1. Review the PLOT of all works studied this semester.
2. Briefly tell the following about each work:
a) tone
b) setting/cultural aspects
c) examples of figurative language
d) symbols
e) themes/motifs and examples of them in each work
f) style/structure
g) characterization
*****REMEMBER: The STUDY GUIDE is worth 2 TEST
GRADES!
BRING the STUDY GUIDE
to the EXAM on Exam Day.
15 December 2009
08 December 2009
FORMAT INFORMATION FOR W. LIT. #1
Students,
If you do not know how to format your essay using the MLA Style format, please go to Google or another search engine and type in MLA format. All the information you need is online. (Please do NOT number your title page; also, you must have a numbered Works Cited Page.)
If you do not know how to format your essay using the MLA Style format, please go to Google or another search engine and type in MLA format. All the information you need is online. (Please do NOT number your title page; also, you must have a numbered Works Cited Page.)
FORMAT FOR TITLE PAGE
Format for Title Page of WL # 1 Assignment
1. Press enter 20 times (You will be on line 21)
2. Click on center alignment
3. Enter the Title in all caps.
4. Press enter 20 times (You will be on line 41)
5. Click on right alignment.
6. Type your name, press enter
7. Type: World Literature Assignment One,
press enter
8. Type the name of the course, (English A1),
press enter
9. Type the date (December 14, 2009)
1. Press enter 20 times (You will be on line 21)
2. Click on center alignment
3. Enter the Title in all caps.
4. Press enter 20 times (You will be on line 41)
5. Click on right alignment.
6. Type your name, press enter
7. Type: World Literature Assignment One,
press enter
8. Type the name of the course, (English A1),
press enter
9. Type the date (December 14, 2009)
TITLE PAGE FORMAT
Format for Title Page of WL # 1 Assignment
1. Press enter 20 times (You will be on line 21)
2. Click on center alignment
3. Enter the Title in all caps.
4. Press enter 20 times (You will be on line 41)
5. Click on right alignment.
6. Type your name, press enter
7. Type: World Literature Assignment One,
press enter
8. Type the name of the course, (English A1),
press enter
9. Type the date (December 14, 2009)
1. Press enter 20 times (You will be on line 21)
2. Click on center alignment
3. Enter the Title in all caps.
4. Press enter 20 times (You will be on line 41)
5. Click on right alignment.
6. Type your name, press enter
7. Type: World Literature Assignment One,
press enter
8. Type the name of the course, (English A1),
press enter
9. Type the date (December 14, 2009)
07 December 2009
RUBRIC FOR INTERNAL ORAL PRESENTATIONS
Assessment Rubric for Practice Oral Presentation
Knowledge and understanding of the work(s) __________
Thorough appreciation and coverage of the aspect discussed __________
Knowledge and use of the linguistic register
appropriate for the type of presentation, where
register refers to the student’s sensitivity to elements such as the vocabulary, tone, sentence structure and idiom appropriate to the task __________
Appropriate length of presentation __________
STUDENT NAME : ________________________________
DATE : ___________________________________________
Knowledge and understanding of the work(s) __________
Thorough appreciation and coverage of the aspect discussed __________
Knowledge and use of the linguistic register
appropriate for the type of presentation, where
register refers to the student’s sensitivity to elements such as the vocabulary, tone, sentence structure and idiom appropriate to the task __________
Appropriate length of presentation __________
STUDENT NAME : ________________________________
DATE : ___________________________________________
Directions for Internal Oral Presentations
Shaw
English A1 IB
Oral Presentations
The Individual Oral Presentation makes up 15% of your A1 requirement (your World Literature essays make up 10% each). The Oral Presentation is internally assessed (by yours truly), and the Oral Presentation is a one-time, on-the-spot performance in front of your teacher and peers. Therefore, preparation is absolutely necessary!
Approaches:
You should not merely summarize nor report on the story to the class. You will need to have an original and ambitious argument upon which to base you presentation. Consider comparing and/or contrasting with other texts we’ve read this year. You might want to consider cultural/historical significance. Whether you choose to look at the story in isolation or in the context of a textual or comparison comparison, you should narrow your approach to a specific focus/topic. The IB suggests the following general possibilities:
· Cultural setting of the work(s) and related issues
· Thematic focus
· Characterization (analysis)
· Techniques and style
· Author’s attitude to particular elements of the work(s)
· Interpretation of particular elements from different perspectives
The Actual Presentation:
You will have 10-15 minutes for your presentation. (Again, preparation is very important: if you are under time, you will be tempted to ramble to the 10-minute mark, and if you get to 15 minutes, I will cut you off.) You should not merely lecture to the class nor should you stand in front of us and read from an essay. Your presentation should, however, have a coherent structure. It should follow a logical sequence and should have a clear purpose and intent. Here are some possible ways (taken and/or adapted from the A1 curriculum guide) to structure your presentation:
· Structured discussion (presenter as teacher—asks good discussion questions, etc.)
· Oral exposé:
-Explanation of a particular aspect of work(s)
-Examination of a particular interpretation of work(s)
-Writer’s work set against culture, social, political background
-Commentary on the use of a particular image, idea or symbol
-Comparison of two passages, two characters, or two works
-Commentary on an extract from the story
· Role play (with a clear rationale)
-Monologue from a character
-Reminiscences by a character from a point later in his/her life
-Author responding to criticism; explaining intention
ASSESSMENT:
Whatever structure and approach you choose, keep in mind the CRITERIA on which you will be graded. According to the A1 curriculum guide, candidates (that’s you guys) are expected to show:
· Knowledge and understanding of the work(s)
· Thorough appreciation of the aspect discussed
· Knowledge and use of the linguistic register appropriate for the type of presentation, where register refers to the candidate’s sensitivity to elements such as the vocabulary, tone, sentence structure and idiom appropriate to the task.
***This is your copy of the rubric by which you will be graded. Please PRINT IT and bring it with you to class on Thursday!
5 Simple Steps to Success:
1. Choose your work.
2. Become familiar with it—read it over until to are extremely familiar with its’ context, annotating as you go.
3. Gather and organize ideas, observations, quotes, etc.
4. Choose an approach and organization: what will you examine and how will you present your findings?
5. Organize your presentation—I suggest making an outline on note cards—you MAY NOT read from these cards, word for word—but you may use them in your presentation. Rehearse your presentation so that you feel comfortable with the subject matter and the time constraints (when you practice your presentation, you need to time yourself).
We will begin Oral Presentations on Thursday, Dec. 10th and continue through Wednesday, Dec. 16th. REMEMBER—YOU CANNOT REDO YOUR PRESENTATION—YOU ONLY GET ONE CHANCE AT IT, SO BE READY ON THE 10TH. I WILL PICK STUDENTS TO GO IN RANDOM ORDER.
English A1 IB
Oral Presentations
The Individual Oral Presentation makes up 15% of your A1 requirement (your World Literature essays make up 10% each). The Oral Presentation is internally assessed (by yours truly), and the Oral Presentation is a one-time, on-the-spot performance in front of your teacher and peers. Therefore, preparation is absolutely necessary!
Approaches:
You should not merely summarize nor report on the story to the class. You will need to have an original and ambitious argument upon which to base you presentation. Consider comparing and/or contrasting with other texts we’ve read this year. You might want to consider cultural/historical significance. Whether you choose to look at the story in isolation or in the context of a textual or comparison comparison, you should narrow your approach to a specific focus/topic. The IB suggests the following general possibilities:
· Cultural setting of the work(s) and related issues
· Thematic focus
· Characterization (analysis)
· Techniques and style
· Author’s attitude to particular elements of the work(s)
· Interpretation of particular elements from different perspectives
The Actual Presentation:
You will have 10-15 minutes for your presentation. (Again, preparation is very important: if you are under time, you will be tempted to ramble to the 10-minute mark, and if you get to 15 minutes, I will cut you off.) You should not merely lecture to the class nor should you stand in front of us and read from an essay. Your presentation should, however, have a coherent structure. It should follow a logical sequence and should have a clear purpose and intent. Here are some possible ways (taken and/or adapted from the A1 curriculum guide) to structure your presentation:
· Structured discussion (presenter as teacher—asks good discussion questions, etc.)
· Oral exposé:
-Explanation of a particular aspect of work(s)
-Examination of a particular interpretation of work(s)
-Writer’s work set against culture, social, political background
-Commentary on the use of a particular image, idea or symbol
-Comparison of two passages, two characters, or two works
-Commentary on an extract from the story
· Role play (with a clear rationale)
-Monologue from a character
-Reminiscences by a character from a point later in his/her life
-Author responding to criticism; explaining intention
ASSESSMENT:
Whatever structure and approach you choose, keep in mind the CRITERIA on which you will be graded. According to the A1 curriculum guide, candidates (that’s you guys) are expected to show:
· Knowledge and understanding of the work(s)
· Thorough appreciation of the aspect discussed
· Knowledge and use of the linguistic register appropriate for the type of presentation, where register refers to the candidate’s sensitivity to elements such as the vocabulary, tone, sentence structure and idiom appropriate to the task.
***This is your copy of the rubric by which you will be graded. Please PRINT IT and bring it with you to class on Thursday!
