Chris
Niles
Shakespeare
Reflection
For the Shakespeare project, we had to produce a
shadow puppet performance of the play, Macbeth. The role that I played in
putting this whole thing together was relatively simple, I had to make the
puppets for the play. Of course I got help from others in the class but that was
one of my main parts in putting thing together. I also had to voice the
character, Angus. I only had a few lines but it was still fun!
When we first started this project, I thought that I was going to hate
it. I have never really liked Shakespeare and probably never will like him all
that much. While Shakespeare isn’t my favorite, I still connected with this
project in the sense that much of today’s dialogue is loosely based around the
way that he portrayed English in his plays. The thing that I enjoyed the most
about this project was probably the controlling the puppets. While practicing
the classroom was the worst possible experience ever, actually doing it behind
the curtain was much more fun. I did not feel any pressure from the audience
because, well, I couldn’t see them. Making the puppets was a nightmare, but
controlling them was somewhat fun. My best moment during the course of this
project was most likely being done with it. For me at least, this project was a
major pain so naturally, being done with it was my high point in it.
This entire project kept getting increasingly difficult for me, mainly
because I was highly unmotivated to work on it. Putting together this project
was also difficult because it requires a lot of collaboration-something I’m not
at all good at. The thing that was most challenging to me was doing the same
thing over and over again for a month. After a few days I just got really sick
of it. There was a bout a week during this project when my life outside of
school was just becoming, really hard. During that week of this project I wanted
to crawl under a table and sleep. For obvious reasons I couldn’t do that, so I
guess you could say that that is a time when I had to persevere through the hard
times to keep the production of this play in line. Instead of crawling under a
table, I continued to cut out shadow puppets and practice for the actual
performance. I for obvious reasons, I am glad that I kept trying to put this
together rather than just forget about it and do my own thing.
I didn’t really learn all that much about myself during this project. I
suppose you could say that is in nearly impossible to get me motivated to do
something that I don’t want to do and to get me to do a satisfactory job. I
learned that in order for me to do a good job in school, my life outside of
school must be pleasant as well, otherwise they interfere with each other and
get in the way of the greater good. I think that the most important thing that I
learned about myself was that I work better in groups when we are working on
something that I personally don’t like. It shows me that it’s not just me doing
this but the rest of the class too, that’s what matters. This is a vital thing
to know about myself because then I know how to react and what to expect when I
hear of future projects or assignments like this one.
Even though the works of Shakespeare were all written around 400 years
ago, the English speaking world still celebrates his works because he was not
only a world known entertainer, but also a philosopher. He unknowingly put all
of life’s major questions into a play that answered them. Take
a Midsummer Night’s Dream for example. There have been people to question
the power of love and people who question if love is truly real, or has to be
simulated or altered for it to become apparent. In a Midsummer Night’s Dream,
there is a couple that is truly in love but then there is a couple that is
simulated into love by the powers of the juice of a flower. So, Shakespeare’s
answer to love is that sometimes it is real, but it is also affected by an
outside source far too often. Shakespeare is celebrated because he practically
built the English language and how it works. I personally do not see why people
gravitate towards Shakespeare but I can only guess that its because he puts an
interesting spin on everyday activities, or maybe because he was the first real
performing arts writer that still shapes modern movies today. I do not know all
the answers to what William Shakespeare’s intentions were, or what his
motivations were, all I know is that the impact he left on this world is still
taking large effect today. I hope that my essay is clear to understand and
answers questions that you may have.
Niles
Shakespeare
Reflection
For the Shakespeare project, we had to produce a
shadow puppet performance of the play, Macbeth. The role that I played in
putting this whole thing together was relatively simple, I had to make the
puppets for the play. Of course I got help from others in the class but that was
one of my main parts in putting thing together. I also had to voice the
character, Angus. I only had a few lines but it was still fun!
When we first started this project, I thought that I was going to hate
it. I have never really liked Shakespeare and probably never will like him all
that much. While Shakespeare isn’t my favorite, I still connected with this
project in the sense that much of today’s dialogue is loosely based around the
way that he portrayed English in his plays. The thing that I enjoyed the most
about this project was probably the controlling the puppets. While practicing
the classroom was the worst possible experience ever, actually doing it behind
the curtain was much more fun. I did not feel any pressure from the audience
because, well, I couldn’t see them. Making the puppets was a nightmare, but
controlling them was somewhat fun. My best moment during the course of this
project was most likely being done with it. For me at least, this project was a
major pain so naturally, being done with it was my high point in it.
This entire project kept getting increasingly difficult for me, mainly
because I was highly unmotivated to work on it. Putting together this project
was also difficult because it requires a lot of collaboration-something I’m not
at all good at. The thing that was most challenging to me was doing the same
thing over and over again for a month. After a few days I just got really sick
of it. There was a bout a week during this project when my life outside of
school was just becoming, really hard. During that week of this project I wanted
to crawl under a table and sleep. For obvious reasons I couldn’t do that, so I
guess you could say that that is a time when I had to persevere through the hard
times to keep the production of this play in line. Instead of crawling under a
table, I continued to cut out shadow puppets and practice for the actual
performance. I for obvious reasons, I am glad that I kept trying to put this
together rather than just forget about it and do my own thing.
I didn’t really learn all that much about myself during this project. I
suppose you could say that is in nearly impossible to get me motivated to do
something that I don’t want to do and to get me to do a satisfactory job. I
learned that in order for me to do a good job in school, my life outside of
school must be pleasant as well, otherwise they interfere with each other and
get in the way of the greater good. I think that the most important thing that I
learned about myself was that I work better in groups when we are working on
something that I personally don’t like. It shows me that it’s not just me doing
this but the rest of the class too, that’s what matters. This is a vital thing
to know about myself because then I know how to react and what to expect when I
hear of future projects or assignments like this one.
Even though the works of Shakespeare were all written around 400 years
ago, the English speaking world still celebrates his works because he was not
only a world known entertainer, but also a philosopher. He unknowingly put all
of life’s major questions into a play that answered them. Take
a Midsummer Night’s Dream for example. There have been people to question
the power of love and people who question if love is truly real, or has to be
simulated or altered for it to become apparent. In a Midsummer Night’s Dream,
there is a couple that is truly in love but then there is a couple that is
simulated into love by the powers of the juice of a flower. So, Shakespeare’s
answer to love is that sometimes it is real, but it is also affected by an
outside source far too often. Shakespeare is celebrated because he practically
built the English language and how it works. I personally do not see why people
gravitate towards Shakespeare but I can only guess that its because he puts an
interesting spin on everyday activities, or maybe because he was the first real
performing arts writer that still shapes modern movies today. I do not know all
the answers to what William Shakespeare’s intentions were, or what his
motivations were, all I know is that the impact he left on this world is still
taking large effect today. I hope that my essay is clear to understand and
answers questions that you may have.