Due Monday, December 18th - "Macbeth" Act III

Please finish reading "Macbeth" Act III and complete the 13 study questions in your journal.

I would like you to do a little research and find examples of real life Macbeths and Lady Macbeths.  Look for world leaders who abused their power through ambition.  It need not be murder (though, sadly, that has happened more times than we can count).

How has financial greed caused an abuse of power?  This can be seen in companies that started off with a worthy goal, and then ended up allowing money, greed, power and ambition take over.

In the following blog post, please share a real life example of a person or entity that resembles the downfall of Macbeth.  Please include a link to the website, so we can see your work.  Also, include at least 1-3 direct quotation(s) from Macbeth that shows the direct parallel to your example.

I look forward to your responses.

Mr. P. ;)

Due Monday, December 18th - "Macbeth" Close Reading Critical Analysis Essay

Directions:  Below is a speech by Macbeth.  Please compose an essay walking us through the passage and analyzing Macbeth’s state of mind.  Think about what proceeded this speech.  What comes after.  Think about Shakespeare’s use of language.  Please post your essays to Turnitin.com by Monday, December 18^th


Is this a dagger which I see before me,
The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee.
I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.
Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible
To feeling as to sight? or art thou but
A dagger of the mind, a false creation,
Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?
I see thee yet, in form as palpable
As this which now I draw.
Thou marshall'st me the way that I was going;
And such an instrument I was to use.
Mine eyes are made the fools o' the other senses,
Or else worth all the rest; I see thee still,
And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood,
Which was not so before. There's no such thing:
It is the bloody business which informs
Thus to mine eyes. Now o'er the one halfworld
Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse
The curtain'd sleep; witchcraft celebrates
Pale Hecate's offerings, and wither'd murder,
Alarum'd by his sentinel, the wolf,
Whose howl's his watch, thus with his stealthy pace.
With Tarquin's ravishing strides, towards his design
Moves like a ghost. Thou sure and firm-set earth,
Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear
Thy very stones prate of my whereabout,
And take the present horror from the time,
Which now suits with it. Whiles I threat, he lives:
Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives.

[a bell rings]

I go, and it is done; the bell invites me.
Hear it not, Duncan; for it is a knell
That summons thee to heaven or to hell.

See different interpretations of the scene, below.  Note:  If you choose to allude to these scenes, be sure to make the proper MLA notations.

Shakespeare of the Day: "The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark"

Please peruse the "Shakespeare of the Day" selection:  The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark.  Which performance do you like best?  Why? 


Hamlet (III. i. 64-96)

To be or not to be – that is the question:

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles

And, by opposing, end them. To die, to sleep –

No more – and by a sleep to say we end

The heartache and the thousand natural shocks

That flesh is heir to – `tis a consummation

Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep –

To sleep, perchance to dream.  Ay, there's the rub,

For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,

When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,

Must give us pause. There's the respect

That makes calamity of so long life.

For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,

Th' oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,

The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,

The insolence of office, and the spurns

That patient merit of th' unworthy takes,

When he himself might his quietus make

With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear,

To grunt and sweat under a weary life,

But that the dread of something after death,

The undiscovered country from whose bourn

No traveler returns, puzzles the will

And makes us rather bear those ills we have,

Than fly to others that we know not of?

Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,

And thus the native hue of resolution

Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,

And enterprises of great pitch and moment

With this regard their currents turn awry

And lose the name of action.

Below are four different interpretations of Hamlet's famous soliloquy from Act 3, scene 1.Please view all four clips in the following order:

1) 1948 - The timeless performance by Laurence Olivier.

2) 2000 - Ethan Hawke's Hamlet drifts into a Blockbuster video. Notice which section he walks through.

3) 1996 - Kenneth Brannah's Hamlet speaking a mirror image of himself (Note: Hamlet's Uncle Claudius and Polonius are hiding behind the glass).

4) 2009 - David Tennant's Hamlet - A more modern and nuanced performance.

5) 1990 - Mel Gibson's Hamlet - Notice the choice of location and the intensity of the performance.

Due Tuesday, December 5th - Quiz on Act I and Journal Response - Ambition

1)  Please revisit Act I and be prepared for an identify the speaker quiz tomorrow at the beginning of the block.  Listen to the audiobook below and follow along with the text as a means of review.

