Rumination #6

         Let me first start by saying the impact that the play had on these inmate’s lives was amazing to watch. The tempest seemed to be the perfect play that could have been chosen. The Tempest centers around the theme of forgiveness. As I watched the documentary, it seemed like these guys connected so well with the characters they were portraying. Many of these inmates talked about their need for forgiveness of their crimes in their past, and how this element of forgiveness attracted them to certain characters in the play. I think it was these guys’ ability to relate to the character’s more than maybe an everyday person could, that really allowed them to get in character and appeal to the audience.

            At one point in the documentary, the director of the play talks about how Shakespeare would have loved the opportunity to have his play acted out by inmates. This makes sense because many of Shakespeare’s characters, or at least the ones from the plays which I have observed, have been very crooked in nature. Yet, while watching this documentary, at times I completely forgot the actors were inmates. I think this speaks a lot to society’s stigmatism they put on criminals and they way they are automatically judged. But I think this also speaks to the correctional power that Shakespeare Behind Bars has on them. Although we don’t know these inmates before the documentary, I couldn’t help but listen to how they described themselves in the past and see how big of an impact the play has on them.

            I felt very interested in these guy’s lives. After watching the documentary, I immediately looked to find out what they were up to, or had they been granted parole. Unfortunately, when I went to the Shakespeare Behind Bars website, I found that many of them had either not been granted parole or once out had committed a new crime and wound back in jail. So do you think the Shakespeare Behind Bars program really did help rehabilitate some of these inmates or just put up a façade until they could get out of jail and go back towards their old habits?

If any1 was as interested as i was, on where the people in the movie are now, and whether they got parole, you can go to http://www.shakespearebehindbars.org/documentary/castupdates.htm to find out.

Not really sure what we were suppose to do with the wildcard videos after watching them.

I did find the wildcard videos helpful, in letting me know how i should go about preparing for the exam. Its important to understand the structure and overall picture of each reading we did. Ill make sure to re-read, maybe not as much in-depth, each piece before the exam.

Rumination #5

While reading Ben Jonson’s Volpone, I kept being amazed at the web of lies that Mosca and Vopone kept spinning. Volpone’s greed could never seem to be satisfied, not by any amount of money or triumph, as he was never content on ending the lies. This was especially true when Volpone had the whole situation wrapped up by telling the possible heirs that he was giving over his estate to Mosca. When he decided to take the lie further, I couldn’t help but think of a game show contestant, like on Who wants to be a Millionaire. Like when a person has already won a lot of money and realizes they probably don’t know the question and could walk away with $50,000 but instead gets greedy and goes for the $100,000 and loses everything. Greed can sometimes blind us from the real truth.

            On top of the obvious notion of greed in the play, I couldn’t help and laugh at some of the characters at how gullible they could be. Like trusting Mosca’s word that the Volpone was close to death, and without very little proof to believe this. These heirs were clearly blinded by greed.

            It was only right that at the end of the story, all the greedy character’s got what they deserved. In this aspect, it reminded me of the movie Rat Race. Characters in that movie were so greedy that to win the race worth I believe $1 million dollars. Along the way they do all sorts of ridiculous things like stealing cars, buses and all sorts of illegal things. At the end, the irony is that they all receive the money when they are at a concert for charity and all are morally obligated to give the money, that they just did all these greedy things for, away to charity. This reminded me of Jonson’s play because everyone’s greed in the play ended up leading to their ironic demise at the end.

I dont know if anyone saw the movie “The Island” with Leonardo Decaprio, but the Island that they escape to and their way of life, reminds me of a modernized version of More’s Utopia

I found this exercise to be really interesting. I hadn’t written a letter since my days at overnight camp during middle school. I first had to figure out where there was even a mailbox on campus. My girlfriend has been studying abroad in France, so this was kind of a perfect assignment to send a letter. This really made me appreciate technology. It took me probably three times as long to write this letter than had I just sent an email instead. I can’t imagine how tedious it must have been back in the day to write with ink on parchment, and having to be so careful not to make a single mistake. It’s funny how in the 1600’s paper was such an important invention, and now it is more of an after thought.

   Rumination #3       

           Often in today’s superhero stories, the protagonist or hero is portrayed as one who is unselfish and wants to bring peace and safety. As I started to read Beowulf, I couldn’t help but feel like he attacked every challenge for the personal glory that it would give him. When he first is in the Mead hall, he talks of himself as almost an invincible creature and in his tales, like the one where he dove into the ocean and killed all the monsters he focused mainly on his great abilities rather than talk about helping others.

 “My sword had killed nine sea-monsters. Such Night dangers and hard ordeals I have never heard of nor of a man more desolate in surging waves.”(Line 576)

            I often felt that Beowulf was compared to as a “God-like” figure. He was at times stated as just “The hero.” I think the glory factor was also evident as he would take a souvenir of his kill like when he hung up Grendel’s slain arm.

            However, as the story went on, and Beowulf became older and king, I couldn’t help feel a slight transformation. I felt that his last battle was not just about the glory but also about protecting his people. This is shown by Beowulf and Wiglaf, together, killing the dragon. A man, who once was so proud of his accomplishments and all about glory, allowed aid in killing his foe.

            Still throughout the story, it amazes me at how much risk Beowulf took for the reward of glory, even in the last battle knowing more than ever he may not make it out a live he cared too much about glory still. This is unlike any present day hero that are portrayed today as being “protectors.” It makes you wonder, if it really is all about the glory, are they still viewed as heroic or just arrogant?