In class, we've been analyzing Death of a Salesman more. Like before, I think the class discussions about DOS is very helpful is helping me see what the author, Miller, was trying to portray, and how other people in the class interpret the play.
We've also been reading Hamlet, which has been better than a lot of other experiences I've had reading Shakespeare. Ms. Holmes' input is very helpful and helps me understand the strange Old English dialect, and its been much easier to stay interested in the story. What is interesting to me is how different Shakespearean plays are compared to our modern plays. For example, deaths are somewhat taboo in Shakepeare's time, whereas today, we can see death in any episode of CSI or Criminal Minds during prime time on TV. Polonius' death in Hamlet was a complete shock to an audience back then, but now we think almost nothing of it. Other deaths in Shakespearean plays have been announced off stage with characters saying things like "Oh no, I'm dead!" which sounds ridiculous to us now. Over the centuries, people have become desensitized to violence, among several other things. Like in Death of a Salesman, Biff was unaware of affairs, and children during the 1950s were generally more innocent. Kids these days just seem to know more, and the social norm has changed.
In Hamlet, long soliloquies and monologues are used frequently in plot development. In modern times, a story line is told through actions and character interactions, rather than through an explanation of one character. It's weird that someone has to stand in front of an audience and have to explain what is happening, especially since lit teachers have been drilling us since middle school to "show, not tell" in our writings.
Other than that, we had our last student group of the rhetoric exercises, which is pretty sad. Instead, we practice different literary tones before each class as a warm-up, which has been fun, because Ms. Holmes gives out jolly ranchers, and it makes me happy.
I like how you noticed differences between Shakespeare's time and our time and how that shows in literature. One thing that is the same is the need for comic relief. In CSI, criminal minds, and Hamlet there is a funny scene to relieve the tension. Maybe back in Shakespeare's time the person that stood up and explained to the audience was seen as part of the story because sometimes today a movie opens up with a narrator talking to the audience. Isn't that what we were talking about in class, how characters have started interacting directly with the audience? I guess that started a long time with Shakespeare.
ReplyDeleteHey Vivian,
ReplyDeleteI think you were going in a really interesting direction when you started comparing how taboo violence was in Elizabethan theatre with how modern media is now desensitizing us to violence. You really fleshed out that thought, but I'd like to comment on the next step you took: when you started talking about how children of the 50s were more innocent than we are now, with respect to Biff's reaction to his father's affair, it got me thinking about how differently sex is addressed in modern media. It's still pretty much a taboo, though we are a little bit freer about recognizing that it exists than we were in the 1950s (when married couples in sitcoms would often be shown sleeping in separate beds). It seems to me that we still tend to censor sex--with fade to blacks, clever metaphors and imagery to replace the actual graphic acts, and double entendres--so as to talk around the issue as much as possible. It makes me wonder if people will eventually see that avoidance of graphic sex as ridiculous as an offstage act of violence and the Shakespearean actors line, "Oh no, I'm dead!" Will we become desensitized to portrayals sex, as well?
Vivian,
ReplyDeleteI really liked how you related the novels we are reading in class to modern society. You were absolutely right about how our society has been desensitized to violence. I think that since violent video games and movies/tv have become so much more realistic with better technology and special affects we are so used to seeing "simulated" violence so when a person is stabbed in a play we don't even flinch. I sort of disagree with your point about the monologues because we have to remember that Hamlet is a play so almost all of the information is revealed by the characters dialogue, which is still true in modern plays. Michaela I thought you made some interesting points about how we censor sex, but the same could be said about violence because we have ratings on videogames and movies based on violence as well as sex. I believe sex has been more desensitized because it has gone from a women losing all value when she loses her virginity to being portrayed as a normal recreational thing on tv and in commercials.