Macbeth is introduced as a strong, brave character through a speech about him in battle. "For brave Macbeth- well he deserves the name-disdaining fortune- with his brandished steel, which smoked with bloody execution." Macbeth is praised for being a tough, honorable soldier. Even though the witches speak good about Macbeth, they hint that there is a dark side to him. Witches were seen as satanic and evil servants. If they are so frowned upon, why is Macbeth drawn to them?
When the witches say "fair is foul, and foul is fair" I think it's foreshadowing to possibly Macbeth not being able to distinguish the difference between fair and foul since it seems to be that Macbeth has a hidden dark side. It foreshadows a discrepancy between how someone is and how someone seems (Macbeth). Witches were seen as agents of Satan so their presence alone foreshadows satanic characteristics.
Shakespeare provides us with a vague prophecy that does not include instructions for Macbeth, therefore not spoiling the play for us. He does however say through the witches that Macbeth will jump two positions from where he currently hold, therefore, the characters holding those positions are likely going to be involved in an unfortunate event.
Shakespeare's characterization of Macbeth gives readers a feeling that yes Macbeth is looked highly of, but that he has a hidden side/agenda.
Guilt seems like an evident theme that will drive the rest of the play. Macbeth is going to do something that he is going to regret. This glorious "hero" will somehow cause a bad ending.
Monday, April 13, 2015
My Macbeth Resources
http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/macbeth/macbethresources.html
http://www.absoluteshakespeare.com/guides/summaries/macbeth/macbeth_summary.htm
http://www.macbethonbroadway.com/macbeth-synopsis.html
http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/macbeth/macbethps.html
http://shakespearenet.net/macbeth/macbreak.htm
http://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/m/macbeth/study-help/quiz
http://www.absoluteshakespeare.com/guides/summaries/macbeth/macbeth_summary.htm
http://www.macbethonbroadway.com/macbeth-synopsis.html
http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/macbeth/macbethps.html
http://shakespearenet.net/macbeth/macbreak.htm
http://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/m/macbeth/study-help/quiz
Sunday, April 12, 2015
Spring Break Homework: Poetry
Poem: Those Winter Sundays by Robert Hayden
Prompt: Write a well-organized essay in which you analyze how the poet uses language to describe the scene and to convey mood and meaning.
I chose this prompt because the majority of the other prompts were specific to a particular poem. This poem that I chose is quite short and specific as well, and Robert Hayden's diction is what helped the reader understand the mood and meaning.
When we're young we don't appreciate what our parents voluntarily do for us, but as we grow older we become more grateful for the simple things in life. In Those Winter Sundays by Robert Hayden, Hayden's diction plays an essential role in helping the reader comprehend the poem and it's purpose. Hayden's use of language describes the scene in a way for the reader to comprehend the atmosphere of what is going on and to then better understand the mood of the entirety of the poem and the meaning of it all.
The poem starts out with the author describing what he woke up to every Sunday morning. The father too got up early on Sundays...in the blueblack cold...with cracked hands that ached. After these few lines, one can see that the father worked hard every day of the week in the cold winter weather. "No one ever thanked him." The boy never thought anything of it...until he later looked back on his life.
Through the majority of the poem, Hayden's language gave a mood of "normalness," as if what the father did was not a big deal. In the last few lines however, there's a shift. The reader sees that now grown up, looking back at "those winter Sundays," the man understands that what his father did for his family was the way he expressed his love. The father's love was quite yet powerful. That love is what drove him to make sacrifices for his family. After reading the poem, Hayden's language puts the mood of regret and gratefulness inside a reader's head. It wasn't that he purposely took advantage of what his father did for him, he just never recognized that it was his way of showing his love for his family. No one ever thanked the father, but looking back the speaker is truly grateful for him.