5 Simple Steps to Success:
1. Choose your work.
2. Become familiar with it—read it over until to are extremely familiar with its’ context, annotating as you go.
3. Gather and organize ideas, observations, quotes, etc.
4. Choose an approach and organization: what will you examine and how will you present your findings?
5. Organize your presentation—I suggest making an outline on note cards—you MAY NOT read from these cards, word for word—but you may use them in your presentation. Rehearse your presentation so that you feel comfortable with the subject matter and the time constraints (when you practice your presentation, you need to time yourself).
We will begin Oral Presentations on Thursday, Dec. 10th and continue through Wednesday, Dec. 16th. REMEMBER—YOU CANNOT REDO YOUR PRESENTATION—YOU ONLY GET ONE CHANCE AT IT, SO BE READY ON THE 10TH. I WILL PICK STUDENTS TO GO IN RANDOM ORDER.
02 December 2009
RRJ's for PERFUME on Chapters 1-5
Students,
Please post your RRj's for Chapters 1-5 of PERFUME here...
Please post your RRj's for Chapters 1-5 of PERFUME here...
20 November 2009
Notes on READERS’ RESPONSE JOURNAL
Note: Journal entries may be done at home or in class or half and half. They may form the basis for discussion, further development or exploration, group work, formal or informal oral work and/or further writing assignments. They may be mixed and matched, adapted for individual works, different ages, specific goals. Variety and modification are essential to avoid formula approaches and boredom. A quick journal response to the topic at hand or a homework assignment is a good way to begin a class, to focus students on the task at hand. Many of these suggestions work for works of art, film and music as well.
1. Pre- write: before reading, respond to title, extracted images or words or ideas . . . What is yourexperience of the word or image? What do you see, or what expectations are set up? Use art or musicbefore experiencing text. E.g. Look at Magritte before reading Kafka; listen to Lakota flute music before orwhile reading a poem by Peter Blue Cloud.
2. Write down first impressions: immediately after finishing & section or a text, take some time to -writedown anything that comes to you in relation to the text, your initial reactions or responses, Don’t try topuzzle them out; write freely. If the reading bores you, write that down. If you're intrigued by certainstatements, attracted to characters, interested in issues or ideas, if you find something confusing orirritating, write it down. Just keep writing. This assignment can be very brie£ a two-minute initialresponse to a poem or opening paragraph, or more sustained, a 20-minute "free" writing immediately afterfinishing a novel or play.
3. Ask questions, what perplexes you about a passage or point the author makes? Do you wonder why theauthor said a particular thing, in a particular way? You might begin with the words "I wonder . . ."
4. Jot down ideas, words, details, moments, anything that strikes you. This assignment may result in sjmple lists. Or students may write about these entries, or some of these entries, as homework or working from the lists in class. They may answer such questions as: why are they there? What might they mean? What do they add? Why did you pick them out? Why are they memorable? In response to images, students might begin to see, ... feel ... bear . . - smell . . . turn . . . ! imagine ...
5. Copy passages, long or short, that strike you for whatever reason. Underline key words or phrases,parts of speech, punctuation marks. What is striking and why? How do words and images work? Or, colormark with different colors specific elements (e.g. parts of speech, shapes, colors, harsh words, naturewords, references to earth, sky, time, space, people, animals), to identify dominant elements, patterns orstructural shifts, and speculate about the significance of your markings.
6. Make connections with your own experience, with other texts or concepts or events. Do you see anysimilarities between this material and other bocks that you have read? Does it bring to mind other issues orincidents or people?
7. Write down some words that are new to you or particularly effective, harsh, musical . . .
8. Draw pictures in response to what you read or make collages, adding words from the text. Or design book covers, again with words from the text, or draw stage settings ...
9. Try agreeing or arguing with the author; add details to support your position.
10.Identify the author's point of view, his or her attitude toward the subject, the purpose behind the pieceof writing. Compare it to your own or that of other writers.
MINIMAL:
Write a personal response; copy a passage and comment on it; state an opinion and support it; ask questions; choose an image and respond to it; make lists.
Medium:
-Copy a significant or striking passage. Tell why it is striking or important, what it tells you about character or theme or atmosphere or narrator. Identify key words or images or phrases and write about their effects. .Color mark for important elements or patterns and comment on their nature and implications.
— Write down five striking things. A thing may be an idea, an event, a word, a person, a phrase, an image, a conversation, a moment, a detail, a chapter title ...
- Write a personal response to a person or event or the opening chapter or immediately after finishing.. . —Write a page of lists of details or sentences or phrases or colors or things in nature or objects ...
Specific:
-Give examples of the child's voice in The Bluest Eye. List images of decay in Hamlet. List phrases that characterize the narrator of Prufrock." List significant objects in the first six chapters of One Hundred Years of Solitude. List conflicts in "Young Goodman Brown."
Note: Journal entries may be done at home or in class or half and half. They may form the basis for discussion, further development or exploration, group work, formal or informal oral work and/or further writing assignments. They may be mixed and matched, adapted for individual works, different ages, specific goals. Variety and modification are essential to avoid formula approaches and boredom. A quick journal response to the topic at hand or a homework assignment is a good way to begin a class, to focus students on the task at hand. Many of these suggestions work for works of art, film and music as well.
1. Pre- write: before reading, respond to title, extracted images or words or ideas . . . What is yourexperience of the word or image? What do you see, or what expectations are set up? Use art or musicbefore experiencing text. E.g. Look at Magritte before reading Kafka; listen to Lakota flute music before orwhile reading a poem by Peter Blue Cloud.
2. Write down first impressions: immediately after finishing & section or a text, take some time to -writedown anything that comes to you in relation to the text, your initial reactions or responses, Don’t try topuzzle them out; write freely. If the reading bores you, write that down. If you're intrigued by certainstatements, attracted to characters, interested in issues or ideas, if you find something confusing orirritating, write it down. Just keep writing. This assignment can be very brie£ a two-minute initialresponse to a poem or opening paragraph, or more sustained, a 20-minute "free" writing immediately afterfinishing a novel or play.
3. Ask questions, what perplexes you about a passage or point the author makes? Do you wonder why theauthor said a particular thing, in a particular way? You might begin with the words "I wonder . . ."
4. Jot down ideas, words, details, moments, anything that strikes you. This assignment may result in sjmple lists. Or students may write about these entries, or some of these entries, as homework or working from the lists in class. They may answer such questions as: why are they there? What might they mean? What do they add? Why did you pick them out? Why are they memorable? In response to images, students might begin to see, ... feel ... bear . . - smell . . . turn . . . ! imagine ...
5. Copy passages, long or short, that strike you for whatever reason. Underline key words or phrases,parts of speech, punctuation marks. What is striking and why? How do words and images work? Or, colormark with different colors specific elements (e.g. parts of speech, shapes, colors, harsh words, naturewords, references to earth, sky, time, space, people, animals), to identify dominant elements, patterns orstructural shifts, and speculate about the significance of your markings.
6. Make connections with your own experience, with other texts or concepts or events. Do you see anysimilarities between this material and other bocks that you have read? Does it bring to mind other issues orincidents or people?
7. Write down some words that are new to you or particularly effective, harsh, musical . . .
8. Draw pictures in response to what you read or make collages, adding words from the text. Or design book covers, again with words from the text, or draw stage settings ...
9. Try agreeing or arguing with the author; add details to support your position.
10.Identify the author's point of view, his or her attitude toward the subject, the purpose behind the pieceof writing. Compare it to your own or that of other writers.
MINIMAL:
Write a personal response; copy a passage and comment on it; state an opinion and support it; ask questions; choose an image and respond to it; make lists.
Medium:
-Copy a significant or striking passage. Tell why it is striking or important, what it tells you about character or theme or atmosphere or narrator. Identify key words or images or phrases and write about their effects. .Color mark for important elements or patterns and comment on their nature and implications.
— Write down five striking things. A thing may be an idea, an event, a word, a person, a phrase, an image, a conversation, a moment, a detail, a chapter title ...
- Write a personal response to a person or event or the opening chapter or immediately after finishing.. . —Write a page of lists of details or sentences or phrases or colors or things in nature or objects ...
Specific:
-Give examples of the child's voice in The Bluest Eye. List images of decay in Hamlet. List phrases that characterize the narrator of Prufrock." List significant objects in the first six chapters of One Hundred Years of Solitude. List conflicts in "Young Goodman Brown."
18 November 2009
Holiday Questions on LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE
STUDENTS:
Please read LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE over the Thanksgiving holidays and answer these ten questions. This IS for a GRADE!
Like Water for Chocolate: Questions for the Holidays
1. What is the historical setting for this novel?
2. Describe, briefly, the culture of Mexico in this novel.
3. What is the role of food in this novel?
4. What do you think are some of the themes? Elaborate on those that you can identify.
5. From whose point of view is the story told?
6. What is the setting?
7. Give the structure of the novel.
8. What is the dominant symbol in the novel?
9. Look up “magical realism” and give examples of it in this novel.
10. Give any examples of foreshadowing.
Please read LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE over the Thanksgiving holidays and answer these ten questions. This IS for a GRADE!
