January 13, 2014

What is the exam essay going to be?

Macbeth and Frankenstein share some different attributes.
Examine those similarities and show how those lead to something or mean something or say something about life and people.

They are both challenging God which leads to them sacrificing their humanity - in order to be more than human, they lose what makes them human.

M and F are different. Because of that difference, there is something that we learn.

Magic and technology are the same thing, in the case of...

Option 1 -

M - AoD 1

F- AoD 1

M- AoD 2

F- AoD 2

Option 2 -

AoD 1 - M
       F
Synthesis - what do we see, what does it mean, what is the link back?

AoD 2 - M
       F

You will use your notes to come up with a series of questions that I will use on the exam, in totality. Meaning - I will literally use your questions. Your answers, however, may be less valuable.

Kieran’s Question -
Why does Macbeth send a letter to his wife before going back home?

A little bit about the letter - his excitement about the witches’ prophecies
THEN, the money - the explanation about his love for his wife and his desire to get her approval, which is unusual for this time period.

That answer requires that you add some thinking and go a little further.




Macbeth is being manipulated by supernatural forces and is not responsible.

AoD 1 - Witches’ prophecies
Act 1, Sc 7 - “Glamis....”
he hears them give this prophecy and it immediately changes his thinking and then
this shows that he is struggling with his conscience - he’s not all in for their plan
Act 4, Sc 5 - the apparitions
“ let me hear it!..”

My point
My proof/reference
My explanation
My linking back and connecting - my logic and thinking
My summation

WHY - HOW - Show relevance - show importance - HOW does what you just discussed show the thing that is your AoD

Why is the monster’s reaction to the old man’s reaction to HIM so poignant?

Find a site passage (poetry is best) that you think would be good to read and analyze.

Come up with the right Qs on that site passage - symbols, meaning, inferring, digging deeper, context (why might the poet...)

December 12, 2013

The Frankening

Ass. #1. The Age of Enlightenment Thinker Report/Presentation (500 words would be Steak!) - show the breaking of the old rules and the acceptance of “crazy” new ideas

Ass. #2. The Creation of the Monster! - consider how the monster was created - in a creative writing assignment, describe that moment of creation in a dramatic way - poem, paragraph, dialogue scene with described shots, etc.
- how would this monster be born?

Nature vs Nurture - the way things ARE automatically by virtue of their birth vs the way things are by virtue of the environment

Elizabeth - Victor - opposite attributes?

Make a wee chart, find evidence in Ch.2-3 to show that they are opposites

Include Victor’s friend Henri Clerval in your comparison - so, you will be in effect creating a triangle to show that these three characters are all different, but the V and E chars are opposites

Ass. #3 - The Famed “Third Ass of Frankenstein”
Cornelius Agrippa
Paracelsus
Albertus Magnus

Briefly tell me who each of these crazy old philosopher/scientists are.

December 6, 2013

Frankenstein

Where are we going with this book?

A presentation/lesson done by a group of students (it will be on a couple of assigned chapters) - notes to give, questions to assign, a task to do, some elements of plot, setting, character, theme to show, connections to real world to make, etc.

Make your own exam. It will have material from the above (#1), from Macbeth, and from the short story and poetry analyses we’ve done.

There will be another essay - it will be comparing Macbeth and Frankenstein. It will be assigned PRIOR to the exam and then you will write your essay on the exam day.

You will need to present some kind of multimedia something, BUT it will be about an ISSUE or thematic element that comes up in the novel. Huh? What that means, is that, let’s say you focus on the issue of motherhood (or some aspect thereof), you might create some piece of art that is thematically linked.

Frankenstein notes with mini assignments. (4-5 of these that are worth free marks for doing them well)

Mary Shelley

this is the girl who wrote the original book back in the early 1800s
this is a strange little story
A competition was arranged between Mary’s famous author husband (Percy Bysse Shelley), one of his writer friends and, Mary, then an 18 year old girl.
They were trying to come up with the creepiest story.
She won.
She based her story on two things:
1) a scientific experiment done by a guy named Galvani
2) a dream she had (featured a night visitor that was monstrous)

dreams are crazy random firings of electricity that your brain turns into a story

The idea that they mean something is that YOU are making them with your problems, issues, concerns, etc. It’s YOUR idea of what the dream was that makes it a something.

Dreams are not real, they are reflections of your own ideas, thoughts and FEARS.

Maybe a recurring dream is a recurring FEAR? WORRY? PROBLEM? ISSUE?

Looks fade, Miss. Looks fade HARD. All that is left is CHARACTER.

