Since International Women’s Day is Friday, I’m devoting the following week to talking about the awesome female characters in Shakespeare’s Roman plays: Titus, Andronicus, Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra, and Coriolanus
First, here’s my post and an accompanying podcast on Roman women, which includes an analysis of Lavinia, Portia, Valumnia, and Cleopatra:
Here’s a fascinating video about the lives of Roman girls:
And here’s a special section about Cleopatra:
Today is February 29th, a day that only exists every four years. This is because the Earth’s rotation isn’t exactly 265 days, so every couple of years we add a day, (except every few hundred years).
The man who first pushed for the most accurate calender in the Western world was none other than Julius Caesar, the Roman dictator, and titular character in Shakespeare’s famous tragedy. Here’s an interesting news story that details why this happened:
For the month of March I’ll be doing a lot of posts, videos, and podcasts about Julius Caesar, and the Roman plays in general, and also hopefully releasing a new course for Outschool.com. Stay tuned!
Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!
Every couple of years or so, there’s a new retelling of the tale of star-crossed lovers. I’ve written before that Shakespeare didn’t invent this story, but his version is definitely the template for every subsequent retelling.
The big challenge in telling the story for children is how to get around the sexual and violent elements of the story. Some versions like “Gnomio and Juliet,” make the violence comic and kid-friendly, while others like the WIshbone version call attention to the fact that it’s only a play, by presenting it as a story-within-a story.
What I find unique about Disney’s Elemental is that it ignores the violence and explores a side of the story that is often downplayed: family loyalty vs. personal choice. Is this version a complete adaptation- no. But it’s interesting to compare to “Romeo and Juliet” to see how it modernizes and diversifies elements of Shakespeare’s story.
One trope that both Elemental and Romeo and Juliet emphasize is the ancient notion of comparing human temperaments to the four elements.
In this world, all people are made of one basic element and it corresponds to their personality- dull, cold earth, flighty air, emotional water, and driven and temperamental fire. Our heroine Ember not only has a fiery temper, but a burning desire to repay her family for all that they’ve given her. She is also full of family anger for the prejudice she suffered at being an immigrant and a fire person. In the world of Elemental, fire people are looked upon with distrust because.. well fire burns!
This concept of elemental temperaments is explored in very creative ways in the film, but it is by no means a new idea. The idea that humans are made of four elements goes back to ancient Greece and China. The Greek philosopher Aristotle helped popularize the theory that not only is everything made of four elements but there are four liquids called humours that control human health and human behavior.
This is a presentation I created back in 2006 that explores the imagery and worldview of Romeo and Juliet. I explore what it means to be “Star Crossed Lovers,” and the relation that this play has to Astrology, religion, and even the Black Death. I hope you find it interesting!
Aristotle believed that to be physically and emotionally healthy, a person’s humours needed to be balanced which would prevent sickness and also control their temperament. A “humorous” person was someone who was either too angry or too melancholy and therefore worthy of scorn. This eventually twisted into our notion that humorous means to be funny.
In Romeo and Juliet, all of the characters are dominated by a particular humor and sometimes they even say how they are dominated by Choler (fire), Melancholy (Earth), Blood (Air), and Phlegm (Water)
Patience perforce with wilful choler meeting
Tybalt, Act I, Scene v
Makes my flesh tremble in their different greeting.
I will withdraw: but this intrusion shall
Now seeming sweet convert to bitter gall.
All things that we ordained festival,
Lord Capulet, Act IV, Scene v
Turn from their office to black funeral;
Our instruments to melancholy bells,
Our wedding cheer to a sad burial feast,
Then hie you hence to Friar Laurence’ cell;
The Nurse (to Juliet), Act II, Scene v
There stays a husband to make you a wife:
Now comes the wanton blood up in your cheeks,
They’ll be in scarlet straight at any news.
What’s unique about Elemental is that, while characters in Renaissance dramas have all four elements within them, in this movie, they are literally embodying one. Therefore to be in balance as Aristotle says they should be, they need a partner with an opposite humor to form a harmonious union. This is a nice way of visually showing the age-old adage that opposites attract in a very literal and easy-to-grasp way.
