A Reading Odyssey

The King Lear with the Happy Ending

Dear friends,

During our discussion of King Lear, I mentioned that for more than 150 years beginning in 1681 English theatergoers experienced a very different version of King Lear, one with a "happy ending" supplied by one Nahum Tate. In this version of the play, King Lear regains his throne, Cordelia marries Edgar, and all live happily ever after. Samuel Johnson, the 18th century polymath (you may know him as the author of the Oxford English Dictionary) compiled an edition of Shakespeare's plays; he used the original version, but he personally preferred Tate's. In fact, he recalled being so horrified by the injustice of Cordelia's death as a child (!) that he didn't look at the play again until deciding to compile his edition. So while Shakespeare's version of King Lear was widely available in print, it wasn't until about 1838 that English theatergoers had the opportunity to see, or as they said "hear," the original thing.

Here's a link to Nahum Tate's version of King Lear:

http://ethnicity.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Texts/tatelear.html

Scroll down to the final scene, which takes place in the prison, and where King Lear stabs the soldier who has come to hang Cordelia...

Happy reading,

Rich

Xenophon's Hellenika July 2010 Book 7- Audio Recording

Here's the audio recording for the Xenophon's Hellenika Book 7 discussion.  Listen online or download the mp3 file and listen to it as a podcast on your ipod.

Download Xenophon July 2010 book 7

Discussion Questions for Twelfth Night on Tue, July 20

Dear friends,

The shakespeare@readingodyssey.org address is temporarily down, so I have sent a copy of this post to everyone through eventbrite.com, which you used to register for Shakespeare in the Spring.

Our next and final discussion will take place on Tuesday, July 20 at 8pm EST. This time, we will be looking at Twelfth Night, one of Shakespeare's greatest comedies--and a work, I will argue, that self-consciously tests the boundaries between comedy and tragedy...

You may remember that the RSC edition of Twelfth Night had not been published when our Odyssey began. It was finally published in early May, so if you haven't bought a copy already, you may do so now on Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/Twelfth-Night-Modern-Library-Classics/dp/0812969235/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278416126&sr=1-2

Below are several discussion questions to consider as you read and re-read the play. As always, I'd like one volunteer to prepare a kickoff response for each question. This month, I'm going to be a little more insistent about this and draft folks if I don't get enough volunteers. :)

I'd also like to invite all of you to submit your own discussion question ahead of time, if there's something you'd like us to think about before we convene. Feel free to post it here. If you could also email me your question (by next Sunday, July 18), I'll collate them and send them around to the group. I've been amazed and inspired by your insights this spring (trickling into summer), and I hope to step back a little on the 20th and let you guys run the show.

Finally, while there are several film versions of Twelfth Night out there, one that I would especially recommend is the BBC production from 1980, directed by John Gorrie. The actor who plays the "madly-used Malvolio" gives a sublime performance, and I am perfectly in love with Sinead Cusack, who plays Olivia.

All best,

Richard

*****

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. IF MUSIC BE THE FOOD OF LOVE, PLAY ON...

"...Give me excess of it, that surfeiting, / The appetite may sicken, and so die" (1.1.1-3). These are the famous first lines of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. Moved to the core by a few bars of music, Orsino orders his musican(s) to play them: "That strain again, it had a dying fall" (1.1.4). As the musicians find their place, Orsino describes the music's effect on him: "O, it came o'er my ear like the sweet sound / The breathes upon a bank of violets, / Stealing and giving odour" (1.1.5-7). But the music isn't as sweet the second time around. At the musicians play, Orsino complains, "Enough, no more, / 'Tis not so sweet now as it was before" (1.1.5-8). In the lines that follow, he reflects on the peculiar inconstancy of human appetites. "O spirit of love, how quick and fresh art thou, / That, notwithstanding thy capacity, / Receiveth as the sea. Nought enters there, / Of what validity and pitch soe'er, / But falls into abatement and low price / Even in a minute" (1.1.9-14).

