October 30, 2013

Hey, why does he go ahead with all the planning? 

Act, sc vii, he clearly shows that he knows better. 

We see some VACILLATION - going back and forth in extremes of thought

What the heck? Going back and forth in emotional extremes may, in fact, be a sign or symptom of something. 

This may fit into our INVERSION theme!

A mental problem? Bipolar would sound like exactly that! (you can look this up)

It could be also the effect of the witches and the spells clashing with his inner morality and conscience!

Macbeth is creating the problem from which he is suffering

The actual problem doesn’t exist!

Things we think can become very real.

 Macbeth is arguing with himself, building up a case for doing something horrific. Something he KNOWS he shouldn’t do. 

The process of trying to convince YOURSELF of doing something, or the process of justifying something you did, is called RATIONALISATION

We build a structure of reasons, bargains and excuses to make ourselves feel better about doing things that actually make us feel terrible. 

Shakespeare was a very accurate observer of human behaviour. 

Hey, remember COGNITIVE DISSONANCE - the mental problem of trying to hold two or more competing/conflicting beliefs or concepts in our minds at the same time - we will go to weird lengths to deal with the pain of this

Hey. This sounds like what could happen to someone trying to rationalize things they see or experience that don’t make sense in a logical way!

What is real? 

How do we know what is real? 

Do you believe in the supernatural? 

Do you think there is any truth to the idea that there is some kind of “life” outside of our normal lives? 

October 28 2013

Clothing Imagery 

• references to aspects of wearing, having, using clothes as a way of showing character or internal situations (feelings, thoughts, etc)

There is the other little motif (a repeated image, idea, series of ideas, symbol, etc) about having a disconnect between what you show and what you think

Modern culture - we almost assume persona and thinking are different

In old times, people assumed that inner and outer were more linked. ie remember me saying that “bad guys LOOK LIKE bad guys”?

Another little situation of contrast - some characters are capable of hiding what they are.

There’s something thematic in here about what we think based on the surface of things and what is true about the reality of things. 

(Frankenstein is all about this)

Drama is enhanced by making something REALLY good and then smashing into something REALLY bad

Dramatic Irony - when characters are ignorant of something that the audience knows

Tragic Hero

A hero who starts on a HIGH note, in the peak of his/her life and career and, due to some horrible flaw in him/herself, has a terrible FALL that takes him/her to a miserable death. 

The flaw is called HUBRIS. 

This idea comes from ancient Greek theatre. 

Hubris is the sin of PRIDE in oneself. A sense of one’s greatness that is not in balance with what is deserved. 

Sometimes, hubris results in AMBITION that is beyond what is earned or deserved. (this sounds like Macbeth)

Read the intro of Lady Macbeth (Act 1, Sc V) and add her soliloquy to your translation list. “The raven himself...Hold, Hold.”

Be prepared to keep a log of her character attributes for a possible character study. 

Lady Macbeth is referring to a quality that leaders need that allows them to make very brutal and difficult decisions (or so it seems)

In her mind, he is too kind and gentle and EMOTIONAL.

Evidence for this? The way he treats his wife. 

“pour my spirits in thine ear” manipulation

Maybe sexual. - tongue, ear, spirits, and also the idea of his great love for her would play into this

Maybe something alcoholic - spirits = drugs, liquor?

Maybe magic! spirits = demons, ghosts! 

There is a definite link to the witches here!

HEY! Potions? Drinks? Spirits? 

Sexuality might be a component in witchcraft as well. 

