Dear William

It's been a pleasure. Thank you.

Bard of Avon,

I really dislike this monologue. I don't agree with what she is saying, at all. Whenever I think of this scene, I want to imagine Katherina being brain washed or drugged. I don't like the girl that you had Petruchio change her into. But, whatever, I respect your work. Though, I'll have you know, recording this was a b****.

Video # 4 - Katherina's Monologue

Katherina's Monologue

Really, the only appropriate-lengthened monologue for Katherina is the one at the very end of the play, in Act 5 Scene 2. It's rather long, so I am only doing the first thirty lines or so. Her monologue is addressed to her sister and the widow. She is basically reprimanding them for how they are treating their husbands. This monologue is important because it shows how she has changed. 145 pages ago, she would be disagreeing with 95% of what she is saying. After she finishes speaking, Lucentio and Vincentio  compliment Petruchio on how well he has "tamed" her. Petruchio, pleased, excuses himself and Kate as they leave for bed. The end.

Act 5 Scene 2

Luccentio's lodgings

Katherina Fie, fie! Unknit that threat'ning unkind brow

                 And dart not scornful glances from those eyes

                 To wound thy lord, thy king, thy governor.

                 It blots thy beauty as frosts do bite the meads,

                 Confounds thy fame as whirlwinds shake fair buds,

                 And in no sense is meet or amiable.

                 A woman moved is like a fountain troubled,

                 Muddy, ill-seeming, thick, bereft of beauty,

                 And while it is so, none so dry or thirsty

                 Will deign to sip or touch one drop of it.

                 Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper,

                 Thy head, thy sovereign, one that cares for thee,

                 And for thy maintenance commits his body

                 To painful labor both by sea and land,

                 To watch the night in storms, the day in cold,

                 Whilst thou liest warm at home, secure and safe,

                 And craves no other tribute at thy hands

                 But love, fair looks and true obedience—

                 Too little payment for so great a debt.

                 Such duty as the subject owes the prince,

                 Even such a woman oweth to her husband.

                 And when she is froward, peevish, sullen, sour,

                 And not obedient to his honest will,

                 What is she but a foul contending rebel

                 And graceless traitor to her loving lord?

                 I am ashamed that women are so simple

                To offer war where they should kneel for peace;

                Or seek for rule, supremacy and sway

                When they are bound to serve, love, and obey.

Kiss Me, Kate and 10 Things I hate About You

Though I have never had the chance to see, if you are looking for a musical adaptation of The Taming of the Shrew - there is always Kiss Me, Kate by Cole Porter. On the other hand, like Twelfth Night, there is a teen movie loosely based on The Taming of the Shrew. It's one of those movies, like She's The Man, than any 13-15 year should probably see. I of course, bought 10 Things I hate About You after the first time I saw, freshmen year... I have seen it so many times, that I can quote it. It's funny... the character who is based off of Katherina, ends up at Sarah Lawrence. Weird how that works...

Day 12

Just finished The Taming of the Shrew; my last Shakespeare play, and last comedy. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1594. The play begins with an induction (adding in a sub-plot). Then the main plot is introduced. Basically, it's a play depicting the courtship of Petruchio and Katherina, the headstrong "shrew". Petruchio tries and ultimately succeeds in "taming" his wife until she is an obedient bride. Meanwhile, there are other suitors who are trying to woo Bianca, Katherina's beautiful younger sister. In the end, I think it kind of sucks. While Petruchio's taming of Katherina is very comical, it's also extremely sexist. Katherina does a 180 and turns into this well-behaved "trophy" wife. However, I remember reading it in school and liking it. I guess it is because Katherina reminds me a little of me  (at least the Katherina before Act 5, Scene 2).

Poor Katherina...

Bard of Avon,

I've always liked Lady Macbeth. Over this past summer, I worked on the scene when she taunts her husband and questions his masculinity. This monologue was much more adventurous. I had fun with it. I had to wait till it got really dark in order to film it. Of course then the lighting made my eyes look all creepy and now it's extremely distracting; but, whatever. I tried fifty different ways to do the scream, but I thought it would have be better if I did a silent one. I was aiming for her to get to the point where she just lost control. I think it worked. For me, I was light-headed. I guess, in conclusion, all I really have to say is.... Judi Dench did it better.

Video # 3 - Lady Macbeth's Monologue

I apologize; the quality/lighting is terrible!
Look at it this way... it adds to the creepiness.

Lady Macbeth's Monologue

The monologue I have chosen for Lady Macbeth is her famous scene after she has gone "crazy." It's the first scene of Act 5. Previously Ross has told Macduff about his family's murder and Malcom encourages them all to overthrow Macbeth. In Scene 1 of Act 5, Lady Macbeth's attendant reports to the Doctor that she has seen her sleepwalking. She refuses to tell what her mistress has been saying in her sleep. Lady Macbeth, asleep, then enters with a candle. Her monologue is interecpeted with the conversation between the doctor and the gentlewoman, commenting on what they hear; however, for Lady Macbeth she is in her own world, uninterrupted. 

Act 5 Scene 1

A room in Dunsinane Castle

LADY MACBETH Yet here's a spot.

                                Out, damned spot! Out, I say! One–two— 

                                why then ’tis time to do't. Hell is murky. Fie, my lord, fie!
                                A soldier, and afeard? What need we fear who knows it,
                                when none can call our power to account? Yet who would
                                have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?

                               The Thane of Fife had a wife; where is she now? 

                               What, will these hands ne'er be clean? No more o’ 

                               that, my lord, no more o’ that. You mar all with this starting.

                               Here's the smell of the blood still. All the perfumes
                               of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Oh, oh, oh!

                               Wash your hands, put on your nightgown;
                               look not so pale. I tell you yet again, Banquo's buried; he
                               cannot come out on’s grave.

                               To bed, to bed; there's knocking at the gate.
                               Come, come, come, come, give me your hand. What's
                               done cannot be undone. To bed, to bed, to bed.