- I looked through a lot of different sources but the ones that ended up being the most helpful for me were discussions. I ended up on reddit and started reading through discussions on A Midsummer Night's Dream. I found one that discussed why the ending to A Midsummer Night's Dream was troubling, which is something that I had thought about before. It brought up the idea about how the ending is not quite honest, and how the characters actually reveal who they truly are within the forest. That idea made me think about the id and how, according to Freud, the id is what reveals our true emotions and desires. The discussion thread made me want to dive deeper into a psychoanalytic analysis of the text.
- It was actually quite easy to look at this text through a psychoanalytic lens because of the reoccurring theme of dreams throughout the play. It was easy to connect the forest to the id because of the dreamlike qualities that the forest possesses. It was hard to find a balance between formal analysis and the theoretical approach, though. I tended to lean more towards just applying the theoretical approach rather than analyzing form. I really had to search for ways to incorporate both.
- This time through I really took to heart my classmate's advice and took a lot of time to write and rewrite instead of trying to get it all right the first time. I went through several drafting phases. However, I wish I had spent more time finding interesting internet sources and really finding ways to incorporate them into the paper. I used my one source to inspire my paper, but I think my paper would have been more concrete and interesting if perhaps I had found pictures of Athens and the forest in a performance of the play and done more of an analysis on setting. I think that would have helped me to find a balance between analysis and theoretical approach.
I think it's so interesting how you used Reddit to come to your topic! I've never really used discussion boards like that but they seem like they could be really helpful in providing a variety of opinions on a subject. I think it's really interesting how when people can make anonymous comments they begin to be a lot more truthful.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it looks like Reddit is a real game changer, I feel like doing this essay really opened my eyes to the different things we can look to and pull into writing literary criticism. I also did a lot of rewriting and revising and it was cool because I was still able to find informal sources that worked for my paper even after I overhauled my thesis. You've inspired me to spend more time in online forums like Reddit before I write my next essay.
ReplyDeleteI also had a hard time reconciling my theoretical approach with a formal analysis of my work, so that's definitely something that I want to work on next time! Also, I am very inspired by your use of Reddit - we talked about it in class, but while I was writing, I kind of forgot about that source. Your experience shows how helpful Reddit can really be!!
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