Hey guys.
I know we've started Ros and Guil Are Dead but we haven't really discussed it. I thought this would be a good start to further class discussions, putting up comments and clearing up some confusion.
Speaking of confusion, we see a lot of that in the play. Even at the beginning we get a sense that the characters themselves are confused about themselves and things around them. In fact this confusion, among with other ideas, occur throughout the play. Others include randomness, forgetfulness, references to Hamlet (the actual play), ignorance/stupidity, chance, question of identity, and reality vs. appearance.
The randomness starts right off the play with the random coin toss game. Between that, the question of probability occurs. Guil is the one asking the question. We see throughout the play that while Ros seems to be carefee and oblivious to the world around him, Guil on the other hand is the thinker and makes attempts to figure out the meaning of life. Ros is more 'random' than Guil. For example, he seems to know random facts (such as the nail and beard growing fact after death). He is more of the passive character compared to Guil.
Another thing that I read somewhere and didn't completely agree with was the hint of homosexuality. When the Tragedians come to Ros and Guil they offer to engage in sexual 'scenes' for an extra fee. Guil is the one who opposes this idea. But even in doing so, the reader can see his hesitation (seen a lot in these two characters). He's not even sure of himself-of what he wants. I think he was just trying to make a moral stand. The hesitation, in my opinion, was because he felt that there was something wrong and he was surprised and confused at himself that he saw that while others around him didn't. Remember, he's the one who tries to figure things out in his life. This was one of those 'aha!' moments.
Well, there's a lot more to talk about! Just wanted to open the floor for discussion.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Monday, January 28, 2008
art of performing
Hey everyone.
I was just looking up things related to what we did in class today and I found this really interesting book/article. It's called An Actor's Handbook: An Alphabetical Arrangement of Concise Statements on Aspects of Acting. It goes through things related to acting and that acting and performing consist of. I didn't want to paste it all here (duh) so hope the link works. I'll try to remember to bring it up in class because it breaks stuff down really well.
http://www.questia.com/library/book/an-actors-handbook-an-alphabetical-arrangement-of-concise-statements-on-aspects-of-acting-by-constantin-stanislavsky-elizabeth-reynolds-hapgood.jsp
I was just looking up things related to what we did in class today and I found this really interesting book/article. It's called An Actor's Handbook: An Alphabetical Arrangement of Concise Statements on Aspects of Acting. It goes through things related to acting and that acting and performing consist of. I didn't want to paste it all here (duh) so hope the link works. I'll try to remember to bring it up in class because it breaks stuff down really well.
http://www.questia.com/library/book/an-actors-handbook-an-alphabetical-arrangement-of-concise-statements-on-aspects-of-acting-by-constantin-stanislavsky-elizabeth-reynolds-hapgood.jsp
Saturday, January 19, 2008
King Lear/Literary Criticism stuff
Literary Criticism:
Psychoanalysis
- focuses on the mindset of the writer and the character.
Freudian stuff:
id - our innate primal instincts and desires no longer deemed acceptable by society
superego - awareness of social customs, norms, etc. suppresses the id.
ego - face we present to the world
Freud said that we should look at the characters as actual people
Lacan said we should view the characters as symptoms of the writer.
applied to Lear:
There is an absence of a mother figure in both Lear's family and Gloucester's family and it seems to be for the worse, considering Goneril, Regan, and Edmund's actions. We can say that the id takes over and the mother figure would've been the superego to prevent that.
Goneril and Regan shouldn't have taken what was theirs. Therefore, they led to their own destruction.
"Nothing comes of nothing" = nothing comes of womanhood.
Marxism:
- the doctrines taught by marxism all require faith and belief, therefore, if you don't believe in it, it's likely that you don't understand it.
**Social being determines consciousness**
**Marxism's aim is to change the world, vs philosophers who only interpret it**
Institutions built the culture
Focuses on flow of power
-people who have power tend to want to keep it
-people who don't tend to want to take it
Applied to Lear:
Since it was written in 1605, 2 years after King James took the throne, Lear was probably a reflection of the change of power from Elizabeth to James. Since Elizabeth had no male heir, it was uncertain who would rise up to take the throne. After all, someone must take the throne when it's vacated. The play shows this by having a struggle between all the characters to ascend to the throne after Lear goes mad.
Other Lear stuff:
Lear (the king) breaks traditional practice by dividing up and giving each daughter land. This symbolizes the breaking up of the kingdom, and possibly the family?
Edgar is the perfect character. He is the only one who can replace Lear.
The storm symbolizes Lear's internal struggle.
Edgar keeps his identity hidden from his father in order to prevent more damage. analogous to "if you tell your partner you're cheating, how will they ever trust you again?" idea.
Fisher King parallel:
If king cannot produce an heir, he is considered impotent and the land similarly cannot produce any crops. Therefore, the king = land. A thing to note is that land is feminine.
Sorry that my notes kinda... suck. I recommend going back to our previous blog posts for further study. They go into much more detail and do help to clear stuff up.
