Language in "A Midsummer Night's Dream"

How happy some o'er other some can be!
Through Athens I am thought as fair as she.
But what of that? Demetrius thinks not so;
He will not know what all but he do know:
And as he errs, doting on Hermia's eyes,
So I, admiring of his qualities:
Things base and vile, folding no quantity,
Love can transpose to form and dignity:
Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind;
And therefore is wing'd Cupid painted blind:
Nor hath Love's mind of any judgement taste;
Wings and no eyes figure unheedy haste:
And therefore is Love said to be a child,
Because in choice he is so oft beguiled.
As waggish boys in game themselves forswear,
So the boy Love is perjured every where:
For ere Demetrius look'd on Hermia's eyne,
He hail'd down oaths that he was only mine;
And when this hail some heat from Hermia felt,
So he dissolved, and showers of oaths did melt.
I will go tell him of fair Hermia's flight:
Then to the wood will he to-morrow night
Pursue her; and for this intelligence
If I have thanks, it is a dear expense:
But herein mean I to enrich my pain,
To have his sight thither and back again.

One of the aspects of Shakespearean language that makes it unique and can often causes confusion for modern readers is the rearrangement of words. Instead of the normal: subject-verb-direct object progression, Shakespeare rearranged the words some times to fit his rhythm or rhyme scheme. In Helena's soliloquy after talking to Hermia and Lysander, she uses this rearranged grammar, "And therefore is wing'd Cupid painted blind." The typical sentence would have the 'is' placed after Cupid.
The words Shakespeare uses are also very different from those used today. In some cases he uses a word that we still use, but the word is used in a different way.
In this section the rhyme scheme follows an: a , a , b , b , c , c , etc. The way Shakespeare used rhyme in his works is one of the things that makes reading them the most enjoyable to me. The other is the way he takes words and plays with them using alternate meanings and the sounds of words.

Manga Shakespeare

The Manga A Midsummer Night's Dream starts off with with introducing the characters with a picture, his/her name, and a quote to help show the personality and help identify the character in the story. The place is introduced as "Athens--where modern technology meet ancient tradition. These help set up the story making it easy to follow from the beginning, instead of trying to find one's bearing in the flow of the story. The clothes that the characters wear are an interesting combination of modern dress and ancient garb. Demetrius wears a white collared shirt and tie covered by a toga.
Pages 14 and 15 demonstrate the hybridization of the times very well. On page 14 ancient weapons such as swords and spears are shown on the wall, as well as flowers for the wedding. However, on page 15, televisions, which are used for communication in the story, are set into the wall as well. This stark contrast gives the book an interesting feel.

War is Kind

I found the whole poem to be very powerful. I had trouble picking just one line. The line I chose though is, "In a field where a thousand corpses lie." The line conjures up mental images of a battlefield after a conflict. The battlefield strewn with bodies of dead and dying soldiers. This image in conjunction with the line "War is kind," outlines the sarcasm in the title line. It makes the poem so much more powerful.

Maus II

The fifth panel on page 250 offers a very telling glimpse into Vladek's mentality. He is excited about getting six dollars of groceries for one dollar by returning the mostly eaten boxes of cereal he had re-glued. It is amazing for me to think of being excited about saving five dollars on groceries. I would never try to return cereal that was mostly consumed and had no true defects. The extreme conservative nature of Vladek is assumed to be the result of his experiences during WWII. His nature that helped him survive the war though, feels very out of place in a peaceful society. His son is very embaressed by this behavior, because in the current culture it is considered odd.

Maus

The idea that pushed me through the text was the theme of the Spiegelmans' struggle. The way that they struggled to find a safe place to stay, to simply live. The panels on page 157 are a good example of this struggle. Looking closely at the panels shows how the author helps use this theme to drive the story forward.
The narrator, Vladek, is a Jew and narrates the story in a broken English. The word order is not what most Americans are used to hearing. This helps make the story feel more real. The drawing are not very vivid. The lines are wide and the faces simple. This could represent the not so perfect memories that Vladek is retelling. Memories which have all the major points but lack the details that the present has. Panels are also dark. Making the story feel gloomier and examplifying what Vladek felt at the time. All of these details help give the story the necissary feel.