Frame Story

   The most basic definition of a frame story is a story within a story. Authors use frame stories when they want to connect multiple mini-stories or they want to provide multiple perspectives on a larger story. By allowing the writer to present a story within a story, a frame narrative leads the reader from the first story into another one, which is within the overall story. This guidance allows the frame narrative to establish the context for the embedded narrative and more specifically, call attention to the situation of how the story is told. The resulting effect of the guidance is that the frame narrative allows the writer to create the context for how the narrative should be interpreted. Frame narratives allow the author to provide the reader with multiple levels of meaning. Whether a narrative contains one embedded narrative or a series of related stories, the framing of a narrative creates opportunities for multiple levels of interpretation.

   Some examples of famous stories that use the frame narrative are Inception, Hamlet, Taming of the Shrew, and Heart of Darkness. Some of these stories use a play within a play structure like Hamlet and Taming of the Shrew while other stories use the story within a story structure. Heart of Darkness had the main character tell his own story to the other surrounding characters.    

Good job, Quinn.
Mr. Murphy

Mercutio's Queen Mab Speech

I found Mercutio's Queen Mab speech to be particularly interesting as I thought it provided insight into Mercutio's character. To provide some context, Mercutio is trying to convince Romeo to set aside his depression over his love for Rosaline and come to the Capulet feast. When Romeo starts talking about how a particular dream of his made him sad, Mercutio launches into the Queen Mab speech. According to Mercutio, Queen Mab is a fair who supposedly brings dreams to people while they are sleeping. The main point Mercutio makes in his speech about Queen Mab is that the dreams Queen Mab brings to the person are directly related to the person who dreams them- lovers will dream of love, soldiers will dream of war, etc. While he is making this point however, Mercutio falls into a sort of wild bitterness in which he seems to see dreams as destructive and delusional. The manic way Mercutio gives this speech gives insight into how he may be an unstable character.
   For my research, I found an article on JSTOR by Donald Williams that described the different ways Mercutio's Queen Mab speech has been depicted. In the 1996 Baz Luhrmann Romeo and Juliet, Mercutio takes drugs just before the Queen Mab speech. In the Franco Zeffirelli 1968 film version, Mercutio seems manic-depressive; the Queen Mab speech starts out as an energetic manic episode but soon crumbles into a dark depression.

Shakespeare's use of Paradoxes

For this blog post, I decided to research Shakespeare's use of Paradoxes in his play. The definition of paradox is a statement or proposition that, despite sound (or apparently sound) reasoning from acceptable premises, leads to a conclusion that seems senseless, logically unacceptable, or self-contradictory. Some popular paradoxes they I already knew about are the Twin Paradox and the Pinocchio Paradox. The Twin paradox is a physics theory dealing with relativity. It states that if you have two twins the same age and have one stay on planet earth and and have another board a spaceship and travel a certain distance at the speed of light or a speed close to it, the twins will age differently. To give a quantitative example, if the twin on the spaceship travels 10 light years round trip in the span of a year and returns to earth, the twin that stayed on the earth will have aged 10 years while the twin on the ship will have only aged one year! This paradox has far reaching affects as it questions the concept of time itself and how it can vary from person to person based on the theory of relativity. The Pinocchio Paradox is a different kind of paradox as it results in an infinite logical loop in which there is no way to break from it. The Paradox states that if Pinocchio says his nose will grow, there is no logical solution. Based on the story of Pinocchio, every time he lies his nose would grow. If Pinocchio says his nose will grow and it grows, it would mean that he was lying when in fact he said the truth. Likewise if his nose does not grow he would also be lying, causing his nose to grow, which brings us back to the first statement of the loop. I have always found these paradoxes fascinating and I researched how Shakespeare used them to enhance his own works.
   In my research, I came across a paper by Peter G. Platt, who is a Professor of English at Barnard College. In his paper titled "Shakespeare and the Culture of Paradox", Platt researches the origins of Shakespeare's use of paradox and oxymoron. Platt states that Shakespeare adopted these literary devices from the Renaissance, where paradox and oxymoron came into being. He writes that Shakespeare used the foundation of paradox and oxymoron that the Renaissance created and built upon it, adding an immense vocabulary and a conceptual framework for his dizzying array of perspectives on love, gender, knowledge, and truth. Shakespeare's ability to confuse the reader/viewer and make them think about the deeper meaning of the themes of the play is one of the reasons his plays are heralded as the great works they are. He allows everyone to interpret the plays differently with the use of vague or open-ended paradoxes and oxymorons, which give his works a wealth of depth as plays can be reenacted in an almost infinite number of ways. His addition of these thought-provoking literary devices give his plays a versatility that has allowed them to be reenacted for centuries without ever becoming dull, repetitive, or played out. It is one of the reasons that makes Shakespeare's plays so popular.