The poem isn't very lengthy, but it didn't need to be for one to understand its meaning. The lines are short but powerful. The language is simple yet descriptive. There didn't need to be 20 stanzas for the reader to see that the boy didn't recognize all that his father did for him, until later. Hayden made it clear that simple gestures are ways that one can express their love for another person. The father in the poem warmed up the house for his family, after working immensely hard all week, and still never expected a thank you. He didn't need a thank you. He continued to do what seemed like a small gesture because he wanted to show his love for his family. The father would suffer to keep his family warm.
Prompt: Write a well-organized essay in which you analyze how the poet uses language to describe the scene and to convey mood and meaning.
I chose this prompt because the majority of the other prompts were specific to a particular poem. This poem that I chose is quite short and specific as well, and Robert Hayden's diction is what helped the reader understand the mood and meaning.
When we're young we don't appreciate what our parents voluntarily do for us, but as we grow older we become more grateful for the simple things in life. In Those Winter Sundays by Robert Hayden, Hayden's diction plays an essential role in helping the reader comprehend the poem and it's purpose. Hayden's use of language describes the scene in a way for the reader to comprehend the atmosphere of what is going on and to then better understand the mood of the entirety of the poem and the meaning of it all.
The poem starts out with the author describing what he woke up to every Sunday morning. The father too got up early on Sundays...in the blueblack cold...with cracked hands that ached. After these few lines, one can see that the father worked hard every day of the week in the cold winter weather. "No one ever thanked him." The boy never thought anything of it...until he later looked back on his life.
Through the majority of the poem, Hayden's language gave a mood of "normalness," as if what the father did was not a big deal. In the last few lines however, there's a shift. The reader sees that now grown up, looking back at "those winter Sundays," the man understands that what his father did for his family was the way he expressed his love. The father's love was quite yet powerful. That love is what drove him to make sacrifices for his family. After reading the poem, Hayden's language puts the mood of regret and gratefulness inside a reader's head. It wasn't that he purposely took advantage of what his father did for him, he just never recognized that it was his way of showing his love for his family. No one ever thanked the father, but looking back the speaker is truly grateful for him.
The poem isn't very lengthy, but it didn't need to be for one to understand its meaning. The lines are short but powerful. The language is simple yet descriptive. There didn't need to be 20 stanzas for the reader to see that the boy didn't recognize all that his father did for him, until later. Hayden made it clear that simple gestures are ways that one can express their love for another person. The father in the poem warmed up the house for his family, after working immensely hard all week, and still never expected a thank you. He didn't need a thank you. He continued to do what seemed like a small gesture because he wanted to show his love for his family. The father would suffer to keep his family warm.
Monday, March 30, 2015
Masterpiece association-Dove
Check out Dove's Youtube channel and their Self-Esteem Projects!
https://www.youtube.com/user/doveunitedstates
https://www.youtube.com/user/doveunitedstates
Masterpiece
I saw this tweet today and it resembled exactly what I want to achieve with my masterpiece- changing the conversation of negative body image comments to positive empowerment because WE have the ability to do so. Dove is a huge representation of health/body image activism and they are someone I am definitely going to get in touch with!
Literature Analysis #3 The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
1. The House on Mango Street is about Esperanza Cordero who is a young Latina living in an unstable society and her journey of transformation into adulthood. The novel tells about her life as a young girl in this area of her town, where she is faced with hardships, one of them being sexually assaulted, and comes out of each difficult moment with more wisdom and knowledge about the world than in the beginning of the book. Esperanza wants to leave Mango Street, but realizes that she is mentally scarred by the place where she grew up. She wants to leave and then come back to help others who are unable to escape this place. The author's purpose is to teach her readers about unbelievable things that occur in the real world. The author shows us how well Esperanza copes with the situations she is put into.
2. The theme of the novel is a resolution of personal conflicts and hope of better life. Esperanza had to face many challenges, but overcame them. Yes bad things happened, but she didn't give up. She wanted to leave everything that she had dealt with behind, and not look back. She wished to start a new life, and though she knows this isn't thoroughly possible, she still had hope. She knew that she deserved better and would work to get it.
