Hello class, welcome to my second blog post of the year. (Sorry for the delay)
During our last English Literature lesson of this half term we looked at the controversial topic of 'Villains'. As we came into the classroom we were asked to write down what makes a good villain in our own opinions.
Here are some of the points I came up with :
A good villain is someone who uses people's flaws and discrete weaknesses to bring them down, as opposed to brute strength.
A successful villain is always more complex and generally intriguing than the hero.
There must be a valid reason as to why the anti-hero became a villain in the first place.
Villains are not bound by any rules, the way heroes are, which is truly fascinating because technically anyone can be a villain is we let go of our boundaries.
Next, in groups of three, or in some cases four, we looked at Iago's soliloquy from Act 2 Scene 3 (which you can find on page 87 of the 'Othello' book), after reading his speech in turns we then decided upon the most important word from each line. This is what my group ended up with:
play
honest
thinking
win
subdue
framed
element
renounce
redeemed
infiltrated
unmake
God
villain
counsel
divinity
devils
suggest
fool
Desdemona
pleads
pestilence
lust
strives
credit
virtue
net
enmesh
The point of this exercise was for us to see what Iago's speech reveals about him as a character, here he talks about playing the role of the villain which suggests that in reality he might only be acting evil. Another thing that comes through in his soliloquy is the Iago's dual personality as at some points he talks of his monstrous plan of bringing Othello down through Cassio and Desdemona, however he then goes on to talk about the valid advise that he has given to Cassio in order for him to get his position back.A conclusion that I, personally came to is that, although Iago has the greatest iteraction with the audience, as he is the only character who directly speaks to the public we know nothing about him. He is very much hidden away behind the mask on a villain.
Mr Sadgrove then introduced the class to the literary concept of antithesis. According to dictionary.com antithesis is :
opposition; contrast: the antithesis of right and wrong.
the direct opposite (usually fol. by of or to ): Her behavior was the very antithesis of cowardly.
Rhetoric .
a. the placing of a sentence or one of its parts against another to which it is opposed to form a balanced contrast of ideas, as in “Give me liberty or give me death.”
b. the second sentence or part thus set in opposition, as “or give me death.”
The use of antithesis confirms the idea that Iago posseses a dual-personality, we can also see throught his linguistic flexability, more specificaly- his ability to change from speaking in verse to prose. This means that he can adapt to any situation, whether it requires him so speak to someone of a higher status like Othello or a commoner like Roderigo.
Earlier during the lesson Mr Sadgrove asked us whether we thought Iago was a believable character or just a dramatic devise that Shakespeare uses to move the narrative along. We came to the conlcusion that we would possibly understand Iago better at the end of the play, when his motives might finally be revealed, because at this point he remains a mystery.
We then listened to the rest of Act 2 Scene 3.
Finnaly, we were asked to write down three things that we had learned about Iago as a villain thins lesson, two questions we had about him and analogy for Iago.
Now the part you've all been waiting for- the homework.
1. Complete the worksheet titled 'Analysing Iago's soliloquy Act 2 Scene 3 Lines 303 - 329'.
2. Write an essay on 'What does Iago's soliloquy reveal about him as a tragic villain?
-Refer to Renaissance views of what tragedy is and the role of a tragic villain.
(Research Machiavelli and Machiavellian villains) (AO4)
-Analyse language, structure and form in detail
(Refer to antithesis, repetition, imagery, rhyming couplets etc) (AO2)
Show that you are aware of different interpretations other than your own.
That is all, hope you all enjoy your holidays because they won't last for long.
Much love,
Aleksandra...
Tuesday 26 October 2010
Thursday 21 October 2010
Requiem and its relation to the story of Death of A salesman
20 October 2010:
CONTENTS:
1- Homework
2- Requiem
3- Group discussion
4- Is Willy a Tragic hero?
5- Bonus Task
1 –Homework: (Due After Half Term)
Essay Question:
“Is Willy Loman A tragic hero?
Research Question:
Find out Expressionism & Realism in theatre
Question:
What is the flute all about?
2 –Requiem:
Definition:
A mass (Catholic celebration) where people honour/ pray for dead person
Point of the requiem is… (Continue sentence):
- Why did Miller include it?
- What additional information do we learn about Willy?
- Why is this important?
- Does it tell us anything else about what Miller is trying to say with his play?
Why is it used? (Millers viewpoint):
“But the key is in the requiem at the end”
“What is the point of a funeral? You want to think over the life of the departed and it’s in there. Really, that it’s nailed down: he won’t accept his life.”
“However I did not realize while writing the play that so many people in the world do not see as clearly, or would not admit, as I thought they must, how futile most lives are; so there could be no hope of consoling the audience for the death of this man.”
“This man is actually a very brave spirit who cannot settle for half but must pursue his dream of himself to the end. That this was no dumb brute heading mindlessly to his catastrophe.”
My Interpretations:
Willy’s death in this story is not because he has given up on life as most people have thought. But in fact he is defying it. As a man who cannot accept defeat (even if it was going wrong) “a very brave spirit who cannot settle for half but must pursue his dream of himself to the end”. His death was to express his raging (mentioned in previous Death of a salesman blog) His death also proves that it has been planned for a long time and he knows he has died for a reason giving his family a new fresh start in life “this was no dumb brute heading mindlessly to his catastrophe.”
3- Group Discussion (Analysing Characters Viewpoints on Willy’s life):
Biff:
- He never saw his dad “winning” so he tells the others not to blame him for killing himself.