Thus, in fourteen lines--not coincidentally, perhaps, the length of a love sonnet--Shakespeare introduces one of Twelfth Night's central themes: the paradoxical nature of human desires, which frequently disappear the moment we attain our objects. How does Shakespeare develop this theme across the play? Where else do you see him grappling with it? More importantly, what questions about human nature and morality does it raise? Are our appetites and desires something to be embraced or rejected? Trusted or distrusted? How can we live in the moment without becoming bored with life? How can we forestall pleasure without becoming a "puritan" like Malvolio, whom the play and its characters mock wholeheartedly?

2. WOMEN AND MEN IN LOVE

In Act 2, scene 4, Orsino and Viola (disguised as Cesario) discuss Orsino's hopeless passion for Olivia, before turning to a more general discussion on the finer points of love. Olivia/Cesario hints at the love "she" bears for Orsino: "Say that some lady, as perhaps there is, / Hath for your love as great a pang of heart / As you have for Olivia. You cannot love her. / You tell her so. Must she not then be answered?" (2.4.93-6). Orsino is dumbfounded by the idea that a woman could love as deeply as he loves: "There is no woman's sides / Can bide the beating of so strong a passion / As love doth give my heart, no woman's heart / So big, to hold so much. They lack retention. / Alas their love may be called appetite, / No motion of the liver, but the palette, / That suffer surfeit, cloyment and revolt. / But mine is all as hungry as the sea, / And can digest as much..." (2.4.97-105).

In essence, Orsino redefines a woman's love as "appetite," something that "may sicken, and so die." (1.1.3). A man's love, he says, transcends the vicissitudes of human appetite. But wait, hasn't Orsino just advised Viola/Cesario to marry a woman younger in years than s/he, precisely because a man's affections are less likely to stick?

What questions is Shakespeare trying to raise through this debate? Whose side do you think he takes? Whose side do you take?

3. LOVE, LITERATURE, AND FALSEHOOD

The deeper we read into Twelfth Night, the harder it appears to identify, pin down, and define abstract ideas like "love." One place we see this is in the play's treatment of the very stuff the play is made of: words shaped into art. The "immortalizing power of literature" is a common theme in our literary tradition; many of Shakespeare's love sonnets focus on it. Other sonnets bring it into question, though, and there is no greater instance of this in his work than the moment in 1.5 where Olivia jocularly announces her plan to "leave the world no copy" (i.e. not marry and have children) and instead "give out diverse schedules of [her] beauty" (1.5.223-5). Does she really believe this will work? No, and it's clear what she's doing: by drawing attention of the impossibility of language to "capture" reality, she's reinforcing her earlier point that Olivia/Cesario's passionate message "from" Orsino (it's not entirely clear who wrote it, but it seems Viola/Cesario did) may be just that--words--and that the more "poetic" they are, the more likely they are to be false. Consider this exchange a little earlier in the scene:

Viola/Cesario: I will on with my speech in your praise, and then show you the heart of my message.

Olivia: Come to what is important in't. I forgive you the praise.

Viola: Alas, I tool great pains to study it, and 'tis poetical.

Olivia: It is the more like to be feigned. I pray you keep it in. (1.5.176-81).

Can you identify other moments in the play where Shakespeare calls into question the integrity of his artistic medium? Can you connect them with moments in other plays we have read this spring? How do you account for all these doubts Shakespeare casts on the character of words? How would you characterize Shakespeare's relationship language?

4. LOVE AND PLAY

Twelfth Night invites us to look at language, especially "poetic" language, with great skepticism. At the same time, though, it clearly relishes in the play of language--just as Hamlet enjoys his witty interchange with the first gravedigger, and the fool in King Lear exults in his verbal gymnastics. Furthermore, this love of wordplay we see time and time again in Shakespeare extends to something even bigger: the love of play, of plays, of play-acting, of impersonation, of disguise. How do you account for this? Is it Shakespeare celebrating his artistic medium? Questioning the nature of human identity (maybe we are all just a collection of roles)? Drawing attention to some deep need in the human spirit?

Additionally, for all the gaps highlighted by the play between the real world and the world of play, there is one absolutely beautiful moment when the two come together. As you may have noticed while reading Twelfth Night, Sir Toby's expressions of love for Maria are often inspired by her cleverness in managing and directing the "play" on Malvolio. Is Maria's dramatic genius the reason Sir Toby falls in love with her and marries her--the only marriage actually to occur during the play?

