Renaissance Man

Shakespeare slumps are not a joke.

Recently, I've been running on low steam with Shakespeare, and it has been seen very clearly in the frequency on my blog posting. Also recently, in my Music Civilization class, we began learning about the Renaissance ideas of creativity and their notions of beauty and order in music, art, and literature. And how they intersect with one another. This is what has brought my interest in Shakespeare back to life.

A main idea I want to look at is the glory of the individual, and man as the maker of his own destiny. It's a little throwback from the Christian sensibilities that were seen through out the Byzantine and Medieval eras, to the Greek and Roman notions of man.

In Richard III, this aspect is very prominent in that he is trying to use every little trick he has to change his status in life and claim the throne that would never belong to him.

THE WOOING OF THE LADY ANNE


Duke of Gloucester:

"Was ever woman in this humour woo'd?
Was ever woman in this humour won?
I'll have her; but I will not keep her long.
What! I, that kill'd her husband and his father,
To take her in her heart's extremest hate,
With curses in her mouth, tears in her eyes,
The bleeding witness of her hatred by;
Having God, her conscience, and these bars
against me,
And I nothing to back my suit at all,
But the plain devil and dissembling looks,
And yet to win her, all the world to nothing!"

 In this odd turn of events, Richard had killed this woman's husband and wooed her as she followed his body in the funeral procession. Sounds familiar, right? It's Gertrude and Claudius all over again, except that this Gertrude knows that Claudius killed her husband! Although he had done it coldly, he acts and puts on a show that she was his reason for doing so, and even entreats her to kill him if it displeases her. Of course it displeases her, but she cannot kill or give the order for his death, and so gives herself up to marry him, although she bitterly hates him.

Following the theme I've discovered, he is doing this ONLY for his own gain. The ending couplet of his soliloquy in this act is hugely pointing to this theme.

"Shine out, fair sun, till I have bought a glass,
That I may see my shadow as I pass."

That is, in my opinion, the quote that defines his whole character. This idea of telling the sun to shine brighter so that he can more easily see himself (even as he walks in the darkness of his deeds) is showing the elevation of the individual that is so strong in the Renaissance arts and mindset.

Revoltingly, the Lady Anne actually marries him and then is later killed by him because she no longer suits his purposes. No surprise there, right?

A horse, a horse! My kingdom for a horse!

Spoiler:  The hunchbacked Duke becomes the King and kills everyone along the way.

Including the children.

I have just finished, in the wee hours of the night right before the library is to close, watching the BBC version of Richard III. It was very true to text, and had a very straightforward interpretation. It also took a few minutes shy of four hours. However, there were things that were unexpectedly comical due to the interpretation, such as the secret combinations between The Duke of Gloucester (Richard III) and the Duke of Buckingham  as well as the severed head of the Duke of Hastings.

My favorite scene had to have been when Buckingham is trying to convince the citizens to raise Gloucester up as their king, and so tells Gloucester (in private) to appear on the balcony between two bishops while reading the Bible, then act humbly and refusingly to the demand of ascension to the throne.

Duke of Buckingham: The mayor is here at hand: intend some fear;
Be not you spoke with, but by mighty suit:
And look you get a prayer-book in your hand,
And stand betwixt two churchmen, good my lord;
For on that ground I'll build a holy descant:
And be not easily won to our request:
Play the maid's part, still answer nay, and take it.

Of course, the citizens are egged on by his humility, and end up begging him to become their king, to which he finally accepts. Not to anybody's surprise who's seen the whole beginning of the play, he doesn't take that much coercion. Even though it's known that he's killed and given orders for other murders before, and there are many rumors surrounding him, he makes sure to make himself blameless.

Duke of Gloucester: Would you enforce me to a world of care?
Well, call them again. I am not made of stone,
But penetrable to your. kind entreats,
Albeit against my conscience and my soul.
[Re-enter BUCKINGHAM and the rest]
Cousin of Buckingham, and you sage, grave men,
Since you will buckle fortune on my back,
To bear her burthen, whether I will or no,
I must have patience to endure the load:
But if black scandal or foul-faced reproach
Attend the sequel of your imposition,
Your mere enforcement shall acquittance me
From all the impure blots and stains thereof;
For God he knows, and you may partly see,
How far I am from the desire thereof.

All in all, I though Gloucester/Richard's character was a complete slime ball. I wanted him to die the whole time. No really. Sometimes there is that one character that you want to die. Like Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. Or Chancellor Palpatine. Or this guy.

You want to root for him in the very beginning, because he's so cunning and amusing... but then he just does so many horrible things to people that that are completely innocent, like young children and all of the other dukes, and immediately begins suspecting people and going back on every promise as soon as he's crowned that you know he has to die soon.

Good thing he does.

Love's Labour's are indeed Lost.

Reading through this, I'm starting to realize the meaning of the title. It's about the misunderstanding of how one should treat and go about love and loving someone. In this case, the "labor of love" is completely taken in a new way. Instead of respect and other amiable qualities that lovers will work hard to possess and perfect to woo their women, they use rhetoric and wordplay as a means to the end. Of course, this is incorrect as "Love's Labour" in a romantic sense.

In this way, Love's Labour have become Lost. Not lost in that it can't be found, but lost as in misguided and confused. Abused wordplay has been confused as a way to gain love or impress lovers, but it couldn't be farther from the truth in this play.

On the topic of social outreach.

I think it's great that's we're going to expand our little Shakespeare bubble! I was actually really interested in this guy Bill Barclay and his idea of musiclarity. Yes, Professor Burton stumbled upon him in class, but I think it's just dumb luck that it's a topic that I'm interested in!

O how Fortuna smiles upon the time-, travel-, and trial-weary learner of the ancient playwright! I will in all my humility, although still owning a sonorous voice like an angel of mirth, praise and honor thy fortuitous gifts of promise!

...Well... We can't all be Armado.

Anyways, this is really encouraging to me, the fact that there are many people out there that share my interests! I've been struggling with finding a direction and consistently blogging, so this change in the scope of the class should prove beneficial to both my learning and my blog.