- But Deep down He sees his father as a liar and a fake
o Blaming him for everything which altered his life
o He has been prevented from seeing his strengths and weaknesses clearly (stuck in mentality of teenager)
o Realises Willy’s death is trying to take control of his life
- “He Didn’t know himself”
- Forgetting that the stoop was constructed from stolen materials, Biff muses fondly, "there's more of him in that front stoop than in all the sales he ever made.“
Charley:
- Didn’t know charley as well as his family though he cared for him
- Relates to American Dream (successful)
- Biff & Charley conflicts their views about the American dream
o Biff: Understands failures of it
o Charley: Bought in to it more
- Charley understands Willy’s death as a sacrifice for his sons “ nobody dast blame this man” having a more objective viewpoint
o And for a salesman, there is no rock bottom to the life. He don’t put a bolt to a nut, he don’t tell you the law or give you medicine. He’s a man way out there in the blue, riding on a smile and a shoeshine. And when they start not smiling back – that’s an earthquake. Nobody dast blame this man. A salesman is got to dream, boy. It comes with the territory.” (1264)
o Self contradictory, both realistic about forgiving and generous to Willy.
o Lack of foundation or substance to Willy’s dream and capitalism as a whole
Happy:
- Doesn’t understand why Willy took his own life instead of confiding with his family
o “Had no right to do it” “We would’ve helped him.” Empty promise
- Hopes to do Willy proud
o “He had a good dream” maintain Willy’s dream and his fight
- He Hints at regret; Not making the most of his time with his father
- “I’m gonna show you that Willy Loman didn’t die in vain.”
o Admires Willy’s dreams without admiring Willy himself
Linda:
- “Why didn’t anyone come?”
o Told a lot of stories about how successful Willy is, She half believed them
- “maybe they blame him” “they wouldn’t blame him”
o Switches between believing and not believing him. She is dutiful to the point of encouraging Willy in his delusions (gone on for long time)
- She has more authority over the two boys
- Her character epitomises Willy’s destructive path – blocking attitude.
4- -Is Willy Loman a tragic Hero?
How well does Willy match these criteria?
- born at the start of play
- king or leader of noble birth
- must suffer more than deserves
- faces and accepts death with honour
- learns from mistakes
- responsible for own fate
- falls from esteem
- realizes s/he made a mistake
- meets a tragic death
Yes:
- Miller argues that tragedy is not restricted to kings and queens
- the common man is capable of heroism and tragedy
- Miller's tragedy = The result of an individual's quest for personal dignity and occurs when an individual attempts to evaluate existence justly.
- tragic flaw = an unwillingness to submit passively to the established order and values
- in Willy's descent, there is a tragic paradox; for as he moves towards inevitable destruction, he acquires that knowledge, that sense of reconciliation, which allows him to conceive a redemptive plan for his house
- Loman, the contemporary her, embarks upon a most courageous Odyssey: the descent into the self, where he engages his most dangerous enemy, himself.
No:
- In the traditional sense, Willy is neither noble nor heroic
- does not measure up to the stature of a great and good man
- a small man, a mere failure who does not have the sufficient grace to warrant universal concern
- doesn't have just one tragic flaw - he has many (disloyal, headstrong, short tempered, proud, false, etc)
- common man is not of high stature
5- Bonus Task:
- Write a commentary on the requiem.
o ...showing what it adds to the play and what you feel about it as an ending.
There’s my blog hopefully this has helped you out
Good luck.
Criticism on blog will be good thanks.
Best wishes
Chris. 张
Wednesday 20 October 2010
At the beginning of the lesson we had to discuss in pairs reputation and these points:
How important it is to you.
How your reputation can change.
If you can lose it or gain it.
What the relationship is between your identity and your reputation.
We then had a class discussion with everyone having a different view on whether reputation was important or not, with Yahaya stating that 'your reputation was an indication of who you are'.
Sir then asked us to draw a character from the play and to write comments on the outside of the character that referred to how they acted publicly, and on the inside how they acted privately. On the board sir drew an example with Iago stating on the outside 'loyal to Othello', and on the inside Janus; the two faced God. This was to establish the dicotomy between the characters public and private life.
We then read the play and realised how short Act 2 scene 2 was and analused the effect of this. Act 2 scene 2 is a statement by the Herald announcing victory over the Turks and the marriage of Othello and Desdemona, sparking off celebrations on the island. We then started to read Act 2 scene 3 where Othello tells Cassio to keep guard the night of the celebration. Iago arrives and the scene momentarily changes to prose. Iago is trying to persuade Cassio to drink, he succeeds and then has another silioquay showing his intentions to shame Cassio by getting him to somehow offend the Isle of Cyprus.
We then got into groups of 4 to re-read Iago's sililoquay and stop everytime we reached a full stop. Everytime we stopped we discussed whether it was a key phrase or key words. We were then fortunate enought to have an interview with a rather annoying Iago who demonstrated Iago's ablilty to manipulate what we were saying and avoid our questions.
Iago repeatedly has these silioquays which interacts with the audience revealing his plans, consequently making the audience feel as if they are part fo Iago's plans.
We then continued to read Act 2 scene 3 where after Iago's sililoquay we see Iago, Cassio, Monatano and gentlemen breaki9ng into songs and Cassio feeling the worse for weather. The speech has changed to prose because Iago's and Cassio's conversation is a drunk one. Iago and Montano are having a conversation and Iago makes it appear as if Cassio is a drunk, Roderigo goes after Cassio where a fight ensues. Montano attempts to break up the fight where Cassio threatens to hit him aswell. Iago then acts to be the mediator between the three when Othello arrives. Iago uses very clever vocabulary to describe the situation and refer it to Othello who has just arrived; 'Bride and groom', 'disresting them for bed', all show Iago's ability to appeal to his audience with the language that he uses. It's a very good example of how Iago manipulates people solely with his language.
We see in this scene perhaps Othello starting to crack. At the beginning of the play Othello could stop a fight with just words. Now we see Othello does not know what to follow; his heart or his head, Iago could be finally getting to him. P.79.
Iago grasses up Cassio for starting the fight but is making it out as if he is on Cassio's side and downplay's what Cassio does to over-react to the situation and get angrier at Cassio then he originally would of. P.81.
