In part two of his commentary on Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, Dr. White describes how Shakespeare’s characters bear a striking similarity to those found in Greek mythology, namely Echo and Narcissus. Twelfth Night, White tells us, is filled with similar instances of self-love. But, interspersed with dramatic readings, he also points out that there is life in the play, whereby love breaks out of selfishness. Dr. White sees it as a play filled with truthfulness, in which characters eventually see what is real, i.e., what is actually there. This ultimately leads to a happy ending as they learn to care about someone other than themselves. He ends the commentary with a question and answer session.
Part One of Dr. White’s two-part examination of Shakespeare’s classic comedy, The Taming of the Shrew.Dr. White gives a classical definition of comedy which reminds us of our human nature, that we are but flesh and blood, and as a consequence keeps us humble. In this comedy we see the tensions between men and women – the “battle of the sexes.” The lecture also analyzes the character of Katerina and Petruchio who represent pure will and pure ego respectively.
Dr. White describes the comic novel Don Quixote as a great Catholic work, in fact the best-known Spanish novel ever. He proceeds with a dramatic reading of G. K. Chesterton’s poem, Lepanto, dealing with the great naval battle in which Cervantes, a devout Catholic, took part. Following Lepanto, Cervantes became, in essence, the lonely knight riding through Spain, always failing but never giving up. Out of this came Don Quixote, the first of a new literary genre: the modern novel. Dr. White closes his commentary by noting that Cervantes died on the same date as another of his literary heroes, William Shakespeare.
Dr. White concludes his two-part direct analysis of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew.In this comedy, we see the male ego at work and the wooing of a woman. Unlike the typical depiction of men and women today, we see – with all their flaws – a real man and woman interacting in this comedy. Dr. White brings out the concept of marital obedience and discusses St. Paul and his letter to the Ephesians. In the play, we are able to see the change made in Petruchio who gives Katerina his full affection in the end. There is a question and answer period where Dr. White speaks on chastity, the difficulty moderns have in understanding the ideabehind the play, and how Shakespeare speaks timeless truths.
Dr. White opens by drawing a parallel between Don Quixote (part one) and King Lear, both of which he sees as great counter-reformation works. He describes the independent assertion of man as a strictly Protestant notion and goes on to detail how Lear and Don Quixote both go mad in their own ways. With his dramatic readings from several sections of the novel, and while introducing Sancho Panza, he demonstrates its episodic nature and the absence of a narrative plot line. Dr. White points out that though it’s a comedy, there is something sorrowful in the story. He closes with a brief Q and A session.
Dr. explains the logic and anti-modernism of Kate’s final speech in Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew.Dr. White simply observes the real differences in nature between men and women. He then provides some real life examples of the difficult traditional Catholic women have in finding a good Catholic man. Women, in their nature, seek to find a man who will first pay attention to her. He then goes into Act V, Scene 2 and analyzes Kate’s final speech which brings forth the concept of hierarchy, and the consequences of not following God’s order. Dr. White then gives a brilliant description of feminism and how at its root it is a rebellion against divine order rooted in nature. What these women end up doing is making bad parodies of men.