5. COMEDY AND SADNESS

Scattered throughout this comedy are moments of intense hurt, frustration, and sadness. Some are obvious. The play begin's with Orsino's sadness; Olivia, the woman he pines for, can't return his or any man's love while she moans for her dead brother. Cast upon the shores of Illyria, Viola, too, believes she has lost her brother--likewise, her twin Sebastian believes he has lost a sister. Some of these moments of sadness are less obvious. Take the song "O Mistress Mine," a love song sung by Feste in 2.3; in this song, pleasure tasted today is tinged with grief by the uncertainty about what tomorrow holds in store for us: "Present mirth hath present laughter. / What's to come is still unsure" (2.3.46-7). At least, that's how I read it. How would characterize the tone of the song? Can you find other moments in the play where you detect an undercurrent of sadness or grief flowing beneath the play's antics? What is their dramatic purpose? Is it to provide "tragic relief," as some readers like to say that scenes of mirth in tragedies provide "comic relief" for their audiences, or is Shakespeare doing something else?

6. COMEDY AND TRAGEDY

In addition to its many instances of sadness or grief, there are moments in Twelfth Night where the action of the play comes close, even dangerously close, to something much darker, something much closer to tragedy. The practical joke played on Malvolio turns into something that has disturbed many readers: imprisonment in a makeshift "asylum" where everything Malvolio says in his defense is willfully construed as further evidence of his madness. (How would you direct this scene? Would you do it as straight comedy? Or would you draw attention to its darker features? How?) Near the end of the play, Malvolio storms off the stage vowing to "be avenged on the whole pack of you" (5.1.381). And then there's the moment a little earlier in the final act where Orsino seems quite intent on killing Viola/Cesario, rather than allowing "his" love for Olivia to continue. Reread Orsino's monologue at 5.1.15-29; Orsino's language is really, really dark. This, I think, is where Twelgth Night veers closest to tragedy, and you see this kind of trajectory in other comedies as well, for example A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Shakespeare tests the boundary between comedy and tragedy in other ways as well. For example, there seems to be a recurrent question about whether mirth or sadness, happiness or sorrow serves as the "baseline" of human experience. Consider Feste's songs: "O Mistress Mine" (2.3.30ff), "Come Away, Death" (2.4.54), and the deeply enigmatic closing song "When That I Was a Little Tiny Boy" (5.1.392ff). Using these songs as starting points, consider the relationship between comedy and tragedy as they pertain to the world we live in? Is it complimentary? Hierarchical? Is the real world, the world we live in, primarily comic or tragic, or does it contain equal amounts of both? Is comedy something that springs from tragedy, allowing us to deal with or forget it? Or is tragedy something that ensues when we let the comic spirit run on for too long?

7. THE ENDING

In Act 1, Viola asks the Captain to disguise her as a man, so she can enter Olivia's service: "Conceal me what I am, and be my aid / For such disguise as haply shall become / The form of my intent" (1.2.55-7). We never see "Viola" again; at the end of the play, she is still in her disguise, and she is not going to put on her woman's weeds until her promised marriage to Orsino. What do you make of this? Many comedies are based on disguises and mistaken identities, and these typically end with unmaskings and a clearing up of confusion. In this play, we have a clearing up of confusion, but the unmasking is not complete. Why? We also don't get to see a marriage, another conventional ending point for comedies. Viola is going to marry Orsino, and her brother is going to marry Olivia, but we aren't invited to these celebrations. There IS one marriage in the play--Maria's to Sir Toby--but it happens completely offstage. This "ending" has puzzled critics. What do you make of it?

8. SKEPTICISM

"What's to come is still unsure" (2.3.47). Is Twelfth Night a skeptical play? Does the play mock Malvolio's "puritanism" because of his austerity and prudery--"Dost thou think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale" (2.3.104-5)"--or does the play express a deeper aversion to religion? Why or why not?

Discussion of King Lear

Dear Friends,

We had a GREAT discussion of King Lear tonight. To everyone who called in: thanks for all of your wonderful observations and probing questions. To those of you who couldn't be on the call: I hope you have a chance to listen to and enjoy the "replay."