Psychoanalysis
- focuses on the mindset of the writer and the character.
Freudian stuff:
id - our innate primal instincts and desires no longer deemed acceptable by society
superego - awareness of social customs, norms, etc. suppresses the id.
ego - face we present to the world
Freud said that we should look at the characters as actual people
Lacan said we should view the characters as symptoms of the writer.
applied to Lear:
There is an absence of a mother figure in both Lear's family and Gloucester's family and it seems to be for the worse, considering Goneril, Regan, and Edmund's actions. We can say that the id takes over and the mother figure would've been the superego to prevent that.
Goneril and Regan shouldn't have taken what was theirs. Therefore, they led to their own destruction.
"Nothing comes of nothing" = nothing comes of womanhood.
Marxism:
- the doctrines taught by marxism all require faith and belief, therefore, if you don't believe in it, it's likely that you don't understand it.
**Social being determines consciousness**
**Marxism's aim is to change the world, vs philosophers who only interpret it**
Institutions built the culture
Focuses on flow of power
-people who have power tend to want to keep it
-people who don't tend to want to take it
Applied to Lear:
Since it was written in 1605, 2 years after King James took the throne, Lear was probably a reflection of the change of power from Elizabeth to James. Since Elizabeth had no male heir, it was uncertain who would rise up to take the throne. After all, someone must take the throne when it's vacated. The play shows this by having a struggle between all the characters to ascend to the throne after Lear goes mad.
Other Lear stuff:
Lear (the king) breaks traditional practice by dividing up and giving each daughter land. This symbolizes the breaking up of the kingdom, and possibly the family?
Edgar is the perfect character. He is the only one who can replace Lear.
The storm symbolizes Lear's internal struggle.
Edgar keeps his identity hidden from his father in order to prevent more damage. analogous to "if you tell your partner you're cheating, how will they ever trust you again?" idea.
Fisher King parallel:
If king cannot produce an heir, he is considered impotent and the land similarly cannot produce any crops. Therefore, the king = land. A thing to note is that land is feminine.
Sorry that my notes kinda... suck. I recommend going back to our previous blog posts for further study. They go into much more detail and do help to clear stuff up.
Midterm Review Session
I know we vaguely discussed this before, but did we have a final conclusion on when and if we're going to meet to review for Laz's midterm?
How is Monday at 11 for everyone? We can study for a couple hours, go home, and meet back again for the poetry slam at 5:30.
I'm offering up my house, but we can meet wherever everyone wants to.
I have the strangest feeling that no one is going to comment back on this.
I have another question. So far, I'm the only one whos posted my notes on the blog. I'm fine with posting the rest of mine, but I'm not going to go through the trouble if no one else is using them. So is it worth it? Should I type up the rest?
How is Monday at 11 for everyone? We can study for a couple hours, go home, and meet back again for the poetry slam at 5:30.
I'm offering up my house, but we can meet wherever everyone wants to.
I have the strangest feeling that no one is going to comment back on this.
I have another question. So far, I'm the only one whos posted my notes on the blog. I'm fine with posting the rest of mine, but I'm not going to go through the trouble if no one else is using them. So is it worth it? Should I type up the rest?
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Monday, January 14, 2008
Rhino Notes
Reading back on my notes, I'm not even sure I understand all of them. Absurdism confused me to no end, especially with the meaning of life and trying to find it. Ask if you have quesitons on my notes...
RHINOSORAUS
Theatre of the Absurd
- developed in the 1920’s and 1930’s between WWI and WWII
- prohibition showed the hypocrisy of law (trying to raise civil, moral, ethical values) compared to standards)
- outlook that world has no real hope or meaning. We might as well drink and be marry because we don’t know what will happen next
- loss of values and focus
- sense that God is dead
- no longer having applicable values
- absurd to audiences different to absurd from writer (writers saw the world as illogical and this as the best way to express it)
- Logic not holding up in the real world
- “entrope” idea
o Everything moves from order to disorder
o Order cannot be maintained
o Society and individuals meant to move to more disorder
- ideas in play
o first one rhino comes soon, everything goes back to order. Next time, things don’t go back to order as equally, etc.
o Berdatte fits into the “Lost Generation” because he drowns himself in booze
o Conventionalized speech in play had no hidden meaning. It just showed the ridiculousness of every day conversation.
Traditional Theatre
- being able to relate to character
- process of movement (starts with normal situation, then conflict, then return to a (new) norm)
- plots have a beginning, middle, and end
- world obeys certain logic (even if it is not our logical, we can get into someone else’s world and find some logic in it).
- Consistency
Absurdist Theatre
- no norm for common understanding
- no connection between the characters and readers
- devoid of all sense of relation (no way to tell where you specifically- all landmarks are gone)
- nothing fully established, and characters do not have consistent personalities.
- Unreliable
- No sense of time, sense, or memory
o No narrative history
o Cant look back definitely and see what was known before.
o Without a memory, no identity.
