Assigment #2

1. Have you ever been betrayed?
Yes I have been betrayed and it by the one person I ever considered my ‘best friend’ and from this situation I never considered another human being as a friend again.
2. Give an example of when you were betrayed? How did you feel? What did you do?
I met this girl in 2nd form at AGHS and were friends until my final year. In my final year we kept in touch but we were slowly drifting apart after a while. We basically had 75% of the same friends. We this male friend that we were both close too, and that we would talk to on a regular basis. He made it known to me that he preferred talking to me than talking to her and would tell me everything she say. So all this time we far apart and rarely ever spoke, I think this is mainly because it was close to CXC time and wanted to focus on that and do better than she did (which wasn’t good at all). So a day I was talking to the male friend now he tells me that my so-called ‘best friend’ said that he saw me coming out of Ce-Co Pharmacy with my mommy buying a pregnancy test…. I had to ask him what BS is this. So I went to confront her about it now and she told me that is the male friend that told her that. I went back and forth between them trying to figure out which one said it but up to this day I don’t know who did but I have a feeling that is was my ‘best friend’.
3. Have you ever felt that you were betrayed and in the end misunderstood the situation?
Yes, I have felt that I have been betrayed and up to now with the situation stated above, I don’t know by whom yet.
4. Look at the various Shakespeare plays over the years that you have studied. Do you notice that characters in the text always seem to resort to violence, trickery or evilness? Comment.
Yes, I have noticed that the characters in the Shakespearean plays that I have studied ( Merchant of Venice, Romeo & Juliet and Much Ado About Nothing) have resort to violence trickery and evilness.
The presence of violence, trickery and evilness are the climaxes of Shakespeare’s plays and makes them intriguing and interesting for the readers.
5. Look at the background of the text Winter's Tale. What is going on historically in the era that the book is written in.
Originally published in the First Folio of 1623. Although it was grouped among the comedies, some modern editors have relabeled the play as one of Shakespeare's late romances. Some critics, among them W. W. Lawrence, consider it to be one of Shakespeare's "problem plays", because the first three acts are filled with intense psychological drama, while the last two acts are comedic and supply a happy ending.
Nevertheless, the play has been intermittently popular, revived in productions in various forms and adaptations by some of the leading theatre practitioners in Shakespearean performance history, beginning after a long interval with David Garrick in his adaptation called Florizel and Perdita (first performed in 1754 and published in 1756. The Winter's Tale was revived again in the 19th century, when the third "pastoral" act was widely popular). In the second half of the 20th century The Winter's Tale in its entirety, and drawn largely from the First Folio text, was often performed, with varying degrees of success.

6. What is the Elizabethean Theater. Historical back ground? Picture of the global theater

William Shakespeare! The Elizabethan Theatre in London including the Globe Theatre! The plays, the drama, the people, the actors, the events and the history. The Elizabethan Theatre section covers all aspects of the Elizabethan Theatre.
Elizabethan Theatre Sections Elizabethan Theatre Sections
Elizabethan Theatres
Elizabethan Theatre History Timeline
Sites and Map of London Elizabethan Theatres
James Burbage
Elizabethan Theatre Facts
Elizabethan Theatre Costume
History of the Elizabethan Theatre
Elizabethan Actors
The Globe Theatre
Elizabethan Inn-Yards
Elizabethan Amphitheatre
Elizabethan Playhouses
Elizabethan Acting Troupes
Elizabethan Theatre Audiences
Elizabethan Plays and Playwrights
Elizabethan Classics

Elizabethan Theatre History and Timeline
The history of the theater is fascinating. How plays were first produced in the yards of inns - the Inn-yards. The very first theater and the development of the amphitheatre! The Elizabethan Entrepreneurs ( the men with the ideas and the money!). The building, design and construction of a London Elizabethan Theatre. The plays, the playwrights, the politics and the propaganda all play an important part in the history of the Elizabethan Theatre. The Elizabethan Theatre was a booming business. People loved the Theatre! The Elizabethan plays and theatres were as popular as the movies and cinemas of the early 20th century. Vast amounts of money could be made! The inn-keepers increased their profits by allowing plays to be shown on temporary stages erected in the yards of their inns (inn-yards). Soon purpose-built playhouses and great open theatres were being constructed. The great success of the theatre and what led to its downfall. The section covering Elizabethan Theatre includes the following subjects:

