fandomhigh | Adventures in Literature, Wednesday, Period Three [Class Four]

Current Mood: high

Entry tags:

literature

Adventures in Literature, Wednesday, Period Three [Class Four]

Serious Drake was serious when the class began (seriously). He hadn't even noticed yet that the number of girls in the class was substantially reduced, while the number of boys had inexplicably increased. "OK," he said, moving in front of his desk and sitting back upon its edge, "first off, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry I upset some of you last week when I was talking about Arthur and the gang. I want to stress that this class is about works of literature -- fictional books, yes, though they just may have been inspired by real life people. Some people think Arthur really existed, others think he was a fictional construct of figures from history. In my world, he did exist, and he's just been reincarnated as a curly-haired moppet named Wyatt. And some of you know an Arthur and Merlin from another world. Point is, even if some of these people really did exist, the authors of some of the books we're looking at do have a tendency to take liberties and amp up the drama. None of these books are biographies or history books, they're all about action and adventure and passion and angst. So if we run across anybody else you might find familiar, take it with a grain of salt, and then take that grain of salt with a margarita."

Drake hopped off the desk. He snapped his fingers and turned himself into ~~Tim Curry~~ Cardinal Richelieu, complete with red robes and goatee of Eeeeeevil. The students would find themselves in the garb of Musketeers or 17th century noblewomen or men. "That said," he went on, "today we're going to look at The Three Musketeers. The main character in this book, d'Artagnan, is not one of those three. He wants to be a musketeer and serve the king, and the titular trio -- Athos, Porthos, and Aramis -- are the men he meets when he goes to Paris to try to sign up. He ends up getting into duels with all three, but when he helps them defeat the Cardinal's guards, he earns their respect and friendship. From there it's action and intrigue as d'Artagnan falls in love, helps perserve the 'honor'" -- air quotes! -- "of the Queen, and protect the King from the machinations of the evil Cardinal Richelieu and Milady de Winter." He twirled his mustache for effect.

"The Three Musketeers is considered a 'romance,'" Drake continued. "But not so much with the heaving bosoms and throbbing manhoods you find in romance novels today. Romance as a literary element has several components: a quest, the goal of the story, the adventure; love, an all-powerful force that motivates the actions of the characters; immorality, meaning the characters, even the good guys, engage in questionable behavior; and chivalry, the importance of defending and protecting the honor of ones self and others. For today, I want you to pick one of the main characters -- d'Artagnan, Athos, Aramis, Porthos, Lady de Winter, Constance Bonacieux, Queen Anne, King Louis XIII, Cardinal Richelieu, or Rochefort -- and tell me about their code of honor or views on love. Would it hold up in modern times, or wherever you're from? Do you see any contradictory behavior? Do you feel sympathy or disgust for that character? Does it make you want to join Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart, and Sting and sing about love?"

[Syllabus | Class Roster]

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

All for one and one for all!

Pick a character, talk about love, honor, or love and honor.

Go ahead, Karla, I know you want to take Queen Anne's POV.

He'll try not to chew the scenery.

Twice the peen as last week!

While searching for a clip of the three amigos singing the Disney theme song, I found...this. Witness the All for Love Luke Skywalker tribute vid.

Sorry this is late getting up -- I am on drugs and kinda spazzy today (yes, Nic, this is different from any other day...how?). For that same reason I may be slow to pick up pings. I wish to crawl into bed and sleep until ANTM.

Emma Frost

FEEL BETTER!

Fiona Post WITH SWORD! *will never stop finding this amusing*

Hyuuga Hinata

Ellie Bartowski

Didi

"Cardinal Richelieu didn't care about romantic love," Didi said, deciding to pick a character she didn't think anyone else would choose. "He was pledged to the church. If he had affairs, we don't know about them."

"What he did love was art and the country of France, and he wanted to fortify France by eliminating Protestant opposition -- and those that supported it. It's not modern, but I can see why it made sense to him."