Zodiac Signs

   To be perfectly honest, I know very little about the Zodiac Signs and the horoscopes accompany them. In fact, the only time I have ever researched the Zodiac Signs or horoscopes was in a sarcastic manner. I know that I am an Aquarius but thats about it. In my research, I looked at the history of the Zodiac Signs and where they came from. The Zodiac is believed to have developed in ancient Egypt and was later adopted by the Babylonians. The signs are divided into four groups: Fire, Water, Air, and Earth. The Fire signs are Aries, Sagittarius, and Leo; The Water signs are Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces; The Air signs are Libra, Aquarius, and Gemini; and the Earth signs are Capricorn, Taurus, and Virgo. Each sign has different character traits and each sign gets a different horoscope.
   In my research, I focused on my own sign: Aquarius. Aquarius' are born between January 20th and February 18th. Their strengths include wittiness, cleverness, originality, creative, and caring. Their weaknesses are that they are stubborn, unemotional, sarcastic, rebellious, and aloof. In my research I found a wealth of information regarding the various relationships Aquarius' have in different areas of their lives, but I really started thinking about how Fate ties in to the Zodiac signs. Everyone likes being able to put blame on something other then themselves and having a sign give you a predisposition to act a certain way is the perfect excuse for one's behavior. Fate is such a relevant topic today because society loves having bad things be out of their hands.

Rings in Merchant of Venice

In an exchange between Portia and Bassanio, both characters use repetition and varying emphasis to express how they feel about Bassanio giving away the ring Portia gave to him. In this scene, Bassanio tries to explain to Portia that he gave the ring away for a good cause. He uses parallel sentence structure to add emphasis to his words and he makes it clear that he thinks he is in the right for giving away the ring. In the lines, "If you did know to whom I gave the ring, If you did know for whom I gave the ring, and how unwillingly I left the ring, When naught would be accepted but the ring," Bassanio emphasizes different words in each line to get his point across. He uses the same ending "the ring" to demonstrate how highly he valued it and this repetition adds to his argument that he did not part with the ring lightly. Portia uses similar repetition in her speech, but she emphasizes different words to get her point across that Bassassio was wrong in giving it away. She says, "If you had known the virtue of the ring, or half her worthiness that gave the ring, or your own honor to contain the ring, you would not then have parted with the ring." Portia emphasizes that Bassassio either does not care enough about Portia or does not realize what he has and that is evident by him giving up the ring. She emphasizes the meaning of the ring as much more than a piece of jewelry.
   In my research, I found a paper by Anastasia Feaster and Phillip Graff that discusses the significance of rings in Shakespeare's plays. In Shakespeare's time, wedding and engagement rings indicated commitment, just like they do today. The rings stood for the man's commitment to his wife. Rings were common among the richer parts of society, while peasants would give smaller tokens or none at all. Rings were a symbol of wealth in Shakespeare's time. The fact that Portia and Nerissa gave the men rings is symbolic of the wealth of the women and the status that they have.

I don't think you meant to say a predisposition to Catholicism. You meant Christianity. Catholics were hunted in Elizabethen England. Some solid work here, but not as srong as your blogs about Modernism.
Mr. Murphy 