As much as I love “Romeo and Juliet,” I’m well aware that Romeo is not an ideal lover. His attraction to Juliet is very much based on sight alone and though he is courageous and persistent to win her love, he does little to support or help her. Many people have pointed out that, had Romeo lived, it seems unlikely that his relationship with Juliet would last, especially considering that he just got over another girl five minutes before meeting her:
So as a character, Romeo is iconic, but as a lover, he’s not exactly ideal. What Elemental does is keep his love of romance and his persistence, and give him the ability to empathize, a desire to help, and above all, the ability to LISTEN to Ember, (the Juliet analog). Enter… Wade:
Wade is a great addition to the Romeo trope and though he doesn’t kill anyone for Ember’s honor, he does fight many figurative battles for her- he helps her fight her guilt and find her purpose in life, he tries to help her family multiple times, and he fights her father’s prejudice against water people by being kind and respectful to her family.
I think it’s telling that Wade is dominated by water. First of all, it makes it clear to audiences that he has significant challenges in dating Ember (since he might literally extinguish her), but also because of what it says about his character.
Romeo is dominated by the humor of blood, which according to Hippocrates and Galen:
A person who is sanguine is generally optimistic, cheerful, even-tempered, confident, rational, popular, and fun-loving. He or she can be daydreamy to the point of not accomplishing anything and impulsive, acting on whims in an unpredictable fashion. Sanguines usually have a lot of energy, but have a problem finding a way to direct the energy. This also describes the manic phase of a bipolar disorder.
https://www.thecolourworks.com/hippocrates-galen-the-four-humours/
While Wade is literally made of water, which according to Galen:
A phlegmatic person is calm and unemotional. Phlegmatic means “Pertaining to phlegm” and corresponds to the season of winter (wet and cold), and connotes the element of water. While phlegmatics are generally self-content and kind, their shy personality can often inhibit enthusiasm in others and make themselves lazy and resistant to change. They are very consistent, relaxed, and observant, making them good administrators and diplomats. Like the sanguine personality, the phlegmatic has many friends. But the phlegmatic is more reliable and compassionate; these characteristics typically make the phlegmatic a more dependable friend.
https://www.thecolourworks.com/hippocrates-galen-the-four-humours/
So by his very nature, Wade is more active and a better friend than Romeo, which makes his relationship with Ember a more equal partnership. Wade is thus a more modern take on the age-old sanguine lover like Romeo.
Many have argued that Romeo and Juliet’s relationship was never designed to last; it was designed to be much like fire or even like a poison that tastes good at first, but kills at last:
Much like Shakespeare’s version, the Juliet character in Elemental is more interesting than the Romeo character, and the writers know it. In Shakespeare’s version, Romeo is absent for most of Act IV, and in Elemental, Wade is not there for most of Act I and parts of Act II in the movie. The focus of both stories and the best feature is how the heroine handles the conflict between her family and her romance.
In Shakespeare’s version, Juliet doesn’t immediately fall head-over-heels in love with Romeo and uses an elemental image to describe how it would be foolish to try and rush into love too fast:
Although I joy in thee,
Juliet, Act II, Scene ii
I have no joy of this contract to-night:
It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden;
Too like the lightning, which doth cease to be
Ere one can say ‘It lightens.’ Sweet, good night!
But, once the two of them are married, she is very passionate and will do anything to avoid getting married to Lord Paris, even though her parents are pressuring her:
It’s also interesting that Lord Capulet is described in this scene as “Too hot.” I’ve mentioned before that in many productions, the Capulets are dressed in fiery colors like reds, yellows, and orange.
Juliet herself can also be very fiery and willful. At one point, Friar Laurence even compares Romeo’s infatuation with Juliet to fire and gunpowder!
These violent delights have violent ends
And in their triumph die, like fire and powder,
Which as they kiss consume: the sweetest honey
Is loathsome in his own deliciousness
And in the taste confounds the appetite:
Therefore love moderately; long love doth so;
Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow.