*flops* I so want to crawl under my desk and nap, but they frown on that here.

Francine Peters

Hayley Fitzpatrick.

Tony Foster

Karla

I LOVE THIS MOVIE TO PIECES. ITTY BITTY ONES.

...THE TRIBUTE VID DISTURBS ME.

I love it, but I love the 1974 Michael York version the best. Closer to the book and just so much fun.

THE VID DISTURBS ME AS WELL. Just who is all of Luke's love for in there? Leia? Han? DARTH?

Joan Girardi

Yup, Joan and her peen were there and would be happy to help if anyone figured out who she was.

Karla showed up for class, put her head down on the desk, and didn't move until it was time for her to respond. The 'throbbing manhood' comment almost made her want to cry. She was experiencing a new and unexpected bout of sympathy for Mr. Algren and the other students in Sex Through the Ages. His comment about margarita was inspired, however.

"When I had made the comment last week about fake!Merlin--" the distinction was important "--'breeding Igraine like a sow,' I had been mostly going for extreme language to make a point," she said in a calm and conversational tone. It was a race to see how long that would last for. "However, now I see I was simply stating facts. Queen Anne was fourteen--fourteen--when she was forced to marry a male she didn't know. And then was forced to have sex with him, simply so the marriage couldn't be annulled." Which was a concept Karla had been forced to look up.

"Being forced to have sex with someone is no different than rape and coupling that aspect with the fact that she was still practically a child only makes it worse. So what code of honor should she have tried to live up to? That of her family, who sold her into marriage for political gain? Of her husband, who ignored and disliked her? Or the good Count Richelieu, who despised her and tried to ruin her completely? The only thing she has that is her own is her affair with Buckingham. And my view of that doesn't vary much from my view of Guinevere. Why shouldn't she choose a lover who makes her happy? Why should she care about how the country would think of her husband when he didn't give a damn how they'd think about her? And what is so magical, so special, so important about his bloodline that she needed to worry about whose child her gave birth to? Assuming she just didn't take care of that the normal way."

When Karla discovered the history of birth control for this world, her brain would combust.

"They don't let her be a Queen, save for when it is convenient for them to trot her out. I say, once you have done the things they did to a person, you no longer have any right to judge her behavior. Especially when it's her only source of happiness in a marriage based of slavery and sexual assault." Karla crossed her arms over her chest and glared. "At home, the number of people who would have been executed in this book is staggering. However, I find it very interesting that here, the most important execution of note happens to be Milady's. The only female with anything approaching true power."

[Seriously, it was so a toss up between Queen Anne and Milady. I adore Milady.]

Edited 2009-09-23 19:31 (UTC)

Diana Hansen

Note 1: I'm not around today (or this entire week really).
Note 2: I have seen the Russian version of the Three Muskateers more times than is healthy even for me. To the point where I cheerfully sing along with the characters and make people who are watching the movie with me cry.

Drake listened to Karla, nodding thoughtfully. "I think I may have to edit the syllabus," he said. "If you don't explode when we hit The Iliad and Helen of Troy, you probably will by the time we get to Dracula. A lot of the classics were written with 'me man, me hero, you woman, you prize' attitude, and I think I definitely need to counter that. I've had my butt handed to me by enough female demons to know better, and I know a female witch or three who could take me out with a twitch of their noses."

He paused and gave Karla a puzzled look. "Didn't you used to be a girl?"

[*luvs Karla's rants* I had put my money on the Queen because...she's the queen. :D ]

Edited 2009-09-23 19:50 (UTC)

"I have to admit, it amuses me that the Disney version of the story has Richelieu lusting after the Queen," Drake said. "It's as if Walt and the gang didn't think the audience would understand Richelieu without that kind of motivation."

Sookie Stackhouse

"I," Karla retorted icily, "am no male's prize. And I bet your witches would say the same." She gave a small nod in deference to his comment about proper witches. And would have ended on an almost positive note--except Drake had to go and point out the obvious.