Never forget that and you will have a MUCH better life.
Frankenstein

Main Themes of the Novel

motherhood
technology vs nature
technology vs religion
technology vs ?
the negatives of challenging God via technology
the power of bad parenting
looks vs reality
the outsider
illness

Choose one of these to focus on in particular.

Mary Shelley is not your average teenage girl.

Her father was a famous writer and political activist - one who gets involved in making change, advocating for change in the political structure

He was also an anarchist - a group of people who are against controlled government and curbing freedoms of individuals

He wrote the first mystery novel.

He was anti-rich.

He was a very rebellious, yet intellectual and challenging man.

She was raised with a different vision of what society should be like. 

Her mother was a proto-feminist who died ten days after giving birth to her.

This background guarantees that she will be independent, honest, strong, supportive of the poor and “lower classes”.

She will be brilliant, hard working, well read like crazy, argumentative and have the ability to fight the system.

Even though she married a famous guy (Percy Bysse Shelley) she was her own woman and ended up writing Frankenstein at 19.




There are some themes that come from her background!

What about the underclass? What about the “lower” end of society?

What about equality for women? That underclass in general?

Challenging religion and government is not a surprise.

Challenging others’ beliefs is not a surprise.

She lost her mother - mommy issues? Sure.

She lost a baby herself (maybe more than one) - more mommy issues? Yes.

She deals with issues of gender and sexuality (gender-based).

The time period in which she lived was also important.

The Age of Enlightenment - The Age of Reason

Corresponded with The Scientific Revolution

The world used to be considered to be made by God.

The Scientific Revolution started breaking that down and finding all kinds of natural laws, principles and scientific reasons for the way the world was.

Frank Ass #1

Find any Age of Enlightenment thinker or scientist and give me a little profile on him/her

Frankenstein is a story about obsession.

There is a doctor named Victor Frankenstein and he is a man of his Age.











The Age of Reason.

As people became more and more engaged in science and philosophy and began to actually look into the way the world was, they found that the world wasn’t they had been told.

The ideas of science and “reality” went against so many “rules” from the Bible.
It was complex problem to face.

Early responses by society based in religion were scary and negative.
Science and God seemed to be in opposition.

This was a huge issue for a LONG time (PS welcome to the world in which it is STILL A HUGE ISSUE OMG WILL WE NEVER LEARN?)

For some people, this idea of reason and science and numbers and data and RATIONAL thinking because the prime focus - religion wasn’t in the picture in the same way

The Church tends to fight back in a specific way - SATAN!

Science can make us live forever, right?

Science can “beat God”, right?

Science wins! Religion loses!

But in the end, there is no way to say the above.

Science is something we do and see and test and find evidence of and for
Faith is something we think and believe.

Science moves forward - religion does not (appear to)

As the book is written, there is a lot of heat around the issues above (and that we’ve talked about) and the issues are just new.

Preface and Letters

we begin with a character named Marlowe, who appears to be an explorer
Hey, what the heck - where is Frankenstein?
Mary Shelley begins with what some call “Bookends” or a “framing device”
this is a way of talking about the story without actually breaking the story and saying “Hi! I’m the writer! Here are some things about the story!”
We meet Robert Walton and he is a guy who is pushing the boundaries - don’t explorers do that? isn’t that a good model for thinking about a doctor who challenges God?
an explorer is kind of doing the same thing!
if she started talking about the crazy doctor, it might be a kind of disturbing thing for readers - that doctor is going to get pretty blasphemous (going against God)
this put us in the mood and creates a sense of the theme to come - challenge

We meet Victor Frankenstein THROUGH the explorer’s journey. (Robert Walton is the explorer)

It turns out that the book is actually Victor’s story about why Robert Walton should NOT challenge God and aim too high and try to seek glory too much.

Victor’s story is a warning to us all.

That is Mary Shelley’s idea - she wants to warn us about the dangers of pushing too far into areas of science, exploration, academia, etc. 2

November 29, 2013

Frankenstein

Where are we going with this book? 

1. A presentation/lesson done by a group of students (it will be on a couple of assigned chapters) - notes to give, questions to assign, a task to do, some elements of plot, setting, character, theme to show, connections to real world to make, etc.

1. Make your own exam. It will have material from the above (#1), from Macbeth, and from the short story and poetry analyses we’ve done. 

1. There will be another essay - it will be comparing Macbeth and Frankenstein. It will be assigned PRIOR to the exam and then you will write your essay on the exam day. 