- Protagonists find themselves in a world which they don’t understand. Audience can only relate to this lack of understanding
- Absence of factors allowing for meaning (Who am I? What am I doing here? )
- Identity becomes unclear
- Attempts by characters to deal with the world are futile
Absurdism idea
- you may want meaning in your life, but you are incapable and completely incapable of finding it.
- We must still look for meaning because if compels to find something of meaning
Hero in Absurdism -
· lacks confidence to change the world themselves
· lacks purpose, sense, or direction
· looks for others for meaning (looking for reassurance that life will be okay) , but this won’t happen
· temptation to become whatever everyone else is (e.g. Rhino’s destroy everything. Humans have a temptation to do this too, in their ID. If everyone else is doing it, why shouldn’t I?)
Focus of Absurdism
· How characters try to cope
· Wait for someone to tell them what to do, and this never comes
· Even if it does, meaning can never be made
Games in Absurdist Theatre
· not fun games, but something to do why they wait
· If there are no games, there would be silence. Silence leads to fear of the unknown
· Not genuine humor
· Laughs are an attempt to find meaning (?)
· Laughing because of our condition because we cannot solve problems (in absurdist theatre)
· No way to win game
Random notes about absurdist ideas
· absurdism focuses on the exaggeration of our own lives
· absurdism looks at any imposing order as laughable
· forces people to try to find true sense since right now we don’t have real meaning in our lives
· absurdist’s believe there is no way to find ultimate answer , but we may be able to glimpse into it
· universe is a big joke which we take too seriously
· Nothing in life really ends like a fairy tale
· We live our lives day by day waiting and looking for what it all means, and may/wont ever really find it
· Idea of being last one against the tide (Berenger) scares us
· Eventually, we will all be forced under
Nazi Parallelism
· Botard at first believes so strongly and then says we want to “change with times”
· Manipulation begins at one person, then small group, then many people do
· Collective phycosis - if you do things you don’t want to do normally, but everyone else is doing it, it becomes part of your values and system
· No memory as to a time before this
· Collective conscience occurred b/c people afraid to go against the tide
o We hate being alone
o Surround ourselves in identity as one of a group
· find a powerful person and latch on
o someone else will take care of us/the meaning of life
o we create artificial packs (like animals)
· Totalitarian governments don’t tolerate differences
o Every rhino (minus horns) looks exactly the same
o Will one-horn two-horn eventually be the main problem? People are so alike that this small of a difference makes them fight?
Marxism Ideas
· Everyone becomes a rhino (everyone equal). Iunesko doesn’t like this because it lowers people to become equally brutish and unintelligent.
· Yielding of power kept everyone else in line
· Toppling of power (rhino’s topple people) so that isn’t support of Marxism (authority should always have power)
· Marxists would agree that its inevitable that everyone become a rhino. Capitalists (Berenger) resist this change
· E.g.
o Daisy says love is her weakness. This is a Marxist belief. She changes into a rhino showing that the needs of the group are greater than that of the individual
o Jean says he never dreams. Shows control of all thought (Marxist) while Berenger doesn’t have this regiment in his head.
What is the point?
· Writer puts down his anger and frustration in people’s willingness to go along with fascism and allowing themselves to be brought under heal
· We don’t necessarily need WWII reference to agree with this.
RHINOSORAUS
Theatre of the Absurd
- developed in the 1920’s and 1930’s between WWI and WWII
- prohibition showed the hypocrisy of law (trying to raise civil, moral, ethical values) compared to standards)
- outlook that world has no real hope or meaning. We might as well drink and be marry because we don’t know what will happen next
- loss of values and focus
- sense that God is dead
- no longer having applicable values
- absurd to audiences different to absurd from writer (writers saw the world as illogical and this as the best way to express it)
- Logic not holding up in the real world
- “entrope” idea
o Everything moves from order to disorder
o Order cannot be maintained
o Society and individuals meant to move to more disorder
- ideas in play
o first one rhino comes soon, everything goes back to order. Next time, things don’t go back to order as equally, etc.
o Berdatte fits into the “Lost Generation” because he drowns himself in booze
o Conventionalized speech in play had no hidden meaning. It just showed the ridiculousness of every day conversation.
Traditional Theatre
- being able to relate to character
- process of movement (starts with normal situation, then conflict, then return to a (new) norm)
- plots have a beginning, middle, and end
- world obeys certain logic (even if it is not our logical, we can get into someone else’s world and find some logic in it).
- Consistency
Absurdist Theatre
- no norm for common understanding
- no connection between the characters and readers
- devoid of all sense of relation (no way to tell where you specifically- all landmarks are gone)
- nothing fully established, and characters do not have consistent personalities.
- Unreliable
- No sense of time, sense, or memory
o No narrative history
o Cant look back definitely and see what was known before.
o Without a memory, no identity.