Here's a link to last night's discussion:

Shakespeare2010-06-15-Call3-KingLear

I look forward to our final discussion next on month on Twelfth Night. Unlike the first two plays we've read, Twelfth Night is a comedy, but in some ways it's a very dark comedy, so it will be worth thinking about the relationship between to genres. And it will be worth asking which genre, tragedy or comedy, more faithfully represents the human experience...

All best,

Rich

Discussion Questions for King Lear

Dear Friends,

I look forward to our discussion of King Lear, which will commence in just a little while. I thought I would post the discussion questions on this blog, in case anyone wants to refer to them in the future. If you're like me, you know that emails can be a little hard to track down sometimes. :)

All best,

Richard

*****

1. ONE WORD?

One way of getting into a play or other work of literature is to identify a single word which, to your mind, captures the heart of the play--or at least your vision of it. As you read through or look back over King Lear, try to isolate this word, and then try to explain to yourself why it feels so important. Trust your instincts, and run with your imagination. Your word may be one that appears many times in the play, or only once.

2. FILIAL PIETY?

William Hazlitt, the great nineteenth-century essayist and critic, wrote that King Lear was Shakespeare's best play, and that the source of its awful power was its treatment of filial piety, the bond between parents and children. Here is what he says in an essay on the play: "The passion which [Shakespeare] has taken as his subject is that which strikes its root deepest into the human heart; of which the bond is the hardest to be unloosed; and the canceling and tearing to pieces of which gives the greatest revulsion to the frame. This depth of nature, this force of passion, this tug and war of the elements of our being, this firm faith in filial piety, and the giddy anarchy and whirling tumult of the thoughts at finding this prop failing it, the contrast between the fixed, immoveable basis of natural affection, and the rapid, irregular starts of imagination, suddenly wrenched from all its accustomed holds and resting-places in the soul, this is what Shakespeare has given, and what nobody else but he could give."

What does the play tell us about the relationship between parents and children? If Lear's "firm faith in filial piety" leads to his tragic fall, what hope is there for the family? In Shakespeare's dark portrayal of generational conflict, do you think he sides more with the old or the young? What is your evidence for this?

3. A POLITICAL PLAY? 

Is King Lear primarily a political play that happens to be shaped by family dynamics, or a family drama that happens to have political repercussions? Does Shakespeare put more emphasis on the political or the familial? Why? Can you identify moments in the play where the emphasis shifts? What is happening in those moments?

4. GOOD AND EVIL?

In his essay about King Lear, William Hazlitt said that Goneril and Regan are "so thoroughly hateful that we do not even like to repeat their names." Occasionally when we read works of literature we meet characters we absolutely despise. Then there are characters we absolutely love: Lear, Cordelia, Kent, Edgar. Something both literary critics and directors like to do is to read characters "against the grain," whether by portraying a hateful character sympathetically or a loveable character critically. Choose one character in King Lear whom you strongly liked or strongly disliked after reading the play. Now, try to complicate your reading of the play by playing the devil's advocate to yourself. Try to find what's culpable in the beloved, and redeemable in the despised. Can you reconcile your two readings?

5. A HAPPY ENDING FOR LEAR? 

In today's world, if a director wants to put on a (modern) play, s/he must follow the playwright's script to the "t". That hasn't always been the case. Before the era of modern copyright law, plays weren't protected in this way; theatrical companies could change them pretty much at will, whether to appease the censors or appeal to audiences. It may astonish you to know that, for almost 150 years between 1681 and 1823, King Lear was performed with a "happy ending" supplied by an 17th-century editor named Nahum Tate. In this ending, Lear regains his throne and Cordelia marries Edgar. 

The great eighteenth-century critic, essayist, and scholar Samuel Johnson restored the original ending of King Lear in his landmark edition of Shakespeare's plays, even though Tate's version continued to be performed, and he found Shakespeare's morally appalling. In his notes to the play, he writes, "Shakespeare has suffered the virtue of Cordelia to perish in a just cause contrary to the natural ideas of justice, to the hope of the reader, and, what is yet more strange, to the faith of chronicles. […] A play in which the wicked prosper, and the virtuous miscarry, may doubtless be good, because it is a just representation of the common events of human life: but since all reasonable beings naturally love justice, I cannot easily be persuaded, that the observation of justice makes a play worse; or, that if other excellencies are equal, the audience will not always rise better pleased from the final triumph of persecuted vice."

