FFW on the lunacy, instability and delirious musings in Illyria

Viola: "Then think you are right. I am not what I am."

Olivia: "I would you were as I would have you be." (III.i.48-49)

Viola is trying to explain to Olivia why she cannot love her. Viola (Cesario) states that he (she) is not what he (she) is. I think that this statement is very forward on Cesario's part and I don't know why Olivia doesn't get the hint that something is not right with the man she loves. I think Olivia's response to Viola's statement is very interesting. What she is saying means that Olivia will think of her lover however she wants to think of him.

FFW on the lunacy, instability and delirious musings in Illyria

Malvolio: ...and yet to crush it a little, it would bow to me... (II.v.143-145)

In this quote, Malvolio is talking about the letter "Olivia" left for him--Maria's trap. In this letter Maria wrote, she only hints at some of Malvolio's qualities and the letter in its entirety doesn't quite seem to fit him and his personality. When Malvolio reads something he can relate to he immediately thinks Olivia is talking about him. "To crush it a little" mean that if the letter was changed slightly, Malvolio would fit "Olivia's" description perfectly.

FFW on the lunacy, instability and delirious musings in Illyria

Viola: I am the man. (II.ii.25)

How ironic this quote is! Viola is certainly not a man, although she pretends to be in this play. What she is talking about in this quote is Olivia's love for her as Cesario. Viola goes on to say that Olivia is better off loving a dream. Viola says this because a dream is something you cannot touch, feel, or see.... just like Viola's manliness. This cover-up that Viola uses, her manliness, is a veil, disguising her true identity.

Working w/ Data from the Shakespeare Concordance

1. What thematic strands have you located?

Music, song, sing, sound, tune, verse, pitch, ear, dying fall, Illyria

2. Where is the data you retrieved found? What is happening in context when Shakespeare employs this particular theme or image?

Most of our concordance themes come from Acts I and II. The character that mentions these recurring themes the most is Orsino, probably because of his love for music in general. Orsino often demands music to be played for him and loves music so much that he wants to practically drown in it. The Duke’s obsession with music is almost violent. Instead of wanting to hear songs for pleasure, Orsino uses music as an escape from life and love.

The characters the mention these themes the next most often are Sir Toby and Sir Andrew. The reason Toby and Andrew talk about music and song is probably because their love for food and drink goes hand-in-hand with music.

Viola refers to music because she compares her love to a sort of melodic song. She says that instead of talking to someone, she will sing to them and asks for their ear. Also, Viola’s name alone resembles a musical instrument, a viola, similar to the higher-pitched violin. The musical reference with Viola’s name can be related to how Orsino plays her by sending her to tell his love to Olivia. The duke also uses Viola and vents his problems to her and gives her advice, whether or not she wants to hear it.

3. How does the data you retrieved support your first thoughts on Shakespeare’s obsessive use of a particular image? What can you argue about Shakespeare’s figuration?

Initially, I didn’t think Shakespeare meant to use music as a recurring theme in the play Twelfth Night. Upon doing more research, however, it became clearer that music, song, and singing are referenced to throughout the play. Taking a closer look into the work, Shakespeare’s use of the name Viola and Orsino, Andrew and Toby’s love for music seems to be intended.

Act 2. iii. 5

As two comical characters, Toby and Andrew bring humor to the play and talk about when to retire to bed:

Toby:

"A false conclusion. I hate it as an unfilled can. To be up after midnight and to go to bed then, is early, so that to go to bed after midnight is to go to bed betimes. Does not our lives consist of the four elements?"

In the previous statement, Sir Andrew had said that they were up late so here Sir Toby is saying they are not up late, they are actually up early in the morning. Toby pokes fun at Andrew saying that he hates his logic like "an unfilled can." The can that Toby speaks of here refers to his love for food and alcohol and means he hates not having a full glass or plate. When Toby says "to go to bed after midnight is to go to bed betimes" he means that they should not go to bed now because a new day has already begun. In Toby's comment about the four elements, earth, fire, air and water, he says that the world does not revolve around man and what they wish to do, it does not change and therefore, after midnight is technically a new day which reinforces his statement.

Free Write - Act 2. iii. 170

In II. iii. 170, Maria calls her scheme to manipulate and embarrass Malvolio "Sport royal..."

-What do you make of this?

I don't think it's a bad thing that Maria wants to embarrass Malvolio. Malvolio is very bossy and thinks very highly of himself - which can be very annoying to others. Maria is simply playing a joke on Malvolio to get back at him for being to conceited. "Sport royal" is like the entertainment Maria is going to get out of her scheme.

After reading Act 1 if TWN...

I can't stop thinking about all of the confusing love triangles. The duke loves Olivia and sends Viola (who is disguised as Cesario) to tell Olivia of the duke's love for her. Olivia ends up loving Cesario (Viola) when really Viola loves the duke. The character's love interests change so quickly they're hard to keep track of. I think the characters are confused and don't care who they love, as long as they are loved.

reaction to writing paper #1

When the "Small Object, Large Subject" essay was first introduced I'm not going to lie, I was dreading it. Papers in general bum me out because that means I have to actually spend time locked in my room racking my brain for hours instead of hanging out with my friends. College is way different than high school, the best part of living on campus is being able to walk down the hall to a friend's room instead of having to get all ready and drive 10 minutes across town. For me, growing up I was kind of an outcast because I lived so far away from town and couldn't walk to a friend's place.

