Summative Entry

This unit has broadened my understanding of the topic of Shakespeare and the renaissance. Before commencing this unit, my favourite Shakespeare play was Romeo and Juliet, as I have always adored his romantic plays. However, after finishing this unit, I have found a new passion in the play Twelfth Night and The Tempest. Being someone who loves a good love story, Twelfth Night became one of my new favourite plays. I really enjoyed the love story between Viola and Orsino as they fell in love based solely on their connection rather than looks. The Tempest, on the other hand, diversely intrigued me. I never imagined that Shakespeare would incorporate such magical elements into his plays which changed my perspective on the renaissance period texts. I always thought that texts from this period remained strictly realistic, however, the Tempest formed my new understanding that despite the historical context, people still need to believe in magic.

From the context of the plays studied in this unit, I learned new things about human existence. People survive on human connection, and this concept of love sometimes blinds our perception and creates a barrier between us and true love. Humans crave love, however, the fake version of love interrupts our path. Humans have decided that true love is based on infatuation with looks, but it is much more than that. Now, to find love we have dating sites, which you swipe based on the appearance of someone. However, Twelfth Night affirms the notion that true love is based on connection. Orsino thought he was in love with Olivia because she was beautiful. Little did he know that his true love was Viola, who was disguised as a boy. People have found the wrong form of love over the years, but Shakespeare discovered the form of true love and wrote about it through literature.

The blogs have been such a fun way to engage in the content. My second blog post is my favourite one as it takes the perspective of the lady in a portrait taken in the 17th century. I described how it was like to live as a woman in this time. I feel like value was placed on the external beauty of a woman but never captured her internal beauty, strength, smartness, wittiness etc. This reaffirms the newfound understanding I got from this semester. Finding true love should be through internal beauty however many people fall into unvirtuous love. Maybe this was because we fantasised about women’s external beauty through art which gave everyone the wrong perception of what we should be looking for in love.

In conclusion, I would like to say that this semester has been engaging and rewarding, and each week has been a new adventure!