Sharing from Relief Society to Oprah

Well, I did it, I shared Shakespeare to the world! Like the assignment was I did this both locally and globally but both were actually different subjects! Here's what I did...

Locally

Not gonna lie, this one had me stumped for a few days. I couldn't decide who I wanted to share with and what about because I didn't want it to be too easy. In fact it was almost an impromptu sharing but it was interesting, and I admit I went on a few tangents.

It all started when a fellow member of the Relief Society

First I told her how it was a Shakespearean play based off of actual historical events. She was amazed. I told her the real life history of Antony and Cleopatra and then discussed with her how accurately Shakespeare drew upon these. We talked about the absence of her previous affair with Julius Cesear and their love child. It was decided this was probably done to make the play more romantic and less political than it seemed to be.Presidency came to deliver some notes, and well she saw me doing homework on my bed and asked what I was working on. (I was looking for global sharing experiences but was struggling...) I told her how I read Antony and Cleopatra and BAM she was hooked. See, she didn't know what Antony and Cleopatra was, or even who they were, and so naturally I had to explain.

Then I naturally diverged into a conversation about reality in Antony and Cleopatra and I guess in Shakespeare in general. We talked how his characters also try to shape their reality so they can justify their actions, either past or present. Which led me to a tangent about Hamlet and a clip I saw on YouTube my freshman year. (Its pretty funny, and shows how Ophelia's fate could have been different.) There's actually a few on other Shakespeare plays as well but sadly not one on Antony and Cleopatra. I was actually going to request they do one on it for part of my global outreach, but I admit I forgot....

Globally

I struggled for a long time to find something to connect with people about Antony and Cleopatra.

I looked at productions (none were current), Flickr photos (same problem, most were over two years old), and for blogs and tweets...nothing.

I was feeling rather frustrated and discouraged and then I learned we could expand outside of our play and share other Shakespeare things. So I naturally turned to my good friend Edgar...okay the book...about Edgar...that's fictional....you know the The Story of Edgar

Sawtelle by David Wroblewski , which I've had such a fervor for recently.

I started going crazy! I looked for blogs, photos, videos, reviews and even found David Wroblewski's site dedicated totally to The Story of Edgar Sawtelle (they're making a movie!! I really want to see it whenever it come out). I wanted to try to contact him personally but wasn't able to get an in. I just found contact information

for his people, and decided instead to see what people were saying.

I went once again to Flickr, but there aren't really any good photos about this book, because well, its a book! But I pressed forward to YouTube. Nothing of interest there, just a few lame videos that didn't seem worth my time to watch.

So onto a different approach! I remembered that The Story of Edgar Sawtelle had been an Oprah's Book Club book. So I thought I check out what was happening there. On his biography page there were a few comments but I thought I would try to stimulate some more comments about the book and Shakespeare. So I related to a lady who was from Wisconsin and I also left my own review of the book relating it to Shakespeare. (click here to see them)

But I didn't feel like this was enough. More people needed to know about my passion, so I joined Goodreads. (I'm actually really glad I signed up for the membership because now I'll get great recommendations.) The first thing I did was write a review of the novel, and I of course tied it into Shakespeare, I mean it is a retelling of Hamlet! I was actually shocked to see so many comments from people who did not like the book at all! A lot of it was because it had such a tragic ending, but come'on people, it's a Shakespearean tragedy! So I left a few comments here on there on people's discussions but nothing has turned up.....

Actually one thing did but this was actually one of my shorter comments and this lady was quick and short in her reply...but maybe I'll try to stimulate more in depth thought about Shakespeare....

Once again I still wanted to do more! The world needed to be educated and get an appreciation for this version of Hamlet! So I searched blogs and lo and behold, a man wrote a whole blog post just about this novel! The thing about his post is that he praised the book, but he said he didn't know the plot of Hamlet so he couldn't compare it in that way. So I educated him in a comment describing the plot and how knowing Shakespeare's tale enriches the novel. I even suggested that he read Hamlet with The Story of Edgar Sawtelle next time. (By the way that's a picture of the blogger)

So I have sown my seeds and I hope that even though the assignment is technically due today, that I will get replies and good feedback. I mean look at all the people in my post alone that have been influenced by Shakespeare. And hopefully I've influenced a few people to reconsider their views on the Shakespearean plot and maybe they'll even read Hamlet now! I hope they do because as I said in many of my comments, knowing the story of Hamlet really enriches The Story of Edgar Sawtelle.

Taking a Look Around...

Not gonna lie, I'm having a really hard time finding things online about what people are saying about Antony and Cleopatra. I guess it's just not one of Shakespeare's most popular plays to analyze. This might be because it is so historical in nature.

Don't worry I found a few things, but they're all a few years old so I don't know how well the connecting will go. But I guess I'll keep plugging away! If you guys have any suggestions I would love to hear them!

The few things I did find were papers on the Roman and Egyptian relationship, the historical facts about Antony and Cleopatra, and even one about how Egyptians showed affection in that time period. Oh! I guess I found this blog as well, which I hope to read in depth, but I don't know how the connecting will go because the last post was in December...

Sadly there is nothing on how the characters may choose to alter reality and why, but hopefully I'll find something or someone to begin connecting with!