Like Water for Chocolate: Questions for the Holidays
1. What is the historical setting for this novel?
2. Describe, briefly, the culture of Mexico in this novel.
3. What is the role of food in this novel?
4. What do you think are some of the themes? Elaborate on those that you can identify.
5. From whose point of view is the story told?
6. What is the setting?
7. Give the structure of the novel.
8. What is the dominant symbol in the novel?
9. Look up “magical realism” and give examples of it in this novel.
10. Give any examples of foreshadowing.
17 November 2009
WORKSHEET ON WIDE SARGASSO SEA
COMPLETE THIS WORKSHEET FOR FRIDAY
FOR A GRADE.
FOR A GRADE.
WIDE SARGASSO SEA
1. TONES:
2. PT. Of View:
3. SETTINGS:
4. PROTAGONIST/ANTAGONIST
5. THEMES:
6. MOTIFS:
7. SYMBOLS:
8. FORESHADOWINGS:
Questions on Part 2 of WIDE SARGASSO SEA
Questions on Part II of Wide Sargasso Sea
1. Explain what the following are symbols of:
a) Coulibri
b) Thornfield Hall
c) "white”/whiteness"
d) "red”/redness"
2. Explain how Antoinette is torn between racial identity, being black or white?
3. What do you see as Antoinette's main desire in this novel?
4. What two things does Antoinette's racial slur, directed at Tia, cause?
5. What's the figurative significance of Antoinette putting on Tia's dress?
6. Explain what Tia means when she says, "black nigger is better than white nigger."
7. What does Antoinette's calling Mr. Mason her "white pappy" indicate?
8. What makes Rochester question his wife's heritage and ultimately reject her?
9. What do you think Rochester's greatest fear is?
10.What is one of the great ironies concerning Rochester?
1 l.Why does Rochester call Antoinette "Bertha"?
12.Explain the narration in Part II. Is it split? If so, who narrates which
section(s)?
13. "Black feminist critics claim that it is the mystification of sexual relations between white men and black women that has given rise to the stereotype of the black whore." Find two important incidents of this kind in WSS. Who are the victims?
14.Daniel Cosway makes a clear link between sexual promiscuity and blackness. Is he believable? Is he reliable? Why or why not? Give dialogue to support what you say!
15.WSS has been said by critics to be a "story of male domination." Explain Rochester's actions through a completely European lens.
16.Research Question: What was the Victorian perception of female sexuality?
17.Research Question: How does the Victorian perception of female sexualityaffect Rochester's relationship with Antoinette?
18.Give examples through dialogue to exemplify Question # 17.
19.Research Question: Investigate the care of the mentally ill in the 19th century, and compare their treatment to the way in which Annette Cosway Mason and Antoinette Cosway are treated.
20.React to the following quote from literary criticism: "In Wide Sargasso Sea, Rhys does not place the blame for women's passivity, lack of identity, or disorientation on men. She instead creates characters who are responsible for their own fates. In showing the negative consequences of depending on others for identity, Rhys encourages the development of a strong sense of self. She punctuates that personal goal with doubt, however, by emphasizing that people are products of their environment."
1. Explain what the following are symbols of:
a) Coulibri
b) Thornfield Hall
c) "white”/whiteness"
d) "red”/redness"
2. Explain how Antoinette is torn between racial identity, being black or white?
3. What do you see as Antoinette's main desire in this novel?
4. What two things does Antoinette's racial slur, directed at Tia, cause?
5. What's the figurative significance of Antoinette putting on Tia's dress?
6. Explain what Tia means when she says, "black nigger is better than white nigger."
7. What does Antoinette's calling Mr. Mason her "white pappy" indicate?
8. What makes Rochester question his wife's heritage and ultimately reject her?
9. What do you think Rochester's greatest fear is?
10.What is one of the great ironies concerning Rochester?
1 l.Why does Rochester call Antoinette "Bertha"?
12.Explain the narration in Part II. Is it split? If so, who narrates which
section(s)?
13. "Black feminist critics claim that it is the mystification of sexual relations between white men and black women that has given rise to the stereotype of the black whore." Find two important incidents of this kind in WSS. Who are the victims?
14.Daniel Cosway makes a clear link between sexual promiscuity and blackness. Is he believable? Is he reliable? Why or why not? Give dialogue to support what you say!
15.WSS has been said by critics to be a "story of male domination." Explain Rochester's actions through a completely European lens.
16.Research Question: What was the Victorian perception of female sexuality?
17.Research Question: How does the Victorian perception of female sexualityaffect Rochester's relationship with Antoinette?
18.Give examples through dialogue to exemplify Question # 17.
19.Research Question: Investigate the care of the mentally ill in the 19th century, and compare their treatment to the way in which Annette Cosway Mason and Antoinette Cosway are treated.
20.React to the following quote from literary criticism: "In Wide Sargasso Sea, Rhys does not place the blame for women's passivity, lack of identity, or disorientation on men. She instead creates characters who are responsible for their own fates. In showing the negative consequences of depending on others for identity, Rhys encourages the development of a strong sense of self. She punctuates that personal goal with doubt, however, by emphasizing that people are products of their environment."
RRJ's for Part 3 of WIDE SARGASSO SEA
Students,
Please post your RRJ's for Part 3 of WIDE SARGASSO SEA here...Thanks!
Please post your RRJ's for Part 3 of WIDE SARGASSO SEA here...Thanks!
RRJ's for Part 2 of WIDE SARGASSO SEA
Students,
Please post your RRJ's for Part 2 of Wide Sargasso Sea here...Thanks.
Please post your RRJ's for Part 2 of Wide Sargasso Sea here...Thanks.
13 November 2009
RRJ part 1 of Wide Sargasso Sea
Students:
Please post your RRJ's for WIDE SARGASSO SEA here...thanks.
Please post your RRJ's for WIDE SARGASSO SEA here...thanks.
11 November 2009
Questions on Part 1 of WIDE SARGASSO SEA
Notes for Questions on Wide Sargasso Sea : Part I
1. What are the birds symbolic of ?
2. What is Christophine’s role in Part I ?
3. In what ways does Antoinette’s description of Tia throwing the stone match her feelings of internal pain at this time ?
4. In what way do Tia’s tears reflect Antoinette’s bleeding face ? How does the reference of a « looking glass » make sense concerning the issue of race in the novel ?
5. There is an obvious disconnect between Tia and Antoinette, and in what ways does Rhys’ style demonstrate such a separation ?
6. What is the significance that Antoinette’s last detail of Coulibri is this confrontation with her former friend ?
7. How does Antoinette’s experience at the convent compare with Jane Eyre’s experience at Lowood School ?How would you characterize Christophine’s relationship with Antoinette so far ?
8. In her description of all of the things being left behind at Coulibri, the last item mentioned is the picture of the Miller’s Daughter. How does this contrast with the other items that make up the list ? What is the significance, if any, of Antoinette having such affection for this particular picture ?
9. As Antoinette is watching Coulibri burn, the sky is compared to the sunset and she comments on how the flowers, the ferns, the ginger lilies, etc. will be burnt to nothingness along with the house. How does the nature imagery add to the passage ?
10.Antoinette’s childhood is heavily overcast by threat. What are the threats from outside her household ? What are the threats from within ? To whom and to what does she turn for protection ?
11.What is the racial situation as Antoinette is growing up ? What does it mean that she gets called « white cockroach » and « white nigger ? » How well do Antoinette and her mother understand the mindset of recently liberated slaves ?
1. What are the birds symbolic of ?
2. What is Christophine’s role in Part I ?
3. In what ways does Antoinette’s description of Tia throwing the stone match her feelings of internal pain at this time ?
4. In what way do Tia’s tears reflect Antoinette’s bleeding face ? How does the reference of a « looking glass » make sense concerning the issue of race in the novel ?
5. There is an obvious disconnect between Tia and Antoinette, and in what ways does Rhys’ style demonstrate such a separation ?
6. What is the significance that Antoinette’s last detail of Coulibri is this confrontation with her former friend ?
7. How does Antoinette’s experience at the convent compare with Jane Eyre’s experience at Lowood School ?How would you characterize Christophine’s relationship with Antoinette so far ?
8. In her description of all of the things being left behind at Coulibri, the last item mentioned is the picture of the Miller’s Daughter. How does this contrast with the other items that make up the list ? What is the significance, if any, of Antoinette having such affection for this particular picture ?
9. As Antoinette is watching Coulibri burn, the sky is compared to the sunset and she comments on how the flowers, the ferns, the ginger lilies, etc. will be burnt to nothingness along with the house. How does the nature imagery add to the passage ?
10.Antoinette’s childhood is heavily overcast by threat. What are the threats from outside her household ? What are the threats from within ? To whom and to what does she turn for protection ?
11.What is the racial situation as Antoinette is growing up ? What does it mean that she gets called « white cockroach » and « white nigger ? » How well do Antoinette and her mother understand the mindset of recently liberated slaves ?