1. You will need to present some kind of multimedia something, BUT it will be about an ISSUE or thematic element that comes up in the novel. Huh? What that means, is that, let’s say you focus on the issue of motherhood (or some aspect thereof), you might create some piece of art that is thematically linked. 

1. Frankenstein notes with mini assignments. (4-5 of these that are worth free marks for doing them well)

Mary Shelley

• this is the girl who wrote the original book back in the early 1800s
• this is a strange little story 
• A competition was arranged between Mary’s famous author husband (Percy Bysse Shelley), one of his writer friends and, Mary, then an 18 year old girl. 
• They were trying to come up with the creepiest story. 
• She won. 
• She based her story on two things:
• 1) a scientific experiment done by a guy named Galvani
• 2) a dream she had (featured a night visitor that was monstrous) 

dreams are crazy random firings of electricity that your brain turns into a story

The idea that they mean something is that YOU are making them with your problems, issues, concerns, etc. It’s YOUR idea of what the dream was that makes it a something.

Dreams are not real, they are reflections of your own ideas, thoughts and FEARS.

Maybe a recurring dream is a recurring FEAR? WORRY? PROBLEM? ISSUE? 

November 28, 2013

Essay Related Something

1. Thesis is about inversion - what about the inversion? 

Point 1 - what about your thesis? what is the point? What is the issue that your subject deals with, solves, points out, shows, illuminates, etc? 

Thesis about supernatural? What about it? 

Manipulation from LM - What about it? 

Almost all of the things that you will be choosing as a subject area end with “and can be considered to be key in the downfall of Macbeth and his wife.”

If your thesis is making you write down a list and show that X or Y is in the play, then your thesis isn’t complete. 

1. Thesis is about karma - 

1. If you are stuck for a starting line in your intro - the classic thing to do (Level 3-ish as an opener)  is to start with a definition of terms.
   

A Level 4 open would maybe start with a wider look at the subject area, ie karma, talk a bit about it in some way that leads to talking about the play. 

1. Macbeth is responsible for his actions - the proof is in his own dialogue - he gives arguments for and against the crimes he commits - he shows the audience that he fully understands what he’s doing, why he’s doing it, and what it means to his conscience and to the world - I have no spur but ambition

1. Inversion - once this world is upside down, all the rules are broken - even the rules of nature - the problems in the play literally come as a result of the different elements of life that get turned upside down

1. One thesis - many theses

1. Macbeth is NOT responsible for his actions

• you need to establish that he is not functioning normally, even though he is able to think about what is right and wrong, something is stopping him from following it
• the supernatural powers aligned against him are pushing and pulling him using hallucinations, visions of a future where he has power, and visions of a future that are threatening to his power - they’re manipulating his existing way of thinking with their visions and so on
• his wife is using his emotion for her, his love for her, to manipulate him - she is also attacking his manhood, and he lives in a culture where honor (and one’s masculinity is absolutely crucial to one’s power and sense of self) - remember, females have little to no power. A man is the definition of power
• both cases are using aspects of his character against him
• prove - even though he knows what he’s doing in wrong, he is unable to stop himself - you need to think about why. 

1. Macbeth is not responsible because he is insane - not fit to stand trial, for example

• you need to find some mental disorders in the real world and apply that same criteria to Macbeth, show the symptoms at work in the play, explain how they work and then show that these symptoms make him fit a definition that would get him off scot free
• ie “not guilty by reason of insanity” 
• research - specific mental disorders must be carefully set up and yo-u need to use references, give citations, etc. (this is very provable)
• Bipolar, paranoid schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder, psychotic episodes, etc

Okay, so:

Writing a Smart Character Profile

1. We start by looking at the list: 

1. interactions and relationships
2. POV of narrator (not valid in Macbeth)
3. Character’s Physical/Mental Description (not valid in Macbeth)
4. Characters own words (HUGE in Macbeth) (the only view into thinking)
5. Your view as an observer (valid, important)
6. Symbolic Meaning (potentially HUGE)

1. What did we see in the movie version? 

• this gives us another view on the character - in this case, it’s the director’s vision of the character
• you get some comparison between the two forms of media - noting the differences is often useful

1. Psychology and Motives 

• you play the behaviourist (FBI style) and consider the why of the character’s actions
• looking at all the evidence, maybe referring to it, come up with an analysis of motive, needs, etc
• this motive study is a lot of INFERRING that you have to do
• make some assessments and then try to back them up
• look for possible “hidden triggers” that you can kind of assume or almost make up, but that fit into a pattern that you can discuss
• this is the Level 4 action right up in there!