Here is an example of what the quiz questions will look like:

SCENE I.

1.  Fair is foul, and foul is fair:

Hover through the fog and filthy air.

A.        Lady Macbeth

B.        Macbeth

C.        The Three Weird Sisters

D.        Banquo

E.        Lennox

SCENE II. A camp near Forres.

2.  As sparrows eagles, or the hare the lion.

If I say sooth, I must report they were

As cannons overcharged with double cracks, so they

Doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe:

Except they meant to bathe in reeking wounds,

Or memorise another Golgotha,

I cannot tell.

But I am faint, my gashes cry for help.

A.        Duncan

B.        Captain

C.        Lady Macbeth

D.        Macbeth

E.        Ross

2)  Journal:  Macbeth discuss the idea of "ambition."  In what ways are ambition a good thing?  When does it become negative?  In a journal response, please examine a personal experience where you found yourself striving for something in an ambitious way.  Describe the positive and negative aspects of this journey.  Did you hurt anyone physically or emotionally on this quest?  Yourself? Have you questioned yourself like Macbeth?  Explore the possibilities. 

Introduction to Shakespeare

First Performed	Plays	First Printed
1590-91	Henry VI, Part I (H)	1594?
1590-91	Henry VI, Part II (H)	1594?
1591-92	Henry VI, Part III (H)	1623
1592-93	Richard III (T)	1597
1592-93	Comedy of Errors (C)	1623
1593-94	Titus Andronicus (T)	1594
1593-94	Taming of the Shrew (C)	1623
1594-95	Two Gentlemen of Verona (C)	1623
1594-95	Love's Labour's Lost (C)	1598?
1594-95	Romeo and Juliet (T)	1597
1595-96	Richard II (T)	1597
1595-96	A Midsummer Night's Dream (C)	1600
1596-97	King John (H)	1623
1596-97	The Merchant of Venice (C)	1600
1597-98	Henry IV, Part I (H)	1598
1597-98	Henry IV, Part II (H)	1600
1598-99	Much Ado About Nothing (C)	1600
1598-99	Henry V (H)	1600
1599-1600	Julius Caesar (T)	1623
1599-1600	As You Like It (C)	1623
1599-1600	Twelfth Night (C)	1623
1600-01	Hamlet (T)	1603
1600-01	The Merry Wives of Windsor (C)	1602
1601-02	Troilus and Cressida (P)	1609
1602-03	All's Well That Ends Well (P)	1623
1604-05	Measure for Measure (P)	1623
1604-05	Othello (T)	1622
1605-06	King Lear (T)	1608
1605-06	Macbeth (T)	1623
1606-07	Antony and Cleopatra (T)	1623
1607-08	Coriolanus (T)	1623
1607-08	Timon of Athens (T)	1623
1608-09	Pericles (R)	1609
1609-10	Cymbeline (T)	1623
1610-11	The Winter's Tale (R)	1623
1611-12	The Tempest (R)	1623
1612-13	Henry VIII (H)	1623
1612-13	The Two Noble Kinsmen* (C)	1634

This chart shows samples of the changes in English. 

#1 is Old English or Anglo-Saxon (circa 450-1066 CE). 

#2 is Middle English (circa 1066-1450 AD). 

#3 is Modern English from about the time of Shakespeare. 

#4 is another sample of Modern English, but it is more recent than #3.

Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare

Saturninus, son to the late Emperor of Rome, [afterwards declared Emperor]

Bassianus, brother to Saturninus, in love with Lavinia

Titus Andronicus, a Roman, general against the Goths

Marcus Andronicus, tribune of the people, and brother to Titus

Lucius, Quintus, Martius, Mutius, sons to Titus Andronicus

Lavinia, daughter to Titus Andronicus

Young Lucius, a boy, son to Lucius

Tamora, queen of the Goths

Alarbus, Demetrius, Chiron, sons to Tamora

Aaron, a Moor, beloved by Tamora

Important Due Dates

Last in-class rehearsal date:  Wednesday, November 8th

Performances - Monday, November 13th

Research Paper due to Turnitin.com - Wednesday, November 15th
(Class ID: 16656839      Enrollment Key:  janeausten)

