Mr_Shank

Colin Easter

Acts 2 and 3 focused mostly on the wedding of Petruchio and Kate, with a side focus on Bianca’s suitors.  Petruchio and Kate were married very quickly, and it was against Kate’s will.  Petruchio also came to the wedding in attire that was not befitting of the occasion.  At the wedding, he misbehaved.  He hit the priest and swore.  Bianca’s suitors have started fighting amongst themselves, although not physically yet. What do you think of Petruchio’s actions at the wedding?  Was he doing this to try to get Kate to behave, or was there a different motive?  Who do you think is the best suitor for Bianca to marry?  Finally, what do you think of Kate being married against her will?

This book to me is heating up.  I feel we have just reached the climax because of the fact that the wedding is going to occur.  Will Claudio marry her?  Will Don John get into the minds of both the prince and Claudio?  I think not because love can overcome anything, and I think Shakespeare wants to make drama occur to show that love is powerful.  What are your thoughts on this so called affair that really never happened?  I think it is wrong to say but it does heat up the climax of this book.

Next I would like to talk about Benedick.  Will he get married?  I think so but I also think he will find out that tricks are being played to set these two up.  I feel that it is wrong, but in a way it might allow for him to loosen up.

Lastly I would like to discuss the title.  A Much Ado About Nothing does not seem to mean anything right now.  I feel that Shakespeare wrote this for himself and did not want it to be out in public.  I think a better title could have been selected if he were to show it in the theater.  What do you guys think on this matter?  Do you think that there is a better title?  I would have selected something funnier such as Mistaken Identities, which would give the reader a clue to what will happen.  I have seen no clues to predict what will happen next.  Out of nowhere Shakespeare adds anything.  Also my title would make sense as people have dressed up like one another, and have even tricked people into love. 

In this section I am going to look at Petruchio.  Petruchio acts very strange throughout this section of the story.  He was late to the wedding to start off.  But then when he arrived he was riding a horse that with all its ailments it should have been dead.  Plus his attire was horrendous.  His outfit did not reflect his status at all.  His clothes was all mismatched and his sword was rusted and broken. It also didn’ have a scabbard.  Then after the making a complete fool of himself at the wedding he said that he and Kate could not stay for the feast.

Why do you think that Pertruchio is acting like this? 

-Kody

Act 3, as everyone knows, is a huge mess. Titania falls in love with Bottom, Lysander and Demetrius both love Helena, and know one loves Hermia, all thanks to Oberon and Puck. I have some questions, and as of 10:39 am I am still not out of the hospital, but hopefully later today. I don’t know if I’ll be back to school on Monday. I still have a lot of pain.

1. Like all Shakespeare works, Midsummer has been referenced in many other works. Can you think of any movies, books, etc. where the big mix-up seen in Act 3 is present? Explain the similarities and differences between the scenarios.

2. What do you make of Puck? Is Puck a good or an evil character? Explain.

3. Oberon and Titania have an argument over Titania’s Indian boy. However, Oberon does not perform a malevolent act. His plans are funny. How do you think the plot would be different if Oberon had done something like kill a character?

-Brandon

KATHERINE:
“No shame but mine; I must, forsooth, be forc’d
To give my hand, oppos’d against my heart,
Unto a mad-brain rudesby, full of spleen;
Who woo’d in haste and means to wed at leisure.
I told you, I, he was a frantic fool,
Hiding his bitter jests in blunt behaviour;
And to be noted for a merry man,
He’ll woo a thousand, ‘point the day of marriage,
Make friends invited, and proclaim the banns;
Yet never means to wed where he hath woo’d.
Now must the world point at poor Katherine,
And say ‘Lo! there is mad Petruchio’s wife,
If it would please him come and marry her.”

(Act III, Scene II)

This is the reaction of Katherine when her fiance is late to their wedding.  She believes that he plans to skip out on it completely and that he was simply toying with her as a joke.  She states that she was forced into marriage with this man who she does not care for whatsoever, which is understandable with the way that he acts during their wedding.  When Petruchio shows up in such atrocious clothing, everyone is shocked.  They plead him to change his clothes, to not do such a thing to Kate.  But not only does Petruchio refuse them, he makes a fool of Kate and embarrasses her at the wedding and then leaves right after it is done!  It now becomes clear that Petruchio does not intend on simply taking Kate’s money, but still attempting to tame her, making her life miserable.