[Enter JULIET]
So there is precedent for portraying Juliet as a fiery character. What Elemental adds, is a sympathetic portrayal of race and culture wrapped up in her fiery nature. As I said before, Ember is the child of immigrants who are grateful to Element City for taking them in, but tired of the prejudices they face from the other elements. This echoes the real word struggle of Chinese immigrants under the Chinese Exclusion Act, and Japanese Americans during World War II. One way Ember’s fiery temper manifests itself is with her anger at prejudice and injustice:
The other struggle that keeps Ember intemperate is her conflicting desire to honor her family by taking over the family business, although this isn’t what she wants to do with her life. Wade sees this and realizes that Ember is fighting a war within herself and that is why she is lashing out at people in the store. She is also dealing with her family’s relative poverty and is constantly worried that her family won’t survive if she doesn’t take over the store.
In this scene, Ember becomes jealous of Wade, who was born into wealth and acceptance unlike her family who has struggled for years. This jealousy drives a wedge between her and Wade. It’s interesting that, rather than a family feud, the real forces that keep Wade and Ember in Elemental apart are not an arbitrary feud, but big societal forces like racism, nativism, and cultural differences.
In essence, Elemental takes the star-crossed aspect of the story and makes them more like the modern world. Most of us in first-world countries don’t get into blood feuds but plenty of people face prejudice and hardships based on where and how they were born. Elemental “boils” down the core of the Romeo and Juliet story and tells it differently, while keeping the central lesson that love can overcome and unite family differences and problems when two people are willing to risk everything for each other… even life.
Tonight is the Chinese New Year, beginning the Year of the Dragon. I’ve talked before about the fascinating relationship between Shakespeare and China, and I thought I’d illustrate it here by talking about a shared cultural mythology- the concept of dragons. Both Western and Eastern cultures use dragons in their myths, but as you’ll see, they have very different cultural meanings.
Before thee stands this fair Hesperides,
Antiocus, Pericles
With golden fruit, but dangerous to be touch’d;
For death-like dragons here affright thee hard:
Sometimes we see a cloud that’s dragonish;
Antony and Cleopatra
A vapour sometime like a bear or lion,
A tower’d citadel, a pendent rock,
A forked mountain, or blue promontory
In Western myths, dragons are symbols of wrath and fierceness. In ancient Greek and Viking myths, dragons are often guards of treasure, (and sometimes in modern stories like Harry Potter). In the myth of Hercules, a multi-headed dragon guarded the golden apples of the Hesperides, (the apples that kept the gods young and immortal). King Antiochus wants to scare Pericles by comparing his daughter to the apples; if he fails to win her love, he’ll be devoured as Hercules almost was.
His CORIOLANUS is grown
Coriolanus
from man to dragon: he has wings; he’s more than a
creeping thing.
Shakespeare’s Roman general Coriolanus is frequently compared to a dragon in Shakespeare’s play. According to Dr. Peter Saccio of Dartmouth College, this is because the general is unable to relate to other humans- he is solitary, violent, jealous of his power and wealth, and prefers to strike first, then retreat from other people when the battle is won. This is why he utterly fails to get the Roman people to elect him consul in this scene from Ralph Fiennes’ movie. I find it ironic that Fiennes has played not only this character, (who is associated with dragons), but with Lord Voldemort, (who controls several large serpents), and also Francis Dollarhyde in the film Red Dragon:
Swift, swift, you dragons of the night, that dawning
Cymbeline
May bare the raven’s eye! I lodge in fear;
Though this a heavenly angel, hell is here.
Sometime he angers me
Hotspur, Henry IV, Part I
With telling me of the mouldwarp and the ant,
Of the dreamer Merlin and his prophecies,
And of a dragon and a finless fish,
A clip-wing’d griffin and a moulten raven,
A couching lion and a ramping cat,
And such a deal of skimble-skamble stuff
As puts me from my faith.
A thousand hearts are great within my bosom;
Advance our standards, set upon our foes
Our ancient word of “courage,” fair Saint George,
Inspire us with the spleen of fiery dragons!