What do Johnson's remarks tell us about his views of the purpose of drama and the relationship between life and literature? Are you sympathetic to Johnson's comments? Would you prefer the happy ending?

6. THREE FILM CLIPS (optional)

If you have time, you might be interested in looking at one or more of the following film clips of Act 2, scene 4, where Lear, having stormed out of Goneril's house, seeks accommodation with Regan. In a scene remarkable for its dramatic compression, Lear is rapidly stripped of all his followers and then shut out of doors as a storm approaches. The clips are from the 1971 production with Paul Scofield, the 1974 production with James Earl Jones, and the 2008 production with Ian McKellan, respectively.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ajDJ_uEVBo&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftW7WcoOuU8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41ZDo9dhNaE

Which interpretation do you like the most, and why? Is making a film of King Lear quite the same thing as putting it on stage? What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages, the opportunities and drawbacks, the possibilities and limitations, etc., of each medium?

Xenophon's Hellenika Book 7 Study Guide Questions

Hi all,

I hope your reading of Xenophon's Hellenika is fruitful. Here are some questions to guide you through the last book of Hellenika. We've spent almost half a year journeying through this important document together. Now, it is time for us to come to some conclusions about Xenophon's aims and the lessons that can help us understand his time period as well as our own much better. Keep your questions coming via e-mail, and I look forward to our last group discussion on Monday, July 12.

Andre

1.  Athens & Sparta vs. Thebes

Book VII opens in the year 369 B.C. with Athens and Sparta negotiating an alliance against Thebes, now the preeminent power in Greece.  In sections 7.1-7.14, speeches are given by two men on this topic.  What does Prokles of Phleious advocate vis-à-vis Athens and Sparta?  Why would an alliance between Athens and Sparta be so advantageous to the city-state of Phleious?  Looking back at Prokles’ speech in Book VI.5.38-48 just a year before, what, if anything, is different in what he had proposed to the Athenians at that time?  What does Kephisodotos propose to his fellow Athenians concerning this alliance with Sparta?  What is he most concerned about?  Why does Xenophon begin Book VII with these particular speeches coming from these two delegates?  How do these issues have any bearing on how Book VII ends?

2.  Theban invasion of Peloponnese ‘redux’

As a new campaign season gets underway in 369, Theban fortunes seem to fluctuate (VII.1.15-24).  What is the reason for Thebes’ renewed intervention in the Peloponnese?  How do events unfold regarding the allies for each side (i.e. Thebes and Sparta)?  What is the main reason for Thebes stopping only as far as Corinth in this campaign season?  How well are Athens and Sparta working together at this point to check Theban hegemony?

3.  Allies, allies, allies

The year 368 begins with tensions between Sparta and Thebes still high (VII.1.25-32).  As Arcadia begins military operations independent of its ally Thebes, Sparta moves to block Arcadia’s threat in the northern Peloponnese.  At the same time, Philiskos, a Persian representative, arrives at Delphi to help make some peace between the rival Greek city-states.  While Greek armies maneuver and engage with each other, what is happening within the Theban alliance?  What is Arcadia’s overall strategy vis-à-vis Sparta?  How do Arcadia’s military operations against Sparta have an impact on the ‘peace talks’ at Delphi?  How does Messenia’s (see pictures on p. 277) independence figure in the balance of power?  How decisive was the “tearless battle” for either Sparta or the Theban alliance?  How is change measured in political terms after this battle?  What is Xenophon trying to emphasize in this section concerning Greek allies in general on either side?

4.  Theban-Persian treaty?

In the years 367-366 B.C., Theban strategy leads them to actively seek support from the Persian king.  In VII.1.33-VII.1.46, we see Thebes try to gain an advantage over its Greek neighbors by soliciting Persian backing.  What elements does Thebes have on its side in gaining preferential treatment over other Greek city-states from Persia?  What are the most important proposals made by the Theban envoy Pelopidas in negotiating a treaty with Persia?  Which Greek city-state or federation is the first to refuse the terms of this Theban-Persian treaty?  Why?  Why does this treaty fail with respect even to Thebes’ own allies?  What kind of tension is replacing Greek national interests?  How is this illustrated by the story of Euphron of Sicyon?