They Said and Thought What?!

So in my last post about my plan for my analysis I mentioned going over some themes in Antony and Cleopatra. However if I go over all of those this post would be huge, so I'm just going to touch on two topics that I have hit in previous posts. The first will be nature references and the second with be, of course, reality perception.

Earthiness

Like I've said before, I've noticed that Shakespeare loves the nature references, and I personally find them very effective. Now the movie Cleopatra wasn't in Shakespeare's words. This is because they actually base the movie off of the fantastical perception of Cleopatra's mortal life. However, the second half is about her relationship with Antony, which Shakespeare wrote the play about! So it works. But since they don't use the actual play lines I had to just look at how they might decide to incorporate the natural world into the film.

Sadly there is only one point that stands out to me in how they used the natural world to make a point. See there is a part of the movie where a dead body is thrown over the wall as a warning to Cleopatra. So as the body is removed and Cleopatra fears for her and her son's life, the sky turns dark, the wind picks up, and it begins to rain. As with in many movies, they used nature to set the gloomy and ominous mood.

BUT don't worry! As mentioned before the play is loaded with nature references! Here are a few of my favorites that I think just really pack the punch.

"When my good stars, that were my former guides,/Have empty left their orbs, and shot their fires/Into the abysm of hell."


"His legs bestrid the ocean: he rear;d arm/Crested the world: his voice was propertied/As all the tuned spheres, and that to friends;/But when he meant to quail and shake the orb, He was as rattling thunder."


"Sometimes we see a cloud that's dragonish;/A vapour sometime like a bear or lion,/A tower'd citadel, a pendent rock,/A forked mountain, or blue promontory/With trees upon't that nod unto the world,/And mock our eyes with air."





Is this real life?

Antony and Cleopatra is full of people believing what they want to and choosing to ignore the blatant and obvious truth. Mainly it is between the two main characters themselves, and this was actually very apparent in the movie.

So there's a soothslayer in the movie who predicts that Julius Cesear will become Emperor and reign with Cleopatra at his side. Of course, this doesn't happen and Cesear is killed by the Senate and Cleopatra sent running back to Egypt. However they both obviously wanted to believe it, so they did despite obvious signs indicating otherwise.

Also, an interesting note about the movie, both Cleopatra and Cesear believe they are gods, and thus they cannot be killed by mortal hands. Cesear is so convinced that he is untouchable that even when Cleopatra expresses some of her fears about a potential assassination, he blows her off telling her she is silly. But at the same time Cleopatra constantly brags of her divinity! Neither want to admit to their weaknesses and just claim they are right because they are divine. It's crazy!

(Just as a side note, Cleopatra believes she is Isis and destined to rule the world.)

Now I'm sorry this is getting long so here are just few lines from the play how people have chosen to reconstruct their reality so they can justify their actions or get what they want. (Cleopatra is a pro at this.)

"If you find him sad,/Say I am dancing; if in mirth, report/That I am sudden sick"

"You praise yourself/By laying defects of judgement to me"

"All is lost;/This foul Eqyptian hath betrayed me." - This is actually Antony! He feels guilty about desterting his men in battle and running after Cleopatra like a dog, so he decides to find some way to be angry at her instead of himself!


You're at the end!

There are so many other great manipulations of reality, but I'm sure by this time this post is so long you don't want to read anymore! So I'll leave you with this. I just think it is so interesting that so many of Shakespeare's characters seem to have problems answering for their actions, so they feel the need to alter reality so they can feel better about themselves.

It makes me wonder how much I do this in my own life...Think about it. Do you do this is your life? I'm sure we all do in someway, because after all Shakespeare is the master and showing our human flaws in his characters.

Initial Reaction....WHEW!!!

Can I just say that Antony and Cleopatra was way more complicated, and a lot longer than I thought it would be?! There were so many subplots in the reading of the play that I was so thankful for online scene by scene summaries so I could make sure I was reading the play correctly!

Let's just say that in the midst of their complicated and blossoming love, Antony and Cleopatra have to deal with war! I'm not gonna lie I was often confused by motivations of characters and I think I will have to go back and examine more of why they do what they do.

While I was reading I also found themes that I would like to go back and examine. These include the following:

~Poison references
~Manipulation of others
~How the characters choose to perceive their reality
~Nature references
~Ambition versus Passion

I actually didn't find in my initial reading as many reality crisis as I thought I would find but I want to go back and examine those. I didn't see too much of this is in the movie either actually. What really interested me why how quickly the characters are to believe things that may or may not be there.

A quick thought on the movie Cleopatra is simply, wow. It was four hours long and the first two hours actually portray a plot that happens before the play even begins! In face it is more a movie about Julius Cesar and Cleopatra at first! Not only that but Cleopatra at first had such ambitious motivations and she didn't seem as cruel or cold as the play seems to make her out to be. I just thought that was such an interesting choice to do those things. In some ways it really added to the dynamics of the relationship Antony and Cleopatra had, but it also took away. I was ready to get to the point and have the movie end after the first two hours.

Yep, those are just my first thoughts after looking at the two versions of the story so just wait for the in depth analysis to come next week!!