- Protagonists find themselves in a world which they don’t understand. Audience can only relate to this lack of understanding
- Absence of factors allowing for meaning (Who am I? What am I doing here? )
- Identity becomes unclear
- Attempts by characters to deal with the world are futile
Absurdism idea
- you may want meaning in your life, but you are incapable and completely incapable of finding it.
- We must still look for meaning because if compels to find something of meaning
Hero in Absurdism -
· lacks confidence to change the world themselves
· lacks purpose, sense, or direction
· looks for others for meaning (looking for reassurance that life will be okay) , but this won’t happen
· temptation to become whatever everyone else is (e.g. Rhino’s destroy everything. Humans have a temptation to do this too, in their ID. If everyone else is doing it, why shouldn’t I?)
Focus of Absurdism
· How characters try to cope
· Wait for someone to tell them what to do, and this never comes
· Even if it does, meaning can never be made
Games in Absurdist Theatre
· not fun games, but something to do why they wait
· If there are no games, there would be silence. Silence leads to fear of the unknown
· Not genuine humor
· Laughs are an attempt to find meaning (?)
· Laughing because of our condition because we cannot solve problems (in absurdist theatre)
· No way to win game
Random notes about absurdist ideas
· absurdism focuses on the exaggeration of our own lives
· absurdism looks at any imposing order as laughable
· forces people to try to find true sense since right now we don’t have real meaning in our lives
· absurdist’s believe there is no way to find ultimate answer , but we may be able to glimpse into it
· universe is a big joke which we take too seriously
· Nothing in life really ends like a fairy tale
· We live our lives day by day waiting and looking for what it all means, and may/wont ever really find it
· Idea of being last one against the tide (Berenger) scares us
· Eventually, we will all be forced under
Nazi Parallelism
· Botard at first believes so strongly and then says we want to “change with times”
· Manipulation begins at one person, then small group, then many people do
· Collective phycosis - if you do things you don’t want to do normally, but everyone else is doing it, it becomes part of your values and system
· No memory as to a time before this
· Collective conscience occurred b/c people afraid to go against the tide
o We hate being alone
o Surround ourselves in identity as one of a group
· find a powerful person and latch on
o someone else will take care of us/the meaning of life
o we create artificial packs (like animals)
· Totalitarian governments don’t tolerate differences
o Every rhino (minus horns) looks exactly the same
o Will one-horn two-horn eventually be the main problem? People are so alike that this small of a difference makes them fight?
Marxism Ideas
· Everyone becomes a rhino (everyone equal). Iunesko doesn’t like this because it lowers people to become equally brutish and unintelligent.
· Yielding of power kept everyone else in line
· Toppling of power (rhino’s topple people) so that isn’t support of Marxism (authority should always have power)
· Marxists would agree that its inevitable that everyone become a rhino. Capitalists (Berenger) resist this change
· E.g.
o Daisy says love is her weakness. This is a Marxist belief. She changes into a rhino showing that the needs of the group are greater than that of the individual
o Jean says he never dreams. Shows control of all thought (Marxist) while Berenger doesn’t have this regiment in his head.
What is the point?
· Writer puts down his anger and frustration in people’s willingness to go along with fascism and allowing themselves to be brought under heal
· We don’t necessarily need WWII reference to agree with this.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Beowulf Midterm Review
Hi everyone,
Here are my notes for the Midterm Review. They aren't particularly well formatted. I just put down everything I had in my notes, figuring everything was important. If anyone has questions, go ahead and ask. Can everyone else put their notes up soon? I'll post my other notes later... these took me a while to type up.
BEOWULF NOTES
Theme: All things must come to an end
- rise and fall of the Danish nation
- nothing lasts forever (Heorat hall)
- great kings must die and be replaced by their sons
- greatness waxes and wanes
Other Ideas/Topics
Can’t be as good as God
- Horthgar believes that Denmark cannot be defeated, and then Grendal comes
- Beowulf believes he cannot be defeated, and then the dragon comes
Pride – Good or Bad?
- belief that you are better than god (bad)
- without certain belief in self, you won’t be able to be good/strong (good)
- Beowulf goes to Denmark with pride and talks about his accomplishments to sell himself (good)
- No humility in life or death (I don’t know what that refers to)
Family Lineage
- very important
- Danish king knew Beowulf’s father (gets to meet Hrothgar because he knew Beowulf’s dad)
- Grendal is an outcast because he is a descendent of Cain
Structure
Stories within Stories
- “popcorn” stories
- not essential points but because the story was told out loud, became part of story
e.g. Finns
* story told during a party
* not specifically about linear story but shows the value of the culture
- We like things beginning to end (linear)
- Unlimited number of directions these popcorn
- we only know one way
Origin of Beowulf
- at first there was no written language.
- Although this is the first version of Beowulf which is found, it was probably not the first written. This version is a combination of many other versions
- between 5th and 10th century, many versions were created
- sometimes story doesn’t match up (e.g. elders let him go at the beginning of story, but at the end, say they hadn’t believes in him) because this is a combination of many stories put together.
