unit 4: shakespeare

king lear

MEETING 1: the beginning of king lear

King Lear is a unique play among Shakespeare’s tragedies in many ways as we’ll see. The first way in which it is unique is that it is the only play (other than The Winter’s Tale) that begins with the play’s generic catastrophic moment: Why might the dramatist see this as valuable?

Consider this passage from the Gospel of Mark: 20 Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. 21 When his family[b] heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.” 22 And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.” 23 So Jesus called them over to him and began to speak to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 26 And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. 27 In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man’s house. 28 Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.”

Each great scene in a play will revolve around a central conflict. The central conflict in 1.1 is Lear’s desire to give up power but inability to give up all of the things that come with power.

Gale

Homework: (1) Thursday is another Great Ignatian Challenge turn-in day. Let’s take a big step forward this week. Each of you should aim for between 50 and 100 lbs of food. Let’s get this done.

(2) I’d like you to try your hand at reading the next two scenes, Act 1 scenes 2 and 3. Prepare them for our next class. While reading, think about how Edmond and Edgar’s dialogue compares to Gonerill and Regan’s dialogue in the previous scene. If you want also to watch the Royal Shakespeare Company production, you may log in to Drama Online Library with strakejesuit, crusaders. It will help to watch them. They begin at 18:45.

MEETING 2: comedy/tragedy & 1.1-2

Mosaic depicting theatrical masks of Tragedy and Comedy, 2nd century AD, from Rome, Palazzo Nuovo

Today we’ll discuss Shakespeare’s genres. Comedy and tragedy don’t merely delineate happy and sad; more precisely, comedy and tragedy refer to the narrative structure of a play, the way in which the play’s dramatic conflicts resolve. A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Romeo and Juliet are largely the same play, but one is a comedy and one is a tragedy because of the way the conflicts resolve: If Juliet wakes 30 seconds earlier, the play is a comedy; if the lovers don’t discover they’ve been in love with the wrong person, they just might die. Comedies end happily in marriage; tragedies end unfortunately in death. Shakespeare, however, knows that good drama blurs of the lines of these genre and uses elements of each in many of his plays.

Why is Lear so cruel to Cordelia in the second half of 1.1? Is he being petulant by throwing the word “nothing” back at Cordelia, or is it coincidence?

What does Cordelia have to say about flattery and lying in her speech on page 15? And what of her prophetic line to her sisters: “Time shall unfold what plighted cunning hides;/Who covers fault, at last with shame derides”?

Gale

Homework: Read Act 1, scenes 3 and 4.

MEETING 3: SHAKESPEARE’S FOOLS & 1.2-1.5

Review 1.2: What parallels do you see between 1.1 and 1.2? How does Edmond manipulate his father so quickly? Is it believable that he might be convinced so quickly?

1.4: We’ll talk today about the convention of the Fool in Shakespeare’s plays with particular focus on the license they have to criticize the behavior of those they serve. In his first scene the Fool makes about 25 jokes, many of them puns, all of them intended to show Lear’s mistakes. There seem to be 4 subcategories of criticism:

1) It was stupid to give up power and wealth. 2) It was really counterproductive to have banished Cordelia. 3) It was dumb to put yourself at the mercy of your evil daughters. 4) It was all caused by the fact that you act without thinking.

What’s the difference between the loyalty of the Fool and the loyalty of Kent?

How have your sympathies for Lear changed, if at all, by the end of the Act?

Homework:

(1) Read 2.1.

(2) Study for Vocab 5 and 6. Note that it will also include a short Shakespeare component.

(3) Continue working on steps 3 and 4 of your short story process essay.

meeting 4: vocabulary quiz / machiavelli / 2.1

“Everyone sees what you appear to be, few experience what you really are.”

“If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared.”

“The lion cannot protect himself from traps, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves. One must therefore be a fox to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten wolves.”

“The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him.”

“There is no other way to guard yourself against flattery than by making men understand that telling you the truth will not offend you.”

“Never attempt to win by force what can be won by deception.”

“It is much safer to be feared than loved because ... love is preserved by the link of obligation which, owing to the baseness of men, is broken at every opportunity for their advantage; but fear preserves you by a dread of punishment which never fails.”

