Midterm Blog

What I have found from reading over my blogs is that I generally focus on one important thing that stuck out to me during my readings.  I try to choose a topic that interests me so that I can really analyze it and maybe take a new spin on what Shakespeare is trying to say, or make an inference about what I find in the text.  I didn't really find too much of a reoccurring theme in my blogs, but what I do realize is that I focus on one specific part of the text and then expand from there.  They don't seem to be too much about broad themes.  I feel like when analyzing Shakespeare, you really need to focus on one small piece of the text because there is so much vibrant language that it is easy to elaborate on only a few lines.  Focusing on a full scene or event that took place would give me too much to work with and my blog would not be as focused.
I actually discovered while doing this blog that I received multiple comments on both of my blogs (there were only two online because I wasn't able to upload the first one due to technical problems).  I hadn't known that any of them were commented on and it was wonderful to look back on what I wrote and see so many comments.  This makes me feel like I was going in the right direction with the ideas that I raised because they encouraged discussion for the rest of the class.  One of the aims that I had doing my blogs was to bring a new idea to the table or to ask a question, so that readers could engage in them more easily.
For example, my blog called "The Unruly Son" questions if King Henry IV was right in putting so much pressure on his son, Hal or if this was just going to force Hal away from the throne even more.  I felt like his comparison to Richard was very shocking and harsh, while others commented that they believed that the king only had Hal's best interests in mind.  My other blog called "A Lack of Imagination"  brought up the idea that Richard II is a very masculinocentric play which contributes to the characters turning away from the imagination, which is so important in theatre.  I got a lot of responses about the masculinity in the play and how Shakespeare is a "sexless" writer who gives masculine and feminine sides to every character.  These responses make me feel very satisfied with my blog posts because they show my classmates' interest in the topics I bring up.
The one thing I can criticize about my blogs is that they could be more fully developed and a little longer so that I can fully get my point across in the way that I want, while using more supporting evidence.  Looking back on my blogs really helped me so that I can shape the ones that I do for the rest of the semester and make sure that they are developed as much as they can be and are focused on exactly what I'd like to say.