Macbeth Lecture Notes

• Simple play - simple theme (rise and fall of a great man)
• Macbeth doesn't present himself the way other Shakespearean characters do -Shows us elements of our own lives - good vs evil - Shakespeare's most compelling character - does a 180 in only 5 acts - man w/o a place
• Macbeth makes his own decisions - never forced or deceived - he creates his own destruction - his death is his own fault

The Murder of Duncan

• Macbeth can't be happy with what he has - Act 1 Scene 7 25-28
• he has morals (killing is bad) but kills Duncan anyway - are the witches or his previous thoughts to blame?
• His imagination is under tension - he's smart enough to see the consequences, but he wants to be king.  - he knows the cost will be high, but it might be worth it. Act 1, Scene 7 48-49
• Like Hamlet, he's not a hypocrite 
• He knows that he'll be breaking rules - To kill or not to to kill (See what I did there? :P) He freely chooses to embrace evil because of his willingness to imagine being king.
• Full of regret and morally confused 
• Banquo knows that it will compromise his honor - is comfortable with his social status

Lady Macbeth

• "A bi*ch from the beginning." - Dr. Preston
• her impulses destroy her - self inflicted punishment - can't stay in denial - thought everything would be okay
• Agent of evil - keeps Macbeth's destructive thoughts alive in the beginning (Animus)
• Bullies Macbeth into the murder (It's still his fault, no one forced him. No ambiguity)
• Eventually feels guilty, has no determination, goes crazy, and has no self control.

King Macbeth

• Tragic element - Can't rule because he knows that he's betrayed the people - feels he has no worth because of the deception.
• Takes charge of events that shape his life - he goes at everything 110% even if it's bad.
• Compelling because he doesn't deny that he's bad
• Head Strong - being king ended up costing him what made him great - he becomes his own enemy - ends up getting himself killed because of everything he's done

The Top Three

The top three Literature Analysis Remixes

... In no particular order

 Annais Acosta: http://amarhsenglitcomp.blogspot.com/
 Dania Hatamleh: http://dhrhsenglitcomp.blogspot.com/
 Taryn Kawahara: http://tkrhsenglitcomp.blogspot.com/

Animal Farm

Enjoy :)

Death of a Salesman Notes

Mindmeister was being dumb...


Death of a Salesman is all about living out the "American Dream".

Willy and Linda - Husband and wife

• Willy is insecure but firmly believes in the concept of the American dream
• Never achieves it but hopes his sons will.
• Linda has an outrageous amount of love and support for her husband
• She's more level headed than he is
• Supports Willy until the very end.

Biff - Oldest son of Willy and Linda

• Very successful in high school 
• Gets fired from every job
• Never lives up to her fathers hopes and dreams of him

Happy - Youngest son of Willy and Linda

• lives in Biff's shadow
• Not very professional but has drive
• Thinks he is VERY important

     Linda wants Willy to work in New York so that he doesn't have to travel so much.  Willy desperately wants Biff to make something of himself before it's too late.

     Biff and Happy are not happy with their lives and really want to buy a place out west.  Willy seems to become very attached to the idea.

     Willy remembers his sons as children when they were proud of him and very affectionate towards him.  Willy tells his sons of his plan to open his own business and live out the American dream.

     We soon find out that Willy isn't doing well at work and won't be able to make payments on everything the family owns. We also learn that Willy is cheating on his wife.

    Willy has regrets about not going to Alaska with his brother. (His brother found fortune which could have been Willy's.)  

     We can see Willy's mind start to deteriorate as he calls his friend Charley by another name while lost in multiple daydreams. 

     Biff and Happy can see that their father is falling apart but Linda refuses to believe it.  They also seem to know that he might be cheating.  We learn that Willy has tried to commit suicide.  Everyone starts to fight with each other. 

     Willy tries to ask his boss for a job in New York but his boss refuses and instead tells Willy to take some time off.  Willy slips into another daydream...

     Willy wonders why Biff turned out to be a failure, but becomes defensive when his friends question Biff.  Willy tries to get a bigger loan to pay off everything that he owes and the man unwillingly gives him the money. 

     Willy confesses to his son that he's been fired and Biff tries to let Willy down easy but Happy gets his father's hopes up.  Biff explodes at his father and Willy starts to go from daydream to reality without much distinction. 

     Willy eventually gets into his car, speeds away, and crashes, committing suicide.

     

Soctaric Seminar Notes

Today's Socratic Seminar Notes

The answer is the beginning, not the end.

• Learning needs to be customized to the individual
• Is there such thing as too much or too little structure? -- It's good to have a starting point, but eventually you need to break away. If you have too much structure for too long it may lead to rebellion. Always keep guide lines though. No structure can be just as bad.
• A key thing to think about is where you want to end up. -- Then think about what it's gonna take and what you need to do to get there. 