Pick a quote from “The Prince”, above, and a character from King Lear who might respond to that quote. How might that character respond?

2.1: What’s your reaction to Edgar? How might we explain his quick departure?

How does Edmond incorporate Cornwall’s arrival as well as the growing divide between him and his brother-in-law?

Homework:

(1) Read 2.2. What’s your favorite Kentian insult? Examine 2.2.63-75: Why, according to Kent, is Oswald the worst kind of person?

(2) Continue working on steps 3 and 4 of your short story process essay.

meeting 5: the bedlam beggar; lear’s descent

Before we move to 2.3 and 2.4, let’s review 2.2. What does Kent find objectionable about Oswald? Does Shakespeare want us to see a difference between Cornwall and Albany? Why? What is contained in the letter Kent received from Cordelia? Why is everyone converging on Gloucester’s palace?

2.3: First, I’ll set the context for Edgar’s means of hiding. What strikes you about the first of Edgar’s many soliloquies?

2.4.1-117: 2.4 is in my top 10 scenes from Shakespeare’s plays. It’s an extraordinarily sad descent into madness. Let’s read the first half before pausing to think it through.

2.4.118-end: We need to decipher whether Lear himself is or Gonerill and Regan are to blame for his descent. Does Lear make things worse for himself? Why is there a storm in the background?

Homework:

(1) Read 3.1 and 3.2. One of Shakespeare’s most famous scenes, 3.2 depicts the weather mirroring Lear’s madness. Why is that particularly appropriate given what many characters argue about nature so far in the play? How is the fool different in 3.2 than he was before? What do we learn in this scene about the nature of his foolery?

(2) Continue work on your process essay.

othello

MEETING 1: the beginning of othello

Page 3. 2 outstanding readers. Let’s jump right in.

A good scene revolves around conflict and tension: What’s the immediate conflict, and what other conflicts evolve throughout the scene? Who has the power? How do you know?

In 1.1, Iago reveals to Roderigo his feelings about his general, Othello. Why does he feel this way? What are your first impressions of Iago?

What’s Iago’s plan to get back at Othello?

How does Brabantio assume Othello won his daughter?

We’ll watch and converse about two versions of 1.1.

Homework: (1) Thursday is another Great Ignatian Challenge turn-in day. Let’s take a big step forward this week. Each of you should aim for between 50 and 100 lbs of food. Let’s get this done.

(2) Dive into a very short scene 2 on your own. What are your first impressions of Othello? How does he respond to the accusations of Brabantio? Is the Othello we see the same one as was described in 1.1? What is his attitude toward Desdemona? Continue into 1.3. Simply read lines 1-169, stopping after Othello’s long speech to the Senators.

I suggest the following the method for working through a scene of Shakespeare: Read-Watch-Read. Give the scene your best effort first by reading it through. How much could you glean? Then log in to the 2013 production and watch what you just read. It begins at 7:10 and ends at 11:21. Finally, go back to the text and read it again. Now, the scene should be much clearer compared to the first time you watched.

MEETING 2: comedy/tragedy & the rest of act 1

Today we’ll discuss Shakespeare’s genres. Comedy and tragedy don’t merely delineate happy and sad; more precisely, comedy and tragedy refer to the narrative structure of a play, the way in which the play’s dramatic conflicts resolve. A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Romeo and Juliet are largely the same play, but one is a comedy and one is a tragedy because of the way the conflicts resolve: If Juliet wakes 30 seconds earlier, the play is a comedy; if the lovers don’t discover they’ve been in love with the wrong person, they just might die. Comedies end happily in marriage; tragedies end unfortunately in death. Shakespeare, however, knows that good drama blurs of the lines of these genre and uses elements of each in many of his plays.

Let’s go through 1.2, which I ask you to read and watch before class and during which we meet the title character. If all you need to know about Othello and all you need to know about Iago and all you need to know about Cassio can be found in this scene, then what’s all you need to know about Othello, Iago, Cassio? Explain.

