Sunday 31 January 2016
Saturday 30 January 2016
Thursday 28 January 2016
Tuesday 26 January 2016
The Tempest - critical quotes treasure chest, and how to learn them
Amazing resource here to help with learning critical quotes for your essays!
http://www.memrise.com/course/307444/the-tempest-critical-quotes-2/
Here's one for learning quotes from the play itself:
http://www.memrise.com/course/199240/the-tempest-quotes-4/
http://www.memrise.com/course/307444/the-tempest-critical-quotes-2/
Here's one for learning quotes from the play itself:
http://www.memrise.com/course/199240/the-tempest-quotes-4/
Tennessee Williams documentary
Slightly cheesy 1980s-tinged documentary about Williams - useful and interesting nonetheless, so watch and make notes!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-viGvRnjYIc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-viGvRnjYIc
Monday 25 January 2016
Freaks (1932)
Banned for being 'obscene', this said more about the censors' prejudice than the filmmakers. Way ahead of its time...
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x23f1ji_freaks-1932-full-movie_shortfilms
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x23f1ji_freaks-1932-full-movie_shortfilms
Teratology: Monsters in popular culture
A history of how Calibans were put on sensationalised...
http://www.nyam.org/library/collections-and-resources/digital-collections-exhibits/digital-telling-wonders/popular-culture-and-freak-shows/
Books about 'prodigies' in the 16th century:
http://www.nyam.org/library/collections-and-resources/digital-collections-exhibits/digital-telling-wonders/prodigy-book-16th-century/
http://www.nyam.org/library/collections-and-resources/digital-collections-exhibits/digital-telling-wonders/popular-culture-and-freak-shows/
Books about 'prodigies' in the 16th century:
http://www.nyam.org/library/collections-and-resources/digital-collections-exhibits/digital-telling-wonders/prodigy-book-16th-century/
A whole website just about The Tempest
Here's on short essay on colonialism - loads of other themes in the margin:
http://www.bachelorandmaster.com/globaldrama/the-tempest-as-a-play-about-colonialism.html#.VqYTMrdybcs
http://www.bachelorandmaster.com/globaldrama/the-tempest-as-a-play-about-colonialism.html#.VqYTMrdybcs
Wednesday 20 January 2016
Shakespeare the Epicurean
Epicurus’s teachings
In 306 bce, Epicurus established his school at Athens in his garden, from which it came to be known as The Garden.
The Doctrine of Epicurus...
The Doctrine of Epicurus...
Philosophy was, for Epicurus, the art of living, and it aimed at the same time both to assure happiness and to supply means to achieve it.
Epicurus concluded that “freedom from pain in the body and from trouble in the mind” is the ultimate aim of a happy life. The damages and the advantages following the realization of any desire must be measured in a calculus in which even pain must be faced with courage if the consequent pleasure will be of longer duration.
Having thus given order to his life, however, the wise person must also provide himself with security. This he achieves in two ways—by reducing his needs to a minimum and withdrawing, far from human competition and from the noise of the world, to “live hidden”; and by adding the private compact of friendship to the public compact from which laws arise. To be sure, friendship stems from utility; but, once born, it is desirable in itself. Epicurus then added that “for love of friendship one has even to put in jeopardy love itself”; for every existence, being alone, needs the other. “To eat and drink without a friend,” he wrote, “is to devour like the lion and the wolf.” Thus, the utility sublimates itself and changes into love. But as every love is intrepid, the wise person, “if his friend is put to torture, suffers as if he himself were there” and, if necessary, “will die for his friend.” Thus, into the bloody world of his time, Epicurus could launch the cry: “Friendship runs dancing through the world bringing to us all the summons to wake and sing its praises.”
Fear of death and fear of gods
Death “is nothing to us, so long as we exist, death is not with us; but when death comes, then we do not exist.” But death is feared not only for what may be waiting in the beyond but also for itself. “I am not afraid of being dead,” said the comic Epicharmus of Cos; “I just do not want to die.” The very idea of not existing instills a fear that Epicurus considered to be the cause of all the passions that pain the soul and disorder human lives. Against it Epicurus argued that if pleasure is perfect within each instant and “infinite time contains no greater pleasure than limited time, if one measures by reason the limits of pleasure,” then all desire of immortality is vain. Thus, Epicurus’s most distinguished pupil, Metrodorus of Lampsacus, could exclaim, “bebiōtai” (“I have lived”), and this would be quite enough. He who has conquered the fear of death can also despise pain, which “if it is long lasting is light, and if it is intense is short” and brings death nearer. The wise person has only to replace the image of pain present in the flesh with that of blessings enjoyed, and he can be happy even “inside the bull of Phalaris.” The most beautiful example was set by Epicurus at the moment of his death:
A happy day is this on which I write to you. …The pains which I feel…could not be greater. But all of this is opposed by the happiness which the soul experiences, remembering our conversations of a bygone time.
