Kelsey, Stephanie, Matt C
1.We have located thematic strands such as: “drunk”, “drink”, “drinking”, “drowned”, “tears”, “sea”, and“can” as in a drinking cup.
2.Because heavy drinking occurs throughout the play, such themes appear repeatedly. However, the words “drink”, “drunk”, and “drinking” appear whenever, Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, The Fool, and Maria are in scenes. In context, the words are describing their unhealthy obsession with alcohol and their party lifestyle. Act II sc iii, in particular, contains a lot of these words, since this is where Malovio enters and scolds them for their late night drunken antics. The word “sea” appears towards the beginning in Acts I-Acts 3. The fool references the sea in Act 2 sc IV (pg 71) saying “I would have men of such constancy put to sea”, meaning that men are fickle and wander like the ocean’s currents. The word “drowned” appears mostly towards the beginning with Sebastian saying literary that he believes Viola has drowned in the shipwreck. In Act 1 sc V, the Fool states that a drunk man and a drowned man or the same person depending upon the number of drinks( pg 33 line 130).
3.Shakespeare uses this device to demonstrate that drinking is a form of escapism. When intoxicated one does not have control over what they do similar to how one can get carried by the sea. Overconsumption leads to ‘drowning’ meaning personal misery and complete loss of control.
4. New Media project link
http://kelseyqt.blogspot.com/
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For my group we chose the theme of disguise and deception for our thematic strand. But just seeing how you were able to go from "drunk" to "tears" and "sea" just shows how in depth this play actually is. I was reading one of the acts the other night and I found another word in the play which I could have used in my strand but it was so hidden that I would have never of initially thought of using it. This play goes into detail on so many different levels that it is truly confusing all around.
ReplyDeleteDrinking defintely is used to numb feelings and hide behind in Sir Toby's case. I feel however Sir Andrew just follows him along with his partying. Malvolio could probably use a drink actually to loosing him up! Interesting however I don't remember Olivia or Viola drinking at all throughout the play.
ReplyDeletethis was a good topic and a funny video. but kidding aside, Annually more than 100,000 deaths in the U.S. alone are caused by excessive alcohol consumption. but what you said about Shakespeare using it as a form of escapism is agreeable
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