Ok, I'm getting off on a tangent, back to the paper.

Once I settled on a topic, I had a better idea of what this first paper was all about. Now whether or not I was going to be able to write it... that's a different story. It literally takes me f.o.r.e.v.e.r. to write a single paragraph, let alone a sentence. It's like I know what I want to say but can't seem to type it or write it on paper and it frustrates the daylights out of me. This is the exact reason why I love the writing center. They help me organize my thoughts and make an outline of my entire paper so all I have to do is fill in the blanks.

Actually writing the paper though was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. Seriously, writing 5 entire pages about hand sanitizer isn't that easy. I found myself trying to elaborate on every single little detail and still not coming up with enough content to fill all 5 pages. I mean, I did try really hard even though I probably didn't do that great.

Act 1 ?'s

1) Why such a specific time (7 years) for Olivia to mourn for her brother?

2) Is there a significant similarity between Olivia's brother dying and Viola's brother who's state is questionable?

3) Why does Viola see the need to dress like a boy?

4) Why do the character's love interests change so quickly?

5) Why does Viola want to shield herself from everyone like Olivia does?

6) Why is the Fool so unpleasant?

Sue Halpern's "Virtual Iraq" - ?'s

1) Data drawn:

- Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been officially recognized as a medical condition since 1980.

- Virtual Vietnam was first introduced to help with PTSD in 1997.

- Albert Rizzo, a clinical psychologist, invented Virtual Iraq.

- The Office of Naval Research funded Virtual Iraq.

- No, I did not access any of this data.

2) Active verbs:

-"rush the roof" p 116

-"bullets were exploding" p 116

-"haunted by memories" p117

-"stalled at the top of the stairs" p 120

-"therapy immerses the patient gradually" p 121

-"when the ground starts vibrating" p121

3) Figuration:

-"bullets were exploding like firecrackers" p 116

-"we'd have to light them up" p 117

-"play around like a video game" p 120

-"starched military counterparts" p 121

4) Portable wisdom

-"We're a video-game generation. That's what we grew up on. So maybe we'll respond to it." p 118

-"The last one hundred years, we've studied psychology in the real world. In the next hundred, we're going to study it in the virtual world." p125

-"You never really get rid of PTSD, but you can learn to live with it." p 128

It snowed last night and...

... all of a sudden I was twelve again, hoping for a day off of school. Snow, sleet, freezing rain, anything was welcomed because a day off is like a mini vacation. Mother nature was my best friend on snow days. Just simply watching snow delicately fall from the sky is a miracle - the most beautiful things occur in nature.

To Take Wildness in Hand - Michelle Nijhuis

The changing climate and global warming have very destructive effects on both plants and animals. In her essay, "To Take Wildness in Hand," Michelle Nijhuis raises the issue of the decreasing population of a tree species that grows in the Florida Panhandle called Torreya taxifolia. The writer and naturalist, Barlow found that some of the reason these trees were struggling in their environment might be because the temperatures in that area had reached all-time highs, that disease had spread rapidly, or maybe it was because of the drought. To try and fix and/or delay this problem, Barlow decided that the species had to be moved up north and then took the responsibility and she "would (move the trees) herself."

One of the problems other scientists have with this "assisted migration" is that they are worried about the surrounding species - plants and animals alike. "You just can't do that" some of the other scientists said. Although simply restoring the landscape surrounding this species of tree sounds like a good idea, it is hardly feasible because because it is a bigger problem than it seems. Despite the set-backs, Jessica Hellmann says that "It's incredibly exciting to think that we could come up with a strategy that might help mitigate the impacts of climate change."

Personally, I think that as a people, Americans are too concerned with preserving something that is meant to die. Disrupting nature's natural course is a very risky thing to do and can cause more problems than it actually helped.

Virtual Iraq - Sue Halpern

For some soldiers, returning home from war isn't always filled with excitement and joy, but rather despair, numbness and depression. A shocking number, almost 20%, of war veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from PTSD - posttraumatic stress disorder. This condition is caused by a sequence of terrifying situations. Sue Halpern's underlying question in her essay, "Virtual Iraq," is not "How can we fix and change someone's memories," but instead "How can we help victims of PTSD live and cope with it" because, unfortunately, it is impossible to fix the past. In order to help these struggling veterans, clinical psychologist Albert Rizzo invented a very life-like virtual reality video game, "Virtual Iraq" based on the previous form, "Virtual Vietnam" of 1997. Features of this incredible healing device not only include the senses of sight and sound, but also of smell and touch. Psychologists have the power to control sounds such as IEDs exploding and gunfire as well as the smell of smoke and the sensation of the ground shaking after an explosion. This simulator is intended to "disconnect the memory from the reactions to the memory" very gradually. Halpern's character, Travis Boyd, was at first reluctant to seek help for his PTSD because he "didn't want to have it on (his) military record that (he) was crazy." However, once he received treatment, Boyd "felt more like one person" rather than the two separate lives he had been living - one being his real self and the other being the tough, numb marine. Even though PTSD cannot be cured, four out of five soldiers who recieve treatment through "Virtual Iraq" sessions have improved.