It appears that I am chiefly interested in relationships.
These can include relationships between the characters (as with my posting
about Midsummer), relationships
between the words on the page and what is presented on the stage (as with my
posting about Othello) and
relationships between the characters and the power structures that they are
bound to (see my posting about Twelfth
Night). My comments tend to ask questions about the relationship between
characters and power structures.
I think this is a fair assessment of what I am drawing out
of these plays. It is very easy to consider Shakespeare in a vacuum, to see it
as something existing outside of traditional societal situations, outside of a
public audience with opinions, political influences, etc. My research has
illustrated that these forces played an active part in the creation of the
plays, and this gives them a very long lasting impact, allowing them to still
be as rich and detailed as we consider them today.
Our most recent reading of Richard the 3rd offers
a rich and fertile ground to study these topics. I knew little about the War of
the Roses (other than that which gets passed off on “Game of Thrones”) prior to
reading this play and it is interesting to watch Shakespeare craft the
particular myth of the Tudors through characters on the stage. Richard provides
plenty of interesting situations between himself and other characters, from
seducing Lady Anne to feigning humility when the kingship is thrust upon him.
We also have plenty of base/superstructure type of relationships, particularly
focusing on the idea of succession and birth order. In order to attain
kingship, Richard is forced to bump off his brother, wait for the present king
to die, and then kill all potential heirs and marry off the women to men of
lesser stature. This is all demanded by the system in which he lives, if he
wants to rise to kingship. It’s interesting how social hierarchy motivates the
action in many of these plays, and it is something I look forward to continuing
to explore.
I think that idea, of how individuals fit into society at
large, is what I am most interested in when I read these plays, as presented by
my blog posts. Particularly with characters as big as the ones in “Othello” and
“Richard the 3rd”, Shakespeare presents the critic with plenty of
opportunities to ask these big questions. How far is too far to attain power?
Why do men fail? Etc., etc., Shakespeare allows us to look into the minds of
these characters, and perhaps divine an answer. I look forward to continuing to
explore these themes as we continue to read.
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