3. The author's tone is blunt, straightforward and sometimes negative. It seems that she doesn't really care about much, not even herself. This is shown when she says, "I am an ugly daughter," "My Papa's hair is like a broom, all up in the air. And me, my hair is lazy," "In English my name means hope. In Spanish it means too many letters. It means sadness, it means waiting."
4. Anaphora: "Not my house. Not my car. Not my room. Not my family."
Onomatopoeia: "Bam! Buzz."
Simile: "My life, it is life the number 9."
Alliteration: "...crumples like a coat and cries."
Idiom: "Get your head out of the clouds."
Personification: "But I think diseases have no eyes. They pick with a dizzy finger anyone, just anyone."
Synesthesia: "a loud color"
Hyperbole: "Anthony Haselbauer is a giant!"
Symbol: The American flag, symbolizing the American dream that Esperanza wants so desperately.
Metaphor: "Like it or not, you are Mango Street."
Characterization
1. Indirect characterization: "He worked two jobs. He came home late and left early. Everyday." "...first annual Tarzan jumping contest, Meme won. And broke both arms."
Direct characterization: "She is very sassy." "She was a horse woman too."
Both approaches are used so that the characters and the way they are introduced are more realistic. These methods allow the reader to imagine and infer aspects of the characters but then they can also directly get to know what the author wants them to see about the characters.
2. The book is pretty simple so the syntax/diction doesn't really tend to change when focusing on specific characters. The story is viewed entirely through the eyes of Esperanza as she describes the settings and gives the reader insight on the characters, which tends to be biased toward the smaller characters. The way Esperanza talked to and about characters did vary since each played a different role in her life.
3. Esperanza is definitely a dynamic and round character. At the beginning of the book she is naive and who slowly learns about growing up as the story unfolds. At first, all she wanted to do was play and interact with the children living in the neighborhood, but then she began to interest herself in boys and sexual matters. She was maturing. Esperanza is left disappointed at the end because it isn't what she expected. She goes on to worry about more important things like leaving Mango Street.
4. After reading this book, I can say that I met a character. Esperanza went through stages of life that all of us go through. She was a curious young girl with dreams, she set goals and wanted to become something greater and learned a lot along the way. She was a character with real emotions, hardships, and aspirations. She resembled someone who is determined to achieve something in the real world.
2. The theme of the novel is a resolution of personal conflicts and hope of better life. Esperanza had to face many challenges, but overcame them. Yes bad things happened, but she didn't give up. She wanted to leave everything that she had dealt with behind, and not look back. She wished to start a new life, and though she knows this isn't thoroughly possible, she still had hope. She knew that she deserved better and would work to get it.
3. The author's tone is blunt, straightforward and sometimes negative. It seems that she doesn't really care about much, not even herself. This is shown when she says, "I am an ugly daughter," "My Papa's hair is like a broom, all up in the air. And me, my hair is lazy," "In English my name means hope. In Spanish it means too many letters. It means sadness, it means waiting."
4. Anaphora: "Not my house. Not my car. Not my room. Not my family."
Onomatopoeia: "Bam! Buzz."
Simile: "My life, it is life the number 9."
Alliteration: "...crumples like a coat and cries."
Idiom: "Get your head out of the clouds."
Personification: "But I think diseases have no eyes. They pick with a dizzy finger anyone, just anyone."
Synesthesia: "a loud color"
Hyperbole: "Anthony Haselbauer is a giant!"
Symbol: The American flag, symbolizing the American dream that Esperanza wants so desperately.
Metaphor: "Like it or not, you are Mango Street."
Characterization
1. Indirect characterization: "He worked two jobs. He came home late and left early. Everyday." "...first annual Tarzan jumping contest, Meme won. And broke both arms."
Direct characterization: "She is very sassy." "She was a horse woman too."
Both approaches are used so that the characters and the way they are introduced are more realistic. These methods allow the reader to imagine and infer aspects of the characters but then they can also directly get to know what the author wants them to see about the characters.
