Shakespeare Reimagined
Srednja šola za oblikovanje in fotografijo Ljubljana
This year’s World Book Day is indeed very special since it coincides with the 400th anniversary of the death of the greatest English poet and playwright, William Shakespeare.
In the eTwinning project Shakespeare Reimagined, students of art and design from eight European countries have reinterpreted Shakespeare’s works through different language and visual arts assignments.
The Secondary School for Design and Photography Ljubljana is one of the schools participating in this project. This year is very special for us too, since we are celebrating 70 years of our school’s existence. You can find out more about us here: http://www.ssof.si/joomla/.
In the slideshow above you can see how students have imagined Shakespeare’s sonnets, characters and lines; and below you can read a selection of creative writing assignments, discussing Shakespeare’s quotes and themes, and rewriting famous scenes.
Shakespeare said it long ago …
Is it true that things are neither good nor bad, but our thinking makes them so? Would a rose smell as sweet if it were called by a completely different name? Do stars hold the key to our destiny or are we masters of our own fate?
William Shakespeare remains one of the most quoted writers in the world. Some of his phrases have become so common, we might not even be aware we are quoting his words. But does that mean he was always right?
In this task students got a chance to spar with the Bard. They chose one of his quotes and tried to prove him right or wrong.
“Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we often might win by fearing to attempt.” (Measure for Measure)
This quote is my love life right now. Every day I see girls that I think are cute, but I don’t have the courage to step up to them and ask them for their phone number, so my love life really isn’t going anywhere.
Usually when I see a cute girl I start telling myself: Okay, I’m going to step up to her and ask her out, I can do this, I can do this … (but a few seconds later) ... no, I can’t do this, what if she says no, then I will only embarrass myself. So this is how usually my attempts to stepping up to a girl go. My doubts get in my way, the most common thoughts are that a girl will reject me, so I will only make a fool of myself, or that the girl is too good looking and I don’t even stand a chance. It has even happened that a girl whose attention I tried to get already had a boyfriend. And I’m also afraid when I start a conversation with a girl the words from my mouth won’t make any sense.
But I have been making a plan how to approach a girl – first I will start with a pick up line: “Hey, there is something wrong with my phone – can you please help me.” And then I will say it’s missing her phone number. After that I just need to keep the conversation running until I get her phone number.
So this is how my doubts are making me lose the girl I might otherwise win, because I’m afraid to attempt a conversation.
Juš Dolenc, 2. f
“A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool.” (As You Like It)
What does this mean? Well, an expert is most certainly relatively well equipped to evaluate his own expertise compared to a novice, who is not well equipped to evaluate his level of ignorance.
I think that people who believe they know everything, refuse to listen, learn from or take advice from anyone else but themselves are nothing more than narcissistic fools, who exclude the possibility of themselves ever being wrong, which leads them into even greater ignorance. However, in contrast, a supposedly wise individual will recognize that there’s no such thing as knowing everything, so he will go and constantly try to learn more and search till his last breath, knowing that with every single piece of information, new doors will open, leading to new questions, waiting to be answered.
Learning never ends, and the more you educate yourself about a certain topic, the more you realize just how much there is to know about it – you allow yourself to see a broader image and see how little you know compared to how much there is yet to become familiar with. A wise man learns from his experiences, considers the opinions of others and admits his mistakes, while a fool does the exact opposite. He thinks of himself as the one and only measure of wisdom, therefore he never succeeds in expanding what’s known to him and lives in a “prison” of his own ignorance.
Our universe is an enormous place, filled with mysteries and unsolved puzzles just waiting to be explored. We have to go and continue searching so we learn more and realize just how naïve it is to assume that there’s nothing more for you to know, and that’s what I believe this quote emphasizes.
Adela Jakše, 2. f
“Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we often might win by fearing to attempt.” (Measure for Measure)
I decided to write my essay about this quote, mainly because I whole-heartedly relate and empathize with it. I pondered for some time and then decided that in this essay I will focus on why we are filled with endless doubts, how they affect us, and how or why we should deal with them.
