Midterm Blogging

Reflecting back upon previous posts many different ideas and themes have been presented. However, over the course of our class I have concentrated mainly on how Shakespeare’s plays function. Mainly in regards to his characters and how the audience is incorporated into his plays as well.

In the first blog post I focus on how our culture has been affected by Shakespeare’s work, specifically in regards to A Midsummer Night’s Dream. This blog evolves the question on how the audience and our culture have been affected by the playwrights’ use of love and drama and how this functions within the plot. The post explores how Shakespeare utilizes drama and the influence it has had on our own modern dramas. My second post revolves around how the audience’s emotions are played with throughout Twelfth Night. Malvolio and Antonio’s roles in this play both leave the audience feeling uncomfortable, or without closure. This feeling is developed throughout this post as to the function it has in the play and how their unhappiness is contrasted to the other characters contentment. Lastly is the blog post having to do with the play Othello. In this post I question how Iago’s character and actions affects the audience. Principally as to how his malicious behavior evolves the audiences understanding of humanity and its darker side.

In each of these posts the development of the audience and how they are either affected or involved within the text are questioned. Each of these plays, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Twelfth Night, and Othello involve the audience in some manner. Looking back I now begin to wonder as to why Shakespeare leaves his audience with a sense of discomfort in many of his plays? In each of my blogs somewhere I inquire as to how the audience is in a negative manner. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream the women at the close of the last act have all quieted and begun to assume more traditional roles as wives. These once very vibrant women are portrayed in a very different manner, a trait which leaves the audience questioning woman’s role and how marriage affects their characters. Similarly, in Twelfth Night the two characters Malvolio and Antonio are both denied love and left without any closure at the plays end. In fact, it is never insinuated that either character ends with anything, while all the other characters are left with love or some happiness. Congruently, is Iago’s character in Othello. In my last blog I focus on how his behaviors affect the characters around him and the audience. I think it’s important to notice that in each of these plays, as discussed in my previous reflections, the audience is never truly satisfied. Is this something which Shakespeare continually does? This incorporation of the audience is iatrical within Shakespeare’s plays and how they are affected I feel is very important. Each of these plays develops the audience’s emotions in different manners, whether it be through tragedy or comedy. However, at the plays close there is always a similar feeling of distaste and wonderment as to what will happen next.