The ultimate concentration of all his wisdom is the Tetrapharmacon, preserved by Philodemus: “The gods are not to be feared. Death is not a thing that one must fear. Good is easy to obtain. Evil is easy to tolerate.”
Simon Schama on John Donne
John Donne counts as literary context for Marvell, so watch this and make notes!
A View From the Bridge on stage
Here's the first part of an amateur production. Watch all five parts!
Arthur Miller discusses AVFB with the BBC
Here are three extracts of Arthur Miller discussing AVFB with the BBC. Take notes as you watch!
(BY the way, if you follow any one of these videos onto youtube, you'll find all 8 parts of this programme).
.
Miller on Eddie's motives and some context:
Actors analyse Eddie's character:
Miller on Eddie's motives and some context:
Actors analyse Eddie's character:
Tuesday 19 January 2016
Monday 18 January 2016
Most threats to humans come from science and technology
According to Stephen Hawkings... http://gu.com/p/4gv64?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Friday 15 January 2016
Elia Kazan's letter to the censor
''Blanche is not crazy when she comes in, she is a very very disturbed, upset girl."
Great letter telling the censors to back off. It worked...
Thursday 14 January 2016
Streetcar in performance
Shame we could never go to this! Sounds good.
Read the review then answer the questions below - thoughtfully - for some useful AO5.
The revolving stage helped to highlight key moments. Which moment do you think would really have benefited from this trick of the stage?
What sort of mood/atmosphere of the original setting might the revolving stage have captured... and lost?
The article applauds the actors for avoiding one dimensional portrayals of 'Blanche as a cracked Southern belle and Stanley as a coarse brute.' What sort of nuances do Gillian Anderson and Ben Foster seem to have brought to their roles?
Why might updating it to a more modern, 21st century setting seem like a bad idea?
Wednesday 13 January 2016
Monday 11 January 2016
Tragedy vs comedy...
John Moreall reckons these are the features of tragedy vs comedy.
http://www3.dbu.edu/mitchell/comedytr.htm
Do you agree? Does Streetcar adhere to all of the features of tragedy? Any comedy tropes in there?
http://www3.dbu.edu/mitchell/comedytr.htm
Do you agree? Does Streetcar adhere to all of the features of tragedy? Any comedy tropes in there?
Friday 8 January 2016
Tuesday 5 January 2016
Monday 4 January 2016
Was The Tempest inspired by the Wreck of the Sea Venture?
While it is unknown when The Tempest was written, it was
performed in 1611 and published in 1623. The first performance
was for King James I, and then later, in 1613, it was performed
for the wedding festivities of Princess Elizabeth. The published
text of The Tempest was unusually well prepared because it was
divided into acts and scenes with complete and full stage
directions.
There are many disputes about when The Tempest was written and
what source documents Shakespeare used. Many of the arguments
center on whether or not an actual shipwreck in Bermuda was the
basis for The Tempest.
The Voyage and Wreck of the Sea Venture
<http://1609chronology.blogspot.com/2009/06/voyage-and-
wreck-of-sea-venture.html> A site that gives the history of the Sea Venture of 1609 and its re-appearance in 1610. Provides details
arguing against Shakespeare basing The Tempest on the Sea
Venture.
a href="http://shakespeareauthorship.com/tempest.html">Dating The Tempest David Kaufman maintains the traditional viewpoint
that The Tempest was based on shipwreck of the Sea Venture and
the accounts given by the survivors.
Montaigne's Essays
<http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/texts/montaigne/mont
aigne-essays--2.html> Essays published in 1603 which Shakespeare may have used as a source for his description of the
native people in The Tempest.
Jekyll and Hyde on screen
Cartoon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EugSL1jbUE0
Film (warning: not faithful to the original book) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mQt5FreIiQ
Film (warning: not faithful to the original book) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mQt5FreIiQ
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