Portia's Speech on Mercy

In this scene of The Merchant of Venice, Portia is arguing the case of Antonio vs. Shylock disguised as a man. In her speech, she is explaining why Shylock should have mercy on Antonio even though he is within his right to take a pound of flesh from him, even though it would be fatal to Antonio. She uses similes to get her point across that no one is forced to show mercy and that showing mercy is the right thing to do. In the lines, "The quality of mercy is not strained. It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath. It is twice blessed: It blesseth him that gives and him that takes." In these lines, Portia is saying that mercy is never given out of compliance; it is given due to good will. Portia says that like a rainstorm, it just happens. She says that mercy not only blesses the recipient of mercy, but it also blesses the giver of mercy. Portia goes on to compare mercy to a king's crown and scepter and saying that mercy is the more powerful of the three. She also says mercy is most powerful when in the hands of the strongest of men. She says mercy is a trait that God himself has and although Shylock demands the flesh in the name of justice, Portia argues that Antonio should be spared in the name of mercy.
   In my research, I found an article on JSTOR by D Van Pelt that stated that the attribution of mercy to Catholicism and maliciousness to Judaism reflects society's thoughts on both groups during Shakespeare's lifetime. It shows the predisposition towards Christianity and the prejudice against Jews that existed during this time period. Van Pelt also states that later on in the play, Shylock is forced to convert to Christianity as one of his punishments. I agree with Van Pelt in that this is a very hypocritical move as it is not very merciful to force someone to denounce their own religion and convert to a religion they do not approve of.

Bassanio's speech

In this speech, Bassanio explains the reasoning for his choice of casket using several metaphors and similes. He talks about how looks can be deceiving and one should never judge purely on looks. In the lines, "So may the outward shows be least themselves. The world is still deceived with ornament. In law, what plea so tainted and corrupt but, being seasoned with a gracious voice, obscures the show of evil?", Bassanio is saying that looks can be deceiving in the same way that malicious words can be hidden behind a pleasant voice. Later on in his speech, Bassanio uses another example of the deceptive qualities of looks in the line, "Look on beauty, and you shall see 'tis purchased by the weight, which therein works a miracle in nature, making them lightest that wear most of it." In these lines, Bassanio is commenting on how makeup can make anyone look beautiful and it can be bought. He says that makeup has the ability to work miracles. He is essentially saying that beauty can be bought and therefore it can't be real. He goes on to say that those who wear makeup the most tend to be respected the least, which provides a social commentary to society's thoughts on makeup during the time period.
   In my research, I found an essay by E.J West that stated that Bassanio's choosing of the lead casket is actually an allusion to the movement in England where architects and engineers began to move away from aesthetically pleasing buildings and technology and began to focus on function above all else. I found this analysis to be very interesting as it took such a small part of the story and connected it to a massive technological movement that was taking place in England. West argues that this is an example of Shakespeare's ability to connect his plays with the real world.

Jews in Shakespeare's Time

In The Merchant of Venice, anti-semitic tones run rampant throughout the play. The character of Shylock is portrayed in a negative light throughout the play. Shylock is seen as greedy, violent, and undesirable. According to Folger's, however, Shakespeare's representation of Shylock actually has a motive. By representing the anti-Semitism of his time and highlighting Shylock's Judaism and his cruelty, Shakespeare is actually pushing for religious toleration. By emphasizing his humanity and comparing it to Shylock's experiences of intolerance, Shakespeare ties Shylock's inhumanity to his acts of intolerance, which brings to focus the endless cycle of violence brought on by intolerance by both Jews and Christians. In essence, Shakespeare is saying that intolerance breeds intolerance and the cycle will never be broken unless both sides stop the intolerance.
   In my research of Jews in the time of Shakespeare as a whole, I found that they constituted early modern Europe's most significant minority. According to Folger's, Jews frequently experienced torture, expulsion, and death. Apparently there was a series of anti-Jewish myths that associated Jews with the devil and diabolical practices and these myths were one of the factors that lead to the European intolerance of Jews.

Lancelet

Lancelet is the jester of the Merchant of Venice. Often in Shakespeare's plays, the jester/clown is often the smartest character in the play. In Lancelet's monologue, he contemplates running away from his master who is a Jew. He talks about how the devil is on his shoulder telling him to run away. Lancelet's conscience, however, tells him to stay, which demonstrates the inner struggle that everyone experiences between making the right choice and making the wrong choice. Lancelet talks about how he is an honest man even though his father wasn't. In a twist at the end of the monologue Lancelet says how the Jew is the devil incarnate and the devil is on his shoulder and says that either way he is running to a devil.
     Since Lancelet is the joker of the merchant of Venice, I decided to research the importance of the joker in each of his plays. In an article by Samantha Markham, I found that the fools in Shakespeare's various plays all have something in common. They are always commoners who are usually servants or friends of the main character in each play. Shakespeare's fools make witty, profound observations about the themes of the play and its characters. In Shakespeare's comedies, fools are often used to encourage a more serious examination of the situations, themes, and characters of a play. Paradoxically, fools do not only amuse and entertain, but also prompt an audience to ponder serious social, religious, and political views. Comedic fools, like their tragic counterparts, often have a much more simplistic, almost childlike, view of the world. In closing, Samantha Markham points out the irony in there being absolutely nothing foolish about any of Shakespeare's fools.

