Kayla...This is 4 You

So I started just responding to your blog, but then I realized that I could just as efficiently write a new blog post about your project on my blog and you can take it or leave it.

First, I feel like 'abuse' in general is a big topic and although you limited your paper to Nicarthy's signs of abuse maybe if you focus on a specific type of abuse or a group that gets abused than that might make the forum more accessible. It might make it easier for certain abuse victims to feel secure in the information they are getting because it applies more specifically to them. On the other hand leaving it more open makes it easier to reach a huge group of people. So I guess it really depends on just how much detail you want to get into and where you want to go with this.

Second, I am still unclear about whether you want to just show examples of abuse to have people identify with or you are trying to help abuse victims by allowing them to first identify their problem and then giving them a literary 'solution'. Either way could work as long as it is clear that you are simply giving literary examples not real world examples, because that could be confusing.

Now after those are looked at you can decide the format for the project. I like your forum idea. It is a non-evasive way to have people identify a problem without actually having to explain it to someone in detail. It is an extremely popular form for surface 'diagnosing' both medical and psychological issues. So I think it has good potential. Another option more along the lines of what we were discussing in class is a short film clip or youtube video. I think that would be a good medium for your project, if you don't mind being on camera. You could pretend to be a psychologist and help abuse victims by giving a brief description of abuse suffered by a Shakespeare character and then maybe a real world solution. You could do a couple of these and maybe in the corner there is a "these are fictional situations" so that people who see this are aware. Then after your clip a screen that says contact Women's Abuse Hotline, if there is actually such a thing, or the Battered Women's Shelter or something. Or you could pretend to do a radio show where people 'call' in and you answer their questions with literary examples... Both of these ideas may be dumb, but they sound like a  lot of fun to me.

So here is a list of characters to look at as abuse victims and maybe abusers:
--Desdemona Abuse in Othello
--Twelfth Night's "Notorious Abuse" of Malvolio: Shame, Humorality, and Early Modern Spectatorship (if you've seen the loose adaptation, "She's the Man" the spider is named Malvolio and is the victim of abuse by everyone except the weird guy.)
--Kate, The Taming of the Shrew. While we differ significantly on opinions about the play as a whole, I do think the reason Kate is a shrew is because of abuse. Her father clearly dotes on Bianca more and the favoritism might have lead Kate to act out inappropriately.
--Ariel, The Tempest. (Maybe, I'd have to look this one over again to be sure that if would be categorized by your definition.)
--Antonio and Shylock, The Merchant of Venice. DUH :)
--Portia, The Merchant of Venice.
--Don Juan, Much Ado About Nothing.
--Lady Macbeth/Macbeth, Macbeth.
--3 daughters of King Lear (Goneril, Regan, Cordelia), King Lear. There is definitely abuse going on in this relationship
Romeo and Juliet against the Capulets and Montegues, Romeo and Juliet. (Nurse was a master manipulator in this play if I thinking of it correctly)
Ophelia in Hamlet, Hamlet. (eh maybe this doesn't work because it wasn't like anyone tried to abuse her purposefully...unless you say Hamlet with his mysterious 'wooing')


If I think of someone else, I will let you know.