Other topics of discussion
Feminine Critique - Wealtherow has social power (tells her husband not to make Beowulf king)
- Men have physical power, women have social power
- Women must keep homes safe so that men have something real (other than fighting) to come back to. Home represents safety and civilization. Home represents what men are fighting to keep
- Grendal’s mother is like Eve -> she brings evil
- Women must be properly conditioned for their job, usually by their husbands. Otherwise, may become like Grendal’s mummy.
- Equality?
o Do we see Wealtheow and Hrothgar having an equal/fair relationship?
Pagan vs. Christian Ideas
- Poet was a Christian
- Beowulf originally a pagan
- Anglo-Saxon welcomed Christianity (bring new gods alongside pagan ones!) and paganism eventually faded out
- both Christianity and Paganism in stories (although slight condemnation of pagan ideas)
- monster real for Anglo-Saxton (refers to everything they don’t understand about the external world)
- Old Testament references (God will smite, not forgive)
- Bible still being written (no mass production/ printing press) so no one could really have had the Bible (only Old Testament)
- Swords are crosses upside down (fighting for Christ)
- Crucial element in Beowulf is faith
Faith
- sword fails when fighting dragon and Grendal’s mother
- Beowulf finds a sword in Grendal’s mother’s cave to kill her
- Hrothgar losses faith in Beowulf
o Greats stay because if Beowulf stays alive, they celebrate. If he dead, they have to avenge him
o Greats have faith in Beowulf during Grendal’s mom’s fight
o Beowulf returns to Hrothgar with Grendal’s mom’s head and the hilt of the metal sword. He shows Hrothgar that the evil is gone, and gives him back his faith (represented in the sword).
- During dragon scene, they run away. Most of them refuse to go into the cave (they don’t have faith). This leads to the downfall of the Greats (like the Danes)
- Death of Beowulf shows that faith must be accompanied by practicality. Beowulf is stupid for trying to kill the dragon by himself. God helps those who helps themselves, so he should have gotten some men/help.
- Wyrd shows that we should belief in faith, but that we have the power to change some things.
Monstrosity in Women
- Grendal’s mom is everythying a women shouldn’t be
- Peace wavers (women) failed (everyone knew they would), but they didn’t use violence because they knew it was wrong/ unwomanly
Integrity
- Beowulf attacks Grendal on an equal foot (no weapons)
Grendal
- Opposite of all that is good
- Opposite of the perfect warrior (Beowulf)
- Attacks only at night
- When Beowulf grabs hold of him, he runs. He doesn’t fight.
Grendal’s Mum
- methodology opposite of other methods
- kills rather than uses peace to protect her son
- still a mother, though, protecting her son like Weatherow would.
Forgiveness
- Not part of Beowulf’s culture
- Do we really forgive now? Or do we just feel that a higher power will take care and serve justice for us?
Random Other points
· everything set up so world is trying to keep peace/ people living well
· Beowulf shows us that eventually everything must fall. At the end of the story, new leader says the Swedes will try to attack them.
Fruedian Method
My notes on this section are too messy to put up on the blog. If someone else would, that would really help.
Why does Beowulf still captivate us?
- entertainment value
- struggle between good and bad is still appreciated
- lessons still learned (moral value)
o relationships between faith and living (faith is important)
o you have to believe (sanctuary in the good and having faith)
o loyalty and family loyalty and revenge still important
§ blood vengeance still seen in sports
§ 9/11 used to avenge by going into Iraq
§ World Wars due to revenge
§ When law fails, we take things into our own hand and hand out punishments-vigilanty justice (I don’t know why this is important)
o Good masculine hero
Example of Quote Analysis
Pg 19 Line 260 (Identification moment between guard and Beowulf)
- Beowulf’s father carries weight because of family lineage
- Hygelac carries weight of Geats
- Beowulf doesn’t use his name because Coast Guard is a no one, reinforces that Coast Guard doesn’t have a right to know his name (reinforces ranks)
- Proof of honorable intent
- At the end of story, Beowulf gives him his sword. Shows Beowulf’s leadership qualities. Beowulf treats the Coast Guard well. The Coast guard has been faithful, honorable, and taken care of Beowulf’s ships.
Here are my notes for the Midterm Review. They aren't particularly well formatted. I just put down everything I had in my notes, figuring everything was important. If anyone has questions, go ahead and ask. Can everyone else put their notes up soon? I'll post my other notes later... these took me a while to type up.
BEOWULF NOTES
Theme: All things must come to an end
- rise and fall of the Danish nation
- nothing lasts forever (Heorat hall)
- great kings must die and be replaced by their sons
- greatness waxes and wanes
Other Ideas/Topics
Can’t be as good as God
- Horthgar believes that Denmark cannot be defeated, and then Grendal comes
- Beowulf believes he cannot be defeated, and then the dragon comes
Pride – Good or Bad?
