Quick update on life: SO MANY PROJECTS OMG PLS SEND HELP SOS GOD HELP ME.
Okay. With that out of the way…
I’ve only just started working on two essays due Wednesday and Thursday of next week. So, I mean, I gave myself time but did I really? Of course, I’m an old school procrastinator. I’m not sitting here posting memes about how awful my life is until I actually do something; I find other productive things to do (work at Front Desk, type away on a chapter of The Dark Odyssey, clean the house, etc.) until I finally work up the gumption to do some research for my essays. The funny thing is, it’s not even that the material is boring or anything like that – in fact, it’s really quite interesting!
For example, I have courses in Shakespeare and Criminology this semester.
Shakespeare’s works are infinitely intriguing to me because each of them are like puzzles just waiting to be unraveled. In high school, I often prided myself on my ability to read and understand Shakespeare swiftly (to the most literal meaning of the words, mind you); plus I loved acting out Shakespeare’s plays, from A Midsummer Nights Dream in Grade 9 to Corialanus in Grade 12 Director’s Craft!
Shakespeare’s characters are so lively and (usually) verbose – they speak with passion whether they’re full of benevolence or malice. Truly, it is a treat to “decode” Shakespeare and even just to read the text as it is written.
Currently, I’m writing a paper in which I’ll be comparing aspects of love and marriage in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and The Tempest. At present, I’ve already finished Twelfth Night (which I had read before in Grade 10) but am in the process of reading The Tempest (which I am supremely excited to dive into).
See, Shakespeare inspires me. And yes, maybe even in that cheesy kind of way that one writer inspires another. I love the characters Shakespeare so expertly fills each world with. Yes, a great many are based on historical figures but, oftentimes, Shakespeare has, as my Prof said earlier in class today, ‘muddied the waters’ in terms of historical fact; it is for this same reason we cannot base our interpretations of Shakespeare’s political views solely on the content of his writing. He was capable of giving so many different characters distinct voices – convincingly, I might add – while also tapping into his own vast imagination.
Of course, all this is open not only to the historical context of the time in which Shakespeare was writing / performing but also the many controversies as to whether all of Shakespeare’s works are actually his. Speaking of which, the news that Christopher Marlowe is to be credited as one of Shakespeare’s co-writers (specifically on Henry VI, Part One, Two, and Three) actually excites me (whereas I’m sure many Shakespeare purists are still up in arms). I loved Christopher Marlowe’s The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus (even incorporating some quotes from it into my own novel, The Dark Odyssey, and in the villain’s characterization) so, to me, this only makes matters far more interesting.
Here’s a link to an article about this new development for anyone who hasn’t already looked into it:
Christopher Marlowe: Shakespeare’s Co-Writer!
Besides Shakespeare, my other essay is in Foundations of Literary Study. I’ve decided to compare / contrast female “madness” in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper and Shakespeare’s (yep, there he is again!) Hamlet. I’m a huge fan of The Yellow Wallpaper, I must say. Such an eerie yet incredibly well-structured work; though I wouldn’t necessarily regard it as feminist literature, I feel that the idea of breaking free from the Patriarchy is evident in the narrator’s “sickness” and how the ending plays out. Hamlet on the other hand is long. Not that that’s a bad thing but I decided to read it all at once (for an earlier paper) and lost some moments along the way. Re-reading it over for this essay has actually allowed me to take a better look at specific sections and break it up a bit.
I have a Case Report due in Criminology on Monday and I’m VERY nervous about it. The Prof is a bit of a stickler but doesn’t offer much in the way of help (at least not in understanding what she wants). I’m doing okay in the course but we’ll see.
And finally, there’s Law… we don’t talk about that one. (Suffice it to say, I have A LOT of reading to do)
Anyway, life is a mess at the moment (in terms of schoolwork) but I just keep reminding myself why I’m here. Not only because the knowledge I will acquire here is incredibly valuable but also because I do love learning and want to spend the rest of my life writing.
Here’s hoping I don’t drown!
thatfroninja. 