Comedy of Errors/Some Sixteenth-Century Lit.

I haven't updated in a while, but I have been reading. Here's a quick overview of a few things.

I read/watched the Comedy of Errors. I watched a BBC version with Roger Daltry from the Who, which I thought was interesting. You don't think of rockers doing Shakespeare. And he played a funny character. Well most of the characters are funny, but his is the funniest. This is one of the plays that is definately better to watch than read. It gets irritating when you're watching it, but not nearly as much as when you just read it. At least when you're watching it you see the two sets of twins and so the confusion makes more sense (you know there are two sets of twins when reading too, but it's just not the same). But it bugs me that they don't realize what's going on considering that tho of the characters are looking for their long-lost twin brothers and you'd think they'd realize they'd found them when everyone started treating them like someone else. This is why most of the comedies bug me.

I've also been going through the trusty old Norton anthology and reading (skimming) some poetry. I never grew to like poetry much. Unless it's Shel Silverstein or Dr. Suess. Otherwise just give me prose. Even Shakespeare's poem Venus and Adonis was hard to get through and I like Shakespeare, even some of the sonnets. I did read the whole thing in that case though because I'm determined to read all of Shakespeare's works since I'm so close from having taken two Shakespeare courses.

I did enjoy reading Sir Thomas More's Utopia though. I didn't read the whole thing, just the excerpts in the Norton. It sparked a long conversation with my husband about if it's okay to support a utopian state if it's entered into willingly by all citizens and if it could ever work. I found it interesting that More does a make a point of saying all the citizens would have to believe in God or leave, because if you don't believe in God you have no incentive to be a good person or look out for others, so he did address that aspect. While we agreed with that, it seems odd to assume that just because someone believes in God that he will automatically want to serve the good of the community instead of himself. People are inherently sinful, and we just can't see such as society working period. More worked around people who definately believed in God, but sure didn't look out for the good of the people all the time (hello Henry VIII!) so I find it hard to imagine he really thought such a society would work. I understand his desire for a society like this though, especially considering his society at the time. There was a massive amount of difference between the pheasants and the royalty, and More was familiar with both worlds. Living in such a state and being so close to both worlds would make you want to imagine a better way, I just don't think socialism is the way to go. It was nice that it sparked such a great conversation with Ryan though!