Before taking Shakespeare I have never blogged or used a blogging site before. So I was curious as to what direction blogging was going to go in for this class or how it even worked. At first when I had to blog I had no idea what it was that I wanted to blog about. I wasn't sure if it had to be a summary about what I read or and idea or a thought I had while reading some of Shakespeare's work. As I started to get more into the blogging and knew what it was that I wanted to blog about, I really started to like the blogging process. Blogging gives me a chance to share my ideas or feelings and it also allows me to comment on other blogs as well. When I go onto the blogging site and read some of my classmates blogs it allows me to look into the bigger spectrum of Shakespeare. I am able to read other people's ideas and interpretations from how I might have read it.
In A Midsummer Night's Dream, Much Ado About Nothing and Richard III I really didn't focus on just one particular topic. Each play had me think about something different and what I interpreted from it. Taking a look at all three of my blogs I can see that they are very much different in the way that I am writing them. In my very first blog I didn't find much context from the plays that supported my idea compared to my recent blog from last week. I found the further we got into the semester my blogs got a little better from the ones before. What I interpreted from them isn't very far fetched from what others would think or feel reading the plays as well. My topics are relatively clear and are almost always discussed and covered in the following class.
In my first blog about A Midsummer Night's Dream I focused on whether or not act v of the play was pointless or not. There was much speculation that the last act wasn't necessary but, from looking into the play more and researching if others found the last act to be pointless as well, I found that it was very much needed. Shakespeare purposely added this act because he wanted people to see that the play was not only just a comedy but a tragedy as well. In this particular scene in the play Thisbe and Pyramis run away and when the lion comes in and takes Thisbe's cloak , Pyramus sees the cloak covered in blood, he kills himself with the sword. As both Theseus and Hippolyta watch this being acted out on stage Hippolyta finds this to be the funniest thing she has ever seen. In my blog I then bring up the fact that this is where we begin to see Hippolyta as a caring person the most caring we have seen throughout the entire play. Philostrate is worried that the plays bad acting will embarrass both Theseus and Hippolyta but Theseus tells him not to worry because the play cannot be bad if it is created by simple people who try hard. Hippolyta shows emotion and doesn't want people looking bad when they try to do something good.
My second blog about Much Ado About Nothing dealt with Beatrice and Benedick. I blogged about the idea that the ending of the play was not surprising to myself or many others. We knew from the beginning both Beatrice and Benedict would end up together. These two characters bickered back and forth like little children. They both had the same views about love and marriage and because of that everyone around them did everything they could to bring them together. This play isn't just about the love Claudio and Hero share that we are so easily fooled to think but, the tension that is so easily seen between Beatrice and Benedick. After rereading this blog I found that I stayed on the topic well and I had evidence to support the text.
My last blog was about the recent play we are reading for class now, Richard III. I mainly focused on the idea that Richard is one of the biggest villains we have read about so far this semester. He is purely evil and only cares about himself, he doesn't care who he hurts along the way as long as he gets to be king. In act one we meet Anne who at first seems like a strong woman but, it is later seen that she is being drawn into believing Richards lies. He is extremely manipulative and has people believing he is doing things for their best intentions. To support my topic for my blog I used a lot of textual evidence from Act one between Lady Anne and Richard. He is easily able to get into people heads and have them believing he is a good person and doesn't mean to cause harm on others.
I have really enjoyed blogging so far and have found that I can talk about what I took from the reading and have others post their opinions as well. I think the blogging is also a great way to get everyone fully involved in a discussion if they don't like doing so in class. I enjoy blogging because I can discuss an idea or even raise some questions that I may have. I think blogging should be used in other classes as well. It's always interesting to read what others make of the same readings that you have read.
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