Richard III
In the medieval story of St. George, the titular knight defeats a dragon, which is basically a stand-in for Satan. George was seen as the ideal knight- virtuous, devoted to his cause, strong, and patriotic. His defeat of the dragon was an allegory for how knights should devote themselves to protecting their lords, ladies, and the innocent against evil. Therefore, it’s intentionally unsettling that Shakespeare has Richard III telling his soldiers to act not like the virtuous St. George, but like the cruel and violent dragon. Richard is Shakespeare’s most villainous king, so it makes sense in context that he would side with the dragon, and thus his defeat would seem even more like a triumph of good over evil. In addition, the real King Richard flew this flag with a dragon on it during the actual Battle of Bosworth Field.
Peace, Kent!
King Lear
Come not between the dragon and his wrath.
None of the animals is so wise as the dragon. His blessing power is not a false one. He can be smaller than small, bigger than big, higher than high, and lower than low.”
–Chinese scholar Lu Dian (AD 1042-1102)
Dragons didn’t have the negative connotations of Western myths. In China, they were symbols of good luck, strength, and success. They were also known to be proud and temperamental-sometimes kind but sometimes vengeful to people who didn’t show them proper respect. In a sense, the dragon was like the ancient Greek gods- they should be viewed with respect and gratitude as well as fear.
The Chinese calendar goes by a cycle of years, not months. It has 12 animals that represent various qualities and those qualities will characterize the coming year. So hopefully a year of a dragon will be a year marked with courage, good fortune, and justice.
IV. What would a Chinese Lear look like?
Looking at the quotes I showed you earlier, it’s interesting that King Lear calls himself a dragon, and it made me think- Lear is a powerful warlord who demands absolute loyalty from his children. Would a Chinese version of King Lear work?
There was a Chinese production of King Lear back in 2017, where the translator and director traveled to the Royal Shakespeare Company in England and worked with the actors and directors of a London production to make their production gain insight into the characters’ motivations. However, I wonder how successfully they translated the Western ideas and values of the play for a Chinese audience. One of the reviews from China Daily.com describes the play like this:
Originating from old British legend, King Lear is one of Shakespeare’s four most famous tragedies. Through the internal disorder of the royal family, the rise and fall of King Lear’s fate and the final punishment of evil powers, Shakespeare expresses his optimistic views in the future of society, thereby adding the glory of strong idealism into his work.
ChinaDaily.com
The last word I would use to describe King Lear is “optimistic”. It is the only tragedy where not only does everyone die, but the entire future of the monarchy is in question. Nevertheless, reading about this production makes me interested in imagining my own version of King Lear, one that emphasizes Chinese values, but also questions them.
Many Chinese stories stress family loyalty, communalism, and respect for elders. You could portray King Lear as a story about the disastrous consequences of self-interest. After all, Regan and Goneril cast their father out and dismissed his followers, and it led their kingdom into civil war. In that version, Lear is like the Dragon King, who in Chinese folklore, was a powerful ruler of the seas, (giving new meaning to the lines “Blow winds, and crack your cheeks”). As a bonus, historically, many imperial Chinese rulers decorated their palaces with images of dragons, and the emperors themselves were associated with the creature, (especially during the Han Dynasty), so when Lear says “Come not between the dragon and his wrath,” In his mind, he literally is a dragon.
In 1736, Jean-Baptiste Du Halde wrote about the Emperor: “His clothing is embroidered with dragons: they are his emblem, and only He can wear dragons with five claws – any infringement to this rule is punished severely.”
Cornell University: Emblems and Mascots of Rulers:
Chinese Imperial Dragons
That said, some dragons were associated with bad luck and ill omens. I’ve said before that Lear’s biggest flaw is that he fails to take time to examine himself or think about the consequences of his actions until it is too late. Maybe Lear thinks of himself as a benevolent dragon, but really is a bad man cursed with bad luck; he is not a dragon, he just has one on his back. So, in short, a Chinese re-imagining of King Lear could be a fascinating look at Chinese culture and give a fresh re-imagining of Shakespeare’s tragic story.
