Meta-Post

While examining my blogs I realized, two of the three blogs I primarily focus women and their roles in the plays for example Margaret in Richard III and Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing. I do not think this is very shocking for me to focus on the women of Shakespeare’s plays especially because it is something very contradictory from Shakepseare’s time.   I think this is where my interest really exists, and the way in which the women move the plays along and without them there would be probably be no play.  I probably should expand on my post topics in the future, since I do seem to be narrowing myself in doing this- there is so much more I can examine in the plays.  By reading other classmates posts I can see this perfectly that there is a lot more for me to interpret and reflect on.  I find this helpful to read other classmates also, because I begin to think about other material in the readings and different interpretations or views. 

In total, I also see I generally pick one primary character and discuss their relationship with another character or element.  For example, my first blog post is about Egeus and his relationship with the play within the play in A Midsummer Nights Dream and the possible effect the play had on him as a character.  My second blog post I focused primarily on Beatrice and her relationship with Benedick, and my third post with Margaret and her relations with Richard.  Of course I address other characters but I seem to find a focus on an individual character.  I did come across one issue I had with my blogs as a whole.

While reading my blogs I was a little confused by the way in which I get from one point to another, it seems like I sort of just jump to a related topic.  For example in my second post, “Why are there so many strong women in Shaskespeare’s works?” I discuss Beatrice and her strength but then I jump to a conversation between Don Pedro and Benedick and how it contradicts the expectations of a woman’s role after she is married.  These seems to be some disconnect in the organization of my ideas which at the time made sense but reflecting on them, no longer have smooth transitions.

I come to find that during my posts, I also have some sort of realization or probing question by the end.  I don’t know if this is my intention while writing or if this is the intention, but it seems that I start to write something and by the end I have an “A-ha” moment.   Sometimes I am able to answer my question based on what I just wrote or I am curious as to what other people may think.  I think this allows me somewhere to branch off or to look into after posting.  I still am trying to figure out as I read every play why Shakespeare makes such powerful women, and I even mentioned that in my second blog post about Much Ado About Nothing.  As to whether I will ever get an answer I do not know but I will keep trying with the help of the remaining three plays.

I don’t think that the nature or style of writing in my posts have changed in the course of the three posts.  I seem to take a conversational approach in my blogs and say what I am thinking.  I always reference the text in some way or another, not only because it is part of our grade but also because I think it helps me and whoever else reads my posts to know where my interpretations and analysis is coming from on the specific topic.  The one thing I could say about my quotations is I have progressively been using more, and I don’t know if that is a good or bad thing. I can sort of see that by the third post I have started to rely on my quotations from the text more than my own analysis.  Maybe I should focus more on my own views and not rely on the text as heavily.

One thing I actually value reading the comments people post on my blogs, although I do not comment back on them, maybe I should start doing that.  I have read the comments and often times my classmates post questions or other interesting things I may not have thought of.  For example Krystal on my most recent post about Margaret mentioned a connection to Darl in As I Lay Dying.  At first I didn’t even pick up on this connection of a person’s knowledge of truth and the ability of society to cast them off as a “mad” character.  I think these comments are really effective, and it is really great especially when other students read other students comments and mentions them.  There is a whole network of communication occurring in these blogs and it helps in the understanding and elaboration of our own thoughts.  Maybe I could improve my posts by commenting back and show my appreciation for the commentary on my posts to show I read them and do think about what my peers have to say about my work.