Paper Titles (in which I talk myself through Shakespeare, pardon me)

[evilhippo]

There's something about my Shakespeare class and the insistence that we have "snappy" paper titles that seems to spur the title long before the paper actually comes into being. After all, a witty title says a lot, or so they say. ... So right now, I am trying to come up with a paper that could be titled "Kent Drew First: [something something something] in King Lear". Either about violence, and what happens on- and off-stage (omg Gloucester, ow!)... or the editorial changes between the Quarto and Folio versions (in one, Kent does not draw first...). But unfortunately, I don't know what else I can say about that. Really, the point is getting away with having that as a paper title. And right now I'm distracted by all the repetition that's added in the Quarto, but I have no idea what any of it means, in a whole theme-wise and relevant way, because it was fairly determined in class that Lear sort of loses control of his language as he loses power throughout the play, culminating in all the repetition in his final lines... but that kind of dies if it's littered all through (though it does get more extreme). So yeah, no idea what to do with that. And then there's the whole loyalty in and out of family thing, and maybe I could do something between Cordelia and the fool there, but I'm not as interested in that. What I really want to go on about is the lack of middle ground, but that'd just end up being gigantic.

Also, I realized that I (almost subconsciously) completely ruled out writing about one of the plays we covered this quarter on the grounds that I would attempt to write the entire paper without using its official title... which, at a certain point, would become absurd. Something like "The Thane Formerly Known as Glamis, then Cawdor, then King".

Yes... I was supposed to have a paper topic in hours ago.

Actually, my icon just gave me something... fool -> full (but would the pronunciation have been at all the same? The OED isn't helping!). Undivided, not halved. Lear wanting for things to be whole again. Oddly, that's the sort of stretch they don't mind in this class. I will not title the paper "Full Fathom Foolish" or "Fool Fathom Fullish" or... start a band and name it Full Fathom Five. I'm sure there must be a band called Full Fathom Five (and it has six members. I think that means I get the name by default. You know, there are two bands named Han Shot First, I suppose I could start my own version of Full Fathom Five anyway.) I wonder how far I could take it... and how well I could tie it into that whole middle ground thing, especially after he disappears. Hmm.

P.S. I swear browsing wikipedia is going to kill me, but now I have one question: That was David Tennant?? This question brought to you by the fact that Full Fathom Five was also a Doctor Who audio.

P.P.S. ... Hamlet? (I believe by following things that are still tangential to Shakespeare, I can more easily pretend I'm close to getting legitmate work done, and not wikipedia-stalking British actors now.)

Comments

[shichahn.livejournal.com]

...Wow, you got Nine and Ten in a single post, good work. XD;

Aww, Eccleston... I do love David Tennant, but I find myself missing Eccleston now and again. He was so cool.

[doting-daddy.livejournal.com]

I am nothing if not thorough in my procrastination. ^_^ (Though, I suppose if I wanted to be really thorough, there are other Doctors I could've looked up.)

Gah, I think I was just entirely too attached to Eccleston's doctor. I think it was the more fatherly dynamic... and he wasn't quite as disoriented as Ten is from time to time (which is adorable, but authority's also a fun thing, even when it messes up TV space stations from the fuuuture. ^_^)

[shichahn.livejournal.com]

Hehe, yes. Also, he made the coolest facial expressions. Admittedly, Tennant makes cool expressions too, but Eccleston's were cool in a very different way. XD I love them both, really. It's great that they were able to get such awesome actors with which to restart the show.

[evilhippo.livejournal.com]

I think between the two of them, they've made having a vast array of amusing facial expressions an official prerequisite for the job. (-: As well as being an awesome actor (but what better way to re-start a show? That and special effects that don't come from the late middle 20th century. (-; It makes me happy.)