Midterm Post

My first blog post of the semester was about marriage, money, and the role of women in A Midsummer Night's Dream. I discussed how children were seen as property and tools used to gain more property and security through the ties of marriage. Egeus tries to use Hermia as a chip in his marriage bargains but she refuses to abide by his wishes, defying one of the many assumed roles of women to be obedient and passive.

My second blog post was in reaction to act IV scene I of Much Ado About Nothing. I commented on the abuse Hero receives from several of the male characters in this scene including her father. I was angered by the male characters believing her to be impure, mostly because I knew Hero would later accept Claudio's apology and marry him despite the slanderous things he said about her at the altar.

My third blog post briefly compared Richard III to Iago and discussed how it could be argued that Richard III is more evil than Iago. I talked about Richard's opening monologue and how Ian McKellan performs this role in the movie version. I believed that Richard is more evil because he seems to be more capable and corrupt because he schemes against his own flesh and blood. Despite his ugliness he is still able to seduce Lady Anne, whose dead husband and dead father in law were both killed by Richard.

After reading over my past blog posts I noticed how the subject matter of my posts has shifted. In the beginning two I focused a lot on the female characters with in a play and how they were treated. In my last post I was more intrigued by Richard's villainy and focused more on his inner psyche rather than how he is treated by the other characters (though I did mention how some of the other characters unabashedly insult him to his face). My weakest post was definitely my second, because it was merely a reaction to a scene.

Though I am still interested in how female characters are treated in Shakespeare's works, I am now finding myself more fascinated by the actions and motives of the more villainous and corrupt characters in the plays. I am enjoying the tragedies more than the comedies we read earlier in the semester which could explain why the subject matter of my posts have changed. The female characters in the comedies tended to be more outspoken and hold more power than in the tragedies. It would be interesting to explore the roles of women in any of Shakespeare's tragedies in a future blog post for there are still some who defy what is considered the “classic” female role, such as Emilia in Othello. It is helpful to read the comments my class mates have left on my posts and their interpretations of the plays we have been reading, and I believe the subject matter of my posts have improved as a result.