Mar. 30; Shakes; A Midsmrs Night's Drm

Well-crafted and beautifully done, I thought the Shakespeare Manga was much good fun. As wonderful as the graphic representation was (and it was quite good indeed) I oft find myself absorbed by the brilliant language of William Shakespeare. Every line has a purpose in his work. There is always some deeper meaning beyond the text.

The Manga was a pleasurable version because the graphics complimented the text and created an added understanding, rather than being too drawn out and distracting. A good example of great cohesion between the panels and text takes place over the span of pages 30-34. Hermia and Lysander are making their plan to run and hide out in the woods so that they may preserve their love. A picture technique often used in this version, illustrator Kate Brown places a characters head, in this case that of Lysander, in the bottom corner of a section of frames. The other three or four panels beam out and expand through to fill the rest of the quadrant. This has a way of centering that character (Lysander) emotionally in the scene.

As it takes place in the focus on page 32, this clever depiction shows Lysander's look of anxiety as it associate to his loving embrace of Hermia, his regrets for the integral failures of men, and his promise of everlasting love for Hermia.

At the bottom of the page Lysander is at the edge of kissing Hermia. It's understood that it is a faithful moment of deep truth for the love of these two youth.