Global Theatre

7. What is the theatre of the absurd? Videos, pictures
'The Theatre of the Absurd' is a term coined by the critic Martin Esslin for the work of a number of playwrights, mostly written in the 1950s and 1960s. The term is derived from an essay by the French philosopher Albert Camus. In his 'Myth of Sisyphus', written in 1942, he first defined the human situation as basically meaningless and absurd. The 'absurd' plays by Samuel Beckett, Arthur Adamov, Eugene Ionesco, Jean Genet, Harold Pinter and others all share the view that man is inhabiting a universe with which he is out of key. Its meaning is indecipherable and his place within it is without purpose. He is bewildered, troubled and obscurely threatened.
The origins of the Theatre of the Absurd are rooted in the avant-garde experiments in art of the 1920s and 1930s. At the same time, it was undoubtedly strongly influenced by the traumatic experience of the horrors of the Second World War, which showed the total impermanence of any values, shook the validity of any conventions and highlighted the precariousness of human life and its fundamental meaninglessness and arbitrariness. The trauma of living from 1945 under threat of nuclear annihilation also seems to have been an important factor in the rise of the new theatre.
At the same time, the Theatre of the Absurd also seems to have been a reaction to the disappearance of the religious dimension form contemporary life. The Absurd Theatre can be seen as an attempt to restore the importance of myth and ritual to our age, by making man aware of the ultimate realities of his condition, by instilling in him again the lost sense of cosmic wonder and primeval anguish. The Absurd Theatre hopes to achieve this by shocking man out of an existence that has become trite, mechanical and complacent. It is felt that there is mystical experience in confronting the limits of human condition.

8. Synopsis of Williams Shakespeare? Life, work, plays he has written, tradgedies, history, comedies and the time period that they were written in.

William Shakespeare was born on April, 23rd 1564 in Stratford-in-Avon, northwest of London. This date is based on record of his baptism on April 26th.

Shakespeare's father John was a successful glove marker and a businessman who held a number of positions in the town government. His mother whose maiden name was Mary Arden, was the daughter of his father's landlord.

There is no written evidence of Shakespeare's boyhood, not even a name on a school attendance list. However, given his father's statue, it is highly probable that he attended the Stratford Grammar School, where he acquired knowledge of Latin.

In November, the year 1582 William Shakespeare received a license to marry. At this time Anne would have been 26 and William 18. A considerable age difference to William Shakespeare, whom at the time was still under the age of consent (21). It is apparent that Anne Hathaway became pregnant prior to marriage which would have no doubt caused a scandal for both of the families. Some writers have made much of the fact that Shakespeare left his wife and children behind and he went into London not long after his twins were born. However, he visited his family in Stratford regularly during his years as a playwright, and they may have lived with him for a long time in London.

Shakespeare became connected with the theatre in the late 1580's and earlyn1590's. By 1594, however, he had become a part owner and the principal playwright of the Lord Chamberlain's Men, one of the most successful theatre companies in London.
In 1599, the company built the famous Globe theatre on the South bank of the Thame River, in Southwark. This is where most of Shakespeare plays were performed.

William Shakespeare did not think to himself that he was a man of letters. He wrote his plays to be performed and did not bring out editions of them for the reading public. The first published edition of his work, called The First Folio, was issued in 1623 by two members of his theatre company, John Heminges and Henery Condell, and contained thirty-six of the thirty-seven plays now attributed to him.

In about 1610, William Shakespeare retired to Standfort, though he continued to write plays. April 23rd 1616 he died and was buried in Holy Trinity Church in Stratford because it was a common practice to move bodies after burial to make room for others.



Works
Comedies
Main article: Shakespearean comedy
 All's Well That Ends Well : between 1604 and 1605
 As You Like It : written 1599 or early 1600
 The Comedy of Errors
 Love's Labour's Lost : written in the mid-1590s
 Measure for Measure : written in 1603 or 1604
 The Merchant of Venice : written between 1596 and 1598
 The Merry Wives of Windsor : written prior to 1597
 A Midsummer Night's Dream : written between 1590 and 1596
 Much Ado About Nothing : prior to 1600
 Pericles, Prince of Tyre : 1607 or early 1608
 The Taming of the Shrew : written between 1590 and 1594
 The Tempest : written in 1610–11
 Twelfth Night : written around 1601–02
 The Two Gentlemen of Verona : written in 1590 or 1591
 The Two Noble Kinsmen
 The Winter's Tale : written in 1610 or 1611
 Tragedies
Main article: Shakespearean tragedy
 Romeo and Juliet
 Coriolanus
 Titus Andronicus †
 Timon of Athens †
 Julius Caesar
 Macbeth †
 Hamlet
 Troilus and Cressida ‡
 King Lear
 Othello
 Antony and Cleopatra
 Cymbeline *

Poems
 Shakespeare's sonnets
 Venus and Adonis
 The Rape of Lucrece
 The Passionate Pilgrim
 The Phoenix and the Turtle
 A Lover's Complaint


Histories
Main article: Shakespearean history
 King John
 Richard II
 Henry IV, Part 1
 Henry IV, Part 2
 Henry V
 Henry VI, Part 1
 Henry VI, Part 2
 Henry VI, Part 3
 Richard III
 Henry VIII †



Lost plays
 Love's Labour's Won
 The History of Cardenio

Tragedies
 Romeo and Juliet : written between 1591 and 1595
 Coriolanus
 Titus Andronicus
 Timon of Athens
 Julius Caesar : written in 1599
 Macbeth : written sometime between 1603 and 1607
 Hamlet : written between 1599 and 1601
 Troilus and Cressida
 King Lear : between 1603 and 1606
 Othello : written in approximately 1603
 Antony and Cleopatra
 Cymbeline


