This is a reference to a Middle English work called Canterbury Tales, by Chaucer, where a rooster is called a chaunticleer, based off the old French word, the same way a fox is reynard. I'm fairly certain that character is also the basis for the musician rooster from Disney's animated Robin Hood.

Once more Shakespeare goes for the joke about cuckholding nobility, playing on the power binary of male/non-male, as well as father/children, and powerful/not-powerful.

This whole section is designed to emphasize the lower education and status of Dogberry and the Rustics in comparison to Don Pedro and Claudio.

This gives a sense of Leonato basically saying that he's going to coach his daughter in how to respond properly if this rumor is true. He's going to tell his daughter to behave in a way acceptable to her class, and to accept if the opportunity comes up because it's her duty to obey him, and this is an ideal match.

I like how when Hermia thinks Demetrius thinks Demetrius has killed Lysander she compares him to animals, or beasts, playing up the distinction between man/non-man, and also drawing attention to the Jungian archetype of the Beast, especially "lowly" beasts like "worms, adders, serpents and curs. There is nothing remotely complimentary in this Beast, and the whole world hears how she despises him.

Not only does Bottom have a very overinflated sense of his own acting prowess, and his own self-worth, but appears completely unaware of the impossibility of these phrases. The contradiction in them plays him up as the Fool quickly and sets his role in stone.

I have to admit, knowing what I do about Greek mythology and the Amazons, this is incredibly accurate. Hippolyta had no time for any man, and Heracles (not Hercules, wrong mythology) had to fight just to get her belt. In order to marry her Theseus had to injure and capture her. I saw one movie of this play where Hippolyta was escorted into the room in chains and had a gag over her mouth that was removed every time Theseus wanted her to speak and only then, and that has stuck with me since

I just need everyone to be aware of how excited I am for this play, actually. This is the third time I've studied it, and it's one of my mom's favorites, so this play has a special place in my heart.

This is classic manipulation tactics. Oh, I gave you everything you have. You owe me your loyalty and obedience. In this context, Lear is king in name only, really, and is trying to tell Regan that she owes him everything due a King even as she does the legwork of that position.

This is a really weird thought, but I just need to get this out there: Everytime I see this name I picture the entire region of Cornwall just yelling at King Lear in unison in the Cornish accent and I can't take it seriously.

This line relates directly to what we were talking about in class. The Fool is acting as the moral compass that Lear ignores in favor of subverting societal rules and roles. By saying that Lear is "being old before [his] time" the Fool is saying that Lear is attempting to gain all the benefits of retirement while not actually being retired. Trying to be old while not actually being old.

He really seems to view himself highly, doesn't he? He acknowledges that as King he has a lot of power over those around him. More than that, I tend to associate a dragon's wrath with scorched earth and everything being burned to the ground and destroyed. Maybe this is a little foreshadowing?

Already we're seeing the misogyny. And this ties back to what we talked about in class with the cuckold. Gloucester is being set up as a joke for the audience, and maybe for the other characters within the play. This also gives us a good insight how women are going to be treated in this play, much like they were in Othello.

Before class today I hadn't seen this scene as a marriage, but now I can't seem to get that idea out of my head. Even more than that, I can't stop relating it to King James, and his "Gentleman of the Bedchamber." Is this a joke on the part of Shakespeare at the King's expense, or is this in relation to Shakespeare's own relationship with the "beautiful youth?"

This line really stood out to me. The first time I read it, knowing what I do about this play, I had to stop and laugh for a minute. This line stuck with me though, throughout the play, not only for the pure faith Othello has in one of his men, but because it reminded me of Mark Antony's speech in Julius Caesar, namely the line "Brutus is an honorable man." It has the same sort of tone, where on the surface it means one thing, but it carries over to the audience very differently.

The faith Othello has in Iago causes him to cast aside a man who truly respected him. This play doesn't give me a lot of hope for the intelligence of mankind, or the bond of brotherhood that these soldiers are supposed to display, especially in the glorification of war you expect from theater productions.

This is probably the first instance where you see the "evil genius" of Iago, and how he's willing to use other people as tools indiscriminately to get what he wants, no matter who it hurts in the process. We knew he hated Othello and Cassio, but this really introduces him as a threat.