NOTE:  REFER TO PREVIOUS BLOG FOR RUBRIC, EXAMPLES AND OTHER HELPFUL INFORMATION.  INCLUDE THE COMPLETE WORKS CITED IN YOUR FINAL ESSAY

Class Seminar - Friday, November 17th

Due Wednesday, November 1st - Thesis Statement & Works Cited

Please compose a solid thesis statement and complete a Works Cited for your research paper.  Think of it as an "essential question" followed by your evidence.  In other words, a rhetorical question that resonates a universal question to ponder.  Your thesis statement is an attempt to "answer" that question by locating evidence to backup your argument.  While you conduct your research, you should be learning more and refining your argument, not merely fishing for things to back up what you already know to be true.

ASSIGNMENT:  POST YOUR THESIS STATEMENT FOLLOWED BY A COMPLETE "WORKS CITED" ONTO TURNITIN.COM BY WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 1ST.


Here is some helpful information on thesis statements:

Thesis Statements

1.      It is something worth arguing about.  There is no point in basing a paper on a thesis statement that is obvious to everyone or that is not concerned with any significant issue. Read your thesis and ask, so what?

2.      It can be supported.  It is clearly and forcefully supported by the rest of the paper; it isn't just a springboard that allows the writer to jump into topics having little to do with the "thesis."

3.      It is precise.  It is not something that one has trouble understanding until one read the rest of the paper, and it is not something so general or so "safe" that it fails to represent any strong position. "Bad economic policy was one impact of the fall of Rome" is not precise.

Samples

Prompt:  Morally ambiguous characters -- characters whose behavior discourages readers from identifying them as purely evil or purely good -- are at the heart of many works of literature. Choose a novel or play in which a morally ambiguous character plays a pivotal role. Then write an essay in which you explain how the character can be viewed as morally ambiguous and why his or her moral ambiguity is significant to the work as a whole. Avoid mere plot summary.

The “D - F” Example:  In Albert Camus' The Stranger, a complex character who, on the basis of his actions alone, might be considered evil or immoral, would be the character of Raymond.

Commentary: Note that this intro just repeats a part of the prompt. It does not indicate the reason for the choice, and this choice of character is weak because the rest of this particular AP prompt indicated that the author managed to develop reader sympathy for the character. In TS, little sympathy for Raymond Sintes develops. The student should probably have chosen Meursault. Although this essay might pick up as it goes along, nothing of significance has been stated yet. This type of beginning could lead to a D or an F.

The “B - C” Example: In Albert Camus' The Stranger, the character of Meursault may be seen as evil by a majority of the members of his society. Through his callousness toward his mother's death, his indifference toward Marie's love, and his wish for the hatred of the crowd, Meursault can be seen in an evil light because these actions go against society's values.

Commentary: This intro is a step up because it makes a better character choice and shows more knowledge of writing in that it contains the typical three-pronged topic sentence leading to a structured five paragraph theme. This type of intro tends to lead to an essay getting a B or C.

The “A” Example: In Albert Camus' The Stranger, the protagonist Meursault is portrayed as a complex character who serves as Camus' spokesman for the philosophy of existentialism. On the basis of actions alone, one might arrive at the conclusion that Meursault is either immoral or evil: Meursault failed to show emotion at his mother's funeral and killed an Arab on the beach. However, by allowing the reader to identify with Meursault, by showing his apathy toward life as a motive for his actions, and by showing his change in character to one that appreciates and misses his old life, Camus allows the reader to sympathize with Meursault more than if these elements had been left out.

Commentary: The student has already completed the double pronged AP task in the first paragraph. The student is at leisure now to develop his points in the time and space remaining. This type of thorough opener usually leads to a high score (7,8). It has the plenitude of detail that reveals intelligence at work. Also there are signs of competence in literary and general vocabulary ("protagonist" and "apathy") as well as excellent use of punctuation (How many students can write a sentence correctly using colons?)  However, what this paragraph needs to move up to a nine is more stylistic pizzazz (notice how all of the above paragraphs began with the same phrase -- multiply that by the number of essays a grader reads in a day, between 100 and 200, and it will become evident why creativity in the first paragraph is water on the desert of dry student writing). If this essay continues to be strong and adds humor or develops a stronger more independent voice, it might move up to an A!