- belief that you are better than god (bad)
- without certain belief in self, you won’t be able to be good/strong (good)
- Beowulf goes to Denmark with pride and talks about his accomplishments to sell himself (good)
- No humility in life or death (I don’t know what that refers to)
Family Lineage
- very important
- Danish king knew Beowulf’s father (gets to meet Hrothgar because he knew Beowulf’s dad)
- Grendal is an outcast because he is a descendent of Cain
Structure
Stories within Stories
- “popcorn” stories
- not essential points but because the story was told out loud, became part of story
e.g. Finns
* story told during a party
* not specifically about linear story but shows the value of the culture
- We like things beginning to end (linear)
- Unlimited number of directions these popcorn
- we only know one way
Origin of Beowulf
- at first there was no written language.
- Although this is the first version of Beowulf which is found, it was probably not the first written. This version is a combination of many other versions
- between 5th and 10th century, many versions were created
- sometimes story doesn’t match up (e.g. elders let him go at the beginning of story, but at the end, say they hadn’t believes in him) because this is a combination of many stories put together.
Other topics of discussion
Feminine Critique - Wealtherow has social power (tells her husband not to make Beowulf king)
- Men have physical power, women have social power
- Women must keep homes safe so that men have something real (other than fighting) to come back to. Home represents safety and civilization. Home represents what men are fighting to keep
- Grendal’s mother is like Eve -> she brings evil
- Women must be properly conditioned for their job, usually by their husbands. Otherwise, may become like Grendal’s mummy.
- Equality?
o Do we see Wealtheow and Hrothgar having an equal/fair relationship?
Pagan vs. Christian Ideas
- Poet was a Christian
- Beowulf originally a pagan
- Anglo-Saxon welcomed Christianity (bring new gods alongside pagan ones!) and paganism eventually faded out
- both Christianity and Paganism in stories (although slight condemnation of pagan ideas)
- monster real for Anglo-Saxton (refers to everything they don’t understand about the external world)
- Old Testament references (God will smite, not forgive)
- Bible still being written (no mass production/ printing press) so no one could really have had the Bible (only Old Testament)
- Swords are crosses upside down (fighting for Christ)
- Crucial element in Beowulf is faith
Faith
- sword fails when fighting dragon and Grendal’s mother
- Beowulf finds a sword in Grendal’s mother’s cave to kill her
- Hrothgar losses faith in Beowulf
o Greats stay because if Beowulf stays alive, they celebrate. If he dead, they have to avenge him
o Greats have faith in Beowulf during Grendal’s mom’s fight
o Beowulf returns to Hrothgar with Grendal’s mom’s head and the hilt of the metal sword. He shows Hrothgar that the evil is gone, and gives him back his faith (represented in the sword).
- During dragon scene, they run away. Most of them refuse to go into the cave (they don’t have faith). This leads to the downfall of the Greats (like the Danes)
- Death of Beowulf shows that faith must be accompanied by practicality. Beowulf is stupid for trying to kill the dragon by himself. God helps those who helps themselves, so he should have gotten some men/help.
- Wyrd shows that we should belief in faith, but that we have the power to change some things.
Monstrosity in Women
- Grendal’s mom is everythying a women shouldn’t be
- Peace wavers (women) failed (everyone knew they would), but they didn’t use violence because they knew it was wrong/ unwomanly
Integrity
- Beowulf attacks Grendal on an equal foot (no weapons)
Grendal
- Opposite of all that is good
- Opposite of the perfect warrior (Beowulf)
- Attacks only at night
- When Beowulf grabs hold of him, he runs. He doesn’t fight.
Grendal’s Mum
- methodology opposite of other methods
- kills rather than uses peace to protect her son
- still a mother, though, protecting her son like Weatherow would.
Forgiveness
- Not part of Beowulf’s culture
- Do we really forgive now? Or do we just feel that a higher power will take care and serve justice for us?
Random Other points
· everything set up so world is trying to keep peace/ people living well
· Beowulf shows us that eventually everything must fall. At the end of the story, new leader says the Swedes will try to attack them.
Fruedian Method
My notes on this section are too messy to put up on the blog. If someone else would, that would really help.
Why does Beowulf still captivate us?
- entertainment value
- struggle between good and bad is still appreciated
- lessons still learned (moral value)
o relationships between faith and living (faith is important)
o you have to believe (sanctuary in the good and having faith)
o loyalty and family loyalty and revenge still important
§ blood vengeance still seen in sports
§ 9/11 used to avenge by going into Iraq
§ World Wars due to revenge
§ When law fails, we take things into our own hand and hand out punishments-vigilanty justice (I don’t know why this is important)
o Good masculine hero
Example of Quote Analysis
Pg 19 Line 260 (Identification moment between guard and Beowulf)
- Beowulf’s father carries weight because of family lineage
- Hygelac carries weight of Geats
- Beowulf doesn’t use his name because Coast Guard is a no one, reinforces that Coast Guard doesn’t have a right to know his name (reinforces ranks)
- Proof of honorable intent
- At the end of story, Beowulf gives him his sword. Shows Beowulf’s leadership qualities. Beowulf treats the Coast Guard well. The Coast guard has been faithful, honorable, and taken care of Beowulf’s ships.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Wittenberg
I'm not sure how much interest there is in going to see Wittenberg, but I thought I'd post the information here so we can decide and plan accordingly.