Othello leaves stage with a rhyming couplet to give a more dramatic effect. Iago is left with Cassio where Cassio is breaking down because he lost his reputation which he describes as 'the immortal oart of himself'. Iago tries to reassure him reputation does not matter. The whole conversation is in prose once again highlighting Iago's ability to change his actions dependant on who he is talking to. Iago then tells Cassio to go to Desdemona in hope she will get him his job back, when in actual fact it's part of Iago's plan. Cassio then leaves the stage comincally calling Iago 'honest Iago'.
Sir then wanted us to write a plenary which;
-Had each characters thoughts on reputation
-What do their conflicting views reveal about them as a character and why is this significant?
HOMEWORK!!!
-Sir gave us a sheet detailing all our homework, this was;
1.... Page 79 - what do you think Othello means in the following quotes? 'now by heaven', 'my blood begins my safer guide to rule', 'And passion having my best judgement collied', and 'Assays to lead the way'.
2... Underline any words or phrases that show Othello's anger.
3... Is this a significant moment in the play? Why?
4... Write 2 paragraphs comparing Othello in Act 1 and Othello here in Act 2. How are they different? Focus on language - choose evidence from both acts and analyse Othello's imagery/ the words he uses - what is the effect of the language in each case?
SWEET PEOPLE
Leigh Martin!!!!!!
How important it is to you.
How your reputation can change.
If you can lose it or gain it.
What the relationship is between your identity and your reputation.
We then had a class discussion with everyone having a different view on whether reputation was important or not, with Yahaya stating that 'your reputation was an indication of who you are'.
Sir then asked us to draw a character from the play and to write comments on the outside of the character that referred to how they acted publicly, and on the inside how they acted privately. On the board sir drew an example with Iago stating on the outside 'loyal to Othello', and on the inside Janus; the two faced God. This was to establish the dicotomy between the characters public and private life.
We then read the play and realised how short Act 2 scene 2 was and analused the effect of this. Act 2 scene 2 is a statement by the Herald announcing victory over the Turks and the marriage of Othello and Desdemona, sparking off celebrations on the island. We then started to read Act 2 scene 3 where Othello tells Cassio to keep guard the night of the celebration. Iago arrives and the scene momentarily changes to prose. Iago is trying to persuade Cassio to drink, he succeeds and then has another silioquay showing his intentions to shame Cassio by getting him to somehow offend the Isle of Cyprus.
We then got into groups of 4 to re-read Iago's sililoquay and stop everytime we reached a full stop. Everytime we stopped we discussed whether it was a key phrase or key words. We were then fortunate enought to have an interview with a rather annoying Iago who demonstrated Iago's ablilty to manipulate what we were saying and avoid our questions.
Iago repeatedly has these silioquays which interacts with the audience revealing his plans, consequently making the audience feel as if they are part fo Iago's plans.
We then continued to read Act 2 scene 3 where after Iago's sililoquay we see Iago, Cassio, Monatano and gentlemen breaki9ng into songs and Cassio feeling the worse for weather. The speech has changed to prose because Iago's and Cassio's conversation is a drunk one. Iago and Montano are having a conversation and Iago makes it appear as if Cassio is a drunk, Roderigo goes after Cassio where a fight ensues. Montano attempts to break up the fight where Cassio threatens to hit him aswell. Iago then acts to be the mediator between the three when Othello arrives. Iago uses very clever vocabulary to describe the situation and refer it to Othello who has just arrived; 'Bride and groom', 'disresting them for bed', all show Iago's ability to appeal to his audience with the language that he uses. It's a very good example of how Iago manipulates people solely with his language.
We see in this scene perhaps Othello starting to crack. At the beginning of the play Othello could stop a fight with just words. Now we see Othello does not know what to follow; his heart or his head, Iago could be finally getting to him. P.79.
Iago grasses up Cassio for starting the fight but is making it out as if he is on Cassio's side and downplay's what Cassio does to over-react to the situation and get angrier at Cassio then he originally would of. P.81.
Othello leaves stage with a rhyming couplet to give a more dramatic effect. Iago is left with Cassio where Cassio is breaking down because he lost his reputation which he describes as 'the immortal oart of himself'. Iago tries to reassure him reputation does not matter. The whole conversation is in prose once again highlighting Iago's ability to change his actions dependant on who he is talking to. Iago then tells Cassio to go to Desdemona in hope she will get him his job back, when in actual fact it's part of Iago's plan. Cassio then leaves the stage comincally calling Iago 'honest Iago'.
Sir then wanted us to write a plenary which;
-Had each characters thoughts on reputation
-What do their conflicting views reveal about them as a character and why is this significant?
HOMEWORK!!!
-Sir gave us a sheet detailing all our homework, this was;
1.... Page 79 - what do you think Othello means in the following quotes? 'now by heaven', 'my blood begins my safer guide to rule', 'And passion having my best judgement collied', and 'Assays to lead the way'.
2... Underline any words or phrases that show Othello's anger.
3... Is this a significant moment in the play? Why?
4... Write 2 paragraphs comparing Othello in Act 1 and Othello here in Act 2. How are they different? Focus on language - choose evidence from both acts and analyse Othello's imagery/ the words he uses - what is the effect of the language in each case?
SWEET PEOPLE
Leigh Martin!!!!!!
Tuesday 19 October 2010
Last lesson we read the rest of "death of a salesman". We discussed the homework from the week before which was "who is responsible for the sons behaviour?" we came up with the idea that perhaps Willy was responsible for Biffs attitude towards life, work and woman now because the times that he needed his dad the most he was "doing" another woman.
We were then asked "Why is Willy such a nutter?". During the rest of the play willy is torn between two voices -the woman and his sons. the use of mobile concurrency helps us to understand Willys relationship with the woman and it has helped us understand why Biff has such an unstable relationship with his father. Biff feels that Willy has let him down big time by cheating on Linda.
