All's Well That Ends Well

Here is the audio version. Again i like listening as well as reading what were working on so this enhances my experiece.

http://www.archive.org/details/allswellthatendswell_1008_librivox

Comedy Huh?

Like most of this class i probably find things, situations, and ideas funny that i shouldn't even though i know better. This is the mindset I'm walking into Frye's Argument of Comedy with. If this is incorrect well sorry, i guess? Anyway here we go with another random segment of random dialogue about something remotely class related.

I like the idea of the "Menandrine Tradition" even if i don't completely understand it. Maybe this is Adam Sandler's all consuming myth? Still not completely comfortable with "incest" and any sort of justification for it, scholarly or not!!! Also to remake a point i've talked about in earlier posts. I continue to feel ignorant for condeming Frye inspired/written without actually trying to understand him! My respect for him grows with every written word of his i read. The relevance of Frye's ideas and the tie in to today's writers on page 94 is a great questioning of purpose slash intent answer!!!Wow, maybe i should start reading Frye instead of watching any movies that come out since he's pretty much laid out the plots, characters and settings for me? Yikes "Sexual Communism" not even going to try and touch that one. "What tragedy gains in morality it loses in cathartic power" I like this especially since it really fits with most damned if you do damned if you don't attitudes. Definitely just "Amazoned' this book since i didn't get to finish what i was reading lol, wait just figured out it is in Frye's Anatomy of criticism. Thank you Professor Sexson for prescribing this book and myself for not throwing it away when i didn't understand it.

Well i think its about time to rap up this rant. Here's a video of what i was listening to as i did this blog

Northrop Frye on Shakespeare: The Introduction

First off let me thank whoever it was Professor Sexson asked whether or not they'd started
reading their secondary work. If they hadn't answered honestly and said no i probably wouldn't be writing this now, so to you i owe my inspiration for starting this post.

When i was first looking at secondary works for this assignment i was very unsure about which of the options Professor Sexson presented us with. My first priority was to pick something short. As much excitement as i had for this class i knew i wouldn't have a lot of time outside of it to spend reading secondary pieces. My next priority was to pick something i might actually understand. Initially i didn't think i would choose Frye because i had rough experiences with him and his Anatomy of Criticism the first time i tried to take Lit 300 with Professor Sexson a few years ago. Looking back at it now i realize it wasn't Frye's fault at all but my own struggle to grasp the material that cause the rift between Frye and myself. To my chagrin i realized the fault lie within myself and not what Frye was trying to say about literary criticism. This Brings me to the heart of this post Northrop Frye on Shakespeare.

Like i said earlier i harbored a little ill will toward Frye when i began reading the introduction to this book. Upon finishing the introduction i realized i hadn't given Frye a fair shake. This book seems like it will be extremely beneficial in my understanding of this course as it progresses. Now i'd like to move on and share some of the really interesting things i discovered in the introduction to this book which i apologize if they rehash some of what we've already talked about in class. I'm going to paraphrase some Frye here and quote it when i feel like its necessary or i can't dumb down what he's trying to say.

The first thing anyone who is reading or looking to read this book must understand is that wasn't originally conceived of as a book but came out of a course Frye was teaching on Shakespeare. The next thing Frye wants us to be conscious of is that if we explore only the historical Shakespeare he loses his relevance in our time. I enjoyed Frye's next point i felt like i shouldn't paraphrase it but give it to you directly. "One of the first points to get clear about Shakespeare is that he didn't use drama for anything: he entered into its conditions as they were then, and accepted them totally." Frye enumerates further upon this and i enjoyed how he explained that a modern day dramatist couldn't do this like Shakespeare does because there are so many external influences that we fall victim to nowadays.

The next thing i really enjoyed about the introduction was Frye's concept of "Overthought and Underthought". While i don't think i could do these ideas justice i do urge people to look into them further. Something else that is amazing about Frye's book is that he wants to remain objective. While he acknowledges that people have qualms about Shakespeare that isn't what he intends to go into or write about. Another good point Frye makes in his introductions is that no matter the setting or the characters the hero in all of Shakespeare's plays is theatre itself.

