Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Final Exam Part II

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOkyZWQ2bmQ

I mentioned this video in my last post about Lady Macbeth. Judi Dench plays an amazing role here. It shows just how creepy it really was to have Lady Macbeth up walking around, in her sleep, talking and spilling the beans about everything.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_5adzpdkdw

I like this because this is the scene where Shylock gives his famous speech. Shylock ends the speech with a tone of revenge: "if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?" Those who see the speech as sympathetic point out that Shylock says he learned the desire for revenge from the Christian characters: "If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by Christian example? Why, revenge. The villainy you teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction."
I feel like this is one of the strongest parts in many of Shakespeare’s plays because it shows true humanity and it confronts all of the criticism he has ever received, especially for being a Jew.

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