Some kind of Multimedia Diddley-dew

1. Make a poster for the exciting movie version of the play - making your own with actual art supplies = fun for me to mark

1. Video a dramatic recreation or reading and submit a link to Youtube 

1. Maybe do a dramatic reading, but put the sound over a slideshow of dramatic images (use iMovie) (on an iPad) (it’s easy)

1. Lego or other 3D modeling diorama type stuff (always interesting)

5. Create a social media profile for any character in the play and populate that profile with posts/updates/tweets, etc that show character and plot and so on

Look Fors: 

Use of thematic elements from the play

use of plot/setting/character changes

original, fun ideas to show character

implementing the change to the character through the play in the profile

Thesis Statement work

Group/Process Rough Drafting

First read draft by Lobb

Finish Draft by Lobb (if necessary)

November 27, 2013

Essay Related Something

1. Thesis is about inversion - what about the inversion? 

Point 1 - what about your thesis? what is the point? What is the issue that your subject deals with, solves, points out, shows, illuminates, etc? 

Thesis about supernatural? What about it? 

Manipulation from LM - What about it? 

Almost all of the things that you will be choosing as a subject area end with “and can be considered to be key in the downfall of Macbeth and his wife.”

If your thesis is making you write down a list and show that X or Y is in the play, then your thesis isn’t complete. 

1. Thesis is about karma - 

1. If you are stuck for a starting line in your intro - the classic thing to do (Level 3-ish as an opener)  is to start with a definition of terms.
   

A Level 4 open would maybe start with a wider look at the subject area, ie karma, talk a bit about it in some way that leads to talking about the play. 

1. Macbeth is responsible for his actions - the proof is in his own dialogue - he gives arguments for and against the crimes he commits - he shows the audience that he fully understands what he’s doing, why he’s doing it, and what it means to his conscience and to the world - I have no spur but ambition

1. Inversion - once this world is upside down, all the rules are broken - even the rules of nature - the problems in the play literally come as a result of the different elements of life that get turned upside down

1. One thesis - many theses

1. Macbeth is NOT responsible for his actions

• you need to establish that he is not functioning normally, even though he is able to think about what is right and wrong, something is stopping him from following it
• the supernatural powers aligned against him are pushing and pulling him using hallucinations, visions of a future where he has power, and visions of a future that are threatening to his power - they’re manipulating his existing way of thinking with their visions and so on
• his wife is using his emotion for her, his love for her, to manipulate him - she is also attacking his manhood, and he lives in a culture where honor (and one’s masculinity is absolutely crucial to one’s power and sense of self) - remember, females have little to no power. A man is the definition of power
• both cases are using aspects of his character against him
• prove - even though he knows what he’s doing in wrong, he is unable to stop himself - you need to think about why. 

1. Macbeth is not responsible because he is insane - not fit to stand trial, for example

• you need to find some mental disorders in the real world and apply that same criteria to Macbeth, show the symptoms at work in the play, explain how they work and then show that these symptoms make him fit a definition that would get him off scot free
• ie “not guilty by reason of insanity” 
• research - specific mental disorders must be carefully set up and you need to use references, give citations, etc. (this is very provable)
• Bipolar, paranoid schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder, psychotic episodes, etc

November 21 2013

Thesis - THIS is what I see and THIS is what I’m saying about it that is important or meaningful. 

AoD will be the reason why THIS that you saw is important or meaningful

Examples from the play - actual quotations

What is the quotation saying? 

Why is it the one that works to show the importance or meaning? 

How does it mean something? 

How does this go back to my thesis? Explain that link? 

Mr. Lobb is a bad teacher and negative influence that should not be allowed to affect the youth of Ontario. 

AoD - he cultivates a bad learning environment

Ex. 1 - he shouts at students and they become intimidated and cannot ask questions when they are confused - “One time when...”

What is the quotation saying? - when students need help, they can’t get it because this man is shouting and raging and they are paralysed with fear and...

What does this mean? - students can’t get information they need, they are confused, they are frustrated...

How fit thesis? - students are not getting the lessons fully because he isn’t allowing them to participate in their learning - he is all noise and drowning our their side..

Macbeth is not responsible for his actions because he is being manipulated and controlled by external forces that are distorting his view of reality and damaging his decision-making abilities. 

AoD - what does it mean to be responsible, or not, for one’s actions - what situation would make it so that someone in real life is not responsible - mental illness, not guilty by reason of insanity 

Hey! Now we can prove that he’s insane!

References! Easy!