Even though I largely dislike missing out on different activities or opportunities that present themselves to me in one form or another, I often really have to push myself to go out into this crazy and unpredictable world, to experience everything that life has to offer. Making that decision is sometimes uneasy for me. I often get unnecessarily scared of all the things that could go wrong, then my brain starts going into an endless spiral of damaging thoughts until they start to manifest themselves in an anxiety-like feeling. Oftentimes my final conclusion results in a perfectly reasonable decision to cover myself in a pile of blankets and become a human burrito. There are times when engaging myself in introverted activities is exactly what I need – it is not, however, how anyone should cope with their life on a daily basis.
Everybody experiences doubts, maybe not to the same extent as I do, but I truly believe everyone has to deal with their own abusive and sickening thoughts. When you really think about it, doubts are a huge part of our very own human nature. After all, the world we live in can at times be terrifying, unpredictable and cruel. Some would even argue the same can apply to human individuals. Doubts are a part of life, keeping us cautious and preventing us from doing something stupid or dangerous that could get us killed (or worse – expelled). But being scared of life is no way to live. It’s important to examine our behaviour, and determine if our doubts are unreasonable fears or something we should see as a direction to follow.
I think another reason for our doubtfulness is our never-ending dread of failure. Failure is scary, it’s a part of life nobody likes and as much as some people are driven by it, it can cause so much stress and anxiety to others. It’s important not to dwell in self-pity and loathing, but to use failure as something that can give you the determination to direct your energy into things that truly matter to you. But above all, the ability to endure after a great setback in life gives you the power to learn things about yourself you truly would not learn any other way – it gives you belief in your ability to survive.
I would like to end my essay by quoting the one that inspired me to write this one. When J.K. Rowling was giving a commencement speech at Harvard University, she said:
“I was set free, because my greatest fear had been realised, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.
You might never fail on the scale I did, but some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default.”
Aneja Kralj, 3. g
All the world is a stage …
One of the reasons for Shakespeare’s enduring popularity is that his works deal with timeless issues connected with human existence and relationships between people.
In the following essays students discuss what relevance two of such issues have not in a literary context but in their own lives.
Taking revenge
Revenge can be executed in many different ways, such as killing the son of you father’s murderer, pulling a prank, sabotaging a project or a person’s life.
Taking revenge could fill you with a feeling of catharsis and tranquillity, knowing that the person who wronged you got their rightful punishment. And not taking revenge could make a person feel deep regret and other feelings they could never let go of. All in all, taking revenge is a process to get rid of feelings and smile at the person that has got a taste of their own medicine.
But if you are a far too kind person, taking revenge could not be for you. Accidentally you might take your revenge too far, and start to feel horrible guilt and regret. And the person you took revenge on may take revenge on you. Your revenge may also backfire on you and you will be in a worse position than you were before taking revenge.
In conclusion, taking revenge has both positive and negative points. But you should plan it out carefully and think if taking revenge is the best idea for you. And do not forget, most of the time the regret of not doing something is far bigger than the regret of doing something. Revenge could be a pretty good thing if done correctly, and pretty bad if not.
Hana Erman, 2. a
Taking revenge
Revenge is an issue that should be taken seriously. It is a strong action caused by one or multiple negative emotions such as rage, anger, lust, jealousy and sadness.
Taking revenge is in some cases a positive action, as long as you don’t take it too far. Taking revenge for example, could mean acting a certain way toward the people who don’t respect you. Let’s say there is a person in your life who treats you badly but you still remain quiet and well-behaved about it. Taking revenge in this case could mean a change of heart. It might surprise the people who you do this to since they were used to being treated well.
In a negative aspect, taking revenge could mean doing something that is against the law. People are run by emotions, which are in some cases difficult to control. Before-mentioned uncontrollable emotions such as rage, jealousy and grief are difficult to contain. That is why some people take the law into their own hands. A result of taking revenge could be murder, robbery … The point of taking revenge is reciprocating something that someone did to you and that could mean an equally bad or worse action-
I think revenge is actually a good thing, unless you do something that you didn’t think through. If you do something when you are filled with negative emotions such as grief and rage, you could end up doing something you might regret later. My advice on taking revenge is: take a few days to think the issue through, think about how you will feel after committing this action and how the person you do it to will feel. I think the best thing to do is give them exactly what they gave you. It is like returning a present.