OR we see the obvious - she is more powerful than him and EXPECTS to be able to control and manipulate him - PERIOD - one way or the other, she thinks she’s better and smarter than him

retinue - the king’s attendants - many servants, hangers on, etc

Host Rights and Responsibilities

• in the old days, there was literally a religious nature to host responsibilities
• for Lady and Mac, it is their DUTY to honour and protect and treat their guests with the utmost respect - “putting on the dog”
• her plan to kill their guest is an abhorrent sacrilege - AWFUL
• add to it - he’s the king - Divine Right
• add another layer - he’s a kinsman - FAMILY
• add another layer - the king is a symbolic father - PATRICIDE

Lady Macbeth is shocking the audience and breaking rules of culture and society - breaking the STATUS QUO (the way things are)

HOWEVER, there is a good precedent in religious culture for her behaviour (and everyone in the audience in the old days would know it)

• witchery - women of power who are “outside of male dominance”
• Lilith - symbol of a powerful and controlling woman - independent
• Eve - foolishly ambitious or greedy or manipulative woman who steers her man wrong

Next soliloquy!

start of Act 1, Sc vii

October 24, 2013

Just a little, as you're making your OWN notes...

Paradox - two mutually exclusive situations that are happening simultaneously

Something that cannot be true in light of something else that is happening as well. 

Just desserts - poetic justice - karma

WAIT! if the witches are casting these spells, then is Macbeth really making choices? Or is he doing what the magic makes him do? 

HEY! We’ve got a paradox here too!

Self-fulfilling prophecy! - the witches might be setting him up to fulfill the prophecy based on HIS OWN PROBLEMS and MOTIVATIONS!

Maybe Macbeth is 

1. scared - witches! supernatural!
2. excited - what!? I can be a king!? Cool!
3. shocked to have his secret ambitions exposed like that
4. intimidated by this huge honour/responsibility that was just thrust in his face

Soliloquy 1

Macbeth’s “Two truths are told...,” soliloquy. - Act 1, Scene iii

Read it with friends. Read the rest of this scene. 

Translate the soliloquy as best you can - into your OWN WORDS. 

This is will be part of a mark on 5 soliloquies in the whole play 

October 22, 2013

Intro to Macbeth

Plays

• plays aren’t books, per se
• read it like it’s a play, dummy!
• out loud - this is the key to understanding the p,s,c,t better
• read the actual sentences - there is a real live sentence in there somewhere - find that,  and the meaning will be easier to find also
• plays are written to be PERFORMED

Hey, maybe you should read it WITH someone when you can!

Or a reading partner from the class, if MOMMMY won’t do it

We need to think about putting the ACTING into the lines. 

Playing character will also bring meaning, and enhance understanding

Who’s delivering these lines? What just happened to these characters? What are they feeling? What are they doing? 

You can’t just sit there and read this - you have to engage in the reading. 

These plays were written for ENTERTAINMENT. 

Not for study. 

Shakespeare

• this guy got famous for his plays and his exciting style of drama
• he was an early user of modern drama techniques
• he invented many of these techniques
• before him, most European plays were really boring - they were “Morality Plays” and they were basically little scenes explaining Christian virtues and such like

- now, imagine that plays were also deemed “evil” and nasty and they weren’t allowed in  the city limits of London, for example

• the people who made plays were considered dirty, nasty and low class
• the people who went to plays, however, were from ever social class and standing
• it was kind of like the Harry Potter thing (satanic, evil, crazy imagination!, etc)

• we want to see these plays as kind of rebellious and fun and crazy and exciting and maybe, a little bit dirty and nasty and that’s good. 

Another Weird Thing

• the king during this time period (around 1600) was also a writer
• you may have heard of this king - King James II - his name is kind of all over the Bible that was in church for ages
• Cool Part - he also wrote a book about witches, demons and supernatural craziness

Why? 

• why do we study these old plays? 
• why do we study Shakespeare? 

He was/is a DEFINER of elements of our language

Invented something like 4000 words and phrases

Play takes place in Scotland in the 1100s (or so) - Medieval period

• depressing
• Vikings
• violence
• Crusades
• monarchism
• lawlessness
• feudal structure
• Robin Hood
• evil
• dirty
• knights
• terrible time to be a woman!

October 21, 2013

The Poetry Analyses Are Revealing!