Arden Theatre Company
40 N. 2nd St., Philadelphia
215.922.1122
Synopsis:
"Set during late October of 1517, this smart, sprightly and audacious battle of wits features university colleagues Dr. Faustus (a man of appetites), Martin Luther (a man of faith), and their student Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (a youth struggling not only with his beliefs but also with his tennis game). Playwright David Davalos brings us the story behind the stories in a highly entertaining and accessible exploration of reason versus faith, starring Scott Greer as Faustus and Greg Wood as Luther." (http://www.ardentheatre.org/2008/wittenberg.html)
It is playing from January 17 - March 16, 2008. The pricing is a little steeper, but they do have some student and teen discounts. The cheapest shows are Sunday night at 7 pm, Tuesday night at 7 pm, Wednesday night at 6:30 pm, Thursday night at 8 pm, or Saturday afternoon at 2 pm. These shows usually cost $29 per person, but the student rate (valid student ID) is $27, and the teen rate (17 and under) is $18. (Could we just order the tickets online and all say that we are teens? Is that immoral?)
I know this is planning pretty far in advance since we probably won't be able to go until after midterms (end of Jan/beggining of Feb), but I just thought of it and figured it'd be good to have all of the info in one place.
Arden Theatre Company
40 N. 2nd St., Philadelphia
215.922.1122
Synopsis:
"Set during late October of 1517, this smart, sprightly and audacious battle of wits features university colleagues Dr. Faustus (a man of appetites), Martin Luther (a man of faith), and their student Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (a youth struggling not only with his beliefs but also with his tennis game). Playwright David Davalos brings us the story behind the stories in a highly entertaining and accessible exploration of reason versus faith, starring Scott Greer as Faustus and Greg Wood as Luther." (http://www.ardentheatre.org/2008/wittenberg.html)
It is playing from January 17 - March 16, 2008. The pricing is a little steeper, but they do have some student and teen discounts. The cheapest shows are Sunday night at 7 pm, Tuesday night at 7 pm, Wednesday night at 6:30 pm, Thursday night at 8 pm, or Saturday afternoon at 2 pm. These shows usually cost $29 per person, but the student rate (valid student ID) is $27, and the teen rate (17 and under) is $18. (Could we just order the tickets online and all say that we are teens? Is that immoral?)
I know this is planning pretty far in advance since we probably won't be able to go until after midterms (end of Jan/beggining of Feb), but I just thought of it and figured it'd be good to have all of the info in one place.
Monday, January 7, 2008
Hamlet: A Question
So I don't really have much to say on Hamlet yet but I thought I would start some discussion (which I seriously doubt anyone will respond to tonight, but that's besides the point).
One thing that I really didn't get and that has been really bothering me is Act 2 Scene 1. At first I thought that the significance of this scene would manifest itself later, but once I finished the play, I realized Shakespeare never really developed the main plot line in this scene. Thus, why did Polonius ask his manservant, Reynaldo to go to France in order to spy on his son Laertes? And why did he ask Reynaldo to tell subtle untruths about Laertes in order to discredit the latter slightly? Maybe I just didn't read the play closely enough, but I just don't get the importance of, or even the need for, this scene. If someone could shed some light, that would be excellent!
Thanks.
One thing that I really didn't get and that has been really bothering me is Act 2 Scene 1. At first I thought that the significance of this scene would manifest itself later, but once I finished the play, I realized Shakespeare never really developed the main plot line in this scene. Thus, why did Polonius ask his manservant, Reynaldo to go to France in order to spy on his son Laertes? And why did he ask Reynaldo to tell subtle untruths about Laertes in order to discredit the latter slightly? Maybe I just didn't read the play closely enough, but I just don't get the importance of, or even the need for, this scene. If someone could shed some light, that would be excellent!
Thanks.
Poetry Slam
I thought I would post some of the important info. on here so we can have a place to discuss and finalize the details.
Date: Monday, January 21 (MLK Day)
Time: 7 pm - 9 pm
Place: First Presbyterian Church's Fellowship Hall
Ticket Price: $5? (we should decide this together/ask Laz what it has been in years past)
The FPC is reserved for us from 6 pm - 9:30 pm, giving us ample time to set up/clean up.
Anisha made a flyer when she made the sign-up binder (which is in Laz's room), so we can probably just mass produce those and stick them up around the school. We should also decide who is going to talk to which English teachers. We also need to make a flyer to put up in businesses on Main Street, and then actually put them up.
Liz- you went and talked to SUDS before break, but maybe we should update them? How exactly do they want to be involved?