 5.  Heroic deeds of Phleious

As VII.2 digresses from the wider events unfolding in Greece, Xenophon describes the deeds of the city-state of Phleious in glowing terms.  What is his reasoning for noting the accomplishments of a “small city” rather than larger Greek city-states?  What characteristics of Phleious are noted and why?  How do these characteristics relate to the overall subject matter in Book VII?

6.  Euphron the tyrant

In VII.3, Xenophon slowly brings us back from the microcosmic example of Phleious to events in Sicyon and how they relate to Thebes in 366 B.C.  How does Euphron’s tyranny over Sicyon compare with the previous story of Phleiasian loyalty to Sparta?  Why would Xenophon juxtapose these two anecdotes here in Book VII?  What point is he trying to make?  Why is Euphron’s death so significant that it be mentioned here?  What does it have to do with Thebes?  Is Thebes shown as being weakened by these disturbances?

7.  Peace for Corinth and a truly ‘Olympian’ battle?

During the years 366-363 B.C., the interests of Athens and Thebes begin to clash more and more.  Caught in between (VII.4.1-10), Corinth negotiates for peace, neutrality, and independence.  Given Corinth’s geographical location and its neighbors, which city-state (i.e. Thebes, Athens, or Sparta) is most threatening to it and why?  What does this say about the state of political affairs across Greece?  Further on in VII.4, more conflict erupts between Arcadia and Elis over the seizure of Lasion (VII.4.12), which initiates further intra-city strife between democratic and oligarchic factions within Elis (VII.4.13-27).  How does Sparta attempt to re-impose its authority on this situation involving northern Peloponnesian city-states?  Who or what is Sparta’s main concern?  Events come to a head and armies converge at the sanctuary of Olympia (VII.4.28-32) of all places.  Who participates in this battle?  What is the result of this conflict for the Greek balance of power?

 

8.  Greeks battle near Sparta and at Mantineia

During 364-363 B.C., Arcadia and its hitherto ally Thebes find themselves needing to settle their differences.  As 362 B.C. opens (VII.5), the absence of Spartan influence seems to be the most noteworthy element as events around Mantineia draw forces from all over Greece:  “the Mantineians and all the rest of the Arcadians who cared for the Peloponnese, and likewise the Eleians and the Achaeans, concluded that the Thebans clearly wanted the Peloponnese be in the very weakest state, so that its enslavement would be as easy as possible” (VII.5.1).  The intervention of both Thebes and Athens at Mantineia forces a potential showdown between many Greek city-states.  How does Xenophon describe Epaminondas’ initial moves into the Peloponnese against the Spartans?  What role does Agesilaos play in these maneuvers?   How does Archidamos lead the Spartans against Epaminondas?  Why does Xenophon praise the Athenians as troops gather around Mantineia.  Why does he not mention his son Gryllos?  How does Xenophon characterize Epaminondas at this point?  How does this compare with his previous description of Epaminondas?  What is Xenophon’s final point about Hellenika (i.e. “Greek affairs”) at the end of this Book?  What are we to understand about affairs between Greek city-states over the course of this whole book, Hellenika?  How does the balance of power in Greece stand at this point?  How does this last chapter address what the first chapter in Book VII began?

Xenophon's Hellenika June 2010 Book 6 - audio recording

Here's the audio recording for the Xenophon Book 6 call.  Listen online or download the mp3 file and listen to it as a podcast on your ipod.

Download Xenophon June 2010 book 6

Xenophon's Hellenika Book VI Study Guide Questions

Dear fellow Xenophon readers,

As you finish reading through Book VI, here are some questions for us to think about and discuss on Monday.  I hope your reading has been stimulating.  It has been for me.  I have found that Xenophon has had to figure out a way to relate the battle of Leuctra and the invasion of Laconia to a Spartan audience stung by the shame of these defeats.  We're in for an interesting discussion.  Enjoy the questions for now.

Andre

1.  Spartan hegemony challenged

In chapter 1 (375 B.C.) Polydamas of Pharsalus brings news of how Jason of Pherai intends to challenge rule in Thessaly.  According to Polydamas’ speech, how is Spartan hegemony perceived by Jason of Pherai?  by the people of Pharsalus?  What do Thebes’ actions indicate about hegemony by either Athens or Sparta?  What does Xenophon indicate about Sparta’s military commitments?

