
are sex and death, but maybe not in a tragic way but in a humorous way because
the director mentions humour as well. So I believe that the play may be mysterious
since death is involved and also, according to the review, Blanche doesn’t want
to face the truth. May be there is something to be revealed.
Tuesday, 18 September 2012
Much Ado About Nothing: Reading Journal
Shakespeare's Globe Theatre
The first video describes the Globe Theatre. It was built west of London Bridge on the South bank of the river Thames in an area known as Bankside. The original Globe Theatre was just a wood frame building. The interior resembled a modern opera house with three galleries protected from rain and sunlight by a roof. Between two thousand and three thousand playgoers would pay two or more pennies to sit in these galleries. The stage was raised four to six feet from ground level and had a roof supported by pillars. In front of the stage there was a roofless yard for up to one thousand groundlings that paid a penny to stand through the performance under the hot sun or rain. At the rear of the stage was an inner stage separated from the front by a draw-curtain. The dressing rooms of the actors were collectively known as the “Tiring House”. Props and backdrops were few, as the exact locality for a scene wasn´t usually important and when it was necessary the playwright showed it in the dialogue. The actors weren´t separated from the audience, so a common experience was possible. The action was continuous, as there wasn´t a main curtain. The lack of artificial light meant that the plays had to be performed during the afternoons.
It struck me as odd that the Globe theatre was located in the seedy section of town, an area frequented by prostitutes, pickpockets and other unsavoury people. So definitely the theatre and Shakespeare himself weren`t as glamorous as one may think.
Much Ado About Nothing
This two versions of Much Ado About Nothing are quite different. The first one resembles a theatre play, and it seems to be more faithful to the original. The second one appears to be a big-budget Hollywood movie, starring well-known actors and actresses such as Emma Thompson, Kate Beckinsale, Keanu Reeve, etc. The movie seems to be more lively and goofier than the TV series.
The main protagonists mentioned in the two videos are: Don Pedro from Aragon, Claudio, Sir Benedict, Hero, and Beatrice. They belong to the nobility or gentry. Two of the characters. Benedict and Beatrice, are portrayed as sparring partners who eventually fall on love with each other.
 |
| The Globe Theatre was reconstructed in London in 1997 |
The first video describes the Globe Theatre. It was built west of London Bridge on the South bank of the river Thames in an area known as Bankside. The original Globe Theatre was just a wood frame building. The interior resembled a modern opera house with three galleries protected from rain and sunlight by a roof. Between two thousand and three thousand playgoers would pay two or more pennies to sit in these galleries. The stage was raised four to six feet from ground level and had a roof supported by pillars. In front of the stage there was a roofless yard for up to one thousand groundlings that paid a penny to stand through the performance under the hot sun or rain. At the rear of the stage was an inner stage separated from the front by a draw-curtain. The dressing rooms of the actors were collectively known as the “Tiring House”. Props and backdrops were few, as the exact locality for a scene wasn´t usually important and when it was necessary the playwright showed it in the dialogue. The actors weren´t separated from the audience, so a common experience was possible. The action was continuous, as there wasn´t a main curtain. The lack of artificial light meant that the plays had to be performed during the afternoons.
It struck me as odd that the Globe theatre was located in the seedy section of town, an area frequented by prostitutes, pickpockets and other unsavoury people. So definitely the theatre and Shakespeare himself weren`t as glamorous as one may think.
Much Ado About Nothing
This two versions of Much Ado About Nothing are quite different. The first one resembles a theatre play, and it seems to be more faithful to the original. The second one appears to be a big-budget Hollywood movie, starring well-known actors and actresses such as Emma Thompson, Kate Beckinsale, Keanu Reeve, etc. The movie seems to be more lively and goofier than the TV series.
The main protagonists mentioned in the two videos are: Don Pedro from Aragon, Claudio, Sir Benedict, Hero, and Beatrice. They belong to the nobility or gentry. Two of the characters. Benedict and Beatrice, are portrayed as sparring partners who eventually fall on love with each other.
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