Albert is talking to Acme, and Anisha- you're talking to Starbucks, right?
Did you guys have a chance to check out the charity I mentioned? If you didn't, the website is http://www.herocampaign.org. Please check it out tonight. I want to e-mail the directors and see if we can get a representative from the charity to come to the event, but I don't want to do that until we're sure it's the charity we want to do. Let me know! :)
Date: Monday, January 21 (MLK Day)
Time: 7 pm - 9 pm
Place: First Presbyterian Church's Fellowship Hall
Ticket Price: $5? (we should decide this together/ask Laz what it has been in years past)
The FPC is reserved for us from 6 pm - 9:30 pm, giving us ample time to set up/clean up.
Anisha made a flyer when she made the sign-up binder (which is in Laz's room), so we can probably just mass produce those and stick them up around the school. We should also decide who is going to talk to which English teachers. We also need to make a flyer to put up in businesses on Main Street, and then actually put them up.
Liz- you went and talked to SUDS before break, but maybe we should update them? How exactly do they want to be involved?
Albert is talking to Acme, and Anisha- you're talking to Starbucks, right?
Did you guys have a chance to check out the charity I mentioned? If you didn't, the website is http://www.herocampaign.org. Please check it out tonight. I want to e-mail the directors and see if we can get a representative from the charity to come to the event, but I don't want to do that until we're sure it's the charity we want to do. Let me know! :)
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Fun Game! And by that I mean not.
Hi guys,
I woke up this morning with a brilliant (not) idea. Can we analyze one piece of poetry together before the quiz tomorrow? Basically, can we practice and see the different ways each of us analyze a piece of poetry?
If anyone thinks this is a stupid idea... sorry :( But I thought practice was always good.
I went on a Shakespearean sonnet site (http://poetry.eserver.org/sonnets/) and randomly clicked on the a link, so here's the poem I'm proposing we analyze. I'll analyze too (or maybe I'll be the only one), when I'm a little more awake.
Sonnet 153
Cupid laid by his brand and fell asleep,
A maid of Dian's this advantage found,
And his love-kindling fire did quickly steep
In a cold valley-fountain of that ground:
Which borrowed from this holy fire of Love,
A dateless lively heat still to endure,
And grew a seeting bath which yet men prove,
Against strange maladies a sovereign cure:
But at my mistress' eye Love's brand new-fired,
The boy for trial needs would touch my breast,
I sick withal the help of bath desired,
And thither hied a sad distempered guest.
But found no cure, the bath for my help lies,
Where Cupid got new fire; my mistress' eyes.
I woke up this morning with a brilliant (not) idea. Can we analyze one piece of poetry together before the quiz tomorrow? Basically, can we practice and see the different ways each of us analyze a piece of poetry?
If anyone thinks this is a stupid idea... sorry :( But I thought practice was always good.
I went on a Shakespearean sonnet site (http://poetry.eserver.org/sonnets/) and randomly clicked on the a link, so here's the poem I'm proposing we analyze. I'll analyze too (or maybe I'll be the only one), when I'm a little more awake.
Sonnet 153
Cupid laid by his brand and fell asleep,
A maid of Dian's this advantage found,
And his love-kindling fire did quickly steep
In a cold valley-fountain of that ground:
Which borrowed from this holy fire of Love,
A dateless lively heat still to endure,
And grew a seeting bath which yet men prove,
Against strange maladies a sovereign cure:
But at my mistress' eye Love's brand new-fired,
The boy for trial needs would touch my breast,
I sick withal the help of bath desired,
And thither hied a sad distempered guest.
But found no cure, the bath for my help lies,
Where Cupid got new fire; my mistress' eyes.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Midterm Exams
Hi guys,
I know Theresa brought this up earlier, but I think most of us were too caught up in college apps to really think about midterms. At least, I was. Anyway, I'm kind of getting nervous about this midterm, and wanted to know if we could divide up the work and make some review sheets.
I'm not sure if we need to review every book and such, or we should just focus on certain parts (like the questions from the Sir Gawain sheet). Either way, the things we've read so far are:
King Lear
Beowulf
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Sonnets
I think I have the whole list, although I might be wrong. But if anyone has any suggestions as to how to break this down, I'm very interested. Plus, I beleive two or three of you had Laz before, so you'd have a good idea of what we should be studying. Any thoughts?
I know Theresa brought this up earlier, but I think most of us were too caught up in college apps to really think about midterms. At least, I was. Anyway, I'm kind of getting nervous about this midterm, and wanted to know if we could divide up the work and make some review sheets.
I'm not sure if we need to review every book and such, or we should just focus on certain parts (like the questions from the Sir Gawain sheet). Either way, the things we've read so far are:
King Lear
Beowulf
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Sonnets
I think I have the whole list, although I might be wrong. But if anyone has any suggestions as to how to break this down, I'm very interested. Plus, I beleive two or three of you had Laz before, so you'd have a good idea of what we should be studying. Any thoughts?
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