Through the rest of the play it goes back and forth between Willys past(with the woman) and the present(with his sons). During this scene we are made aware that Willy tends to lie a lot, especially to Biff when he turns up at the hotel years ago while Willy was with "the woman". Willy uses lies such as:
We were then asked "Why is Willy such a nutter?". During the rest of the play willy is torn between two voices -the woman and his sons. the use of mobile concurrency helps us to understand Willys relationship with the woman and it has helped us understand why Biff has such an unstable relationship with his father. Biff feels that Willy has let him down big time by cheating on Linda.
Through the rest of the play it goes back and forth between Willys past(with the woman) and the present(with his sons). During this scene we are made aware that Willy tends to lie a lot, especially to Biff when he turns up at the hotel years ago while Willy was with "the woman". Willy uses lies such as:
- shes a buyer
- there knocking on the wrong door
- there's nobody there
- i just heard you -i was in the bathroom and the door was shut
- i think there's a law in massachussets
- no, thats next door there having a party
- their painting her room, i let her take a shower here
- They must have finished painting her room now
- there's no stockings here
While Willys thinks that he's back in the hotel room with his mistress everyone else in the present is concered about Willy and the noises that are coming from the bathroom. Willy realises he has offically hit rock bottem and there's no way up from where he is now and the only way to help his sons make something of themselves is by him killing himself. Stanley(a waiter) tries to help Willy up, and when Willy hands him money he refuses saying that the boys already paid him but Willy insists that Stanley take the money by saying "I don't need it anymore" this suggests that he doesn't plan on sticking around for too long and he has other plans(to die). Willy asks Stanley where he can buy seeds from because hes always wanted to plant something. Maybe Willy feels as though the plant will be a fresh start for him and perhaps if he puts more love and care into the plant then he wont ruin its life(like he did his sons). Maybe the plant represents a bit of hope that he has left, or his legacy because he doesn't have anything to be remembered by so perhaps the plant will remind people of him.
Willy is obviously angry through-out all the play, his rage is perhaps his own perception of what sucess is and he knows exactly what he wants and if anything changes or its not what he wants he gets angry. For example when Linda brought the wrong cheese he completly over-reacted. Willy finally acknowledges the fact that hes hit rock bottem and feels that he has nothing to live for, and if he kills himself then Biff will recieve £20,000 which will help him start up a new business to actually make something of his life.
Willy then kills himself.
Homework - (due 20th october 2010)
"to what extent are Biff and Happy's lives a product of their father failed ambitions?"
COMMENT ON THE BLOG!
shiva :) xx
Wednesday 13 October 2010
The relation of Atheism to 'The Death of a Salesman'
Hello Class...
This lesson we started of by discussing the homework from the previous lesson, which was comment on our views about the Atheism tapes on Esmeralda's blog post.We split into groups of three and thought of one argument that we found can relate to the play.
Here is what we came up with:
'Losing faith'- people can easily change despite strong beliefs.
Adversity can shake faith.
Religion can help in some situations.
Without moral authority life could be seen as pointless.
We then talked about Arthur Miller's view that having belief in God is a 'talent', this relates to 'The Death of a Salesman' in the sense that Arthur Miller had lost faith in God just like Willy Loman had lost faith in the American Dream.
Mr Chatterley then presented the class with the word introspect, the following definition was provided by dictionary.com :
1. verb (used without object)- to practice introspection; consider one's own internal state or feelings.
2. verb (used with object)- to look into or examine (one's own mind, feelings, etc.).
We were then asked the question: "Why is religion not overly mentioned in 'Death of a Salesman'?". Below is a selection of the answers given.
Roman:Religion was not important.
Tamsin: Religion was irrelevant, Miller would be contradicting himself.
Aisha: Miller wanted to be different from other playwrights.
Saways: Atheism was common in the recession, faith was lost in the moral authority, just the way Willy lost faith in Capitalism and the American Dream.
Chris C: Miller being let down by religion is similar to Willy being let down by Capitalism, as he lost everything he had been working for at once.
Daniel: Holy books were only written so that events would be remembered, Willy wants to be remembered by everyone.
Something interesting that we came across was the fact that the man who inspired Willy Loman to become a salesman was called Dave Singleman, this is no coincidence because as Mr Chatterley pointed out that Arthur Miller was a man who thought through every detail of his work. The name suggests that this truly successful salesman lead a lonely existence, which implies that in order for Willy to reach his dream he would have to not be a part of a family as the two things clash.
We then looked at the word 'Meme' which means :
an idea or element of social behaviour passed on through generations in a culture, esp by imitation . (Definition once again courtesy of dictionary.com)The word links into the theory of capitalism because it is a self-reproducing belief.
Another idea that we were faced with was 'to die for your beliefs', we had to think about whether Willy was a martyr or not.
Then as a class we read pages 73-91 of the play.
During pauses in between reading we answered questions about what certain behaviour implies about the characters, in particular:
The boys lying to impress girls.
The way Willy talks about Oliver (the man Biff was supposed to have a meeting with)
Willy's unusual exit.
The last thing we discussed was the use of mobile concurrency during the restaurant scene, where Willy's argument with Biff triggered his flashback of Biff flunking maths during his senior year of high school.
Now for the homework, there is a choice of two activities with the title"These boys are useless..."
1. Write a mini-essay on the topic.
2. Imagine you overhear the Loman's neighbours talking about the boys like this and write a script about what they would say.
The homework is due in next lesson (Friday October 15th)
Lastly, for anyone who has not seen the Atheism tapes here is a link to them : http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6439076214112083310#
Comments will be highly appreciated.
Much love, Aleksandra
This lesson we started of by discussing the homework from the previous lesson, which was comment on our views about the Atheism tapes on Esmeralda's blog post.We split into groups of three and thought of one argument that we found can relate to the play.
Here is what we came up with:
'Losing faith'- people can easily change despite strong beliefs.
Adversity can shake faith.
Religion can help in some situations.
Without moral authority life could be seen as pointless.
We then talked about Arthur Miller's view that having belief in God is a 'talent', this relates to 'The Death of a Salesman' in the sense that Arthur Miller had lost faith in God just like Willy Loman had lost faith in the American Dream.