If you were in Kate’s position, married to an arrogant, selfish man and with no choice in the matter and nothing you could do to undo the marriage or flee, what would you do?  Would you give into his will and be a faithful abiding wife like everyone else was in that time, or would you keep resisting him, knowing that you might have to your entire life?  Realize that giving in would make your life much, much easier, but it might go against your desires.  After you determine what you would do, what do you think Kate will do?

-Ditz

Wow, this has to be the most exiting play I have ever read.  Act three has shown to be the climax of this play.  We have read of scandals, love, and hate.  So far this has to be the best act.  Do you guys agree with me on this?

“O god of love!  I know he doth deserve as much as may be yielded to a man: But Nature never framed a woman’s heart of prouder stuff than that of Beatrice; Disdain and scorn ride sparkling in her eyes, misprising what they look on, and her wit values itself so highly that to her all mater else seems weak: she can not love, nor take no shape nor project of affection, she is so self-endeared.” (Act 3 , scene 1)  This is said by Hero to Ursula.  I picked this quote because it shows the plan to get Benedick and Beatrice together in action.  If this plan works these two characters could change completely.  In this quote Hero is trying to explain that Beatrice is not able to love anybody, especially Benedick.  This whole conversation is happening because they want Beatrice to think that Benedick loves her.  When actually he only loves her because he thinks she likes him, which she doesn’t.  Beatrice is hiding behind the trees while they are talking and thinks she heard something she shouldn’t have.  Than when Hero and Ursula leave Beatrice says that she must showing scorn to Benedick and start to love him.  From all this we learn that everything in Hero’s plan is working.  First the boys got Benedick to think Beatrice loves him, and than the same with Beatrice.  This will have to lead to love between these two.  They already have said to themselves that they love each other.  Do believe these two will come out with their feelings about each other?  Why or why not?

Also, Just for conversation what was your guys favorite part of the play so far?  Mine would have to be this part right hear.  I like the fact that Hero is using trickery to bring out Beatrice’s true feelings.

-Julian Garcia

Okay, Mr. Shank, for this group of blogs we are only doing 3 different posts right?

Well anyway, this week, we read Act 3 and Act 4 of a Midsummer’s Night Dream. For my quote this week, I chose from Act 3, Scene 1:

TITANIA

I pray thee, gentle mortal, sing again:
Mine ear is much enamour’d of thy note;
So is mine eye enthralled to thy shape;
And thy fair virtue’s force perforce doth move me
On the first view to say, to swear, I love thee.

I thought this was really funny because Titania wakes up and falls in love with a guy with a head of a donkey. It just kind of shows how unexpected “love” can be, even when it is interfered with with magic juice. So, my question for all of you this week is this: From all the love discussions we’ve had in class and from reading Romeo and Juliet, what is your outlook on love and lust? Also, how does this entire play revolve around the love of the different characters?

“That’s all folks!”

~Sarah L.

Alright, this week we read Act III. The passage that I found was actually quite interesting Please read it and answer the questions that follow:

Titania:

Out of this wood do not desire to go:
Thou shalt remain here, whether thou wilt or no.
I am a spirit of no common rate;
The summer still doth tend upon my state;
And I do love thee: therefore, go with me;
I’ll give thee fairies to attend on thee,
And they shall fetch thee jewels from the deep,
And sing while thou on pressed flowers dost sleep;
And I will purge thy mortal grossness so
That thou shalt like an airy spirit go.
Peaseblossom! Cobweb! Moth! And Mustardseed!

 [Enter Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Moth, andMustardseed]

Peaseblossom:

Ready.

Cobweb:

And I.

Moth:

And I.

Mustardseed:

And I.

All:

Where shall we go?

Titania:

Be kind and courteous to this gentleman;
Hop in his walks and gambol in his eyes;
Feed him with apricocks and dewberries,
With purple grapes, green figs, and mulberries;
The honey-bags steal from the humble-bees,
And for night-tapers crop their waxen thighs
And light them at the fiery glow-worm’s eyes,
To have my love to bed and to arise;
And pluck the wings from Painted butterflies
To fan the moonbeams from his sleeping eyes:
Nod to him, elves, and do him courtesies.

Peaseblossom:

Hail, mortal!

Cobweb:

Hail!