 Here is some thesis statements templantes to help you develop your prose:

Thesis Statement Templates

Prose/Open Response Example #1: 

              (Insert author’s name) presents readers with _________________________ as a means of __________________________.  Through the use of __________________________, ____________________________, and _________________________ he/she demonstrates the necessity for human beings to ________________________.  However, this becomes more complicated because___________________________.  Therefore, (Insert author’s name) uses ________________________ to make his/her point that in order to ____________________ one must ___________________________.

Prose/Open Response Example #2: 

              In the art of fiction, an author may choose to utilize (insert literary device) as a means of ________________________________.  (Insert author’s name) takes this device to another level in _____________________________ by revealing  _____________________________ through the use of _________________________.  Through the course of the novel/play, ____________________________________.  However, by the end of the work ___________________ ________________. Therefore, (insert author’s name) utilizes (insert literary device) to make the point _________________________________________________.

Prose/Open Response Example #3: 

              Often novelists/playwrights _________________________________.  However, (insert author’s name) chooses to ______________________________________ in his her novel/play ____________________________ in order to reveal _________________________________________ about (insert theme).  While on the surface it may appear _________________________, by the end of the work, (insert author’s name) proves __________________

______________________________.  Therefore, ______________________________________________________________________.

Here are exmaples from the MLA Stylebook to help you build your Works Cited:

MLA Format

Overview:  Below are a few key definitions and examples you would commonly use when citing works in MLA format.  For further information, consult the complete MLA Handbook, 8^th Ed.

Book (one author)

Author’s last name, Author’s first name. Title. Place: Pub, Year.

Mills, Fred. Cooking for a Fit Life. New York: Dell, 1993.

Book (two or more authors)

Author’s last name, Author’s first name, and Author’s first name Author’s

last name. Title. Place: Pub, Year.

Mills, Fred, and Glenn Davis. Cooking for a Healthy Lifestyle. New York: Dell,

1998.

Book (with editor)

Author’s last name, Author’s first name. Title. Ed. Editor’s first name

Editor’s last name. Place: Pub, Year.

Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Ed. Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine. New

York: Washington Square-Pocket, 1992.

Entire Website

Website Title. Ed. Editor of Site. Date Created or Updated. Sponsoring Institution. Access date <URL>.

History Channel.com. 2007. History Channel. 14 May 2007 <http://www.historychannel.com/>.

Virtual Renaissance. Ed. Bonnie Marszalek. 23 Aug. 2004. Indiana U. 28 Apr. 2005

<http://www.district96.k12.il.us/Renaissance.html>.

Website Document

Author’s last name, Author’s first name. “Article Title.” Information about print

publication. Information about electronic publication (Sponsoring

Institution). Access information (date accessed, URL).

Class Notes

Lecturer last name, first name. Course. Location. Date of lecture.

Stewart, Ms. Class Notes. English 3 Honors/IB. Trabuco Hills High School, Mission

Viejo. 26 Sept. 2003.

Email

Author last name, Author first name. "Subject of the message" E-mail

to person's name. Date of the message.

Neyhart, David. "Re: Online Tutoring." E-mail to Joe Barbato. 1 Dec. 2000.

Lecture or Speech

Speakers Last Name, Speaker’s First Name. “Title of Presentation.”

Sponsoring Organization. Location. Date.

Harris, Muriel. "Writing Labs: A Short History." 2003 Writing Center

Conference. National Writing Centers Association. La Swank Hotel,

Seattle. 28 Mar. 2003.

Interviews

Personal Interview done by researcher:

Interviewee last name, Interviewee first name. Personal Interview. Date of

interview.

Purdue, Pete. Personal Interview. 1 Dec. 2000.

Interviews on television or radio:

Interviewee last name, Interviewee first name. “Title of Episode.” Title of

Radio or Television show on which the interview appeared. Name of

the Network. City of the station. Broadcast Date.

Clinton, Bill. “An American Legend.” Oprah Winfrey Show. CBS. New York.

3 Mar. 1998.

Advertisement

Name of product or company. Advertisement. Publication information.

Lufthansa. Advertisement. Time. 20 Nov. 2000: 151.

