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Feb. 20th, 2008 12:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiantsOh, John Webster. You had me at the moment you compared someone's face to an abortive hedgehog.
Also, I swear, Jacobean tragedy and Kaori Yuki-style anime are basically long-lost genre twins or something in terms of the awesome ridiculousness. And incest.
Let's recap. In The Duchess of Malfi, the Duchess' twin brother:
a.) Muses at length, with a level of visualization and CRAZY that really really disturbs their other brother, on all the sex his sister is probably having. (My friend, at this point in class, said "wow, this is the first play we've had with porn in it," at which point the professor answered, "Oh, it gets better.")
b.) Kidnaps said sister away from her new husband
c.) Attacks her with a SEVERED DEAD HAND
d.) Builds WAX FIGURES of her husband and children so she'll think they're all dead and go crazy
e.) Recruits an ARMY OF LUNATICS to go hang out in her dungeon, just for giggles
f.) Orders her, her maid, and all her children strangled, and then, five minutes later, flips out because his minions actually went ahead and strangled her (I take it back! I take it back!)
g.) And promptly catches IMAGINARY LYCANTHROPY out of guilt. I can't make this shit up.
Meanwhile, his chief minion Bosola - the one who murdered the Duchess - has gotten totally fed up with all this and decided to switch sides and AVENGE THE DUCHESS. The last act of the play goes basically like this:
Bosola: Okay. Here's the plan. I'll seduce the other evil brother's girlfriend, find the Duchess' husband, and team up with him to get JUSTICE.
Other Evil Brother: *poisons his girlfriend*
Bosola: All right. Skip that step. On to step two!
Duchess' Husband: *bumps into Bosola, who accidentally kills him*
Bosola: . . . oops. Oh well. New plan: KILL EVERYONE.
And so he does. And meanwhile gets stabbed to death. THE END.
Also, I swear, Jacobean tragedy and Kaori Yuki-style anime are basically long-lost genre twins or something in terms of the awesome ridiculousness. And incest.
Let's recap. In The Duchess of Malfi, the Duchess' twin brother:
a.) Muses at length, with a level of visualization and CRAZY that really really disturbs their other brother, on all the sex his sister is probably having. (My friend, at this point in class, said "wow, this is the first play we've had with porn in it," at which point the professor answered, "Oh, it gets better.")
b.) Kidnaps said sister away from her new husband
c.) Attacks her with a SEVERED DEAD HAND
d.) Builds WAX FIGURES of her husband and children so she'll think they're all dead and go crazy
e.) Recruits an ARMY OF LUNATICS to go hang out in her dungeon, just for giggles
f.) Orders her, her maid, and all her children strangled, and then, five minutes later, flips out because his minions actually went ahead and strangled her (I take it back! I take it back!)
g.) And promptly catches IMAGINARY LYCANTHROPY out of guilt. I can't make this shit up.
Meanwhile, his chief minion Bosola - the one who murdered the Duchess - has gotten totally fed up with all this and decided to switch sides and AVENGE THE DUCHESS. The last act of the play goes basically like this:
Bosola: Okay. Here's the plan. I'll seduce the other evil brother's girlfriend, find the Duchess' husband, and team up with him to get JUSTICE.
Other Evil Brother: *poisons his girlfriend*
Bosola: All right. Skip that step. On to step two!
Duchess' Husband: *bumps into Bosola, who accidentally kills him*
Bosola: . . . oops. Oh well. New plan: KILL EVERYONE.
And so he does. And meanwhile gets stabbed to death. THE END.
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Date: 2008-02-20 09:39 pm (UTC)But none of them turn into cars? Well, imaginary lycanthropy's an okay substitute, I suppose.
no subject
Date: 2008-02-21 12:31 am (UTC)I am sure someone would have if cars had been invented by that point! Although actually, turning into cars = lesbians, and the one thing that Webster's plays are missing is lesbians. TRAGICALLY.
no subject
Date: 2008-02-20 09:52 pm (UTC)familiarperfectly understandablevery logicalabsolutely perverse.no subject
Date: 2008-02-21 12:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-20 10:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-21 12:33 am (UTC)And yet, though this be madness, yet there's AWESOME in it. Or at least hilarity.
no subject
Date: 2008-02-21 02:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-21 05:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-21 05:25 am (UTC)I also wrote a totally kickass oral presentation on the use of religion in that play and Ford's 'Tis Pity She's A Whore (have you studied that one? it's about INCEST. it's bewilderingly cool).
no subject
Date: 2008-02-21 05:29 am (UTC)We have not done Tis Pity She's A Whore yet, but I think that's up next! It's definitely on the syllabus for the next few weeks, anyways. Basically we started off with Shakespeare and Jonson, who are somewhat sane by comparison, and now are moving further and further into the crazy (fabulous).
no subject
Date: 2008-02-21 05:37 am (UTC)We did Othello, Duchess of Malfi and 'Tis Pity. My teacher was the best ever.
no subject
Date: 2008-02-21 05:39 am (UTC)My teacher for this course is also pretty fabulous - seriously, I love this class ridiculous amounts. I think you need to have the right kind of sick sense of humor to decide to teach Jacobean/Elizabethan tragedies. I have never laughed so much in a class before.
. . . perhaps that says something about me . . .