06 November 2009
New Vocabulary Words: Unit 4
Students:
Please find listed below your Unit 4 Vocabulary Words. You are to do the following things with each--a) give the part of speech; b) define according to the part of speech ; c) give an example of how you could use each one. Due Monday! (No Frayer Models this week!) :)
New Vocabulary: Unit 4
1. affable
2. aggrandize
3. amorphous
4. aura
5. contraband
6. erudite
7. gossamer
8. infer
9. inscrutable
10. insular
11. irrevocable
12. propensity
13. querulous
14. remonstrate
15. repudiate
16. resilient
17. reverberate
18. scurrilous
19. sedulous
20. sleazy
Please find listed below your Unit 4 Vocabulary Words. You are to do the following things with each--a) give the part of speech; b) define according to the part of speech ; c) give an example of how you could use each one. Due Monday! (No Frayer Models this week!) :)
New Vocabulary: Unit 4
1. affable
2. aggrandize
3. amorphous
4. aura
5. contraband
6. erudite
7. gossamer
8. infer
9. inscrutable
10. insular
11. irrevocable
12. propensity
13. querulous
14. remonstrate
15. repudiate
16. resilient
17. reverberate
18. scurrilous
19. sedulous
20. sleazy
03 November 2009
STUDENTS: Please answer the following HOTS Qs. on Acts 3-5 of CYRANO DE BERGERAC
Questions on Act III : Cyrano de Bergerac
1. Describe Cyrano’s mixed feelings when he speaks to Roxane unseen. Why might he be both happy and sad ?
2. Explain how Cyrano’s speech to Roxane and his deception of De Guiche each represent a triumph of the imagination over reality.
3. An idealist is someone who follows his or her beliefs beyond the point of practicality and who acts as if the world were better than it really is. From what you’ve seen of Cyrano so far, show how he is an idealist.
4. Do you think a love like Cyrano’s is actually greater than a love like Christian’s ? Why or why not ?
Act IV
5. What new dimension does Roxane reveal in her conversation
with Christian ? What does she fail to see ?
6. What new side to Christian’s character do we see in this act ?
7. Why does Cyrano not tell Roxane the truth about the letters ? Why does he not tell Christian the truth about Roxane ?
8. Do you agree with Christian when he says that it is really Cyrano whom Roxane loves ? Explain.
Act V
9. How do you think Roxane would have responded if Cyrano had been able to tell her the truth about the letters and his feelings for her ?
10.Why do you think Cyrano finally reveals his love to Roxane ?
11.What does Roxane mean when she says that she has lost the
man she loved twice ? Do you agree ?
12.Show that Cyrano meets his death in a style that is consistent
with his life. What do his very last words mean ?
13.Cyrano says of himself that he « was everything and was
nothing. » Why would he make such a comment about his
life ? Do you agree with him ?
1. Describe Cyrano’s mixed feelings when he speaks to Roxane unseen. Why might he be both happy and sad ?
2. Explain how Cyrano’s speech to Roxane and his deception of De Guiche each represent a triumph of the imagination over reality.
3. An idealist is someone who follows his or her beliefs beyond the point of practicality and who acts as if the world were better than it really is. From what you’ve seen of Cyrano so far, show how he is an idealist.
4. Do you think a love like Cyrano’s is actually greater than a love like Christian’s ? Why or why not ?
Act IV
5. What new dimension does Roxane reveal in her conversation
with Christian ? What does she fail to see ?
6. What new side to Christian’s character do we see in this act ?
7. Why does Cyrano not tell Roxane the truth about the letters ? Why does he not tell Christian the truth about Roxane ?
8. Do you agree with Christian when he says that it is really Cyrano whom Roxane loves ? Explain.
Act V
9. How do you think Roxane would have responded if Cyrano had been able to tell her the truth about the letters and his feelings for her ?
10.Why do you think Cyrano finally reveals his love to Roxane ?
11.What does Roxane mean when she says that she has lost the
man she loved twice ? Do you agree ?
12.Show that Cyrano meets his death in a style that is consistent
with his life. What do his very last words mean ?
13.Cyrano says of himself that he « was everything and was
nothing. » Why would he make such a comment about his
life ? Do you agree with him ?
30 October 2009
Questions on Act 2 of CYRANO DE BERGERAC
Act II Questions: Cyrano de Bergerac
1. What is Cyrano’s explanation for the ease with which he writes a love letter to Roxanne?
2. What does this explanation suggest about the nature and duration of his love for Roxane?
3. What do the poets assume about the man who routed a whole band of assassins the night before?
4. What is a bit strange about Cyrano’s feelings as he writes the love letter to Roxane?
5. How does Cyrano’s building excitement at Roxane’s forthcoming declaration create dramatic irony?
6. Why do you think Roxane brings up certain matters to Cyrano before she makes her confession to him?
7. Why might Cyrano’s hand feel feverish?
8. What is the instant when Cyrano realizes that she loves another man?
9. What does his reaction to this word show about his self-image?
10.Why does Cyrano attribute his sudden expression of dismay to physical pain?
11.How does Cyrano’s remark that Christian’ speech might be as crude as his hair is elegant reflect one of the play’s themes?
12.How is Cyrano’s reaction to Roxane’s comment about his courage against a hundred men an example of irony?
13.Describe Cyrano’s suffering as observed by Le Bret.
14.Why is Cyrano’s “triumph” particularly ironic at this time?
15.What does Cyrano’s introduction of the Gascon Cadets suggest about them?
16.Does Cyrano really try to make enemies?
17.How does De Guiche’s allusion to Don Quixote underline Cyrano’s idealism?
18.Explain the metaphor comparing Cyrano to a sleeping tiger.
19.What does Cyrano mean by his reply when Christian claims to be a fool?
20.Why do you think Cyrano makes his agreement with Christian? What might he hope to gain?
1. What is Cyrano’s explanation for the ease with which he writes a love letter to Roxanne?
2. What does this explanation suggest about the nature and duration of his love for Roxane?
3. What do the poets assume about the man who routed a whole band of assassins the night before?
4. What is a bit strange about Cyrano’s feelings as he writes the love letter to Roxane?
5. How does Cyrano’s building excitement at Roxane’s forthcoming declaration create dramatic irony?
6. Why do you think Roxane brings up certain matters to Cyrano before she makes her confession to him?
7. Why might Cyrano’s hand feel feverish?
8. What is the instant when Cyrano realizes that she loves another man?
9. What does his reaction to this word show about his self-image?
10.Why does Cyrano attribute his sudden expression of dismay to physical pain?
11.How does Cyrano’s remark that Christian’ speech might be as crude as his hair is elegant reflect one of the play’s themes?
12.How is Cyrano’s reaction to Roxane’s comment about his courage against a hundred men an example of irony?
13.Describe Cyrano’s suffering as observed by Le Bret.
14.Why is Cyrano’s “triumph” particularly ironic at this time?
15.What does Cyrano’s introduction of the Gascon Cadets suggest about them?
16.Does Cyrano really try to make enemies?
17.How does De Guiche’s allusion to Don Quixote underline Cyrano’s idealism?
18.Explain the metaphor comparing Cyrano to a sleeping tiger.
19.What does Cyrano mean by his reply when Christian claims to be a fool?
20.Why do you think Cyrano makes his agreement with Christian? What might he hope to gain?
28 October 2009
27 October 2009
QUESTIONS ON ACT 1 OF CYRANO DE BERGERAC
Questions on Cyrano de Bergerac
ACT I
1. What are two themes in Act I ?
2. Identity two-three values that the playwright endorses in this act and discuss whether you agree with these values.
3. Which act sets the tone for Act I ?
4. What is the tone of Act I ?
5. What does the fact that Christian does not even know the name of this lady indicate about the conventions of love in his society ?
6. What can you infer about poets from this ?
7. What does Christian’s self-evaluation reveal about his character ?
8. How does Ragueneau’s presence add a comic note to Act I ?
9. How is one of the main themes, Cyrano’s physical disfigurement, introduced in Act I ?
10.What two figures of speech are used to describe Roxane ?
11.What do the four occupations that Cyrano’s friends attribute to him suggest about his character ?
12.What can you infer about Cyrano’s attitude toward his nose ?
13.What does Lignière help us to understand about the Count de Guiche ?
14.What can you infer about Roxane’s feelings for Christian from her gaze ?
15.Whom do you think ordered the attack on Lignère ?
16.What do Christian’s words and actions suggest about his character when he volunteers to go warn Lignière ?
17.Evaluate Cyrano’s « entrance » in Act I .
18.What do you think Rostand intends us to think of Montfleury ?
19.In what way does Cyrano’s entrance fulfill the audience’s expectations of him ?
20.Locate an example of irony in Act I.
21.Cyrano says he hates Montfleury for two reasons, but he only gives one reason ; what can you infer about his character from his explanation ?
22.Why do you think Cyrano makes the grand gesture of refunding the theatre-goers' money ?
23.When Cyrano says that he doesn’t rely on another person for protection or patronage, what theme does this reveal ?
24.How does Cyrano deal with offenses about his nose ?
25.Is Cyrano a « blusterer » ?
26.Contrast Cyrano’s and Valvert’s attitudes toward poets.
27.What is Cyrano’s motivation for his fight with Valvert, and why does he spontaneously compose a ballad ?
28.How do most people see Cyrano’s behavior ? How about Le Bret ?
29.What reason does Cyrano give for not telling Roxane of his love ?
30.When Cyrano abandons the exaggerated style of his former speeches and uses simple, natural images to tell Le Bret of his love for Roxane, what mood does this create ?
ACT I
1. What are two themes in Act I ?
2. Identity two-three values that the playwright endorses in this act and discuss whether you agree with these values.
3. Which act sets the tone for Act I ?
4. What is the tone of Act I ?
5. What does the fact that Christian does not even know the name of this lady indicate about the conventions of love in his society ?