Mr Chatterley then presented the class with the word introspect, the following definition was provided by dictionary.com :
1. verb (used without object)- to practice introspection; consider one's own internal state or feelings.
2. verb (used with object)- to look into or examine (one's own mind, feelings, etc.).
We were then asked the question: "Why is religion not overly mentioned in 'Death of a Salesman'?". Below is a selection of the answers given.
Roman:Religion was not important.
Tamsin: Religion was irrelevant, Miller would be contradicting himself.
Aisha: Miller wanted to be different from other playwrights.
Saways: Atheism was common in the recession, faith was lost in the moral authority, just the way Willy lost faith in Capitalism and the American Dream.
Chris C: Miller being let down by religion is similar to Willy being let down by Capitalism, as he lost everything he had been working for at once.
Daniel: Holy books were only written so that events would be remembered, Willy wants to be remembered by everyone.
Something interesting that we came across was the fact that the man who inspired Willy Loman to become a salesman was called Dave Singleman, this is no coincidence because as Mr Chatterley pointed out that Arthur Miller was a man who thought through every detail of his work. The name suggests that this truly successful salesman lead a lonely existence, which implies that in order for Willy to reach his dream he would have to not be a part of a family as the two things clash.
We then looked at the word 'Meme' which means :
an idea or element of social behaviour passed on through generations in a culture, esp by imitation . (Definition once again courtesy of dictionary.com)The word links into the theory of capitalism because it is a self-reproducing belief.
Another idea that we were faced with was 'to die for your beliefs', we had to think about whether Willy was a martyr or not.
Then as a class we read pages 73-91 of the play.
During pauses in between reading we answered questions about what certain behaviour implies about the characters, in particular:
The boys lying to impress girls.
The way Willy talks about Oliver (the man Biff was supposed to have a meeting with)
Willy's unusual exit.
The last thing we discussed was the use of mobile concurrency during the restaurant scene, where Willy's argument with Biff triggered his flashback of Biff flunking maths during his senior year of high school.
Now for the homework, there is a choice of two activities with the title"These boys are useless..."
1. Write a mini-essay on the topic.
2. Imagine you overhear the Loman's neighbours talking about the boys like this and write a script about what they would say.
The homework is due in next lesson (Friday October 15th)
Lastly, for anyone who has not seen the Atheism tapes here is a link to them : http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6439076214112083310#
Comments will be highly appreciated.
Much love, Aleksandra
Act 2-‘the gathering of a storm’
We started with the lesson by brain storming ‘A Storm’ and what it symbolises in literature (with a beautiful storm musical for effect).
We then had to draw three pictures to illustrate the three scenes in act one. Sir read out passages from each scene which we tried to picture and draw. In this task we were allowed to use speech bubbles. I cannot upload my outstanding art work but here are the passages:
‘Iago and Roderigo inform Brabantio that his daughter has secretly married Othello. ‘- Scene 1
‘Othello is called to the council on an urgent military business; Brabantio accuses Othello of casting a spell on his daughter’- Scene 2
‘Iago plots revenge, the senate discusses about the war and sends Othello’- Scene 3
Moving on, we read act 2 scene two.We then had to pick out descriptions of Othello from the perspective of Cassio and the governor of Cyprus (Montano). We found that they thought well of him as they described him in a positive manner. For example, Cassio refers to him as ‘Brave Othello’ while Montana declares ‘man commands like a full soldier’. This is significant as he seems to be accepted despite being black. However, this can also be interpreted as Shakespeare playing with dramatic irony because Othello is often referred to by name. This brings up the idea of dichotomy, the split of two things, because though they praise him in public they may think the opposite in private.
We then analysed page 53 by choosing words that are used to describe Desdemona. It was not surprising to find her being described as ‘one excels the quirks of blazing pens’ and being compared to ‘the grace of heaven’, this conforms to the paragon description women received during the renaissance. On the other hand, her description also conveys the stereotype of women being possessions. Desdemona is associated with treasure as her father Brabantio calls her a ‘jewel’ in act 1. This belief is reinforced in act 2 because Cassio lauds Othello for having ‘achieved’ Desdemona . The implication here is that she is a prize or an ornament as Othello has won her. Overall, we concluded that Desdemona was the catalyst causing or triggering Othello’s death as she is ‘the captain’s captain’; she seems tempting could therefore cause trouble.
We had to answer the following Questions:
I. What did you learn today about Othello?
II. What you did not understand?
III. What you find difficult?
Homework:
Write 10 questions that you would ask Iago in an interview, as he will pop in for a chat next lesson.
Aisha Moallim
We started with the lesson by brain storming ‘A Storm’ and what it symbolises in literature (with a beautiful storm musical for effect).
We then had to draw three pictures to illustrate the three scenes in act one. Sir read out passages from each scene which we tried to picture and draw. In this task we were allowed to use speech bubbles. I cannot upload my outstanding art work but here are the passages:
‘Iago and Roderigo inform Brabantio that his daughter has secretly married Othello. ‘- Scene 1
‘Othello is called to the council on an urgent military business; Brabantio accuses Othello of casting a spell on his daughter’- Scene 2
‘Iago plots revenge, the senate discusses about the war and sends Othello’- Scene 3
Moving on, we read act 2 scene two.We then had to pick out descriptions of Othello from the perspective of Cassio and the governor of Cyprus (Montano). We found that they thought well of him as they described him in a positive manner. For example, Cassio refers to him as ‘Brave Othello’ while Montana declares ‘man commands like a full soldier’. This is significant as he seems to be accepted despite being black. However, this can also be interpreted as Shakespeare playing with dramatic irony because Othello is often referred to by name. This brings up the idea of dichotomy, the split of two things, because though they praise him in public they may think the opposite in private.