 

2.    Corcyra and Greek allies

In chapter 2 (375-372 B.C.), Athens and Sparta spar in the Western coastal islands of Greece.  What do the actions and description of Iphikrates, the Athenian admiral, show concerning Athenian control of the sea-lanes?  What do the actions and description of Mnassipos, the Spartan admiral, show concerning Spartan influence in this area of the Mediterranean?  How significant is the outcome of this particular engagement with respect to both Athens and Sparta?  How does it relate to the allies of each Greek superpower?

 

3.  Saber rattling

In chapter 3, Athenian-Theban relations grow more tense and Sparta is appealed to as a mediator.  Three influential Athenians speak openly about the situation with Thebes in 371 B.C.  What do each of these speeches reveal concerning:

  Athens’ relationship with Sparta? 

  the autonomy of Greek cities under the “King’s peace” (i.e. treaty with king of Persia)?

  Athens’ relationship with Persia?

  Greece’s overall relationship with Persia?

  Thebes’ relationship with the rest of Greece?

 

4.  Thebes ascendant

The year 371 B.C. finds the Spartan king Kleombrotos in chapter 4 stationed in Phocis just north of Boeotia near Thebes.  After consulting with Sparta, what is Kleombrotos’ strategy for dealing with Thebes’ disregard of the recently established treaty?  How is Kleombrotos ultimately compelled to attack Thebes?  What is the point of comparing Kleombrotos to Agesilaos (VI. 4. 5)?  How were the Thebans compelled to fight against the might of Sparta?  What part does religion play in the events leading up to, as well as in the actual battle at Leuctra?  What about the “fortune of war”?

 

5.  Battle of Leuctra

As with other Greek historians, the details of the battle of Leuctra are not always as clear as we modern readers would like since most of it would have been common knowledge to any Greek schoolboy at the time.  However, Xenophon’s emphasis in describing this battle should give hint to how he sees the battle.  Starting at VI. 4. 8, how did the Spartan’s initial victorious skirmish with the Thebans contribute to Theban victory later?  What two other components of Spartan military organization does Xenophon point out that are deficient?  How does Xenophon’s account differ with Diodorus’ (pp. 476-479)?  After a Spartan defeat like this, who grieves more for the Spartans, the families of those Spartan soldiers who died or those who survived to tell about it (VI. 4. 16)?

 

6.  Rise and Fall of Thessaly

After the battle, Thebes requests Athens to ally itself with them (VI. 4. 19), but Athens fails to react.  Thebes then seeks help from Jason of Pherai (VI. 4. 21) who immediately responds.  Looking back at the beginning of Book VI, how does Polydamas portray Jason of Pherai?  How does Jason show himself here?  What do you suppose Jason’s overall strategy is concerning Greece?  What does the rest of Greece think about Jason and his plans?  How does Jason’s death give a clue to what the rest of Greece suspected about Jason?  What does Xenophon think Jason is up to?

 

7.  Invasion of Spartan territory

In chapter 5, Sparta intervenes in affairs between Tegea and Mantineia, and events snowball until the Spartan king Agesilaos invades Mantineia to settle matters in Sparta’s “backyard.”  How does Xenophon describe Agesilaos’ deployment of Spartan force in the Mantineian intervention (VI. 15-21, pp. 254-255)?  Does Agesilaos make any mistakes?  What would have been the best outcome for the Spartans in this intervention?  Why did that not happen?

When Thebes finally arrives to support its allies against Sparta, Xenophon carefully leaves out Agesilaos as leading the Spartan effort.  Who exactly is in charge during this battle between Sparta and Thebes?  What encourages Thebes to actually invade Sparta, something no other Greek city-state had ever done successfully, including Athens?  How does Xenophon characterize the Spartan defense of their own city?

The actual battle between Spartan and Theban forces is represented primarily by an infantry battle at Oion (VI.5.26) and subsequent cavalry skirmishes (VI.5.30-32).  According to Xenophon’s account, what were the primary reasons for Sparta’s defeat and Theban victory?  Is there a decisive moment to this battle or is the decisive moment for Spartan defeat symbolized in some other description by Xenophon?  How is Sparta’s fate in this battle understated and why?

