Meta-post

After re-reading my previous blog posts I noticed an interesting pattern! The portrayal of women in Shakespeare's plays is a topic that I find crucial to the development of the plot. Beginning with my first post on Much Ado About Nothing, my first sentence included Benedick's harsh judgment of women, his hatred of marriage and refuses to become domesticated. Thinking back to the Amanda who wrote this blog, it makes sense that I would emphasize this because I almost take it personally. Why wouldn't Benedick want to fall in love? I wonder about the psychology behind Shakespeare's writing, the characters he created must represent a side of him or someone he knows. Something else I noticed in this first post was my confusion, Shakespeare filled this play with so many characters and I found myself not being able to enjoy the play. Also, not being use to the language really challenged my in depth understanding of Much Ado About Nothing. Fun fact... I thought the title of this play was hilarious!

I missed my second assigned blog post so I will move onto the next one I completed.

Richard or Iago was my post about the play Richard III. I commented on Shakespeare's initial description of Richard, but I mainly focused on the negative diction associated with women (i.e nymph, whore). Establishing Richard as a women hater and giving him deformed physical features were obviously interconnected. Referring back to my writing, I noticed a huge change in my writing style, I included more quotes to express my thoughts and I demonstrated a better understanding of the plot and language. Being able to compare two of Shakespeare's works in this blog post helped me establish my analysis skills. Examining the mannerisms of both villain's would make for a great essay topic and would really intrigue me. 

Reading deeper into this post, I talked about how Queen Margaret was the first female in our Shakespeare study to stand up for her beliefs. Although Richard replied with offensive language, it was a big step for a women in Shakespeare's time. 

Further suggestions I would give to myself would be to continue reading our assigned plays and developing a greater understanding of Shakespeare's writing style. While coming into this class I did not appreciate his plays but as we move forward I want to be able to recognize more of Shakespeare's style. A consistent theme in my blog posts is the portrayal of women and how they are treated/recognized by males. I am seeing a general progression but as I keep reading, I am hoping to pick up more knowledge of female recognition during this time period. 

A smaller theme in my blog posts consists of the villains Richard and Iago. I would like to begin noting more of the villainous actions Shakespeare assigns to his characters and figure out the psychology behind it. I really value my blog posts because it lets me revisit my reflections on previous work and keep a tab on important themes that interest me!