When Matt first introduced this project we watched the 1999 version of A Midsummer Night's Dream movie. I thought that the movie was really interesting and helped me understand the story better. It was easier for most of us to see the play performed by other people. After that we watched the 1996 version of Romeo and Juliet movie. We compared and contrasted characters in both movies. This was really helpful because we could put this in our essays and see what Shakespeare's characters had in common. Then we started working on our play and essays. My roles for the play were to be Assistant Director and Egeus, Hermia's father.
I really connected to the essay because I talked about how love can be a feeling, an emotion, or an opinion. I enjoyed working on the essay and performing the play. I also enjoyed the white board seminar where we didn't talk but just wrote what we had to say on white boards. It was cool because everyone got to voice their opinions without being interrupted. I enjoyed working on the play because the humanities class I'm in has so many great personalities and I feel like that's the reason why are play was so funny and enjoyable. I enjoyed working on the essay because I got to talk about my opinion and how I believe love is an opinion along with perfection.
This project was difficult because there were so many little things that we worked on while working on the play and essay. It was a challenge at times because we had to work on multiple things along with other projects in other classes. It was also hard to do while working on other social issues with friends. On one hand you want to help your friends but on the other hand you want to get good grades in your classes.
The question I asked during my essay was, "Can love make you see or feel things you don't usually see or feel?". I wrote about how I believe love is an opinion and that love does make you see and feel things you don't normally see or feel along with the idea that perfection is also an opinion. The one thing I've learned during this project is that perfection doesn't exist and love is just accepting someone for who they are no matter what. Like Aaron Timothy Hirou said, "Love is finding perfection in imperfection." So don't try to be perfect because it will never be good enough for some people. Don't say your in love because love is different for everyone.
I think the only reason Shakespeare is still popular 400 years later is because it's timeless. Romance, comedy, tragedy, drama, etc. stays the same no matter what. All the stories we've been told came from somewhere and are probably hundreds of years old. In conclusion, the fantastic plays aren't all that Shakespeare has given the world. He has given us improvements to the English language, social changes, themes that are still used today, and quotes that people will never forget.