This passage shows that Henry is giving Kate power over him. She has the ability to convince him of an action better than any other, and he is trying to tell her that. If she so desires, he would do whatever she wished of him, giving her power over him while at the same time, claiming her as his property, and thus claiming France for England.

This entire speech really emphasizes the difference between classes that is emphasized by language differences in this story. It also greatly emphasizes the rank of the king. This line in particular is basically saying that it is the role of the subject to obey their king, but the king is considerably less beholden to his subjects, and whether they go to heaven or hell is no concern of his.

As famous as this line is, the speech itself is rarely recited outside of performances, so it threw me off, reading phrases that connote such power, like "disguise fair nature with hard-favour'd rage" and "let pry through the portage of the head like the brass cannon." Phrases like this lend a sense of superiority and power to the English forces.

Gilt as in gold, and also guilt as in guilty. They accepted French money to be guilty of treason, basically.

Further evidence of the criterion of classical mythologies being used in this play.

This is a great analogy. I'm going to use this in real life.

From my understanding of the War of the Roses and monarchs of this time period, this wasn't unusual. But, this sets up a flaw in a man previously associated with the Divine.

This is a really long, round-about way of saying that he was apparently cleansed of all sin and made into a bridge between earth and the heavens. This also ties into the divine right of kings, something that Shakespeare also uses to uphold the right of the Tudors to rule.

Thy servant's loss--the loss of your servant-->Is he the servant?

Lips made by Love--this was during the Renaissance, so lips gifted by Aphrodite/Venus?

Fun little word play! Swear to your soul that I was your Will because your soul knows that will is admitted into it.

Shall will in others seem right gracious, And in my will no fair acceptance shine?

You hoard what you have, and he won't take that from you. She keeps the hearts of the men who give them to her?

You enchant me in this world and the next? Next self makes me think of reincarnation.

The star in the east that brings in the evening means nothing to the west, still illuminated by the dying sun. --Beauty means nothing to those who cannot see it?

You know that to my weak heart, you are the most precious and beautiful thing. This might be the nicest thing about the dark mistress I've read so far.

The argument of this sonnet is that no matter that his mistress doesn't match up to society's standards of beauty, he loves her anyway. He does this by constantly comparing her to societal standards and having her fall short.

Is this saying that beauty is slandered because black is now the bastard heir of beauty? Or is beauty ashamed to be associated with black?

Others perception of us negatively affects our perspectives

Ties back to "vile world with vilest worms to dwell" from Sonnet LXXI. He may be writing poems about how death is not a barrier to his love and legacy, but he also seems to view death as an evil.

It refers to youth, but also flame and heat

That seems like an oxymoron.

A common theme seems to be to denigrate the earth, and what lies below it even as nature is praised.

Biblical reference. I haven't seen other biblical allegories quite like this one but that doesn't mean they aren't there.

They meet, and I lose them to each-other--this and the next line sum up everything up to the couplet.

I associate gentle with fair, so maybe "a fair prize to be won" as if love is a competition.

There's no such thing as true love, my dear.

His love exceeded or their rhyme exceeded?

The love that Shakespeare gave to many?

This is a really strange note, but this makes me think of "Last Christmas." "I gave you my heart but the very next day, you gave it away." Shakespeare is talking to the one who received his heart from his love, but I read this line and that's the first thought that popped into my head.

The main theme of this sonnet is loss, and suffering

Analogy for death, the soul?

Once again immortalizing "my love" in his works.

You'll survive as long as this sonnet can be read by anyone.

Implies that the subject is immortal, and death cannot claim them

All beauty fades in time

The overarching theme of the sonnet is that the subject is too beautiful for earth, and any attempt to share that beauty (in writing) would be viewed as a falsehood.

Also ties to divination, and astronomy.

Ties to mention of astronomy, as if he's using astronomy as a form of divination.

Follows the theme we remarked on in class, with time being the enemy of youth and beauty. Also brings to mind imagery of short-lived flowers--beautiful and fleeting, drawing on the nature theme of Sonnet V

Share your beauty before it is gone; could be interpreted as pass on your genetics or as with a lover. Probably the latter, knowing Shakespeare.

This draws on the theme of beauty diminishing in old age that we talked about in class.