Thursday, May 7, 2009
Chapter 6 - When in Doubt, It's from Shakespeare ...
Discuss a work that you are familiar with that alludes to or reflects Shakespeare. Show how the author uses this connection thematically. Read pages 44-46 carefully. In these pages, Foster shows how Fugard reflects Shakespeare through both plot and theme. In your discussion, focus on theme.
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Because it is easy to connect almost any book to one of Shakespeare's plays in some way, I decided to choose the last movie i watched. In
The Lion King, Scar is plotting to kill Simba because he has the heir to the throne. Scar feels like he deserves the position. Scar, being Simba's uncle, easily pretends to be friends with Simba, while also plotting his downfall. Scar tells Simba things that are supposedly going to help him, but end up hurting him, just like Scar had hoped. In this story we have: a protagonist with a respectable position, antagonist who feels they deserve it, the friendship between the two, and the manipulation of the protagonist by the antagonist in order to get revenge or obtain the position. Does this sound like Shakesphere's Othello to you? A major theme in The Lion King is the manipulation and conflict between the supposed allies, Scar and Simba. This is characteristic of Othello's relationship with Iago.
I just watched this movie today that was awfully similar to Shakespeare's play, The Taming of the Shrew. In the movie, 10 Things I Hate About You, two guys are going after this beautiful young lady named Bianca. (pretty common name i guess) But she can't date anyone until her boy hating sister, Katarina, dates. She hates guys, and loves punk music and is pretty much a tom boy. The two guys going after Bianca unknowingly get the same guy to try and go out with Katarina so they can date Bianca. This movie seems based of the storyline of The Taming of the Shrew. I made the connection within a few minutes of watching this movie. The theme of the movie was, never judge a book by its cover. The rude Katarina ends up turning out to be a wonderful girl and in fact a better girl then her two faced sister Bianca. Bianca manipulates her guys and isn't as sweet as she seems.
Shakespeare has written so many things that can relate to work from this time period. One of my favorite movies is The Notebook. Allie and Noah are two lovers that want to spend the rest of their lives together. Allie’s family forbids her to spend the rest of her life with Noah thinking that it is just a summer fling so the family moves away. It doesn’t help that Noah and Allie are in different social classes. Allie’s family thinks she is so much better than Noah. This is the same with Romeo and Juliet. Juliet’s family and Romeo’s family don’t get along due to past history and they are in different classes. Both Allie and Noah and Romeo and Juliet are forbidden to see each other so the similar theme is forbidden love. The Notebook ends happier than Romeo and Juliet because the couple dies together happily. Romeo and Juliet die together, but in a tragic, non-appealing way. Both stories have an exceptional plot and are related, even though they are so many years apart.
Shakespearean works are still traveling around in our modern day literary works. For example, the other day I watched an episode of Wizards of Waverly Place and I found it extremely similar to the infamous Romeo and Juliet. In the episode, the character Justin has fallen in love with a girl (coincidentally named Juliet) who he has only known for a matter of minutes. Unfortunately, Juliet’s family and Justin’s family hate one another because they are each other’s top competition for their separate restaurants. Obviously, Juliet and Justin’s parents refuse to let them see one another, believing that they are betraying their own family’s restaurant. In response to this, the two love birds have to sneak around in order to see each other so that their parents will not find out about them. Eventually though they decide that they need to tell their parents about their relationship. Luckily, the episode does not end tragically like that of Romeo and Juliette, but the teens still are able to convince the two families to put aside their differences and allow the two to date one another. The main theme shared between Romeo and Juliet and the episode of Wizards of Waverly Place is the power of love. By showing how important their affection for each other was, Justin and Juliet convince their parents to let them date each other. The same is true for Romeo and Juliet. When the two end up killing themselves, their families realize how much they must have really loved one another if they are willing to kill themselves over it. Their power of love causes the Capulets and Montagues to stop fighting with one another.