"I am still female," she gritted through clenched teeth, "regardless of what sex my body happens to be by a cruel whim of this Darkness bedamned island."

It was really a bad day to be Karla.

"It's Disney," Didi shrugged. "They think celibate men are creepy." A pause. "Which Richelieu was, but that wasn't why."

[OOC: This is where I admit I don't know the story beyond 'there were three of them, and the name of the third was the last question in Slumdog Millionaire.']

Cordelia Chase

Gabrielle

OMG class rant for the win. For. The. MF'ing WIN.

Thank you!

Eleanor Robinson

Sam Winchester

Joolushko Tunai Fenta Hovalis

"I think that Milady really did love Athos," Sam said. "He might have been the only person she ever loved, and think if she got dealt a different set of cards in life, they could have been happy. As honorable as he was in the rest of his life as a Musketeer, he didn't really treat her honorably."

Naomi Wildman

Yakko Warner

"Here here!" Hayley agreed.

"On all of that. You're the smartest person in the class."

Karla looked startled for a moment, then flushed. Or would have, except it appeared that this body didn't do that. "Thank you," she said quietly, giving Hayley a soft, almost shy smile. "I don't think you're entirely correct, but thanks."

"Wait, I'm agreeing with you and you don't think I'm entirely correct?" Hayley said. "I don't know how that works."

"Me being the smartest person in the class," Karla clarified. "I'm pretty sure that part could be debated."

Chloe Saunders

"I a-agree with this," Chloe spoke up. "Milady really did l-love him and she was the one w-who s-seemed to be the most true to h-herself. She was dealt a bad hand and tried to p-put it to her advantage."

Wow, she blushed when she realized how much she had talked.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Adventures in Literature, Wednesday, Period Three [Class Four]

Sign In [AiL: Class Four]

Class Discussion [AiL: Class Four]

Talk to Drake [AiL: Class Four]

Talk to the TAs [AiL: Class Four]

OOC [AiL: Class Four]

Re: Sign In [AiL: Class Four]

Re: OOC [AiL: Class Four]

Re: Sign In [AiL: Class Four]

Re: Sign In [AiL: Class Four]

Re: Sign In [AiL: Class Four]

Re: Sign In [AiL: Class Four]

Re: Class Discussion [AiL: Class Four]

Re: OOC [AiL: Class Four]

Re: Sign In [AiL: Class Four]

Re: Sign In [AiL: Class Four]

Re: Sign In [AiL: Class Four]

Re: Sign In [AiL: Class Four]

Re: OOC [AiL: Class Four]

Re: OOC [AiL: Class Four]

Re: Sign In [AiL: Class Four]

Re: Talk to the TAs [AiL: Class Four]

Re: Class Discussion [AiL: Class Four]

Re: Sign In [AiL: Class Four]

Re: OOC [AiL: Class Four]

Re: Class Discussion [AiL: Class Four]

Re: Class Discussion [AiL: Class Four]

Re: Sign In [AiL: Class Four]

Re: Class Discussion [AiL: Class Four]

Re: Class Discussion [AiL: Class Four]

Re: Sign In [AiL: Class Four]

Re: Sign In [AiL: Class Four]

Re: OOC [AiL: Class Four]

Re: OOC [AiL: Class Four]

Re: Sign In [AiL: Class Four]

Re: Sign In [AiL: Class Four]

Re: Sign In [AiL: Class Four]

Re: Class Discussion [AiL: Class Four]

Re: Sign In [AiL: Class Four]

Re: Sign In [AiL: Class Four]

Re: Class Discussion [AiL: Class Four]

Re: Class Discussion [AiL: Class Four]

Re: Class Discussion [AiL: Class Four]

Re: Class Discussion [AiL: Class Four]

Re: Sign In [AiL: Class Four]

Re: Class Discussion [AiL: Class Four]