Television or radio program

“Title of episode.” Title of program. Name of network. Call letters of station,

City. Broadcast date.

"The Blessing Way." The X-Files. Fox. WXIA, Atlanta. 19 Jul. 1998.

Video recording or DVD

Title. Director, Producer, and/or Writer. Medium. Distributor, Year.

The Usual Suspects. Dir. Bryan Singer. Perf. Kevin Spacey, Gabriel Byrne,

Chazz Palminteri, Stephen Baldwin, and Benecio del Toro. DVD. Polygram,

1995.

Photograph (personal)

Description of subject, location. Photographer. Date taken.

Saint Paul’s Cathedral, London. Personal photograph by author. 7 Mar. 2003.

Photograph (Internet)

Artist’s name. Title of work. Institution that houses work or owner of collection,

City. Access date <URL>.

Evans, Walker. Penny Picture Display. 1936. Museum of Mod. Art, New York. 30 May

2002 <http://www.moma.org/collection/evans.penny.html>.

Sound recording

Title of performer. Title of recording (or works included). Manufacturer, date of

release.

U2. All That You Can't Leave Behind. Interscope, 2000.

Film

Title. Dir. Director’s name. Perf. Performer’s name(s). Distributor, year of

release.

The Usual Suspects. Dir. Bryan Singer. Perf. Kevin Spacey,

Gabriel Byrne, Chazz Palminteri, Stephen Baldwin, and

Benecio del Toro. Polygram, 1995.

This is what your prose will look like:

Sample Text and Works Cited

Culminating in the doctors’ diagnosis, Louise Mallard is the subject of and subject to the masculine discourse of the story. This masculine discourse, which finally pronounces her dead, is fixed at the beginning of the story. She is introduced as “Mrs. Mallard” (Chopin 1). The character is referred to as “she” for most of the narrative, and it is only when Louise has become “free! Body and soul free!” is she addressed directly in the text and by her own name (2). But this denomination, as well as the change it embodies, is short-lived. Louise’s status as “wife” is reestablished at once in the story’s language and in Louise’s life when Brently comes in “view of his wife” (3).

Louise’s medical condition is the narrative construct of a masculine world as well: The male-dominated medical profession identifies, yet is impotent in treating, her heart trouble. It is her perceived frailty that prompts Richards’s chivalric intercession. Critics note that the narrator observes childlike behaviors in the first half of the story, and that a maturation occurs at its midterm, to which Louise can never return. (Jago 23-24).  Likewise, her marriage exemplifies the status of women in the early twentieth century in that the woman is subject to the patriarch’s “powerful will bending hers” (Chopin 2) Although Brently “had never looked save with love upon her,” he disregarded Louise’s happiness: The “lines [of her face] bespoke repression” (2).

However, this idea is amplified decades before when Elizabeth dismisses Lady Catherine’s admission that she would destroying Darcy’s reputation and entering a new sphere of society beyond her own, by stating emphatically, “In marrying your nephew, I should not consider myself as quitting that sphere. He is a gentleman; I am a gentleman's daughter; so far we are equal." (Pride 361).  In her novel, Sense and Sensibility, both Dashwood sisters have their entire future happiness staked on marriage, as Eleanor eloquently points out to a helpless Edward Ferrars who implies they are equal, stating, “but you will inherit your fortune, and we cannot even buy ours” (54).

 Here is what your Works Cited Should look like:

Works Cited

Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. Leamington Spa: Scholastic, 2007. Print.

Austen, Jane. Sense & Sensibility. Leamington Spa: Scholastic, 2007. Print.

Chopin, Kate. “The Story of an Hour.” The Awakening and Selected Stories, 1899. Print.

Jago, Carol. Classics in the Classroom: Designing Accessible Literature Lessons.

              Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2004. Print.

Lipman, Matthew. Thinking in Education. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1991. Print.

Moreno, Roxana. Educational Psychology. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons,

              Inc., 2010. Print.

Smagorinsky, Peter. Teaching English by Design: How to Create and Carry Out Instructional

              Units. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2008. Print.

Wiggins, Grant P., and Jay McTighe. Understanding by Design. Alexandria, VA: Association for

              Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1998. Print.