I hope you enjoyed this look into dragons in Shakespeare and Chinese culture. Joseph Campbell said that all cultures share and interpret archetypes to understand their own culture, but also to grasp what makes us all human. For whatever reason, every culture on Earth has some kind of large serpent- Chinese dragons, European dragons, The Aztec god Quetzalcoatl, the Viking Yormungand, even the Piasa of the native tribes of the Mississippi. and they can mean many different things to many different people, which means that we as humans are in some way tied to gether through all these dragon tales (no pun intended).
I’m really excited about the Disney Plus release of the Percy Jackson TV show. My family and I are really enjoying it and I think it’s a very good adaptation, (much more faithful than the previous movie versions). The tone is darker, the characters are better fleshed out, and also there’s a much more nuanced take on Percy’s character, which I believe is at the core of the series. The movie is essentially just a fetch quest where Percy is going from location A to location B looking for various magic items and fighting monsters. Movie Percy is a very static character but in the books and the show, they keep all of those journeys but also delve into his complicated relationship with the gods, his own insecurities growing up without a father, and his overwhelming feeling that this world of gods and mortals is fundamentally flawed and that he is the one to fix it.
“Families are messy. Immortal families are eternally messy. Sometimes the best we can do is to remind each other that we’re related for better or for worse…and try to keep the maiming and killing to a minimum.”
-Percy Jackson, The Sea of Monsters
In short, what makes the show great is that it emphasizes the elements of the book that make it a classic story of a young man who is trying to find his place in the world and complete the quest that his father set for him. Of course, once I started watching it, my Shakespeare Brain activated, and I immediately compared him to Shakespeare’s ultimate example of a hero trying to complete a quest given to him by an absent father- Hamlet.
So today I’ll Talk about why I think Percy Jackson is actually a descendant of Hamlet or rather that Hamlet and Percy Jackson are both descendants of the same common ancestor in Greek mythology and touch on what these classic stories can say to us today.
As I touched on earlier, there are some glaring similarities between the plots of Percy Jackson and Hamlet- we have a young man who has who hates his stepfather, who is deeply protective of his mother, who goes on a magical quest given to him by his father, (who cannot directly aid him because he’s not physically there). In Percy Jackson, his father is a god- the ancient Greek water god Poseidon, while Hamlet’s father is a ghost. Both heroes have to deal with treachery, uncover a plot, avert potential wars, and get caught up in great military and political power schemes. While Hamlet is trying to restore the rightful heir to the throne (himself), Percy is trying to avoid a war between the gods. Both heroes have stoic sidekicks- Hamlet has Horatio whereas Percy has Annabeth and his friend Grover the Satyr. Hamlet’s friend l Horatio is kind of like a combination of Annabeth’s intelligence and Grover’s kindness and empathy. Finally, both stories conclude in a duel (spoiler alert) where they fight against a near-impossible adversary, and in the end, succeed in their quest, although in Hamlet’s case, he does so at the cost of his own life.
The main difference between these stories is connected to tone and genre- Hamlet is a revenge play, and most Revenge tragedies end in the death of the avenger. Percy Jackson is an adventure quest so based on the conventions, he can succeed, survive, and go off to fight another day. Nevertheless, in terms of the broad outline, the plots are very similar. I would argue this is probably because Hamlet has its roots in many ancient mythological stories like Oedipus, Orestes, and of course, the Danish Viking myth of Amleth. I would argue that both Percy Jackson and Hamlet have a very clear direct common ancestor: the ancient Greek myth of …
https://prezi.com/btk3m_bamkmh/hamlets-monomyth/
As this funny cartoon illustrates, the plots of Percy Jackson and Hamlet can be seen as a modern incarnation of the Perseus myth, from the villainous stepfather to the hero’s protective feelings to the mother to the magical quest to get rid of a stepfather who takes away his birthright. These plot elements follow a very similar formula; as Jake also alluded to, all three of these stories are part of what writers and scholars like to call the monomyth or the “Hero’s journey,” a concept in mythology and storytelling that has inspired works such as Percy Jackson, Star Wars, and many others.