We then analysed page 53 by choosing words that are used to describe Desdemona. It was not surprising to find her being described as ‘one excels the quirks of blazing pens’ and being compared to ‘the grace of heaven’, this conforms to the paragon description women received during the renaissance. On the other hand, her description also conveys the stereotype of women being possessions. Desdemona is associated with treasure as her father Brabantio calls her a ‘jewel’ in act 1. This belief is reinforced in act 2 because Cassio lauds Othello for having ‘achieved’ Desdemona . The implication here is that she is a prize or an ornament as Othello has won her. Overall, we concluded that Desdemona was the catalyst causing or triggering Othello’s death as she is ‘the captain’s captain’; she seems tempting could therefore cause trouble.
We had to answer the following Questions:
I. What did you learn today about Othello?
II. What you did not understand?
III. What you find difficult?
Homework:
Write 10 questions that you would ask Iago in an interview, as he will pop in for a chat next lesson.
Aisha Moallim
Wednesday 6 October 2010
?
We began our lesson by getting into pairs, in those pairs we had one partner being a boss whilst another being an employee wanting a raise. The boss would then have to think of reasons as to why he/she wouldn't give the employee a raise.
We then read the book.
After reading it we all had to re-write some of the passage saying what the characters were thinking rather then what they were saying.
My one went like :
(Willy in Howard's office)
Howard: Oh god it's you.
Willy: I need to speak to you.
Howard: Ahh doesn't my daughter have such a beautiful voice?
Willy: I really need to speak to you!
Howard: And my boy is so damn clever, will you just leave already.
Willy: What on earth is that?
Howard: Well i bought it for dictation, it's an amazing machine, but i doubt that you can afford one.
Willy: I could get one, but I don't want one.
Howard: Well you should, it can record radio shows if you miss them.
Willy: That would be good for me, as am always driving and missing them.
Howard: Can't you afford a radio in your car?
Willy: I have it, I just don't use it.
Howard: Wait a minute, why are you not in Boston?
Willy: Because I really need to talk to you about a raise.
Howard: Yes but you should be there, you lost it again eh?
Willy: No! of-course not!
Howard: Oh thank god! Your getting old.
Willy: I've had enough of it, I don't want to travel no more.
Howard: Why on earth not?
Willy: But, remember Christmas you said you would give me a desk job?
Howard: Oh did i, well cant give you one no space.
Willy: But me and your father were so-
Howard: Yes that was then this is now.
Willy: Please, I need this raise.
Howard: No.
Willy: But me and your father-
Howard: No.
Willy: Let me tell you this story-
Howard: Seriously NO, business is business.
Willy: I'll work for fifty dollars please am begging!
Howard: Am sorry, but no.
Willy: 40 dollars, I'll work for anything just pleas give me the job, and am so good at my job.
Howard: No your not, now i must go and get away from you!
Howard exits
Willy: I really need to impress him, desperately need this raise.
Howard: (rushing in) Your still here, you know what you need a break-
Willy: No please done fire me!
Howard: I don't want you to work for us.
Willy: I can't believe your firing me.
Howard: You need to go and relax.
Willy: But I'm broke, i need money.
Howard: Get your two sons to help you.
Willy: Yeah sure thing, like they can help.
Howard: Well I'm sorry, I just cant have you working for us anymore.
Willy: Please this is my life!
Howard: Am busy now. Goodbye.
The end
This was the lesson; for homework we have to comment on my awesome blog on the videos which are in the Chatterley folder located in the W drive.
Esmeralda ;)
We then read the book.
After reading it we all had to re-write some of the passage saying what the characters were thinking rather then what they were saying.
My one went like :
(Willy in Howard's office)
Howard: Oh god it's you.
Willy: I need to speak to you.
Howard: Ahh doesn't my daughter have such a beautiful voice?
Willy: I really need to speak to you!
Howard: And my boy is so damn clever, will you just leave already.
Willy: What on earth is that?
Howard: Well i bought it for dictation, it's an amazing machine, but i doubt that you can afford one.
Willy: I could get one, but I don't want one.
Howard: Well you should, it can record radio shows if you miss them.
Willy: That would be good for me, as am always driving and missing them.
Howard: Can't you afford a radio in your car?
Willy: I have it, I just don't use it.
Howard: Wait a minute, why are you not in Boston?
Willy: Because I really need to talk to you about a raise.
Howard: Yes but you should be there, you lost it again eh?
Willy: No! of-course not!
Howard: Oh thank god! Your getting old.
Willy: I've had enough of it, I don't want to travel no more.
Howard: Why on earth not?
Willy: But, remember Christmas you said you would give me a desk job?
Howard: Oh did i, well cant give you one no space.
Willy: But me and your father were so-
Howard: Yes that was then this is now.
Willy: Please, I need this raise.
Howard: No.
Willy: But me and your father-
Howard: No.
Willy: Let me tell you this story-
Howard: Seriously NO, business is business.
Willy: I'll work for fifty dollars please am begging!
Howard: Am sorry, but no.
Willy: 40 dollars, I'll work for anything just pleas give me the job, and am so good at my job.
Howard: No your not, now i must go and get away from you!
Howard exits
Willy: I really need to impress him, desperately need this raise.
Howard: (rushing in) Your still here, you know what you need a break-
Willy: No please done fire me!
Howard: I don't want you to work for us.
Willy: I can't believe your firing me.
Howard: You need to go and relax.
Willy: But I'm broke, i need money.
Howard: Get your two sons to help you.
Willy: Yeah sure thing, like they can help.
Howard: Well I'm sorry, I just cant have you working for us anymore.
Willy: Please this is my life!
Howard: Am busy now. Goodbye.
The end
This was the lesson; for homework we have to comment on my awesome blog on the videos which are in the Chatterley folder located in the W drive.
Esmeralda ;)
Seeds of Tragedy (5/10/10)
We started off the lesson with a task involving facebook updates, but of course, no actual facebook. We were asked to write a comment about Othello, based on what we know, and literally give any opinion about him that came to mind. A few opinions were given, but cause I’m not that fast of a scribe I’ll share my opinion: that Othello is a man of false modesty, as he often talks down about himself and his achievements, but then quotes the in his favour, and possibly even pride, to boost his footing when describing his tale to the Duke.We then discussed a few things to do with writing essays, which when simplified comes out as:
• Use examples from the text, in quotes, and then integrate them into the Essay.
