Joanie:
I think you mean "allusions", and yes it does. Good work.
Mr. Murphy

Queen Margaret

Queen Margaret's lines in act 1 scene 3 of Richard III has many illusions that refer to the major theme of God's inevitable punishment. Her first reference is when she says, "God's gentle sleeping peace." (306). She talks to Buckingham and Richard about how "sin, death, and hell have set their marks on him (the dog.)" (312). She is warning them of doing bad deeds and how at God's gate at their judgement day, he will know wrong from right and he will turn them away from the gates of heaven. She claims that she is a prophetess and that she knows how God truly wants things to be. She then continues with lines such as, "soothe the devil that I warn thee from," "all of you to God's." She does so, so convincingly that Richard then says, "I cannot blame her. By god's holy mother." (325). The idea of God's inevitable punishment holds people to their guilt and judgement of wrong from right. Richard is in a difficult place because he is in mist of doing many wrongs for the final goal of the title King; however, he cannot escape the guilt.

Richard and his Pick Up Line

I have heard many pickup lines in my life. A few funny ones have been the following: "Are you from Tennessee? Cause you're the only Ten I See." "Are you from Jamaica? Cause your Jamaican Me Crazy." However, Richard's strategy for picking up his brother's wife is something I have never even heard of. Shakespeare's tricky language makes Richard's pick up line very confusing and an enigma in itself; thus, I can see how it was difficult for Lady Anne to deny him. Even though, she should not even be considering Richard because he admitted to killing her husband. Even though he claims it was because he loves her so very much, Lady Anne should keep in mind that it doesn't matter because she loved her husband more than him. If I were Lady Anne I wouldn't have fallen for Richard's pick up line. Not only is it confusing, but if a man was trying to pick me up and I couldn't understand what he was saying, it would not be a successful relationship. Also, if I were in her position, I would still be grieving my husband's death and I wouldn't want to move on yet, especially with my husband's brother. There are too many odd factors going on with Richard, thus I would not have accepted that ring so willingly as Lady Anne did.

Shakespeare in Love, Blog 2

The academy award winning film Shakespeare in Love has made interesting advances in the themes we have read from the play Romeo and Juliet. The theme of the different types of love has been the basis of the movie thus far. William's love for Viola is quickly transforming into a form of true love. This has not yet completely happened, but once the choice of love over family comes into play, the result of true love or lust will show itself. As of right now, what William could feel for Viola could simply be lust; their relationship has not been tested yet, Viola still plans on marrying the man that her father has prepared for her. The love he shows for Viola also has a bit of romantic love. He writes her one of his most notorious sonnets that compares her to a summer's day. Writing of sonnets is a red flag for romantic love. Bawdy love also plays itself in their relationship due to the secretive sleeping around they do and his comical comments about her breasts that he admits to the "man" in the boat. Even though these themes of love tend to separate each other into different relationships and mean different things, I do not see why one relationship cannot have them all. A true relationship should have a bit of every type of love; however, the most important type of love, in the end, is true love.

Good blog, Joanie.
Mr. Murphy

Shakespeare in Love Blog 1

Shakespeare in Love is a well known play that received 7 academy awards. In the beginning 45 minutes of the play, we are already exposed to the many different forms of love that we were first introduced to in Romeo and Juliet. One form of love is romantic love. Shakespeare's first woman that we see him have a sexual encounter with claims that she wants him to write her a sonnet. Sonnet writing is an example of romantic love. Also, bawdy love is introduced. Shakespeare's first woman can also have the debate that it is bawdy love because Shakespeare walks in on her having a sexual encounter with another man. Not only is romantic and bawdy love introduced, but conventional love is also shown. Viola's parents are trying to arrange a marriage with her and a man whom they approve of. This man was shown at the party and she has no interest. Finally, we see the first glimpse of true love between Viola and Shakespeare. As soon as he hears her recite his monologue from his play, he chased after her and fell in love with her at the party. Many types of love are introduced in the beginning of Shakespeare in Love; however, it will be interesting to see which one will prevail.

Act 5 Scene 1

Act 5 Scene 1 is a huge scene in the play of Romeo and Juliet. This is the scene where Romeo finds out that Juliet has "died" and he plans his own death accordingly. One literary device used many times in this scene is shared lines. As soon as Romeo found out about Juliet's "death" he would quickly respond to Bathlasar, creating a shared line. This shows how Romeo's feelings are fired up because he has such true love for Juliet and he is concerned about her death; he needs to know information immediately. Also, a lot of personification is used in this scene. One example is when Romeo says, "misery had worn him to the bones." Misery cannot wear down anything. Another example is when Romeo says, "oppression starveth in thy eyes." Oppression cannot starve anything, this is an example of personification. The theme of love comes up many times in this scene as well. Romeo says, "but love's shadows are so rich in joy." Earlier in act 4, Romeo switched the theme of love and dark versus light, saying that light love is more difficult. Here, he is exclaiming how love's shadows can have many dark and hidden things to it, but it is still worth it. Finally, the theme of true love comes up because Romeo is willing to kill himself due to the fact that he cannot live without Juliet. Life has no meaning if she cannot be apart of his.

Great effort! Keep up the good work.
Mr. Murphy