My Fav....

                                                                      WEB

I’m particularly proud of blog 12, where I discussed the rebirth of death. The philosophy of death has been something that has interested me for some time, so discussing it was exciting. To me death isn’t final, not in a religious connotation but in a rather philosophical mindset. We should fear death; instead we should look at it as the end of one cycle and the beginning of another. I enjoy being able to write freely, without heavy rules and restrictions, and these blogs, for the most part, has allowed me to so. I may be discussing Shakespeare, but I get to think independently about the material and produce my own opinions about the piece. I think more teachers should step away from tedious demands and other banalities, but instead should let students minds wander to more creative thoughts. 

I learned a great deal about drama and the practice of writing about the subject. I like to understand characters on a deep level when reading and some of the exercises stressed this case. Characters, to me, are more important than the plot. If you don’t care about characters, you aren’t going to care about the plot no matter how interesting it may appear. Plot has its place, obviously, but characters ate the lifeblood of good literature. Actually, characters are the lifeblood of any good entertainment. I think this is apparent with the rise of reality TV. The plots of these shows are thick and uninteresting, for the most part, but it is the characters that make people tune in every week. Writing about drama, is in part, about writing about characters and their motivations. And I enjoyed doing so.              

Giddy

                                                                                   WEB

The definition for giddy, according to Merriam-Webster, is dizzy, or precisely: mentally confused. Most of the characters in Much Ado do seem to some extent to be suffering from mental confusion. Confusion about their feelings for one another, and generally mental confusion due to misunderstands, most of an intentional nature. The most confused characters are Benedick and Beatrice. They are confused in part for the true nature of their emotions for each other. Their outward displays of disliking truly mask their genuine emotions of love. The other definition of giddy states a frivolous and lighthearted nature, which, once again, most of the characters fall prey to. Don Pedro seems to be the most lighthearted, being the prime instigator of the deception of Benedick and Beatrice. 

Sigh no more displays the qualities of a confused, carefree individual. “One foot on sea and one foot on shore,” shows the naturally contradictory nature of most people.  “One thing constant never,” illustrates the mutable nature of people. How we are constantly shifting and adapting, changing.  The song also shows how people should let go of their woes and turn it into nothing “nonny, nonny.”  How we should be blithe, in a manner of speaking. Man never truly knows what he wants and is a constant state of flux. We are persistently trying to displace our feelings of sadness, and to become carefree, in a sense, to the natural change of time. 

Man as a giddy thing displays the true nature of humans and so plays into the comedic nature of the play. Jesting about the apparent issues of human nature lies at the core of most comedic endeavors. They make observations about everyday life, and makes us see the ridiculous of it all. We are all confused, about one thing or another, and we all at some point find one foot on sea and one on shore. But we, through life, come to see all of our woes and turn them into “nonny, nonny.” We laugh at ourselves and all of our obvious contradictions, and move forward in the word.