Portia's speech

Portia's speech employs the use of several metaphors to help get her point across. First she says, "If to do were as easy as to know what were good to do, chapels had been churches and poor men's cottages princes' palaces." Portia is saying that if doing good deeds were as easy as knowing how to do them, then everyone would be better off. Likewise, small chapels would be grand churches and poor men's houses would be giant palaces. Later in the speech Portia says, "I can easier teach twenty what were good to be done than be one of the twenty to follow mine own teaching." Portia is saying that its easier to preach goodness to others than it is to do the good you preach yourself. In a way she is making a comment on human nature, saying that people can talk about all these lofty ideas of goodness all they want but very few ever actually follow through.
   In my research, I found an article by Lee Jamieson that discussed the character of Portia. In his article, Jamieson writes how Portia spends her whole life being passed from the control of one man to another. She was in her father's control while he was alive and after he passed, she is still in control. She is bound to be married to any man who passes her father's love test and she does not even get a say in the matter. Once she is married that control will be passed to her husband and she will be under the rule of a new master. Her speech describes her frustration with the lack of free will she has and how it bothers her to her core.

Quinn,
nice blog. Where does Applebaum offer this analysis? You need that for a complete citation.
Mr. Murphy

Sonnet 147

Sonnet 147 by William Shakespeare is an extremely interesting piece of literature. In contrast to his other sonnets, love is personified in a dark light. It is compared to a fever that feeds on its host, extending the illness that caused it. In essence, Shakespeare is saying that the very thing feeding his love will ultimately be responsible for the demise of his love. He uses the metaphor "My reason, the physician to my love" to compare his feelings of love and the rationality behind it to a patients relationship with their doctor. In this case, he is writing that his own reason is angry with him for ignoring it and giving into irrational ideas to the point where reason has left him. He has been driven mad by passion and by his love. "Past cure I am, now reason is past care" is Shakespeare's way of saying that he is too far gone. He has been driven out of sanity by his love and there is no way back. He likes his thoughts and actions to those of a madman's. ("My thoughts and my discourse as madmen's are") In the final couplet, there is a large twist. He references his earlier sonnets where he compared his lover to the sun and called them fair and bright, when in actually they are "black as hell, and dark as night."
   This sonnet shows the dark side of love that has not been shown in previous sonnets. This poem focuses on the lustful, greedy nature of love and how it can take hold of a person. The sonnet shows how love can drive people insane and make them blind to reality.
   According to an analysis by Robert Appelbaum, the poem "dramatizes a condition of the inner life, at once physical and mental, through which an individual has failed to prevent himself from falling in to the extreme, unhealthy madness of love." Appelbaum suggests that like a fever, love burns. He writes that since not much was known about fevers at the time, the subject of the sonnet acquired the fever through food. The subject continues to eat the food even though consuming more of the food will make the disease worse. Appelbaum goes on to explain that when the subject's reason left him, he cannot keep himself from continually eating this food and making his fever worse. He says that the first two quatrains paint the picture of a man who has spiraled out of control due to his disease and has accepted that death is the only conclusion.

Sonnet 64

The theme of this sonnet is time conquers all. The sonnet depicts various scenes of decay due to time and the absolute truth that nothing lasts forever. Unlike the previous sonnets we have read, sonnet 64 departs from themes of love and passion and focuses on the theme of man's mortality. The line "And brass eternal slave to mortal rage" represents man's inescapable tendency to fight with and kill one another.  Sonnet 64 also talks about how nature gradually decays things over time and that too is inescapable, represented by the lines "When I have seen the hungry ocean gain Advantage on the kingdom of the shore." Near the end of the sonnet, Shakespeare ties this theme of decay back into the theme of love by saying, "Ruin hath taught me thus to ruminate That Time will come and take my love away." He uses this massive metaphors that cover millions and millions of years and ties them back to a love that would last at most one human lifetime, subtly showing without saying the passion of itself. This sonnet shows that love is so powerful an emotion that it can be compared to something as massive as time or nature. The metaphor in the last line compares the fear of losing your love one day to someone who weeps that they will die one die. It makes the point that there is no reason to worry about the inevitable and by worrying it, you are only wasting more time.
   In my research, I found an interesting article on JSTOR that contained the analysis of this sonnet by over 10 literary experts. One of the more interesting analysis' was one by James R. Caldwell. He was particularly captivated by the juxtaposition of the clause "which cannot choose" and the word death. He stated that this juxtaposition suggests that death cannot choose but weep. Lover fears death, and death fears life. He writes that this personification of death is justifiable because the speaker has been dealing with forms of death such as ruin and decay.