Moth:

Hail!

Mustardseed:

Hail!

Bottom:

I cry your worship’s mercy, heartily: I beseech your
worship’s name.

Cobweb:

Cobweb.

Bottom:

I shall desire you of more acquaintance, good Master
Cobweb: if I cut my finger, I shall make bold with
you. Your name, honest gentleman?

Peaseblossom:

Peaseblossom.

Bottom:

I pray you, commend me to Mistress Squash, your
mother, and to Master Peascod, your father. Good
Master Peaseblossom, I shall desire you of more
acquaintance too. Your name, I beseech you, sir?

Mustardseed:

Mustardseed.

Bottom:

Good Master Mustardseed, I know your patience well:
that same cowardly, giant-like ox-beef hath
devoured many a gentleman of your house: I promise
you your kindred had made my eyes water ere now. I
desire your more acquaintance, good Master
Mustardseed.

1. How did Bottom use each fairy’s name to help plant them into his memory? (How did he make fun of their names in a matter of speaking?)

2. Where do the fairy names come from? (You may have to look this up.)

3. Do you think that Bottom will try to escape? Why?

That is all I have for you!

-Jenni Kantor

Ok this quote is going to be between Beatrice and Margret.

In this quote Beatrice thinks that Margret thinks that she is in love with Benedick, my question is if she doesn’t like him why did she over react so much when Margaret was not even talking about him?  It seems to me that she is trying to hide her love for him because everybody knows that they do not get along.  Do you think that Beatrice loves Benedick?  Why do you think her attitude changed towards him?

~Lauren Gress~

Well, in the first section of the book we had only gotten a glimpse of each character because it was necessary to introduce us as the reader to who we’d be reading about in the rest of the story. Now though, we are starting to see the plot thicken even more when the plans talked about in the first act are actually being carried out, and along with that we are seeing a lot of different sides of certain characters.

For example, for what we have seen of Petruchio before this reading he just seemed like an honest man who wanted to marry a rich woman for whatever reason he wanted to. And now after reading these two new acts we have begun to see how deceitful and cunning he can be. What I mean by this is that in Act II when he is trying to woo Katharina we see how he is trying to make it so she falls in love with him by pretending that none of her innapropriate comments addressed to him affect him at all. This is interesting because it shows exactly how desperate Petruchio is to marry Katharina, I personally can’t believe that even after meeting Katharina he would still wish to marry her. So my question for you is as follows. What do you think Katharina’s thoughts on Petruchio are? Do you think that she finds it odd that he isn’t offended by her attitude that has put off a bunch of men before him? Please tell me your ponderings and then elaborate upon them.

Next I shall be explaining how we start to see a different side of Tranio in this portion of the book. What is meant by this is that before these two acts we have only seen Tranio as Lucentio’s little servant man that did all that he asked him to do willingly. But now we are starting to see that he doesn’t really need to follow orders to feel helpful, he is masquerading as the master and seems to be fine with doing so after filling his bigger shoes. What I mean by this is that in some other works of literature we see a servant rise up against a master, but then they realize that their life is empty without all of the small things that they missed from their previous way of life, so I just found it interesting how we’ve seen Tranio develop a little bit since the beginning of the book. So my question for you is as follows. If you were in Tranio’s shoes and you got to like living as your master, would you ever give it up? Or, maybe would you continue to be the master and you master the servant? Please tell me your opinion on what you’d do and why.

Now also in this portion of the book we also see several changes in Bianca in this scene of the play. What I mean by this is we see her get violent with her sister in the beginning scene and that is not something that we as the reader could guess would happen after hearing about how much of an angel she was. We also finally get the first glimpse of who she actually was when she comes out of her shell and is talking to Lucentio during her music lessons. This is intersting because in these two scenes we’ve actually begun to see who Bianca really is, and by learning who she really is it makes it easier for us as the reader to be able to understand why people like Lucentio, Gremio, and Hortensio could fall in love with her. So my question for you is as follows. What other changes do you think Bianca will go throughout this play? Do you think maybe that she could change so much that nobody wanted to marry her any longer? Please elaborate.

I would like to thank you in advance for reading through this blog of mine and also for responding to it. I would also like to apologize that I did not explain all of the character changes, I only mentioned the character changes that seemed to be of signifigance to me personally. I also apologize that this blog is not as long as my last one.