2. The book is pretty simple so the syntax/diction doesn't really tend to change when focusing on specific characters. The story is viewed entirely through the eyes of Esperanza as she describes the settings and gives the reader insight on the characters, which tends to be biased toward the smaller characters. The way Esperanza talked to and about characters did vary since each played a different role in her life.
3. Esperanza is definitely a dynamic and round character. At the beginning of the book she is naive and who slowly learns about growing up as the story unfolds. At first, all she wanted to do was play and interact with the children living in the neighborhood, but then she began to interest herself in boys and sexual matters. She was maturing. Esperanza is left disappointed at the end because it isn't what she expected. She goes on to worry about more important things like leaving Mango Street.
4. After reading this book, I can say that I met a character. Esperanza went through stages of life that all of us go through. She was a curious young girl with dreams, she set goals and wanted to become something greater and learned a lot along the way. She was a character with real emotions, hardships, and aspirations. She resembled someone who is determined to achieve something in the real world.
TPCASTT: Those Winter Sundays by Robert Hayden
Title of poem means: "Those winter Sundays" remind the speaker of his childhood. It seems to be a flashback from a long time ago. Now that he thinks about it, these specific Sundays were meaningful.
Paraphrase parts of the poem: The dad of the speaker would get up really early to warm up the house for the family, after he had worked hard all week long. No one would thank the dad, or show any enthusiasm. The speaker was afraid of his dad so he would speak without affection. The speaker's dad did all of this stuff for him, but he never understood why. He never understood that his father truly loved him, and showed it by lighting the fire and polishing his shoes, until now.
Connotation of some of the words – changing literal meaning to implied or associated values: His father warmed up the house and polished his shoes...but why? These are the ways he showed his love.
Attitude: The speaker is regretful, yet grateful. It wasn't that he purposely took advantage of what his father did for him, he just never recognized that it was his way of showing his love for his family. No one ever thanked the father, but looking back the speaker is truly grateful for his father.
Shift: The poem shifts at the end where the speaker says, "What did I know, what did I know of love's austere and lonely offices?" At this point the reader realizes that now he understands his father's love and why he did the things he did. The reader sees that the speaker wasn't ungrateful, he just never understood that that was how his father showed his love until then.
Title revisited: "Those winter Sundays" are significant to the speaker's childhood. Every Sunday his father would warm up the house and polish his shoes, yet no one would ever thank him. These simple gestures were overlooked, until now where the speaker is flashing back.
Theme: Love and sacrifice. This poem shows the love between a father and his child. This bond is what makes a father get up early after a long week of work to warm up the house. This love is quiet yet powerful. This love is what drives the father to make sacrifices for his family.
Paraphrase parts of the poem: The dad of the speaker would get up really early to warm up the house for the family, after he had worked hard all week long. No one would thank the dad, or show any enthusiasm. The speaker was afraid of his dad so he would speak without affection. The speaker's dad did all of this stuff for him, but he never understood why. He never understood that his father truly loved him, and showed it by lighting the fire and polishing his shoes, until now.
Connotation of some of the words – changing literal meaning to implied or associated values: His father warmed up the house and polished his shoes...but why? These are the ways he showed his love.
Attitude: The speaker is regretful, yet grateful. It wasn't that he purposely took advantage of what his father did for him, he just never recognized that it was his way of showing his love for his family. No one ever thanked the father, but looking back the speaker is truly grateful for his father.
Shift: The poem shifts at the end where the speaker says, "What did I know, what did I know of love's austere and lonely offices?" At this point the reader realizes that now he understands his father's love and why he did the things he did. The reader sees that the speaker wasn't ungrateful, he just never understood that that was how his father showed his love until then.
Title revisited: "Those winter Sundays" are significant to the speaker's childhood. Every Sunday his father would warm up the house and polish his shoes, yet no one would ever thank him. These simple gestures were overlooked, until now where the speaker is flashing back.
Theme: Love and sacrifice. This poem shows the love between a father and his child. This bond is what makes a father get up early after a long week of work to warm up the house. This love is quiet yet powerful. This love is what drives the father to make sacrifices for his family.
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