In 1949, scholar Joseph Campbell wrote a book called “The Hero With a Thousand Faces,” which posited that every culture has stories that fit into universal archetypes- that essentially all human cultures have unique stories, but also call to mind universal truths about humanity. He then distilled the common archetypes and plot tropes of these myths into something called “The monomyth” or “The Hero’s Journey,” a 17-step process that is at the core of many ancient myths, modern adventure stories, or revenge stories such as Hamlet. Below are some of the common tropes of the Hero’s Journey. When you see it spelled out like this, it is very clear that both Hamlet, Percy Jackson, and Perseus follow the Monomyth formula:
Where’s the glory in repeating what others have done?
The Lightining Thief
Every Greek hero starts with a call to adventure- Theseus finds his father’s sword and sets out to find him. Oedipus needs to lift the plague on Thebes, and Hamlet needs to find out why his father’s ghost has returned.
A Half-Blood of the eldest gods, Shall reach sixteen against all odds
The Oracle- Sea of Mosters
And see the world in endless sleep
The Hero’s soul, cursed blade shall reap
A single choice shall end his days
Olympus to preserve or raze.
If my life is going to mean anything, I have to live it myself.
The Lighting Thief
I won’t go looking for trouble. I usually don’t have to
Neither Hamlet nor Percy outright refuse to go on their quests, but both experience doubts. Percy, looking at how the gods have cursed and fought and betrayed each other, wonders whether or not they deserve his help:
Hamlet on the other hand, is so worried that the ghost is trying to deceive him into killing an innocent man, that he nearly kills himself in the most famous speech in all of Shakespeare.
Supernatural Aid – A magical helper appears or becomes known
Go on with what your heart tells you, or you will lose all.
The Nereiads, Lighting Thief Chapter 17
Both Percy and Perseus get help from the gods- magical weapons, advice, etc. Hamlet gets the revelation from his father that his uncle killed him and how. What sets Hamlet apart from any number of myths is that, since there’s no tangible evidence that his father was there, Hamlet is not sure if his father helped him, or if he is going insane.
Suspecting and knowing are not the same.
-The Lighting Thief
In Perseus, the first threshold would be when he leaves Acrisius’ palace and sails to the island of Cerebos. In Percy Jackson, this would be when he leaves Yancy Academy and goes to Camp Half-Blood, and in Hamlet, it would be when he meets the ghost.
My fate cries out, and makes each petty artery in this body as hardy as the Nemian Lion’s mane. Still am I called!
Hamlet, Act I, Scene iii.
There’s always a part of the story when a character feels they are in too deep. Sometimes it’s a literal belly of the beast- Pinocchio and the whale, Luke Skywalker and the Sarlaac pit, Frodo when he reaches Mordor, and Agent K in Men In Black when he literally gets eaten by the Bug. In Percy Jackson, it would definitely be when he journeys to Hades, like many Greek heroes like Orpheus or Hercules.
I’d love to tell you I had some deep revelation on my way down, that I came to terms with my own mortality, laughed in the face of death, et cetera.
The truth? My only thought was: Aaaaggghhhhh!.
Usually, the belly of the beast occurs near the climax of the story- the ultimate test of the hero’s courage and resolve. For Hamlet, this would be the duel with Laertes- he’s in a situation where Claudius has total control of what he does.
“You weren’t able to talk sense into him?”
“Well, we kind of tried to kill each other in a duel to the death.”
“I see. You tried the diplomatic approach.” (The Sea of Monsters)
I’ll get into a deeper summary of the steps of the Hero’s journey on my podcast later this month, but to summarize, the Hero’s Journey is essentially a story of growth, maturity, and enlightenment. It’s not a coincidence that all three of these heroes are young men who leave home and then return to confront an evil stepfather or uncle. Campbell regarded the Hero’s journey as a metaphor for young men growing up, learning about themselves, gaining confidence in themselves and their abilities, and taking their rightful place in society by displacing a corrupt older authority figure. This is also why these stories often resonate with young people, and why storytellers like Disney often use the Hero’s Journey as a template for children’s movies.