Though a likeable but not one of my favorite musicals, The King and I reflects one of the most timeless themes of Shakespeare: forbidden love. Instead of the 14th century European star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet, the viewer is presented with the Siamese Tuptim and Lu Tha in 1862. Most people are familiar with Romeo and Juliet but the other two, like their origin, are foreign. First of all, though the title may suggest, neither Tuptim or Lu Tha is of royalty and are a small and separate story and part away from but related to the main characters Anna, a British school teacher who has come to Siam to teach the King’s many children, and the stubborn and barbaric minded (etc., etc., etc.,) King. Tuptim is a girl who has been brought to the king as a gift. However, during her trip to the palace she falls in love with one of her traveling companions, Lu Tha, and vice versa. Still, like Romeo and Juliet they can not be together because Tuptim belongs to the king and is now a part of a higher class and society while Lu Tha is of a lower and more dishonorable stature. Throughout the musical, Tuptim and Lu Tha realize they must be together and construct a plan to run away that’s just as elaborate as Romeo and Juliet’s. During Tuptim’s presentation of a Siamese version of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, the lovers make their escape but Tuptim is caught by the palace guards and brought back. Soon after, Tuptim and Anna, the only one who understood Tuptim and Lu Tha’s situation, learned from the guards that they had found Lu Tha’s drowned body in the river making Tuptim fall into despair and vanish for the rest of the play. With this end for the two lovers, the theme of forbidden and star-crossed love is complete, or so it seems. While in Romeo and Juliet the families involved realize they were at fault for the deaths of their children and regret that they never let the two be together, thus resolving the families’ grudge towards one another, the king could only think of himself and how the event destroyed him and his honor. Not another word of Tuptim or Lu Tha is said throughout the remainder of the play. Because of this, not only does the viewer understand the concept and the theme of star-crossed lovers but the viewer also better understands the society of Siam and how it is one of tradition, honor, and stature that does not want to bend to Western ideas or practices of Great Britain, just like its king. This results in a new theme, one of which is of the preservation of a culture and its values when tested and faced with change as well as societal and even global and international pressures to do so. Not only does Tuptim and Lu Tha’s theme an issue of the heart but also a theme that connects to politics and policy.
Almost any book someone reads connects with Shakespeare's works. During my middle school years, I read The Outsiders. After having read Romeo and Juliet, I analyzed and found connections between the two literary works' themes. Part of the theme in Romeo and Juliet suggests tragedies and terrible outcomes will result when hatred is present. The Montagues and Capulets fought as soon as they would see each other. The exact occurrences would happen between the Socs and Greasers. It took the death of young innocent, loving people for the hatred to cease in the story. Romeo and Juliet hide a secret relationship from their two different families; whereas, Cherry, Marcia, Johnny, and Ponyboy became friends even though they were from different groups. The authors are teaching readers to put aside differences and learn to get along with those who may be different. In addition, another theme the stories hold teaches that hate and violence can become in the way of remembering or knowing what is important in life. After the deaths of close friends in The Outsider, Ponyboy, Darry, and Sodapop realize that their family is the most precious gift they have. They change their aggressive, hateful behaviors to start appreciating what they have is each other for support and love. In Romeo and Juliet, the families faced the guilt of knowing they pushed the ones they loved into death because the families would not let them be together. The Montagues and Capulets came to their senses and ended the fights, so they would not lose the important people in their lives. As you can see The Outsider and Shakespeare’s tragedy contains relatable themes about people learning to stop the killing hate.
Like Scott I also believe The Lion King is very similar to one of Shakespeare's works; however I think The Lion King is based on the play Hamlet. They share many common elements such as Simba's uncle Scar killing Simba's father Mufasa to try to get into power. This is like how Hamlet's uncle kills Hamlet's father to rise to power. Scar convinces Simba that it is his fault that Mufasa has died which causes Simba to run away and live with Timon and Pumbaa. When Simba is old enough he fights Scar to become king due to the fact that Scar is a cruel and savage leader. When he learns the truth about his father's death he kills Scar much like how Hamlet killed his uncle to avenge his father. Both Simba and Hamlet also speak to their fathers after they have been killed in each other’s respective stories. It is my opinion that The Lion King is an adaptation of Shakespeare’s play Hamlet.
I thought for a long time about what to use for this entry, but my lack of ideas eventually forced me to turn to something quite obvious. I selected The Fantasticks, a movie that plays off of Romeo and Juliet. Two neighboring families have a sort of feud going on, and both of the fathers (the mothers have each died previous to the show) tell their child not to associate with the other family. Naturally, the son (Matt) and daughter (Louisa) do not listen to their parents, and they fall in love seemingly behind their fathers’ backs. However, the viewer eventually comes to find out that the fathers actually want their children to fall in love, but since a pre-arranged marriage wouldn't work, they use reverse psychology on them to instigate the relationship. They make up the feud, they tell their children “no,” and of course, it works like a charm! The problem, however, is that the fathers need to find a way to end the ‘feud’ without letting their kids know that they were faking all along. Eventually, a weird carnival gets involved, and an interesting set of events occurs where the fathers pay the carnival to kidnap Louisa so Matt can save her. It all works out as planned, but Louisa falls in love with the ringleader of the carnival. This upsets the initial relationship, and Matt runs away to join the carnival (possibly to try to learn from the man who stole his girl). He is quickly drugged and becomes a background character who is constantly beat up while Louisa goes through the carnival on a tour with the ringleader. The ringleader tricks her into giving him a necklace that used to be her mother’s, and after she leaves to go pack so she can join the carnival, he has everyone pack up and leave (thus making off with the necklace and breaking Louisa’s heart).