• Stay on task, and don’t ramble. Be sure to always link back to the question.
• Use Word-Level Analysis, basically analyse the words in the quotes with exquisite detail
• Be sure to paragraph, organise your points into them to make it flow, rather than stutter.
After that was discussed, we started, and hopefully finished this task- that if done properly, could be a paragraph in our impending essay
(Mentioned later on):
Task: What does Othello’s Speech reveal about him in both public and private terms?
• Use evidence from the speech, integrate it, then analyse it in detail
• Write at least half a page.
Just put that in there to (1) Take up space, and (2) Fill in anyone who wasn’t there to ‘experience’ it. I recommend doing this for practice if you weren’t there, due to what happened next... We then did the ‘Two Stars and Wish’ system, where we reviewed our own work and decided upon two good points and one thing that we need to work on- which would in turn help us with the essays.
As a fun example, I put my stars as:
• Successfully integrated evidence into the text
• Linked to the question, to a questionable degree of success.
And my Wish was:
• Could have analysed d in much more detail, and should get in more practice to help out with that. And of course, get to the point faster.
Then we went through more of Scene 1 in Othello, and I’m pretty sure that we finished it. We all came across some interesting points whilst going through and here’s what I got down. From Lines 187-196, Brabantio gives his speech about Desdemona, and uses repetition to emphasise his broken heart- the repeating of ‘I have done’ and ‘All my Heart’ show how he has given up on his daughter altogether, and from his speech we can see how dramatically this has affected him. Then we were informed that we are attune to any changes in the situation, and this affects our mood- like a change in lighting or music in a movie may signal an approaching terror or upcoming joy. This is seen when the Duke speaks to Brabantio about the situation with Desdemona and Othello, as he uses a rhyming couplet, in verse, to signal the end of the situation, and alert us to a change in tone. For those of you who are interested, this was:
“To mourn the mischief that is past and gone”
“Is the next way to draw mischief on”
This can be observed again after that point, when that particular issue is brought up. It can be speculated that this is a differentiation from ‘Public’ and ‘Private’ affairs.
Now for some quick notes about various helpful thingies:
• Dramatic Irony: When the Audience clearly knows more than a character on stage. Can be seen when Othello proclaims Iago as “a man of honesty and trust”, and at various other points..
• Prose: Normal Speech, as me or you would talk.
• Verse: 10 Beats per line, and possibly rhyming. Can be seen to signal a change of tone.
• Soliloquy: A speech in which a character, alone on the stage, expresses his thoughts and feelings.
And finally, the H/W was:
Essay 1: How does Act 1 of Othello establish the tragedy?
• AO1 – Articulate creative, informed and relevant responses to literary texts, using appropriate terminology and concepts and coherent, accurate written expression.
• AO2 – Demonstrate detailed critical understanding in analysing the ways in which structure, form and language shape meanings in literary texts.
• AO3 – Explore connections and comparisons between different literary texts, informed by interpretations of other readers.
• AO4 – Demonstrate understanding of the significance and influence of the contexts in which literary texts are written and received.
Also, things to consider for your Essays may be:
• Iago as a Character/ 2 Faced? Using Roderigo, Manipulating Brabantio? Villainous?
• Racial Language/Stereotypes
• Othello’s name unused for the entirety of Scene 1
• Othello as a Tragic Hero (What this means, Quotes from Speeches?)
• Foreboding, Dramatic Irony, Iago’s Soliloquy
• Othello’s trusting nature.
Heres a link to something we did in Class, if it doesn't work, please say so <_<
https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B-jCyWPORublOTk3ZTdiMGEtNjFiYy00ZjI3LTliZjgtM2UzMzc3MzBhM2E3&hl=en&authkey=CKHurJ4O
Thanks all, D. Hughes (:3)
• Use examples from the text, in quotes, and then integrate them into the Essay.
• Stay on task, and don’t ramble. Be sure to always link back to the question.
• Use Word-Level Analysis, basically analyse the words in the quotes with exquisite detail
• Be sure to paragraph, organise your points into them to make it flow, rather than stutter.
After that was discussed, we started, and hopefully finished this task- that if done properly, could be a paragraph in our impending essay
(Mentioned later on):
Task: What does Othello’s Speech reveal about him in both public and private terms?
• Use evidence from the speech, integrate it, then analyse it in detail
• Write at least half a page.
Just put that in there to (1) Take up space, and (2) Fill in anyone who wasn’t there to ‘experience’ it. I recommend doing this for practice if you weren’t there, due to what happened next... We then did the ‘Two Stars and Wish’ system, where we reviewed our own work and decided upon two good points and one thing that we need to work on- which would in turn help us with the essays.
As a fun example, I put my stars as:
• Successfully integrated evidence into the text
• Linked to the question, to a questionable degree of success.
And my Wish was:
• Could have analysed d in much more detail, and should get in more practice to help out with that. And of course, get to the point faster.
Then we went through more of Scene 1 in Othello, and I’m pretty sure that we finished it. We all came across some interesting points whilst going through and here’s what I got down. From Lines 187-196, Brabantio gives his speech about Desdemona, and uses repetition to emphasise his broken heart- the repeating of ‘I have done’ and ‘All my Heart’ show how he has given up on his daughter altogether, and from his speech we can see how dramatically this has affected him. Then we were informed that we are attune to any changes in the situation, and this affects our mood- like a change in lighting or music in a movie may signal an approaching terror or upcoming joy. This is seen when the Duke speaks to Brabantio about the situation with Desdemona and Othello, as he uses a rhyming couplet, in verse, to signal the end of the situation, and alert us to a change in tone. For those of you who are interested, this was:
“To mourn the mischief that is past and gone”
“Is the next way to draw mischief on”
This can be observed again after that point, when that particular issue is brought up. It can be speculated that this is a differentiation from ‘Public’ and ‘Private’ affairs.