While these are only a few of the great points Frye makes in his introduction to this book i urge anyone still deciding on their secondary work to take a look at this one. I believe its going to be a great read and i look forward to hearing more of what Frye has to say about Shakespeare's works.

In What Ways does Mythology function in AYLI

Well Professor Sexson gave us a couple ideas/commands for this blog so I'll do my best to incorporate them into this Blog.

First off Professor Sexson asked us to google "Green World" and see what we come up with. The first couple entries it pops up are mostly what i would have expected to find natural seed companies and pleas to plant more trees because the earth is losing all its trees. The third result is where this whole operation starts to get interesting. Green World is the name of an album and song by the band Suicide Machines. Here are the lyrics to Green World. The band plays ska music which is a style of punk rock and if you want to learn more you can google it or check wikipedia and you'll find some very interesting stuff.

Suicide Machines Green World Lyrics:
If ignorance becomes you, then subscribe to the masses and
Just place your trust in the ALMIGHTY. Dollar
seeing green is seeing red, consumed by lust, consumed
by greed, its what they want, not what they need
if seeing green is seeing red
then seeing green is seeing death!
Take your green world, I reject your green world
Never, I couldn't. Cause everybody
knows that i just don't want it
Take your green world, I reject your green world
Never, I couldn't.
Cause everybody knows that there's no truth in it
Reject your wealth, defy your false pwer
makes you think you're so deep
but there's no truth in it
Lyrics: Green World, Suicide Machines [end]




Now i'm going to talk about how Mythology operates in As You Like it. I would like to talk a little about the Cain and Able biblical reference in AYLI. This my is timeless and still permeates many of the modern works of literature we read today. For my multicultural literature class we are reading Kite Runner and it also revolves around the Cain and Able myth as well. Its protagonist Hassan even goes as far as to invoke another biblical myth that of Abraham and Isaac. Hassan says that maybe he has to sacrifice his best friend much like Abraham almost had to do with Isaac. So there are many ways that mythology functions in AYLI. The one i find most interesting is how takes the mythology and makes usable within the context of the story. I definitely think Shakespeare knew what he was doing when he pick and chose certain biblical and mythical stories to mirror in AYLI. By no means do i believe he did this without thinking of the far reaching affects and ways in which people would read into this story based upon the examples and ideas he presented them with.

As You Like It

Again i like hearing what i'm reading since i'm an auditory/visual learner. Here is a direct link to As you like it being read by actors.

http://www.archive.org/details/as_you_like_it_0902_librivox

Commentary on Class for 2/08/2011

Hello everybody who follows this blog sorry its been awhile since my last post but i've been pretty busy. For any of you who read my blog on a regular basis this one will seem a little weird since i don't normally post notes or talk about them. I thought Professor Sexson's comments on our peer blogs were really enlightening for me personally.

Further Notes on a MSND

Sammy and Group #1 Discordance

We as readers like the resolution we got in Act V of a MSND because it is preceded by so much dissonance/discord. Ex. (Pg. 277 Lines 111-117)

Group #2 A Play Within A Play

Some good examples in other works of Shakespeare include Hamlet, The Tempest, The Taming of the Shrew. Also read Jenny's blog since she goes into further detail about this.

Group #4 The Walls

This was the group i was a part of and we focused on the walls. The walls seemed to represent the leaking of one level into another. The language, mythology, and breaching of the fourth wall to interact with the audience.

Comedies Usually End in One of Three Ways

A Dance
A Wedding
A Feast
Sometimes a combination of the previous three

Well i think that ends my summary/commentary on today's lecture. Stay alert for my next post which will focus on my secondary work which i have selected. Also i did google Lord of Misrule and you will find some interesting things just like Professor Sexson said i just don't want to ruin it for you.