Now, if we stop here, we can see that this follows Romeo and Juliet a bit more than one might realize at first. Matt (Romeo) and Louisa (Juliet) were in an “unlawful” love. There was a chance for them to be together (Romeo and Juliet were married, and all seems fine before Paris comes along), but then someone else questing for Louisa’s love (ringleader, similar to Paris, for now) shows up, providing complications. Matt, after losing Louisa’s favor, runs away to the carnival (like being banished from Verona). The ringleader saves Louisa from a fate in the carnival by running off with the necklace (ringleader is now also the monk, who provides escape from marrying Paris, but in doing so causes heart break. The ‘fake death potion’ causes Romeo to kill himself, breaking Juliet’s heart. But wait, when did Matt die?). Luckily for these two, no one dies in The Fantasticks, and they end up together again. Excepting the happy ending, The Fantasticks shares a theme with Romeo and Juliet, and that is to not let wanton, poorly-founded love run away with you. Uncontrolled emotions can cause trouble, so one would do best to keep a level head in emotional times, when rationality is needed most. However, as The Fantasticks illustrates after all the hardship and heartache is over, true love is great, and happy endings are superior to tragic ones (at least, that's what I get out of it :).
It is fairly easy to find Shakespeare’s themes throughout today’s literary works. I found many connections in Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight and New Moon novels. In Twilight, Shakespeare’s forbidden love theme plays heavily on the plot. Edward and Bella are of two completely different worlds, given that Edward is a vampire and she is human. Their attraction to each other is very strong, but their differences make it hard for them to be together. The conflict resides within each other at first instead of their families, but they soon realize they can’t stay away from each other due to their attraction.
In New Moon, Edward forces himself to leave Bella to prevent himself from hurting her, and while he’s gone he hears that Bella died. Though she was in an accident that could have killed her, Bella was not dead. But upon hearing this, Edward decided to kill himself because he could not live without Bella. Sound familiar? Although Edward and Bella’s story ended up happily, unlike Romeo and Juliet’s tragedy, the same theme of not being able to live without the other (with the tragic mistake that the other is very much alive), exists heavily in both.
It is fairly simple to find some work of literature that compares to Shakespeare in some way. The movie The Lion King 2: Simba’s pride came to my mind immediately when thinking of movies that relate to Shakespeare. The Lion King 2: Simba’s pride is very similar to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Romeo and Juliet’s families are in a feud, so they can’t be together with approval from their families. Simba’s daughter, Kiara, meets Kovu who happens to be Scar’s heir. In the first movie, Scar killed Simba’s father to try and gain power. Later in the movie Simba avenges his father’s death by killing Scar. Because of this, Simba forbids Kiara from seeing Kovu. Scar’s wife, Zira, also forbids Kovu from seeing Kiara. After an attempt to murder Simba, Kovu is banned from the Pridelands. Kiara eventually sneaks off to the Outlands to see Kovu. They decide to unite the two tribes before they completely kill each other. This story has a happier ending than that of Romeo and Juliet. The two stories aren’t completely identical, but they are very similar. They both have the idea of two lovers who are forbidden to see each other, but sneak off and do it anyway.
Shakespeare can connect to a lot of things today that someone wouldn't think could be connected. In a lot of today's novels and movies you can usually find a connection. In the movie The Incredibles the main villain, Syndrome, is driven by jealousy to cause the demise of the entire Parr family because Mr.Incredible told him he couldn't be his sidekick, which he felt he deserved to be. In Othello Iago was also driven by jealousy to cause the demise of Othello and Cassio because he was denied a job that he felt he deserved to have. So Iago and Syndrome have the same goal, to destroy the person/people that hurt them and get complete revenge. The only difference is the success of the two. In the Disney film it follows the traditional sense of "good guy wins, bad guy loses". But in Othello Iago is successful in his plot to destroy Cassio and Othello.