Laura Zupančič, 2. a
Love at first sight
A feeling that every man and woman desires, the need that has been our constant companion since the beginning of the human race, and most often the most beloved theme in art and literature is none other than the magnificent happening of love at first sight. Regardless of youth or age, happiness or distress, or even our passion in life or the things that we pursue, there is still the longing for the perfect mate that will sweep us off our feet when we least expect it and give us the gift of all-fulfilling love. So be it a genius, a suburban housewife or the by next door, we are all still human and often feel the wish of being hit by Cupid’s arrow.
First of all, most everybody knows the feeling of suddenly falling in love. This beautiful feeling can stay with you for many weeks, months or in some instances even years after the first time you met “the one.” The tingling sensation in your tummy, constant anticipation of meeting your beloved and “living in the seventh heaven” are just some of the advantages of this very powerful type of love. Once you fall in love at first sight, you quickly start daydreaming, but that also takes a certain amount of idealising. If the image that you’ve created of that person in your mind actually fits reality and your feelings are returned, then you’ve hit the jackpot. But in reality, that is most often not the case, which brings us to the next point.
Looks can often be deceptive. A major disadvantage with love at first sight is that you rarely – actually, almost never – know the person you’ve fallen in love with well enough. After months filled with longing and wishful thinking, there most often comes the sudden realisation that you’ve been completely and utterly fooled. That you’ve wasted you precious time (and sometimes even money) just to find out that it was not worthwhile. But lastly, the worst thing of all is most certainly the heartache that it leaves and the memory that just won’t fade away.
In conclusion, I would like to point out that I believe in miracles, luck and fortunate coincidences, and I wish that everybody would get to receive the love of their life in such a “Hollywood-style” manner. However, from personal experience I’m not very favourable towards it, and thus would just like to advise anybody who suddenly falls in love to look the person they’ve suddenly fallen in love with in the eyes every once in a while. It really helps.
Rukmini Ana Krivec, 2. f
In other words …
“Good artists copy, great artists steal.” This is one of Pablo Picasso’s famous sayings.
Writers have always reworked stories they found and made them their own – and William Shakespeare was no exception. Here our students got a chance to steal inspiration from him and bring his characters into the modern world.
A scene from Romeo and Juliet in the style of a Mexican telenovela
Peering over her decorated windowsill, Juliet stares deep into the dead of the night, shifting her weight back and forth nervously. Every day at exactly midnight she has, without fail, met her beloved Romeo in this very spot, where they exchanged tales of their everyday life. Today, however, Romeo is nowhere to be seen. Pushing herself off the window ledge, Juliet paces back and forth across her room, desperately waiting for the signalling whistle that never comes. Instead, the door swings wide open with an audible thud as Romeo, garbed in his traje de luces, stares deep into Juliet’s eyes, his face simultaneously panicked and relieved thanks to having her in his sight.
“Julieta!” Romeo cries out, embracing her tightly. “Mi amo , vengo teniendo graves noticias.” He removes his coarse, cork-tipped sombrero, haphazardly tossing it off to the side and kissing Juliet. “Mi amado Romeo! Dónde has estado?” Juliet pipes up, breaking the kiss. “¿Tienes idea de lo preocupada que estaba? ¿Cómo te esperé, rogando que todavía vive. Cómo llamé a usted, con la esperanza voy a conseguir una respuesta. Oh, Romeo, mi querido amor!”
"Oh, yo soy el tonto de una fortuna , Julieta !" Romeo replies. "No podía durar un minuto más sin ver su cara, querida. En mi premura previó la paciencia y simplemente corrí a su puerta, sabiendo que vas a estar esperando para mí justo detrás de él. Y justo estaba yo, mi querida Julieta ! Aquí se pone de pie, en la carne, leal como siempre, esperando a que yo." They break the heartfelt embrace, still deeply staring into each other’s eyes. "Pero no tengo mucho tiempo, mi querido ! Tengo buenas razones para suponer que- "
“Detener allí!” A booming voice sounds out from the doorway. Tybalt stands tall, his finely decorated sword drawn, pointed towards Romeo.