Now for some quick notes about various helpful thingies:
• Dramatic Irony: When the Audience clearly knows more than a character on stage. Can be seen when Othello proclaims Iago as “a man of honesty and trust”, and at various other points..
• Prose: Normal Speech, as me or you would talk.
• Verse: 10 Beats per line, and possibly rhyming. Can be seen to signal a change of tone.
• Soliloquy: A speech in which a character, alone on the stage, expresses his thoughts and feelings.
And finally, the H/W was:
Essay 1: How does Act 1 of Othello establish the tragedy?
• AO1 – Articulate creative, informed and relevant responses to literary texts, using appropriate terminology and concepts and coherent, accurate written expression.
• AO2 – Demonstrate detailed critical understanding in analysing the ways in which structure, form and language shape meanings in literary texts.
• AO3 – Explore connections and comparisons between different literary texts, informed by interpretations of other readers.
• AO4 – Demonstrate understanding of the significance and influence of the contexts in which literary texts are written and received.
Also, things to consider for your Essays may be:
• Iago as a Character/ 2 Faced? Using Roderigo, Manipulating Brabantio? Villainous?
• Racial Language/Stereotypes
• Othello’s name unused for the entirety of Scene 1
• Othello as a Tragic Hero (What this means, Quotes from Speeches?)
• Foreboding, Dramatic Irony, Iago’s Soliloquy
• Othello’s trusting nature.
Heres a link to something we did in Class, if it doesn't work, please say so <_<
https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B-jCyWPORublOTk3ZTdiMGEtNjFiYy00ZjI3LTliZjgtM2UzMzc3MzBhM2E3&hl=en&authkey=CKHurJ4O
Thanks all, D. Hughes (:3)
Sunday 3 October 2010
Linda Loman
At the beginning of the lesson we were asked to mind map all the qualities of a mother, for example:
-Supportive
-Understanding
-Protective
-Worrying
-Loving
-Empathetic and so on.
We then gave examples of Mother's who had these qualities such as:
-Bambi's Mum
-Will's Mum (Inbetweeners)
-Peggy Mitchell etc.
We then read from pg. 35 to pg. 49 of Death of a salesman and found out that Willy had on many occasions tried to commit suicide. Linda also found a pipe that Willy had hide from Linda behind the gas heater, but she took it in the morning and placed it back there before he returned home, which begs the answer of why she would do this if she knew he was suicidal? We had a discussion on this and came to the conclusion that she didn't want to expose him as she knew his reputation meant everything to him.
We were then asked to answer the question "Is this unalloyed support ultimately a help or a hindrance to Willy?". The class decided it was more of a help to Willy because she tries to stop arguments from occurring and to please Willy by praising him constantly.
Further to this point, we had to explain Linda Loman's significance to the Loman family with quotations from the book. For example, " If you don't have feeling for him, then you can't have any feeling for me". This suggests Linda's loyalty to willy, it's seen as emotional blackmail so the boy's will understand that they have to love both her and Willy equally, and it shows Linda as, metaphorically, compared to glue as she holds the family together.
Another quotation relating to the one above is "He's dying Biff. He's dying". This can also be seen as emotional blackmail again in order for the boys to change their attitude towards their father and to give him the respect he once had from them when the boys were little.
Overall,Linda's significance to the Loman family is to act as an foundation in order to keep them together, because Linda knows Willy really needs Biff's respect and assurance as Willy is becoming insanely confused.
We then had to relate Mobile Concurrency to the book and why Miller used it, and we came to the conclusion that he wanted to show the audience how confused Willy is.
Towards the end of the lesson we were asked to write a short essay on Willy's relationship with Linda.
If you weren't in the lesson you need to catch up on the book, and to also look at the W: drive, Mr.Chatterley, Atheism tapes as they help you understand the play and to hear about Millers Religious views.
Lucy
-Supportive
-Understanding
-Protective
-Worrying
-Loving
-Empathetic and so on.
We then gave examples of Mother's who had these qualities such as:
-Bambi's Mum
-Will's Mum (Inbetweeners)
-Peggy Mitchell etc.
We then read from pg. 35 to pg. 49 of Death of a salesman and found out that Willy had on many occasions tried to commit suicide. Linda also found a pipe that Willy had hide from Linda behind the gas heater, but she took it in the morning and placed it back there before he returned home, which begs the answer of why she would do this if she knew he was suicidal? We had a discussion on this and came to the conclusion that she didn't want to expose him as she knew his reputation meant everything to him.
We were then asked to answer the question "Is this unalloyed support ultimately a help or a hindrance to Willy?". The class decided it was more of a help to Willy because she tries to stop arguments from occurring and to please Willy by praising him constantly.
Further to this point, we had to explain Linda Loman's significance to the Loman family with quotations from the book. For example, " If you don't have feeling for him, then you can't have any feeling for me". This suggests Linda's loyalty to willy, it's seen as emotional blackmail so the boy's will understand that they have to love both her and Willy equally, and it shows Linda as, metaphorically, compared to glue as she holds the family together.
Another quotation relating to the one above is "He's dying Biff. He's dying". This can also be seen as emotional blackmail again in order for the boys to change their attitude towards their father and to give him the respect he once had from them when the boys were little.
Overall,Linda's significance to the Loman family is to act as an foundation in order to keep them together, because Linda knows Willy really needs Biff's respect and assurance as Willy is becoming insanely confused.
We then had to relate Mobile Concurrency to the book and why Miller used it, and we came to the conclusion that he wanted to show the audience how confused Willy is.
Towards the end of the lesson we were asked to write a short essay on Willy's relationship with Linda.
If you weren't in the lesson you need to catch up on the book, and to also look at the W: drive, Mr.Chatterley, Atheism tapes as they help you understand the play and to hear about Millers Religious views.
Lucy
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)