Blogging Revisited

Looking back on my blog posts I’ve made throughout the semester, I’ve found that most of my Shakespeare analyses questions the motives and actions of the characters within the plays we’ve studied. Basically, the theme of these blog posts is: why are these characters acting so strangely? My post about The Merchant of Venice centered on the principal characters being very selfless – way too selfless – to the point of near ridiculousness. I tried to make sense of Bassanio and Gratiano giving away their wedding rings, something which I felt could’ve endangered their marriages. My post about Measure for Measure looked at the Duke’s going undercover to spy on his subjects and observe all the madness going on, only to reveal himself at the end of the play and serve justice to any offending character – then pardon everyone minutes later. This remains a confusing, convoluted series of actions to me. My post about 1 Henry IV was about why the Percy’s were trying to overthrow another king after just helping to install him and what Prince Hal was doing robbing people with a bunch of drunks.

Because of these themes, I’d say that my blogs did not change very much throughout the semester. The only thing to change would be the effectiveness of my writing, i.e. less plot summary and filler. What surprised me was my use of unexpected slang terms throughout my posts such as “bros before hoes,” “bullshit,” and “shenanigans.” I crack myself up sometimes. Also, I was surprised about how many people were leaving comments on my posts. I didn’t expect that many. I guess my writings brought up some valid points then.

I would like to revisit certain themes like the Duke’s actions throughout Measure for Measure. That guy never ceased to amaze me throughout the whole play. I’d probably question whether his actions were incredibly clever to sniff out the corruption among his people or simply conniving. Also, the concept of constant rebellion in the Henry tetralogy interests me. It seems certain characters/families will never be happy with any sort of rule. I appreciate the blogs because it allows me to bring up ideas and question the material without having the formality and structure of a thesis paper. I find they’re a middle ground between that and commenting in class, because this way I can take longer to articulate ideas.