Comments | angevin2: O when shall Englishmen with such acts fill a pen, or England breed again such a King Harry?

angevin2

O when shall Englishmen with such acts fill a pen, or England breed again such a King Harry?

Jul 15, 2004 21:39

I've had Henry V on the brain all week, probably since I watched the ESC version on Monday, and it's one of the texts I ordered for my Intro to Lit class (I figure it'll be fun to teach -- if they're giving any thoughts to current events, it'll get them talking, I hope). For some reason, I have a weird urge to watch the Olivier version now, though ( Read more... )

edward ii, adventures in teaching, henry v, exams

Comments 10

sadcypress July 16 2004, 07:30:07 UTC

Is EdII worth seeing, then? Swarthmore has a copy, so I was thinking about requesting it... I do, however, tend to get annoyed pretty quickly at Artier-than-thou films, which is why I've held off.

angevin2 July 16 2004, 14:41:57 UTC

Well, I'm reluctant to comment too fully because I didn't see all of it -- I turned it on right before the death of Gaveston. It's very strange -- I guess Artier-than-Thou might be sort of a fitting description -- and has all sorts of disturbing violent imagery (quite beyond the business with the poker; for instance, I won't soon forget the death of Kent in this movie). If you're not too squeamish you might find it interesting, especially you're already familiar with the text. To someone who hadn't I would recommend reading it first. ;) But it's hard to make recommendations based on not having seen it all; I'll probably post more about it when IFC repeats it.

I wasn't much impressed with Stephen Waddington in the title role, either, though Tilda Swinton was terrific (if really scary) as Queen Isabel...

sadcypress July 16 2004, 18:13:33 UTC

oo, it's in rotation on IFC? I may be able to catch it then, give it a go. :) As for Chimes..grrr- yes, I got my hands on a copy from Swarthmore, but when I went to watch it, the tape was too messed up to play properly! I think they're trying to get a new copy, so hopefully I can see it soon. :)

angevin2 July 16 2004, 14:44:28 UTC

Oh, speaking of Shakespeare movies -- have you watched Chimes at Midnight yet? I seem to recall that you've mentioned having a copy...

teragram22 July 16 2004, 22:25:35 UTC

What a neat idea to teach Henry V! Very topical. I remember when I taught Henry IV part I, a few years ago, there were political connections as well -- e.g. the whole issue of legitimacy/illegitimacy of being heir to the throne. I'd love to hear more about how it goes.

BTW, I'm adding you if that's OK.

angevin2 July 16 2004, 22:39:15 UTC

Of course it is! Nice to meet you. :)

I'll probably be on quite a bit about how it goes teaching Henry V, though it doesn't come up on the syllabus until late October/early November (which is mostly coincidental). The topicality is part of the reason I wanted to teach it -- I figure if they're thinking about current events at all it'll get them talking -- the other reasons are of course that I have a lot of different movie versions to show them, and finally, I just love the play, being a total second-tetralogy fangirl. ;)

teragram22 July 17 2004, 00:17:14 UTC

Yeah -- I just picked the play because I liked it -- and because it is so teachable, and because of Falstaff, natch -- but I discovered in the process that it offered hot topics for discussion, and also that it made a great pairing with Hamlet.

I love when things turn out to be topical. Once a class on a Star Trek episode (no joke) turned into a discussion on copyright, the morality of file-sharing, and the extent to which the owner of a product has the right to set unreasonable terms of sale. It was great.

Something about Henry V that has always given me pause, though, is the apparent glorification of the marriage at the end, and the problem of Katherine's status in it all. Usually this play is so good at problematizing its own moral questions and bringing them to the surface -- but not the question of Katherine's place. That part of the play just lands with an ambivalent thud. But it's been a while since I read/watched it. The Falstaff flashback in Branagh's movie is superb, anyhow.

angevin2 July 18 2004, 11:53:39 UTC

Heh, I suppose that's what we have all that criticism for. ;) (And every time I read criticism addressing that scene I feel vaguely guilty and unliberated for getting all swoony over Branagh's interpretation of it. Which is why it was interesting to watch the ESC version with Michael Pennington and Francesca Ryan -- Pennington's Henry was considerably smarmier ( ... )

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