6. What can you infer about poets from this ?
7. What does Christian’s self-evaluation reveal about his character ?
8. How does Ragueneau’s presence add a comic note to Act I ?
9. How is one of the main themes, Cyrano’s physical disfigurement, introduced in Act I ?
10.What two figures of speech are used to describe Roxane ?
11.What do the four occupations that Cyrano’s friends attribute to him suggest about his character ?
12.What can you infer about Cyrano’s attitude toward his nose ?
13.What does Lignière help us to understand about the Count de Guiche ?
14.What can you infer about Roxane’s feelings for Christian from her gaze ?
15.Whom do you think ordered the attack on Lignère ?
16.What do Christian’s words and actions suggest about his character when he volunteers to go warn Lignière ?
17.Evaluate Cyrano’s « entrance » in Act I .
18.What do you think Rostand intends us to think of Montfleury ?
19.In what way does Cyrano’s entrance fulfill the audience’s expectations of him ?
20.Locate an example of irony in Act I.
21.Cyrano says he hates Montfleury for two reasons, but he only gives one reason ; what can you infer about his character from his explanation ?
22.Why do you think Cyrano makes the grand gesture of refunding the theatre-goers' money ?
23.When Cyrano says that he doesn’t rely on another person for protection or patronage, what theme does this reveal ?
24.How does Cyrano deal with offenses about his nose ?
25.Is Cyrano a « blusterer » ?
26.Contrast Cyrano’s and Valvert’s attitudes toward poets.
27.What is Cyrano’s motivation for his fight with Valvert, and why does he spontaneously compose a ballad ?
28.How do most people see Cyrano’s behavior ? How about Le Bret ?
29.What reason does Cyrano give for not telling Roxane of his love ?
30.When Cyrano abandons the exaggerated style of his former speeches and uses simple, natural images to tell Le Bret of his love for Roxane, what mood does this create ?
15 October 2009
QUOTES PROJECT RUBRIC
Quotes Project
Assignment
While reading, you will collect a minimum of at least six (6) annotated passages/quotes from the play and "The Quote of the Play" (so, this is a minimum total of seven [7] quotes). Then you will write a REFLECTIVE LETTER about the play that you read and your reactions to both it and the annotated passages that you assembled.
Procedure
Use post-its to note/mark passages as you read. Every time you encounter a particularly important, provocative, dramatic, surprising, even disturbing passage, mark it with a post-it note. When you have completed the play, you will look at all those passages and decide which to toss out and which to keep. So, when you are done reading the play, you will select at least ten (10) passages from throughout it. Copy the passages down (including page numbers) and then write about each passage in the following ways:
First, in a well-written paragraph explain how the passage "fits" into the play (does the passage add to the character development, the plot line, the details of setting, and so forth). Discuss the importance of the passage to the play’s message or meaning or theme.
Then, in a well-written paragraph react to the passage as a reader. Make me understand WHY you have selected this passage. To generate responses, you can consider the following as suggested prompts or questions:
-Why does the passage impress, intrigue, horrify, or puzzle you?
- Do you find the playwright’s use of language appealing or powerful? Does the passage jump off the page as a great descriptive passage?
- Does it prompt a strong response from you as you read it? Does it present itself as so well crafted that you just love the sound of it? Is the language beautiful, descriptive, graphic?
- Is it particularly meaningful? Is it a high point in the play?
- Do you find yourself in agreement/disagreement with the ideas expressed?
- Does the passage remind you of a situation you have lived as well?
- Does the passage make you laugh out loud or make you melancholy or make you something else?
- Does the playwright or the character raise intriguing questions or issues?
- Does the passage challenge or expand your thinking?
You get the idea.
You are not limited to the above list, nor do I expect you to answer all of the above. But your responses to the passages should clearly explain to me WHY these passages mean something to you, WHY these passages caught your attention.
Then, select ANOTHER, DIFFERENT passage as "The Quote of the Play": that one passage or quote that captures the essence – the true meaning – of the play for you, the reader. In a well-written paragraph explain exactly HOW this passage is the one perfect quote from the play [Think of this as the one passage that you would absolutely want saved should your play book ever be lost or destroyed.]
Lastly, you need to write me a REFLECTIVE LETTER about reading this novel and creating your quotes paper. Write to me about the thoughts and feelings and observations and new insights you experienced while reading your novel. Write to me about marking the quotes as you read and then selecting the ones to keep. Some things to think about for your letter may include, but are not exclusive to:
- Tell me what you worked on the hardest or struggled with in doing this assignment
- Share with me what you think you did well: what worked, really worked
- Show me where you were drawn into the play and where you were pulled away from it. Identify in your opinion the playwright’s – or the story’s – greatest strength and weakness.
- Explore what value, besides entertainment, this play has
- Share your overall impressions of the play
- Discuss if you found yourself changing your mind about the play and/or the assignment
- Tell me what you as a reader and as a student need to focus on for the next assignment
Your REFLECTIVE LETTER is your chance to "talk" with me about the play, your project, and your experiences in completing this assignment. With your letter, make me see your work – and your learning – through your eyes.
IMPORTANT STUFF!!!
All aspects of this assignment must be typed.
Passages/quotes must be at least two (2) sentences long. [Many of your passages should – and will be – longer than two sentences.]
Passages/quotes must be from throughout the entire play, not just from a single act.
All passages must be in quotation marks – and be sure to copy the passage exactly as it appears in the play.
All passages must include the page number from which they are taken. Cite page numbers as (235), or (16), or (105).
This assignment is due on the day it is due – late penalties will be given
The Reflective letter is a REQUIRED component of this assignment.
Handwritten Rough Draft DUE FRIDAY BY END OF CLASS! (OCTOBER 16, 2009)
13 October 2009
Questions on Act II of BLOOD WEDDING
Questions on Act III of Blood Wedding
1. Do the Moon and the Beggar Woman give an indication that Leonardo and the Bride will escape ?
2. How is the lullaby of the horse in Act I, Scene 2, a portent of what occurs in the forest ?
3. Who is the Beggar Woman ?
4. Who or what does the Moon symbolize ?
5. How is the relationship between Leonardo and the Bride different from the one between the Bridegroom and the Bride ?
6. a) In what setting does Scene I, Act II, open ? b) What does this setting represent ?
7. Summarize the comments of the three woodcutters in Scene I.
8. In the Moon’s monologue in Scene I, to what does « blood » refer ?
9. Whom is the woodcutter personified as ?
10. Who gives the Bridegroom directions to find his wayward bride and Leonardo ?
11. How do we know that the Bridegroom will not survive the encounter with Leonardo ?
12. What happens when Leonardo and the Bride realize that they are hemmed in ?
13. In Scene I, in the fifth instance from the end, where Leonardo speaks, what kind of imagery is revealed in those lines ?
14. What is the significance of the Beggar Woman opening her cloak at the end of Scene I ?
15. Why does Scene II open in a white room with arches and thick walls ?
16. How does the Beggar Woman invoke images of death in the beginning of Scene II ?
17. How does the Mother rationalize her life now that her remaining son has been killed ?
18. How does the Mother react to the Bride’s arrival in Scene II ?
19. The play begins and ends with which image?
20. Garcia Lorca creates a landscape so rustic and primitive that it virtually stands outside of time. There are no modern objects with which one can place the play in a specific era ; therefore, what object mentioned in the play can be seen as rather anachronistic ?
21. How can the locale of the forest symbolize both life and death ?
22. Why are the woodcutters a natural choice to report and comment on the pursuit and the encounter between the Bridegroom and Leonardo and the Bride ?
23. What are the allusions to Christianity in Scene III ?
24. Explain the fates of the Bridegroom, Leonardo, and the Bride.
25. With what does the playwright equate the passion of the couple ?
26. What is ironic about the Mother and the women chanting : « Sweet nails/ Sweet cross,/ Sweet Name--/ Jesus » ?
27. Give an example of cartharsis in this play.
28. In giving Leonardo Felix the only proper name in the play, how might the playwright be suggesting that social customs and the conformity they require might be a problem ?
29. Blood Wedding is not merely about a wedding but about the wedding in the blood of the antagonistic forces that together compromise the human condition. Explain this war in the blood on many levels.
30. Explain the ritual of the matador and the bull in a bull fight.
31. Explain the opening of the final scene of the play where the little girls are winding red wool.
32. In the last phase of the play, how is the Bride likened to nature ?
33. What is an irony at the end of the play ?
34. What are the five lyrical passages in the play ?
35. What symbols does Garca Lorca use to indicate the inevitability of fate in the final scene ?
36. How is the climax of Act III similar to action in Oedipus Rex ?
1. Do the Moon and the Beggar Woman give an indication that Leonardo and the Bride will escape ?
2. How is the lullaby of the horse in Act I, Scene 2, a portent of what occurs in the forest ?
3. Who is the Beggar Woman ?
4. Who or what does the Moon symbolize ?
5. How is the relationship between Leonardo and the Bride different from the one between the Bridegroom and the Bride ?
6. a) In what setting does Scene I, Act II, open ? b) What does this setting represent ?
