A Cated Kate
I had my interview with Professor Burton on Friday and I must admit it is nerve-wracking to sit there and know that he is grading your paper right in front of you. (Although it is never as bad as I think it will be.)
Here is a slice of what we chatted about. The social aspect of the paper. I thought that it was beneficial because my peers really helped me get excited about my paper. I was able to bounce my paper ideas with a friend who has his masters in English and is getting his PHD. It really helped me solidify what I wanted my paper to be about. I didn't like trying to find a connection through blogs and other sights. I looked around for hours and ended up just getting more frustrated with the fruitless efforts.
We also talked about the response my paper had with my husband. I actually went home and asked my husband specifically how he thought my paper applied our relationship. He said that he is definitely like Petruchio trying to tame me for my benefit. I am a little too stubborn and I have a really specific way I like things done so I can see where he is coming from...lol Anyway it was nice to know that my husband, who is not into reading or english at all found something beneficial out of my paper.
Doctor Burton and I also talked about the next step in the class and how I can put my paper into a new medium and a new avenue. We discussed looking at my paper in terms of new media and the digital age. How my paper about the benefit of taming or making use of new technology will be able to help students for the future. We can show them the appropriate way to use the internet. I think this idea is really great and if anyone has any ideas on it I'd really like to talk with them. The other idea I had was a forum for marriage counseling between couples with one really dominant spouse. I could make a series of "How to..." blogs on working out that kind of relationship or stage a counseling session or make a forum. It could prove interesting.
Anyway I look forward to exploring all the new avenues open for me at this point.
As weird as this sounds, reading your paper was difficult for me. Not because it wasn't a good paper, but because it took almost the opposite side of the argument I was making. I said Kate and Petruchio were abusing each other; you said they strengthened one another.
ReplyDeleteIf you were to revise your paper, something I would recommend would be to look at organization. Your central thesis is clear throughout the paper, but I wish there were more of a building feelings to the arguments.
Now, as for where to go from here, you have a couple really different options. The Taming of the Net sounds interesting. It connects to using things in their intended roles (Kate needs to act in her role/sphere of influence, and internet tools need to be used for their correct purposes). What do you think your audience for this would be? Teachers? Kids? Families? It might change the media you want to present it in.
And then your other thought on marriage counseling. I think you'd have to make some adjustments with this one because of the different gender roles in Shakespeare's time versus now. A woman that feels oppressed by her husband who then reads Taming of the Shrew is likely going to be offended rather than aided. You'd have to emphasis that the idea wasn't to follow Kate's submission exactly, but emulate the general idea that each partner should act within their role in the relationship. I think a blog series is one possibility for that, especially if you'd like to target women--they're all over the blogging community.