“Necio, Romeo! Usted sabe muy bien las repercusiones de sus acciones!” Romeo turns to face Tybalt “Un tonto que sea, Tebaldo! Un tonto de amor! No, un cautivo del amor! No me arrepiento de mis acciones, porque no temo morir donde estoy, aquí con mi dulce Julieta! No lo entenderías mi razonamiento, Teobaldo, pero sé que lo que hago es en el nombre del amor!” At that, Romeo undoes his flowing red sash with a flourish, holding it outstretched.
“El Toro, toro!”
Grega Novogradec, 2. a
Midsummer’s Night Dream
Theseus, Duke of Athens. He’s getting married and everybody’s got wedding fever. Like Ebola. Ask Hermia. Her Dad is like “Marry Demetrius, or DIE,” and she’s like, “Dream on, dad!” She thinks Demetrius is a jerk. And she LOVES Lysander. I mean, he’s soooooo dreamy, amirite? Hermia’s BFF Helena LOVES Demetrius, but he ain’t interested! What a mess! So, Hermia and Lysander run away together into the woods. With Demetrius and Helena chasing after them. But this is not your average woods. Nope! They’re ENCHANTED WOODS! And EVERYONE seems to think this is the place to be – even some actors rehearsing a play for the Duke’s wedding and one of them is called Nick Bottom. Oh look, some Fairies! The King’s Oberon, the Queen’s Titania, and the guy responsible for the very-soon mess-up is Puck. They’re arguing over the custody of an adopted (well, actually kidnapped) child. Titania won’t give the baby up, so jealous Oberon asks Puck to make some eye drops from a magical flower that’ll make her fall in love with the first creature she sees. Childish much? Puck squirts the potion in Titania’s eyes, and who does she fall in love with? Nick Bottom! And Puck has turned his head into an ass! Geddit? Meanwhile Lysander, Hermia, Demetrius and Helena are still in the woods arguing. Oberon’s got enough magic juice to sort them out … But this SO goes wrong. Oberon tells Puck to put it in Demetrius’ eyes so that he’ll love Helena, but it goes in Lysander’s eyes instead, and when he wakes up, does he see Hermia? Nope! He sees Helena! Like it wasn’t complicated enough! To solve this crazy situation, Puck puts the juice in Demetrius’ eyes, so that he’ll love Helena. So now both boys are juiced up, it’s totally crazy! Helena’s like “What the hell is going on!?” And Hermia’s like “How could you Helena!” I can’t even. The girls totally fall out and the guys want to fight, but over Helena this time! Finally, Oberon’s had enough. He brings down a fog to make everyone think they were dreaming. He makes Lysander love Hermia again. Titania lets Oberon have the custody of the kid, so Oberon stops her going crazy for Bottom. Everybody wakes up thinking it was a crazy dream! Even Bottom stops being an Ass! The Duke appears, blesses the couples, the actors perform their play, and EVERYONE gets married and nobody has to die! How cool is THAT? At the end Puck says, if you hate this play, then it was all a dream. WHAT? Is this real life or is it just fantasy?
Jon Zaletelj, 4. b
Cymbeline
The British king Cymbeline
had a baby girl,
And he named her Imogen.
The little queen grew up and fell in love,
With a kind and simple guy,
But her father just did not approve.
He thought his stepson would suit her more,
Just because his selfish wife told him so.
He could not see that she played him like a violin,
She was good at hiding her cold devilish grin.
With power in his hands he sent Posthumus away,
He ran all the way to Italy, where he found a place to stay.
He also met an intriguing man,
With a tongue so smooth.
If there was anyone who could pursue a damsel –
He would.
The two of them made a wager.
The cunning man said that he could seduce his wife.
But as they could see later,
He could not, though he tried.
But it was a bet he could not lose,
And he had a trick up his sleeve,
That he was shamelessly ready to use,
So he did not yet leave.
He hid in a chest,
Sent it to her chambers,
Waited for the princess to fall asleep,
Unaware she had a guest.
At night he crawled out,
Took a glance at her room,
Saw a bracelet on her desk,
A worthy item, he assumed.
He stole it and went back home,
Excited about what he had to show.
He convinced Posthumus that he won the bet,
And this was something that Posthumus just could not forget.