7. Summarize the comments of the three woodcutters in Scene I.
8. In the Moon’s monologue in Scene I, to what does « blood » refer ?
9. Whom is the woodcutter personified as ?
10. Who gives the Bridegroom directions to find his wayward bride and Leonardo ?
11. How do we know that the Bridegroom will not survive the encounter with Leonardo ?
12. What happens when Leonardo and the Bride realize that they are hemmed in ?
13. In Scene I, in the fifth instance from the end, where Leonardo speaks, what kind of imagery is revealed in those lines ?
14. What is the significance of the Beggar Woman opening her cloak at the end of Scene I ?
15. Why does Scene II open in a white room with arches and thick walls ?
16. How does the Beggar Woman invoke images of death in the beginning of Scene II ?
17. How does the Mother rationalize her life now that her remaining son has been killed ?
18. How does the Mother react to the Bride’s arrival in Scene II ?
19. The play begins and ends with which image?
20. Garcia Lorca creates a landscape so rustic and primitive that it virtually stands outside of time. There are no modern objects with which one can place the play in a specific era ; therefore, what object mentioned in the play can be seen as rather anachronistic ?
21. How can the locale of the forest symbolize both life and death ?
22. Why are the woodcutters a natural choice to report and comment on the pursuit and the encounter between the Bridegroom and Leonardo and the Bride ?
23. What are the allusions to Christianity in Scene III ?
24. Explain the fates of the Bridegroom, Leonardo, and the Bride.
25. With what does the playwright equate the passion of the couple ?
26. What is ironic about the Mother and the women chanting : « Sweet nails/ Sweet cross,/ Sweet Name--/ Jesus » ?
27. Give an example of cartharsis in this play.
28. In giving Leonardo Felix the only proper name in the play, how might the playwright be suggesting that social customs and the conformity they require might be a problem ?
29. Blood Wedding is not merely about a wedding but about the wedding in the blood of the antagonistic forces that together compromise the human condition. Explain this war in the blood on many levels.
30. Explain the ritual of the matador and the bull in a bull fight.
31. Explain the opening of the final scene of the play where the little girls are winding red wool.
32. In the last phase of the play, how is the Bride likened to nature ?
33. What is an irony at the end of the play ?
34. What are the five lyrical passages in the play ?
35. What symbols does Garca Lorca use to indicate the inevitability of fate in the final scene ?
36. How is the climax of Act III similar to action in Oedipus Rex ?
Questions on Act II of BLOOD WEDDING
Blood Wedding : Act II Questions
1. What is a major similarity between the end of Act II, Scene 1, of Blood Wedding and the death of Jocasta and the blinding of Oedipus in Oedipus Rex ?
2. Who are the young men and girls in Act II ? What is their purpose ?
3. How does the reader know that the Bride is not a typical happy bride on her wedding day ?
4. What is the argument about between the Bride and Leonardo on her wedding day ?
5. What new information about the reason for the Bride’s acceptance of the Bridegroom’s proposal of marriage do we learn in Act II ?
6. How do the reports of the wedding given by minor characters in Act II contrast with the true attitude of the Bride ?
7. How does Leonardo’s presence at the wedding upset the traditional balance of society ?
8. Name the characters that are unhappy so far in this play and comment on why each one is.
9. What is the setting of Act II ?
10.How can Leonardo’s plight be seen by the reader as a plea for divorce reform in Catholic Spain ?
11.Why do the Bridegroom and a party of men seek out the Bride and Leonardo ?
1. What is a major similarity between the end of Act II, Scene 1, of Blood Wedding and the death of Jocasta and the blinding of Oedipus in Oedipus Rex ?
2. Who are the young men and girls in Act II ? What is their purpose ?
3. How does the reader know that the Bride is not a typical happy bride on her wedding day ?
4. What is the argument about between the Bride and Leonardo on her wedding day ?
5. What new information about the reason for the Bride’s acceptance of the Bridegroom’s proposal of marriage do we learn in Act II ?
6. How do the reports of the wedding given by minor characters in Act II contrast with the true attitude of the Bride ?
7. How does Leonardo’s presence at the wedding upset the traditional balance of society ?
8. Name the characters that are unhappy so far in this play and comment on why each one is.
9. What is the setting of Act II ?
10.How can Leonardo’s plight be seen by the reader as a plea for divorce reform in Catholic Spain ?
11.Why do the Bridegroom and a party of men seek out the Bride and Leonardo ?
QUESTIONS ON ACT III OF BLOOD WEDDING
Here are the questions on BLOOD WEDDING:
Questions on Act I of Blood Wedding
1. The lullaby that the Mother-in-Law and the Wife sing to the baby seems to be an omen. Why?
2. Why are the Mother-in-Law and Wife impressed by the news of the girl?
3. Why is it a bad omen when the Father says of his daughter, “She’s like my wife, in every way”?
4. What is the significance of the color of the room at the Bridegroom’s house in which the play opens?
5. Leonardo’s and the Bride’s homes are characterized by the color pink. What is the significance here?
6. Describe the Bride’s demeanor in Act I.
7. Lack of what characteristic(s) makes the Bridegroom the least compelling major character in the play?
8. Who makes up the chorus in Act I?
9. How does the motif of renewal apply to the Bride’s Father and to the Bridegroom’s Mother?
10.How does the position of Scenes 1 and 3 in Act I relate to the motif of renewal?
11.Who represents the “horse”?
12.What does marriage with the Bridegroom promise for the Bride?
13.Comment on the “lullaby” that the Mother-in-Law and the Wife sing to the baby.
14.Comment on the Mother’s role in the play.
15.Find evidence in the play to support the statement that the Mother is suspicious of the Bride.
16.Of what is “blood” symbolic?
17. What is significant about the position of the scene with the lullaby of “the big horse who didn’t like water”?
18.What does the “bull” symbolize?
19.Explain the following line: “Men, men; wheat, wheat…”
20.What do you think is implied in the Bride’s sullenness and depression in Act I?
Questions on Act I of Blood Wedding
1. The lullaby that the Mother-in-Law and the Wife sing to the baby seems to be an omen. Why?
2. Why are the Mother-in-Law and Wife impressed by the news of the girl?
3. Why is it a bad omen when the Father says of his daughter, “She’s like my wife, in every way”?
4. What is the significance of the color of the room at the Bridegroom’s house in which the play opens?
5. Leonardo’s and the Bride’s homes are characterized by the color pink. What is the significance here?
6. Describe the Bride’s demeanor in Act I.
7. Lack of what characteristic(s) makes the Bridegroom the least compelling major character in the play?
8. Who makes up the chorus in Act I?
9. How does the motif of renewal apply to the Bride’s Father and to the Bridegroom’s Mother?
10.How does the position of Scenes 1 and 3 in Act I relate to the motif of renewal?
11.Who represents the “horse”?
12.What does marriage with the Bridegroom promise for the Bride?
13.Comment on the “lullaby” that the Mother-in-Law and the Wife sing to the baby.
14.Comment on the Mother’s role in the play.
15.Find evidence in the play to support the statement that the Mother is suspicious of the Bride.
16.Of what is “blood” symbolic?
17. What is significant about the position of the scene with the lullaby of “the big horse who didn’t like water”?
18.What does the “bull” symbolize?
19.Explain the following line: “Men, men; wheat, wheat…”
20.What do you think is implied in the Bride’s sullenness and depression in Act I?
06 October 2009
RRJ on Act 1, Scenes 1-3 of BLOOD WEDDING
Students,
Please post your RRJ's on Act 1 of BLOOD WEDDING here...
Please post your RRJ's on Act 1 of BLOOD WEDDING here...
18 September 2009
Questions on Act III of A Doll’s House
1. (a) What draws Mrs. Linde and Krogstad back to each other ? (b) Do these two characters have more in common than Nora and Torvald do ? Explain. (c) How does Nora’s and Torvald’s situation contrast with Mrs. Linde’s and Krogstad’s situation at the end of the play ?
2. Why does Mrs. Linde tell Krogstad not to ask for his letter back ?
3. After Nora and Torvald return from the party, why does Nora tell Torvald to « go away » and « leave [her] alone » ?
4. (a) How would you describe Torvald’s reaction to the news that Rank is going to die ? (b) What does Torvald’s reaction reveal about his personality ?
5. (a) What is ironic about Torvald’s comment that now that Rank is gone, he and Nora will be « thrown back on each other completely » ? (b) What other examples of irony can you find in his comments to Nora ?
6. How does Rank’s demise parallel the collapse of Nora and Torvald’s marriage ?
7. When Torvald asks Nora if she understands what she has done, she responds, « Yes. I’m beginning to understand everything now. » What is it that she is actually beginning to understand ?
8. (a) What does Torvald’s response to the letter reveal about the true nature of his feelings for Nora ? (b) What conclusions do you draw about him based on this response ?
9. (a) How does Torvald’s reaction to the note along with the immediate shift in his attitude following the receipt of the second note expose him as a hypocrite ? (b) Why is Nora unmoved by Torvald’s declaration that he has forgiven her ?
10. Explain whether you think that Torvald truly understands Nora’s reasons for leaving.
11. How does the play’s title relate to Nora’s explanation of her decision to leave Torvald and the children ?
12. When this play was first performed, the people in the audience were stunned by Nora’s decision to leave her husband and children, since it puts her duty to her family second to her responsibility to herself. (a) Do you agree with her decision ? Why or why not ? (b) Do you think that her decision is as shocking today as when the play was first performed ? Explain.