These universal stories of growing up, maturity, and a life worth living have always inspired people and even though the stories have different purposes and the plots take different forms, the core of what makes them universal remains the same.
I found this wonderful short clip from Dr. James Allen Jones, a Shakespearean scholar and actor who draws parallels between the miracle of Hanukkah and this passage from Othello:
Duke of Venice: Let me speak like yourself, and lay a sentence,
Which, as a grise or step, may help these lovers
Into your favour.
When remedies are past, the griefs are ended
By seeing the worst, which late on hopes depended.
To mourn a mischief that is past and gone
Is the next way to draw new mischief on.
What cannot be preserved when fortune takes
Patience her injury a mockery makes.
The robb'd that smiles steals something from the thief;
He robs himself that spends a bootless grief.
Othello, Act I, Scene iii, lines 547-558
Desdemona has married Othello, but her father Brabantio cannot comprehend why a woman like her would disobey him, much less marry a black man. He is actually convinced that Othello must have used drugs or witchcraft to seduce Desdemona, and calls both of them to court before the Duke. The Duke hears the argument patiently and concludes that Desdemona’s love for Othello is genuine. In the lines above he speaks to Brabantio giving him friendly advice as if he were Brabantio’s conscience, (or the sense of judgment that he so clearly lacks). The Duke urges this father to let go of his “grief” over losing his daughter because it will only invite further suffering.
Sadly Brabantio doesn’t take this advice at all, and ‘warns’ Othello that she could just as easily betray him as she betrayed her father. Arguably, this plants the first seeds of doubt and jealousy in Othello’s mind, the seeds with Iago so carefully cultivates.
The miracle of Hanukkah is that the Israelites were able to see clearly who they were and preserve their culture in the face of annihilation. Sadly, the characters in Othello are all blinded- blinded by racism (Brabantio, Iago), lust, (Rodrigo), love (Desdemona), and jealousy (Othello). I thought Dr. Jones drew some very interesting parallels between Shakespeare and Hanukkah, and I’m happy to share them with you:
I’ve written before that Shakespeare helped influence Halloween as we know it- the images of holding skulls, witches chanting over a cauldron, and even ghosts coming back to plague their murderers all have Shakespearean roots. Exhibit A is how these images and tropes can even be found in beloved Halloween costume stores like Spirit Halloween!
If you like creepy Halloween activities and Shakespeare, please sign up for my fully online, fully asynchronous class: “An Immersive Guide To Shakespeare’s Macbeth!” The class features a digital escape room, an interactive quiz, and a special, undead guest!
Get $10 off my class “An Interactive Guide to Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” ” with coupon code HTHES4NHCN10 until Nov 3, 2023. Get started at https://outschool.com/classes/an-interactive-guide-to-shakespeares-macbeth-jp7TIh9B and enter the coupon code at checkout.
I’m not going to say where my club is or mention the names of the members for privacy’s sake. This post is to familiarize you with the idea, and hopefully inspire your school to do the same.
Like I said in my “Is Shakespeare Being Cancelled?” post, most teachers don’t have the time, training, or inclination to teach a really in-depth Shakespeare unit. Most classes I’ve worked in barely have enough time to cover the plot of Romeo and Juliet, before they need to work on another unit. This is why I started a Shakespeare club, to give kids time to engage with Shakespeare without having to worry about grades.
Shakespeare was NOT meant to be read. In this club, we’ll engage with Shakespeare’s plays through games, sword fighting, dramatic readings, movies, and sometimes even recipes! The goal of the club is to have fun with classic works of theater.
Every month we will discuss a new play and try to explore different aspects of it each week. For each week we’ll do the following:
https://www.zoo.com/quiz/which-shakespeare-play-fits-you
I then asked the students to research the play they got, then asked them to fill out a Jamboard, like the one I made below- using photos and short descriptors to get a general idea of their new favorite play!
So as the school year continues, I’ll create more recaps and post more discussions to let you know how this little experiment is coming. Since this is a new idea, I’d love to get your feedback because I want as many people as possible to help make this project a success!
The Shakespearean Student 