1. Show the references

• when you are writing that “something” happened, you need to actually make reference from the poem - by line, in quotation, etc. 
• ie making reference to the Third World line - you need to give me the quotation and then:

1. Explain the things that you’re saying 

• if you are going to say that you noticed X in the poem, and then you make reference to the line or whatever, you then need to explain in some detail WHY and HOW
• SHOW THE CHAIN OF LOGIC
• what is the thinking by which you arrived at that conclusion?

• you need to show A (the thing I read) + B (this idea I have) + C (this thing out in the world) + D (this way of connecting these things together) = E (this conclusion)
• this is how essays are written
• this is how good paragraphs are written
• this is how arguments are won

1. Don’t ever refer to yourself - no me, no I, no you

• simply state your point without saying “I think” or whatever else is like that

1. You need to figure out the meaning of things at a deeper level.

• when you’re looking at a symbol or an idea, you need to go a) this is the obvious and then b) this is the meaning
• you don’t have to do this on paper, but you need to think this way
• this will then fit into that mode where you explain that deeper meaning (point 2 above)

“one fine day a Third World struck back”

• what is the Third World? - answer
• that group was responsible for 9/11
• and then you could move on

We need to dig in - struck back? - the history of American war on poor nations

Third World - First World - the relationship between America and poor nations

reasoning behind their actions - Al Aqaeda is doing something that they think is right

October 17, 2013

History Of the Airplane

And the Wright brothers said they thought they had invented
something that could make peace on earth
(if the wrong brothers didn’t get hold of it)
when their wonderful flying machine took off at Kitty Hawk
into the kingdom of birds but the parliament of birds was freaked out
by this man-made bird and fled to heaven

And then the famous Spirit of Saint Louis took off eastward and
flew across the Big Pond with Lindy at the controls in his leather
helmet and goggles hoping to sight the doves of peace but he did not
Even though he circled Versailles

And then the famous Yankee Clipper took off in the opposite
direction and flew across the terrific Pacific but the pacific doves
were frighted by this strange amphibious bird and hid in the orient sky

And then the famous Flying Fortress took off bristling with guns
and testosterone to make the world safe for peace and capitalism
but the birds of peace were nowhere to be found before or after Hiroshima

And so then clever men built bigger and faster flying machines and
these great man-made birds with jet plumage flew higher than any
real birds and seemed about to fly into the sun and melt their wings
and like Icarus crash to earth

And the Wright brothers were long forgotten in the high-flying
bombers that now began to visit their blessings on various Third
Worlds all the while claiming they were searching for doves of
peace

And they kept flying and flying until they flew right into the 21st
century and then one fine day a Third World struck back and
stormed the great planes and flew them straight into the beating
heart of Skyscraper America where there were no aviaries and no
parliaments of doves and in a blinding flash America became a part
of the scorched earth of the world

And a wind of ashes blows across the land
And for one long moment in eternity
There is chaos and despair

And buried loves and voices
Cries and whispers
Fill the air
Everywhere 

Lawrence Ferlinghetti

October 7, 2013

Gary Snyder

Who 

- German Scottish (classic WASP)

• translator from Asian languages to English
• environmentalist
• Buddhist
• (this stuff is specific and interesting and makes someone unique - THAT’s the kind of stuff that might get into his/her work)(these beliefs take effort - when someone has to work to be different, then those things that they work at are obviously VERY significant to them)
• you’re looking for CORE ELEMENTS of a poet’s life - the DIFFERENCES from normal

Where - 

• California raised (specific thing)
• San Francisco - Berkeley University (also a specific thing)
• NorthWest coast lifestyle (it is a specific thing) 
• Native influences from his schooling
• did some writing and living in Asia

When - 

• born in the 30s - came out of the Great Depression - impact? 
• writing in the 50s and 60s - HUGE IMPACT - a giant upheaval of the American Dream
• He was a Beat poet! (this is a big movement that had specific elements to it)
• back then, poetry was cool - it was popular, it was interesting, it got girls for male poets, it got guys for female poets

What - 

• I now know a LOT of things that I can bring into my reading and thinking
• they come from my research