Apocrypha
 Arden of Faversham
 The Birth of Merlin
 Edward III
 Locrine
 The London Prodigal
 The Puritan
 The Second Maiden's Tragedy
 Sir John Oldcastle
 Thomas Lord Cromwell
 A Yorkshire Tragedy
 Sir Thomas More

Literary Devices of Drama

Elements of Drama
Act - One of the major divisions of a play or opera.
Scene - the place where some act or event occurs.
Exposition - Background information regarding the setting, characters, plot.
Conflict – Struggle between opposing forces.
Complication - A series of difficulties forming the central action in a narrative.
Climax - That point of greatest emotional intensity, interest, or suspense in a narrative.
Denoument - refers to the outcome or result of a complex situation or sequence of events.
Peripetia - a sudden reversal of fortune from good to bad.
Characterisation - The choices an author makes to reveal a character’s personality, such as appearance, actions, dialogue, and motivations.
Protagonist - The character the story revolves around.
Antagonist - A character or force that opposes the protagonist.
Main plot – The main action in a play or story.
Subplot - Secondary action that is interwoven with the main action in a play or story.

Form of Drama
Comedy - a literary work that is amusing and ends happily.
History - The past events relating to a particular thing.
Tragedy - a dramatic presentation of serious actions in which the chief character has a disastrous fate.
Tragic-comedy - a drama in which aspects of both tragedy and comedy are found.
Theatre of the Absurd - A form of drama that emphasizes the absurdity of human existence by employing disjointed, repetitious, and meaningless dialogue, purposeless and confusing situations, and plots that lack realistic or logical development. This theatrical style originated in France in the late 1940's.
Satire - A kind of writing that holds up to ridicule or contempt the weaknesses and wrongdoing of individuals, groups, institution, or humanity in general.
Farce - A type of comedy based on a farfetched humorous situation, often with ridiculous or stereotyped characters
Modern Drama - Modern drama is the Western development of drama beginning in the late 19th century
Melodrama - a dramatic work which exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions.

Features of Drama
Monologue-a form of dramatic entertainment, comedic solo, or the likeby a single speaker
Dialogue - Conversation between characters in a drama or narrative.
Soliloquy - A dramatic or literary form of discourse in which a character talks to himself or herself or reveals his or her thoughts without addressing a listener
Aside - an actor’s speech, directed to the audience, that is not supposed to be heard by other actors on stage.
Set - The time, place, physical details, and circumstances in which a situation occurs.
Stage direction - A playwright's descriptive or interpretive comments that provide readers (and actors) with information about the dialogue, setting, and action of a play.
Stage Conventions - Certain devices used within a performance that are accepted as portraying an event or style without necessarily being realistic. (eg costumes)
Chorus - A group of characters who comment on the action of a play without participation in it.
Dramatic Unites - the three unities of time, place and action observed in a classical drama.
Disguise - To modify the manner or appearance of in order to prevent recognition.


Literary Devices
Imagery - the author’s attempt to create a mental picture in the mind of the reader.
Motif - Recurring theme in a literary work
Symbolism - when an object is meant to be representative of something or an idea greater than the object itself.
Dramatic Irony – involves the reader (or audience) knowing something about what's happening in the plot, about which the character(s) have no knowledge.
Tragic Irony - a character's actions lead to consequences that are both tragic, and contrary to the character's desire and intentions.
Juxtaposition - The arrangement of two or more ideas, characters, actions, settings, phrases, or words side-by-side or in similar narrative moments for the purpose of comparison, contrast, rhetorical effect, suspense, or character development.

Humour is Vital in Any Comedy: Much Ado About Nothing

Humor is vital in any Comedy. Though Dogberry and his constables play a minor role in Much Ado Nothing there presents is vital. To what extent do you agree with this statement.


Firstly, we have to think about what is a comedy. Isn't a comedy suppose to be funny? So I guess I stand firm the stance that 'Humour is Vital in Any Comedy'.

In the Shakespearan novel/ drama, Much Ado About Nothing we see both the major and also minors play in a role in the comedy's humour. A comedy is any literary work that presents the misadventures of the characters as amusing rather then disastrous and provides a happy ending, and I strong agree that is what William Shakespeare did in the novel.

In the play and also in the movie Dogberry and his constables provide a comical humour in Act 3, Scene 3 with his nonsensical language and also by his actions. Dogberry's use of words beyond his knowledge are due to his desire to impress others. he takes his job as constable very seriously and wants others to do so too. Due to his lack og brilliance, don Pedro is forced to ask the prisons why they have been arrested. Dogberry & his constables accidently discover Don John's plan and brings the play to a happy ending.

In concluding, I personally think that without Dogberry and his constables unprofessional behaviour and also lack of knowledge this play would not have been considered as a comedy. and it all shows that humour is vital in any comedy piece.