• When it comes to asking questions in class, don't be afraid to step out of your comfort zone and ask.  Asking the question won't matter in a year, bet getting the answer will.

• What stops kids from trying? -- the fear of rejection, the fear of failure, and the fear that they won't be socially accepted if they try to go above and beyond what everyone else is doing.

     I think the most important thing to remember is that you're getting an education for you and no one else.  Grades don't have to be your only motivation.  Now that that structure is no longer there, you have to create your own structure. Customize your own learning. :)

     The biggest thing I can do for myself at this point is to just grit my teeth and tackle those things that I'm struggling with.  I'm never going to get a good score if I just tell myself I'll deal with it later.  i am feeling pretty well prepared though :). I just have to remind myself to make the system work for me.

     One of the most important things I can do is remind people that they are in control of their own learning.  Make them think about where they want to be and then focus on the steps it's going to take to get there.

Literature Analysis: Animal Farm

     All the animals on Manor Farm are under the care of their drunken master, Mr. Jones. Old Major (the oldest pig on the farm) tells all the animals about a dream that he had. In the dream, all animals are free and don’t have to work to produce food for humans. He says that a revolution must eventually take place, and he teaches the animals the song “Beasts of England.” Three nights after Old Major dies the rest of the pigs create the idea of Animalism. Eventually the animals have their revolution and run Mr. Jones off the farm. Manor Farm is renamed Animal Farm. Everything goes smoothly until a pig named Napoleon chases off his comrade Snowball (Also a pig). Napoleon is started to become the evil dictator that Mr. Jones was. When the animals work tirelessly to build a windmill only to have it fall down, Napoleon blames Snowball. Any animal that opposes Napoleon and his power is immediately killed by 9 attack dogs. (Puppies that Napoleon took under his wing to “educate.”) Napoleon starts to sleep in beds, drink whisky, and trades will other humans. All acts that go against the rules of Animal Farm. The other animals are now worse off then they were when Mr. Jones was there. When Boxer’s (The most dedicated and strongest worker that animal farm has) strength fails him, he is sold to a glue factory so that Napoleon can buy more whisky. By now, the pigs trade excessively with humans, wear clothes, and walk on two legs. The original rules, or commandments, of Animal Farm (Now called Manor Farm again because it is “correct”) have been replaced with, “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” As the other animals watch the pigs trade they can no longer tell the animals from the humans.

      The theme in this novel is the corruption of the Soviet Union. The story of Animal Farm parallels the Socialist Ideals of Stalin’s Soviet Union and directly reflect his rise to power. The struggle for power between Snowball and Napoleon represents the struggle between Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin. Just like Stalin, the pigs made themselves the higher and ruling class on the new farm. The less powerful Snowball is ejected from the farm much in the same was Trotsky was ejected by Stalin. The ideals of Animal Farm quickly become corrupt and only serve the benefit of the pigs. Orwell’s tone is very satirical and ironic throughout the novel. The novel was written to satirize the Russian Revolution. The use of animals parallels people such as Stalin and Trotsky.

 The tone could also be considered dim and pessimistic. Because Orwell knew that the story was going to end in sadness and defeat his outlook and attitude towards it was never hopeful or optimistic. “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” "No question now, what had happened to the faces of the pigs. The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which." “They had come to a time when no one dares to speak his mind, when fierce, growling dogs roamed everywhere, and where you had to watch your comrades torn to pieces after confessing to shocking crimes.”

   Imagery: The way that Orwell describes each scene allows you to visualize it perfectly in your mind.

"The animals were happy as they had never conceived it possible to be. Every mouthful of food was an acute positive pleasure, now that it was truly their own food, produced by themselves and for themselves, not doled out to them by a grudging master."

Parallelism: The entire novel was written to parallel Stalin’s rein over the Soviet Union.

 "It had become usual to give Napoleon the credit for every successful achievement and every stroke of good fortune. You would often hear one hen remark to another, 'Under the guidance of our Leader, Comrade Napoleon, I have laid five eggs in six days'; or two cows, enjoying a drink at the pool, would exclaim, 'Thanks to the leadership of Comrade Napoleon, how excellent this water tastes!'"


Personification: Obviously animals can’t talk, but Orwell used the animals to satirize the main point.

 "Napoleon had denounced such ideas as contrary to the spirit of Animalism. The truest happiness, he said, lay in working hard and living frugally."

A Tale of Two Cities

In the first 10-15 pages of A Tale of Two Cites, we learn that the novel takes place in both London and Paris in 1775.  In England, everyone is worrying about a "cock-lane" ghost and in Paris there is violence erupting everywhere.  In November, a mail coach is driving from London to Dover in the middle of a very big storm.  A man comes along who wants to speak with Jarvis Long because he has a message for him.  He informs the men that they are supposed to wait at Dover for "Mam'selle" and Jarvis replies, "Recalled to life."  The messenger is confused by the response but rides off to deliver it anyway.