 

8.  Thebes and Athens

As Xenophon concludes Book VI, he reports on deliberations in the city of Athens by Spartan envoys (VI.5.33-48).  We can see Hellenic policy (albeit without much Theban input) being discussed vis-à-vis Athens’ role in the balance of power between Sparta and Thebes.  As Xenophon relates a summary of Spartan arguments for Athens’ help against Thebes (VI.5.33-35), how does Xenophon characterize the logic of these Spartan delegates?  How is the Athenian response in VI.5.36 indicative of a democratic process?

In VI.5.37-48, Xenophon includes two speeches that advocate for closer relations between Sparta and Athens in response to Theban supremacy.  I know that these Greeks can be very persuasive, but how do either Kleiteles or Prokles manage to persuade Athens that it is in their best interest to honor Athens’ treaty with Sparta and confront Thebes with military action?

Xenophon’s concluding remarks center on Athens’ military response to Theban incursion into the Peloponnese.  How does Xenophon characterize this Athenian response?  How does Xenophon describe Iphikrates, the Athenian general, whom Xenophon had shown to be a very able general/admiral both in Books IV and VI?  How is this assessment of Iphikrates also a comment on Athens’ policy toward Sparta?  on Greek politics in general?

Shakespeare in the Spring Podcast - May 2010 - Hamlet

Thank you all for an illuminating discussion of Hamlet tonight. I feel like we touched on a number of important issues: Hamlet's "madness," his problematic relationship with his mother, his equally problematic relationship with Ophelia, the "play within the play" and the role of theatricality in Shakespeare's creation, the peculiar juxtaposition of lightheartedness and morbidity in the Gravedigger's scene (5.1) and the play as a whole--and, of course, the many reasons why Hamlet continues to speak to us after so many years.

Tonight's discussion really leaves me feeling humbled. And you know what? I think that's the mark of a really great work of literature, and a really great play, and a really great group of readers.

We're moving on to King Lear next month. If you missed tonight's discussion, or if you want to review it, click on the following link to the podcast.

Shakespeare2010-05-18-Call2-Hamlet

I'll "see" you all next month. In the meantime, don't hesitate to send your thoughts and questions to shakespeare@readingodyssey.org.

Rich

Discussion questions for Hamlet

Dear Friends,

I thought I would publish the discussion questions for our May 18 discussion of Hamlet so you can refer back to them someday...

Rich

*****

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. THE MOUSE-TRAP. If Hamlet were a college student, he would probably have been active in the college theater community. He is a bit of a actor, and the role he plays is madman; he is overjoyed to hear of the players' arrival; and of course the players' production of The Mouse-trap is "the thing" he uses to "catch the conscience of the king." Why does Shakespeare highlight theater, theatricality, acting, play, etc. so extensively within his own play?

2. HAMLET AND HIS MOTHER. Last time, we talked about the relationship between Hamlet and his father. What about the relationship between Hamlet and Gertrude? In our last discussion, some of you presented different views about how "old" or "mature" Hamlet is, and about the extent to which he "grows up" or "matures" over the course of the play. When I was in college, my professor argued that a son's discomfort with his mother's sexuality is a major source of Hamlet's anxiety, perhaps even more so than his father's murder. Do you find any merit to this argument?

3. TRAGEDY AND COMEDY. For me one of the most poignant and powerful moments in the play is the gravediggers' scene in the churchyard, when they comment on the job they are doing, and then when Hamlet and Horatio join the two fellows and engage in an exchange of wits. The scene deals with timeless themes of life, mutability, and death, and yet has a comic edge that could easily be "dialed up" in production. How would you direct this scene? As you imagine your production of Hamlet, think about the relationship between comedy and tragedy. Is life closer to one than the other? Is one the ground for the other? This is something I'd like to come back to with King Lear and especially with Twelfth Night.

4. LEARNING FROM HAMLET. Hamlet is more than a play to be studied in a classroom. It is a powerful story to be experienced, lived through as it were, and learned from. To put it simply, what does Hamlet mean to you? What's it been like living with Hamlet these past few weeks?