He could not believe that she would stoop so low.
He felt angry and betrayed,
And blinded by the tears of hate,
He sent a letter to his servant,
Saying Imogen should be murdered.
Gaja Oblak, 3. g
Julius Caesar by Matevž Slugaspeare
Characters:
- Julius Caesar
- Brutus
- Cassius
- On the streets of Rome…
Caesar: Silence, Ho! Silence! Let your Caesar speak! Why, the saviour of Rome and defeater of the Barbarians has placed his foot in the Capitol once again!
Cassius: Well, everybody hails you not! Your reign of Tyranny will be over soon ... Never the King you shall be! Hail Caesar, Hail! Live well and long!
Brutus: Hail Caesar! Hail, my ... Oh, damn these bowel movements ... Eat the shellfish yesterday I should have not ... Damn my wife and servants and my servants and my wife! Send her to cooking lessons, at once!
Caesar: Ho! Silence! Let me speak you should. Work people, lend me your ears, hear me out. Talk like Yoda I do, but good people of Rome, let me speak. Your saviour has returned, he may not be so young, but full of justice he is. Let us go now, feast my brothers, to the party! At once!
Cassius: Feast and enjoy your night, my Caesar, like it is your last stand in Rome, for it is your last time in the Capitol! Oooh, only to get Brutus on my side. Oh yes, loved by Caesar he is. Oh, mighty Brutus, how to show you what a true Roman should see?
Brutus: Damn, it’s getting worse ... Oh, I can’t stand it! Mighty Gods, won’t you let me be? What is the point of this suffering?! I only hope not to bring shame on myself in front of the great Julius Caesar and the Senate ... Oh by Jupiter, my poor stomach, would you stop for at least a moment?! Digest later you can and leave me be, at once!
Cassius: Here you are, my sweet and gentle Brutus, I found you at last! But why is your face full of pain and suffering? What is wrong, talk to your noble friend Cassius.
Brutus: Greetings, my sweet friend. You ask of how I feel and tell you I will. It is nothing serious my dear companion, fear not for my health, for I am alright … Daamn! …
Cassius: If thou says so, my fellow General. But there is a matter of which I must speak to thee …
Brutus: Sorry Brother, but go I must, for it is time that is leaking ... well not just time ... Damn those shellfish … see you in the senate!
Cassius: That was strange, why, I never saw Brutus in such a hurry. What to do now? … If only Brutus would listen …
Brutus: That was strange, why, I never saw Cassius so nervous … Bloody hell! Ooh Toilet, sweet Toilet, where art thou?!
- In Caesar’s palace.
Caesar: It is time, further to the senate we must go! … I have the strangest feeling that something special is going to happen in today’s meeting … I can’t wait!
But what should I wear? Well I really like that toga from Stab and Go, but it has a smudge on it … What about the one from PointyKnife Co.? Yes, I shall look very fabulous! Everybody is going to envy me, I only hope nobody stabs me out of jealousy, hahaha!!
To the Senate!
- In front of the Senate.
Brutus: Oh my, oh my, the meeting starts in a minute … I hope I can hold it in!
Cassius: Brutus! My friend, we meet again! By Jupiter, you look worse than before! Art thou alright?
Brutus: Damn you Cassius, not now! It is only the shellfish … I must go now, see you inside!!
Cassius: Damn, my evil plan with Brutus has failed! … Nevertheless, I will do what I have to do! For Justice, for People, for ROME!
- In the Senate.
Caesar: Silence! Ho! Let the meeting begin!
Casius: Bloody hell, I am so nervous!
Brutus: Oh, boy! Stay in, stay in …!
Cassius: … stab, stab
Brutus: Ooh boy …
Cassius: … stab, stab, Stab, StAb, STAB!!
A mighty strange thing happened in the senate that day. Instead of Julius Caesar something else was lying on the floor and Brutus called it Shame, although it was just his shellfish in an evolved form.
Cassius was sad and depressed, for his plan did not work. But he got cancer later that day, so nobody cares.
Caesar had mixed feelings and no clue that he was almost unfairly slaughtered like a black man in the 1950s.
Matevž Sluga, 4. b