1. (a) What draws Mrs. Linde and Krogstad back to each other ? (b) Do these two characters have more in common than Nora and Torvald do ? Explain. (c) How does Nora’s and Torvald’s situation contrast with Mrs. Linde’s and Krogstad’s situation at the end of the play ?
2. Why does Mrs. Linde tell Krogstad not to ask for his letter back ?
3. After Nora and Torvald return from the party, why does Nora tell Torvald to « go away » and « leave [her] alone » ?
4. (a) How would you describe Torvald’s reaction to the news that Rank is going to die ? (b) What does Torvald’s reaction reveal about his personality ?
5. (a) What is ironic about Torvald’s comment that now that Rank is gone, he and Nora will be « thrown back on each other completely » ? (b) What other examples of irony can you find in his comments to Nora ?
6. How does Rank’s demise parallel the collapse of Nora and Torvald’s marriage ?
7. When Torvald asks Nora if she understands what she has done, she responds, « Yes. I’m beginning to understand everything now. » What is it that she is actually beginning to understand ?
8. (a) What does Torvald’s response to the letter reveal about the true nature of his feelings for Nora ? (b) What conclusions do you draw about him based on this response ?
9. (a) How does Torvald’s reaction to the note along with the immediate shift in his attitude following the receipt of the second note expose him as a hypocrite ? (b) Why is Nora unmoved by Torvald’s declaration that he has forgiven her ?
10. Explain whether you think that Torvald truly understands Nora’s reasons for leaving.
11. How does the play’s title relate to Nora’s explanation of her decision to leave Torvald and the children ?
12. When this play was first performed, the people in the audience were stunned by Nora’s decision to leave her husband and children, since it puts her duty to her family second to her responsibility to herself. (a) Do you agree with her decision ? Why or why not ? (b) Do you think that her decision is as shocking today as when the play was first performed ? Explain.
15 September 2009
QUESTIONS ON ACT II: A DOLL’S HOUSE
1. How does the condition of the Christmas tree at the beginning of the second act relate to the developments in the characters’ lives?
2. (a) What is the significance of Nora’s openly questioning whether her children would forget her if she were “gone for good”? (b) What later event might her question foreshadow or hint at?
3. What later event might be foreshadowed by Dr. Rank’s comment: “Those who go away are soon forgotten”?
4. (a) In what way does Dr. Rank’s condition parallel Nora’s situation? (b) (b) How does Rank’s condition parallel Krogstad’s situation? (c) What options are available to Nora and Krogstad that are unavailable to Rank?
5. (a) How would you characterize Nora’s relationship with Dr. Rank? (b) How would you describe her relationship with Anne-Marie? (c) What do Rank and Anne-Marie offer her that her husband does not?
6. (a) What is the significance of the fact that it begins to get dark during Nora’s conversation with Rank? (b) What does the lamp that the maid brings into the room symbolize or represent?
7. Why does Nora cover her ears when Rank speaks of suffering for the sins of his father?
8. Why does Nora decide not to ask Rank for the money?
9. (a) What is Krogstad’s attitude toward Torvald? (b) How is his attitude conveyed?
10.What is ironic about Torvald’s comment that Nora dances “as
If her life were at stake”?
11.What might be the “miracle” for which Nora says she is
waiting? Explain your answer.
12.What do you think that you might learn about personal
relationships from the problems facing Nora and Torvald?
13.(a) For which characters in the play do you have the most
sympathy? Why? (b) Which characters do you find dis-
tasteful ? Why?
14.How do you react to Nora’s comment that “there are some people that one loves most and other people that one would almost
prefer to be with”? Explain.
1. How does the condition of the Christmas tree at the beginning of the second act relate to the developments in the characters’ lives?
2. (a) What is the significance of Nora’s openly questioning whether her children would forget her if she were “gone for good”? (b) What later event might her question foreshadow or hint at?
3. What later event might be foreshadowed by Dr. Rank’s comment: “Those who go away are soon forgotten”?
4. (a) In what way does Dr. Rank’s condition parallel Nora’s situation? (b) (b) How does Rank’s condition parallel Krogstad’s situation? (c) What options are available to Nora and Krogstad that are unavailable to Rank?
5. (a) How would you characterize Nora’s relationship with Dr. Rank? (b) How would you describe her relationship with Anne-Marie? (c) What do Rank and Anne-Marie offer her that her husband does not?
6. (a) What is the significance of the fact that it begins to get dark during Nora’s conversation with Rank? (b) What does the lamp that the maid brings into the room symbolize or represent?
7. Why does Nora cover her ears when Rank speaks of suffering for the sins of his father?
8. Why does Nora decide not to ask Rank for the money?
9. (a) What is Krogstad’s attitude toward Torvald? (b) How is his attitude conveyed?
10.What is ironic about Torvald’s comment that Nora dances “as
If her life were at stake”?
11.What might be the “miracle” for which Nora says she is
waiting? Explain your answer.
12.What do you think that you might learn about personal
relationships from the problems facing Nora and Torvald?
13.(a) For which characters in the play do you have the most
sympathy? Why? (b) Which characters do you find dis-
tasteful ? Why?
14.How do you react to Nora’s comment that “there are some people that one loves most and other people that one would almost
prefer to be with”? Explain.
12 September 2009
ACT 1: A Doll's House
Students,
Don't forget to print out the remaining questions on Act 1 for Monday's class!
Don't forget to print out the remaining questions on Act 1 for Monday's class!
11 September 2009
On Themes...
Recognizing Themes
A Doll’s House is an example of a literary work with numerous possible themes. To be considered valid, each of these possible themes must be supported by evidence in the play. For example, the idea that the play is an expression of the need for women to escape from the confinement and restriction that they faced in nineteenth-century European society is supported by the condescending manner in which Torvald treats Nora and by his frequent references to the respective roles of men and women.
Questions :
1. What evidence in the play supports the theme concerning the characteristics of a successful marriage ?
2. What evidence supports the theme that society and authority hinder the development of individuality ?
3. What evidence suggests that the play is about « the struggle which all serious-minded human beings have to wage with themselves to bring their lives into harmony with their convictions » ?
4. What theme does the play convey concerning the role of morality in people’s lives, and how is this theme conveyed ?
A Doll’s House is an example of a literary work with numerous possible themes. To be considered valid, each of these possible themes must be supported by evidence in the play. For example, the idea that the play is an expression of the need for women to escape from the confinement and restriction that they faced in nineteenth-century European society is supported by the condescending manner in which Torvald treats Nora and by his frequent references to the respective roles of men and women.
Questions :
1. What evidence in the play supports the theme concerning the characteristics of a successful marriage ?
2. What evidence supports the theme that society and authority hinder the development of individuality ?
3. What evidence suggests that the play is about « the struggle which all serious-minded human beings have to wage with themselves to bring their lives into harmony with their convictions » ?
4. What theme does the play convey concerning the role of morality in people’s lives, and how is this theme conveyed ?
Notes continued...
NOTES AND QUESTIONS ON CHARACTERIZATION
In modern dramas, such as A Doll’s House, characters are generally developed through dialogue, action, and physical appearance. Although they may be regarded as an element of a character’s appearance of behavior, it is worth noting that personal possessions, such as Nora’s macaroons, may also play a minor role in character development.
1. What is revealed about Torvald’s personality through his explanation of his decision to fire Krogstad and his refusal to reconsider his decision?
2. What seems to be Torvald’s main concern in life? Support your answer.
3. How does Torvald’s main concern contrast with Nora’s primary concern?
4. How would you characterize Nora based on her comments and actions in the first acts?
5. (a) How would you characterize Dr. Rank? (b) How is his personality conveyed?
Predictions
After reading the first two acts of A Doll’s House, make predictions about the outcome of the play based on what you have already learned about the characters and their situations. Support your predictions with details from the first two acts.
1. How will Torvald react if he reads Krogstad’s letter?
2. How will Torvald’s reaction affect Nora and Torvald’s marriage?
3. What will become of Dr. Rank?
4. What will become of Krogstad and Mrs. Linde?
Appropriate Diction
In realistic drama, the diction, or the writer’s choice of words, must be appropriate for the characters. For example, it would be inappropriate to have uneducated people speak in elaborate, elevated language. However, this type of language would be suitable for a group of scholars.
1. How would you describe the language used by the characters in A Doll’s House?
2. Explain why this type of language is appropriate for these characters.
3. How does the language used add to the realism of the play?
In modern dramas, such as A Doll’s House, characters are generally developed through dialogue, action, and physical appearance. Although they may be regarded as an element of a character’s appearance of behavior, it is worth noting that personal possessions, such as Nora’s macaroons, may also play a minor role in character development.
1. What is revealed about Torvald’s personality through his explanation of his decision to fire Krogstad and his refusal to reconsider his decision?
2. What seems to be Torvald’s main concern in life? Support your answer.
3. How does Torvald’s main concern contrast with Nora’s primary concern?
4. How would you characterize Nora based on her comments and actions in the first acts?
5. (a) How would you characterize Dr. Rank? (b) How is his personality conveyed?
Predictions
After reading the first two acts of A Doll’s House, make predictions about the outcome of the play based on what you have already learned about the characters and their situations. Support your predictions with details from the first two acts.