1.3: What’s happening geopolitically? I’ll explain where Shakespeare’s audience probably assumed the play was heading. What do we learn about Othello and Desdemona in Othello's long defense of himself? What do we learn about Desdemona from her father during that defense? Why did Othello marry Desdemona? Why did Desdemona marry Othello?

We’ll finish 1.3, focusing on the differences between prose and poetry in Shakespeare’s plays.

Homework: (1) R-W-R 2.1.1-173, stopping just before Othello’s entrance.

meeting 3: soliloquy; 2.1-2.3

Today we’ll begin by reviewing what it was I had you read for today: What did Iago reveal in his soliloquy at the end of 1.3? What is the convention of the soliloquy used for?

Soliloquy literally means talking alone, and it has been used as a form since the Greeks, though popularized by Shakespeare and his contemporary playwrights. In the theater, no thinking can be made directly available to the audience unless it is brought to speech, so it was necessary to propose a convention: the character would speak aloud, and the audience would understand that what they were to imagine they were hearing was what the character was saying to himself, or what he would say if he were to give voice to his thought.

I’ve already mentioned in class that real drama occurs when characters keep things from each other. The ONLY time, in fact, that an audience should accept that what characters are saying is absolutely true is when a character is in soliloquy. In all other instances there’s the possibility of deceit. So, it’s the responsibility of the playwright in a soliloquy to communicate what is absolutely true. Iago, for instance, is completely forthcoming about not knowing exactly what his plan is and what he really thinks about Othello and Roderigo. [NOTICE: Iago switches from prose to verse when Roderigo exits. Shakespeare uses this linguistic change to signal to his actors Iago was being deceptive and is now wholly forthcoming.]

2.1: Why the setting change? What is the function of the scene prior to Othello’s arrival? What do we learn about Desdemona?

What is Iago’s next plan at the end of 2.1?

We'll look at Iago's second soliloquy carefully. What new reasons does Iago give for hating Othello? What emotion seems to be governing Iago's thoughts and actions? How is Cassio involved in Iago's feelings? Do you think these (and the reasons given in Act 1) are the real reasons for Iago's plotting against Othello? Why or why not?

Homework: (1) R-W-R 3.1 (skipping page 93), 3.2, and 3.3.1-92, stopping at “Chaos is come again”.

(2) Study for Vocab 5 and 6. Note that it will also include a short Shakespeare component.

(3) Continue working on steps 3 and 4 of your short story process essay.

meeting 4: vocabulary quiz / 3.3, part 1

After the quiz, we’ll review 3.1 and 3.2. Then we’ll begin my favorite scene, which I’ve asked you to get a head start on. What’s so important about this scene, so great about it? Just look at the emotional distance Othello will travel:

FROM “Excellent wretch! Perdition catch my soul / But I do love thee! And when I love thee not, Chaos is come again.” (3.3.90-2) TO “Damn her, lewd minx! O, damn her! Damn her! / Come, go with me apart; I will withdraw / To furnish me with some swift means of death / For the fair devil” (3.3.476-9).

He moves from claiming that the only way he couldn’t love Desdemona is if the world reverted back to the time before God created order. A virtual impossibility! And yet look what happens: By the end of the scene he’s sentencing her to hell after a speedy death by his own hand. It had to happen somehow. But how?

Homework: (1) Begin the composition process for your short story essay. Refer to step 5 in the process.

meeting 5: machiavelli, il principe; 3.3

“Everyone sees what you appear to be, few experience what you really are.”

“If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared.”

“The lion cannot protect himself from traps, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves. One must therefore be a fox to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten wolves.”

“The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him.”

“There is no other way to guard yourself against flattery than by making men understand that telling you the truth will not offend you.”

“Never attempt to win by force what can be won by deception.”

“It is much safer to be feared than loved because ... love is preserved by the link of obligation which, owing to the baseness of men, is broken at every opportunity for their advantage; but fear preserves you by a dread of punishment which never fails.”

Pick a quote from “The Prince”, above, and a character from Othello who might respond to that quote. How might that character respond?

3.3: What are the various movements in Iago’s manipulation of Othello? Is what happens in 3.3 more a result of a weakness in Othello’s character or a malignant ingenuity in Iago?

Homework: Read-Watch-Read 3.4.