Quinn:
there are TWO different kinds of English sonnets. Your research discusses the Shakespearean, because the rhyme scheme. But there was also a Spenserian form with a different rhyme scheme.
Mr. Murphy

Shakespeare Sonnet 18

Sonnet 18 is a wonderfully written sonnet full of imagery and metaphors. In the sonnet, Shakespeare compares a woman to a summer's day in order to articulate her beauty. In doing so, he holds her up to an impossibly high standard that no woman could ever actually live up to. This represents the passion of love and how it makes people see their lovers in a light that cannot be obtained in the real world. Sonnet 18 focuses on the themes of the stability of love and its power to immortalize. The sonnet starts by praising the woman and slowly builds her into the image of a perfect being. At the third quatrain, the sonnet shifts and the woman is summer. By doing this, Shakespeare showed that she has transformed into the standard by which true beauty can and should be judged. Shakespeare then expresses his longing for the woman to be forever in human memory, and he tries to accomplish this through this sonnet. He believes this sonnet will embody the woman and it will carry on her image long after she's gone.
   In my research of this sonnet, I found that the poem is less about the subject of the poem and more about the poem itself. Shakespeare is actually proclaiming that the poem will last forever, making it more about his own skill than about the subject of the poem. He personifies various things like Summer, the Sun, Nature, and Death. Death is a rival for the poets love and also a rival of the poems longevity. The use of metaphors is prevalent throughout with almost every line containing a metaphor.

Sonnets

   To be honest, I don't know much about sonnets. The only time I've ever really come across sonnets is in shakespeare I've read in either middle school or high school. I know they have a specific structure that consists of 14 lines. They usually deal with themes of love and they usually have a specific rhyme scheme, but that rhyme scheme depends on the author. I know that Petrarch was one of the founders/ early users of sonnets and that he was one of the influences that shaped sonnets into what they are now. In my research, I came across a webpage on the Folger Shakespeare Library that detailed the history of the sonnet. According to Folger, Giacomo Da Letini invented the sonnet in thirteenth century Italy. Francesco Petrarch is credited with bringing sonnets to a high form of development in the fourteenth century. His sonnets were dedicated to an idealized woman named Laura who Petrarch fell in love with at first sight, or so his sonnets say. Petrarch's model and uses of extreme feeling was brought to England by Sir Thomas Watt and Henry Howard in the sixteenth century. They adjusted the rhyme scheme and the meter to accommodate the English language. They, like Petrarch, used various imagery to convey their feelings of love, mainly the pain it brings and the passion that makes it worth it. This English sonnet model strongly influenced English Renaissance poets including Shakespeare himself. It became common place in England for men to write sonnet sequences and circulate them in manuscript form. Shakespeare published 154 sonnets in 1609 and they were written in a new style. It borrowed from the Petrarchan and English sonnet writing fashion but included a new rhyming scheme that became known as Shakespearian style. According to Folger, Shakespeare's sonnet writing was actually too good and it ended up contributing to the fall of the sonnet as no one could come close to matching his skill and versatility.
   In addition to the Shakespearean form, there is another style of sonnet called the Spenserian sonnet. This form of sonnet was invented by Edmund Spenseras. The rhyme scheme of this style of sonnet is a-b-a-b b-c-b-c c-d-c-d e-e. In this style of sonnet, the three quatrains develop three distinct but closely related ideas, with a different idea in the couplet.
   Moving away from the history and towards the mechanics, sonnets have a specific set of rules. In The English Sonnet, T.W.H. Crosland outlines the requirements for a sonnet. According to Crosland, a sonnet must be 14 lines long and consist of an a-b-a-b  c-d-c-d  e-f-e-f  g-g rhyme scheme. It must consists of 3 quatrains and 1 couplet.