Shakespeare ingeniously created one of the most common plot lines in literature: forbidden love. It’s so simple to apply literary works to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. As Holly mentioned, Twilight is an excellent example. Before I read Sarah’s post, I was planning on writing about The Notebook as well. Both Sarah and Holly described perfect examples of Romeo and Juliet. The Titanic is another outstanding example of Shakespeare’s forbidden love. Jack and Rose meet each other on the Titanic and quickly fell in love. Just like Sarah said about Noah and Allie, Jack and Rose were in different social classes. Rose’s family highly disapproved of this and wouldn’t allow the couple to be together. The couple sneaks around, just like Romeo and Juliet, to see each other. In the end of the movie, Rose and Jack suffer the same tragic fate as Romeo and Juliet do. They almost made it out alive, but just as in Shakespeare’s play, “almost” just doesn’t cut it.
Many books and movies have been based off one of Shakespeare's plays. For my example I chose to use the movie She’s the Man. This movie was based on the play The Twelfth Night.
As the movie, She's the Man, goes after Viola Hasting learns that her high school soccer team is being cut she tries to join the boys team at her school, Cornwell. When she is refused she strives to find a way to play for the boy’s team at their rival school, Illyria. Viola quickly learns that her twin brother, who she resembles physically, is leaving for a band contest in Europe. He asks her to lie to their divorced parents about where he is, but Viola fuses her own plan. She will take the place of Sebastian, her twin brother, who is a student at Illyria and play for their boy’s soccer team. What Viola doesn’t plan on is falling in love with her roommate, Duke. Duke, nevertheless, likes a girl named Olivia. Olivia begins to have feelings for Sebastian who is really the disguised Viola. Everything begins to fall apart when the real Sebastian comes home after being gone for two weeks in Europe.
In the play The Twelfth Night, the plot is very similar to the movie She’s the Man. Illyria is the city that the play takes place in. The Duke of Illyria (aka Duke, the roommate) is madly in love with a woman named Olivia. Meanwhile, a ship has wrecked off the coast. Viola and the captain of the ship survive, but Viola fears her brother Sebastian has drowned. Viola dresses up as a man and takes the name Cesario so she can work in Olivia’s house. As the play flows along a love triangle is formed. Viola loves the Duke Orsino, Orsino loves Olivia, and Olivia loves Cesario (the dressed up Viola).
She’s the Man almost exactly parallels the thought of The Twelfth Night; the crazy love triangle, the misery, and Viola dressing up as a man.
I agree with Sarah in the fact that Romeo and Juliet are much like the characters from the Notebook. This is actually the similarity I was going to use. Romeo and Juliet is not the only Shakespeare story similar to the Notebook, A Midsummer Nights Dream is too. The similarities between these two are again the arranged marriages. The characters fall in love with someone their parents will not let them marry. Instead the parents have someone else in minds. They wish for their children to marry someone that belongs in their class. In both of these stories they go against there parents will and end up with the one they love.
I agree with Sarah in the fact that Romeo and Juliet are much like the characters from the Notebook. This is actually the similarity I was going to use. Romeo and Juliet is not the only Shakespeare story similar to the Notebook, A Midsummer Nights Dream is too. The similarities between these two are again the arranged marriages. The characters fall in love with someone their parents will not let them marry. Instead the parents have someone else in minds. They wish for their children to marry someone that belongs in their class. In both of these stories they go against there parents will and end up with the one they love.
Shakespeare's plays, as many of them as there are, almost anything can be linked to them. Sleeping Beauty is similar to Romeo and Juliet. The original version of Sleeping Beauty has the entire kingdom put to sleep for the 100 years that the princess is supposed to be asleep from the enchantment from the evil godmother. Then, a wall of thorns surrounds the city until the prince that is supposed to break the curse arrives. The wall acts like the conflict between the Capulets and Montagues on Romeo and Juliet, being the thing that holds the lovers apart. The thorns parting for the prince are like Father Lawrence brings Romeo and Juliet together secretly and Romeo sneaking into the tomb. The only difference is that Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy and Sleeping Beauty is not.
Jack and Scott - I agree with both of you to the extent that The Lion King is based on Shakespeare. I am going to side with Jack for the fact that i believe it is more similar to Hamlet than it is to Othello. There are more similarities between Hamlet and The Lion King than there are between Othello and The Lion King. The main plot of Hamlet and The Lion King are almost identical. Scar kills Musafa like the uncle kills Hamlet's father to get power. Then Simba kills Scar like Hamlet kills the Uncle. There are definately more similarities between Hamlet and The Lion King
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