1. How will Torvald react if he reads Krogstad’s letter?
2. How will Torvald’s reaction affect Nora and Torvald’s marriage?
3. What will become of Dr. Rank?
4. What will become of Krogstad and Mrs. Linde?
Appropriate Diction
In realistic drama, the diction, or the writer’s choice of words, must be appropriate for the characters. For example, it would be inappropriate to have uneducated people speak in elaborate, elevated language. However, this type of language would be suitable for a group of scholars.
1. How would you describe the language used by the characters in A Doll’s House?
2. Explain why this type of language is appropriate for these characters.
3. How does the language used add to the realism of the play?
More Notes
CHARACTERIZATION IN DRAMA
Characterization is the means by which a writer reveals a character’s personality. In a work of fiction, a character may be developed through a variety of different methods, including direct statements about the character’s personality and insights into the character’s thoughts and feelings. Similarly, the verse dramas written before Ibsen’s time often included soliloquies in which characters revealed their innermost thoughts directly to the audience. In contrast, realistic dramas generally do not include soliloquies, because in real life people rarely recite their thoughts aloud. As a result, characters in a realistic drama must be developed through physical appearances, comments, and actions and through other characters’ remarks about them. Everything the audiemce learns about the characters, including their names and occupations, must be revealed through the characters’ comments, actions, and appearances. Yet the dialogue cannot be written with the sole intention of conveying details about the characters. Instead, the dialogue must seem natural and realistic, as if it were taken from real-life conversations.
Characterization is the means by which a writer reveals a character’s personality. In a work of fiction, a character may be developed through a variety of different methods, including direct statements about the character’s personality and insights into the character’s thoughts and feelings. Similarly, the verse dramas written before Ibsen’s time often included soliloquies in which characters revealed their innermost thoughts directly to the audience. In contrast, realistic dramas generally do not include soliloquies, because in real life people rarely recite their thoughts aloud. As a result, characters in a realistic drama must be developed through physical appearances, comments, and actions and through other characters’ remarks about them. Everything the audiemce learns about the characters, including their names and occupations, must be revealed through the characters’ comments, actions, and appearances. Yet the dialogue cannot be written with the sole intention of conveying details about the characters. Instead, the dialogue must seem natural and realistic, as if it were taken from real-life conversations.
Act I, A DOLL'S HOUSE
Questions on Act I of A Doll’s House
1. Torvald refers to Nora by such names as his « little lark, » his « squirrel, » and the « little spendthrift. » (a) What does his use of these names suggest about his attitude about her ? Explain. (b) What seems to be Torvald’s attitude toward women in general, and how is his attitude revealed ?
2. What else is revealed about Torvald’s personality in the opening scene, and how is it revealed ?
3. Considering what Nora reveals to Mrs. Linde later in the act, what is ironic or surprising about Torvald’s comments concerning Nora’s management of money ?
4. (a) How would you characterize Nora and Torvald’s relationship based on their interactions in the opening scene ? Support your characterization with details. (b) What details in the first act indicate that Nora and Torvald do not know each other very well ? (c) Considering the true nature of Nora and Torvald’s relationship, what is ironic about her comment that if he found out her secret, it « would just ruin their relationship » ?
5. (a) What aspects of Nora’s personality are revealed in the information that she reveals to Mrs. Linde ? How do these aspects of her personality contrast with the impression that she conveys to her husband ?
6. Krogstad arrives just as Nora is commenting that « it is marvelous to live and be happy ! » (a) What is the signifiance of his timing ? (b) How do Nora’s actions following Krogstad’s arrival reveal that she is nervous ?
7. When the children appear at the door, Torvald comments that this place is unbearable now for anyone but mothers. » (a) What does this comment suggest about his attitude toward his children ? (b) What do Nora’s interactions with her children suggest about her relationship with them ?
8. (a) What aspects of Krogstad’s personality are revealed through his interactions with Nora, and how are they revealed ? (b) What seems to have been the nature of his previous relationship with Mrs. Linde ? (c) What details in the first act hint at the nature of the relationship ?
9. (a) What do Torvald’s comments about morality reveal about his character ? (b) How do his comments relate to Nora’s situation ? (c) What are the implications of his comments on her situation ?
10. How and why did your impression of Nora change throughout the course of the first act ?
11. Given the behavior of the characters during the first act, what differences can you see between our society and the society depicted in the play ?
12. It has been said that people who live their lives to please others never find real happiness. Do you agree or disagree ? Explain your answer.
13. Explain whether you think that the situation depicted in the play seems like something that would occur in real life.
14. Explain how the detailed set described in Ibsen’s stage directions contributes to the play’s realisitic quality.
15. Nora’s beloved macaroons are an example of the type of minute details that Ibsen often included in his plays. How does this inclusion of the macaroons contribute to the development of both Nora’s and Torvald’s character and add to the play’s realism ?
16. Find a passage of dialogue that you find especially realistic. Then explain how this passage resembles a real-life conversation.
1. Torvald refers to Nora by such names as his « little lark, » his « squirrel, » and the « little spendthrift. » (a) What does his use of these names suggest about his attitude about her ? Explain. (b) What seems to be Torvald’s attitude toward women in general, and how is his attitude revealed ?
2. What else is revealed about Torvald’s personality in the opening scene, and how is it revealed ?
3. Considering what Nora reveals to Mrs. Linde later in the act, what is ironic or surprising about Torvald’s comments concerning Nora’s management of money ?
4. (a) How would you characterize Nora and Torvald’s relationship based on their interactions in the opening scene ? Support your characterization with details. (b) What details in the first act indicate that Nora and Torvald do not know each other very well ? (c) Considering the true nature of Nora and Torvald’s relationship, what is ironic about her comment that if he found out her secret, it « would just ruin their relationship » ?
5. (a) What aspects of Nora’s personality are revealed in the information that she reveals to Mrs. Linde ? How do these aspects of her personality contrast with the impression that she conveys to her husband ?
6. Krogstad arrives just as Nora is commenting that « it is marvelous to live and be happy ! » (a) What is the signifiance of his timing ? (b) How do Nora’s actions following Krogstad’s arrival reveal that she is nervous ?
7. When the children appear at the door, Torvald comments that this place is unbearable now for anyone but mothers. » (a) What does this comment suggest about his attitude toward his children ? (b) What do Nora’s interactions with her children suggest about her relationship with them ?
8. (a) What aspects of Krogstad’s personality are revealed through his interactions with Nora, and how are they revealed ? (b) What seems to have been the nature of his previous relationship with Mrs. Linde ? (c) What details in the first act hint at the nature of the relationship ?
9. (a) What do Torvald’s comments about morality reveal about his character ? (b) How do his comments relate to Nora’s situation ? (c) What are the implications of his comments on her situation ?
10. How and why did your impression of Nora change throughout the course of the first act ?
11. Given the behavior of the characters during the first act, what differences can you see between our society and the society depicted in the play ?
12. It has been said that people who live their lives to please others never find real happiness. Do you agree or disagree ? Explain your answer.
13. Explain whether you think that the situation depicted in the play seems like something that would occur in real life.
14. Explain how the detailed set described in Ibsen’s stage directions contributes to the play’s realisitic quality.
15. Nora’s beloved macaroons are an example of the type of minute details that Ibsen often included in his plays. How does this inclusion of the macaroons contribute to the development of both Nora’s and Torvald’s character and add to the play’s realism ?
16. Find a passage of dialogue that you find especially realistic. Then explain how this passage resembles a real-life conversation.
Act I, A DOLL'S HOUSE
REALISM
The movement towards realism in the theater occurred in the second half of the nineteenth century.
Realism began as a reaction to the excessively contrived, sentimental, and didactic melodramas that dominated drama in nineteenth-century Europe and America.
Realism began in Europe with playwrights like Ibsen, Strindberg, and Shaw, reaching America a few years later where it found its fullest American expression in Eugene O’Neill.
Realists take a mimetic approach to theater, striving to create the illusion of everyday life on stage, with the audience’s eavesdropping on a slice of life.
Realists tend to depict the middle, lower, and lower-middle classes : their work, family life, language, dress, and problems.
They prefer contemporary settings.
In a direct response to melodrama, realists strive to create complex characters, to make internal conflict as dramatic as external conflict.
They prefer the open ending, which does not resolve all the play’s questions and sometimes leaves in doubt the future of the protagonist. The resolution or denouement is generally short in realistic dramas and virtually non-existent sometimes.
The movement towards realism in the theater occurred in the second half of the nineteenth century.
Realism began as a reaction to the excessively contrived, sentimental, and didactic melodramas that dominated drama in nineteenth-century Europe and America.
Realism began in Europe with playwrights like Ibsen, Strindberg, and Shaw, reaching America a few years later where it found its fullest American expression in Eugene O’Neill.
Realists take a mimetic approach to theater, striving to create the illusion of everyday life on stage, with the audience’s eavesdropping on a slice of life.
Realists tend to depict the middle, lower, and lower-middle classes : their work, family life, language, dress, and problems.
They prefer contemporary settings.
In a direct response to melodrama, realists strive to create complex characters, to make internal conflict as dramatic as external conflict.
They prefer the open ending, which does not resolve all the play’s questions and sometimes leaves in doubt the future of the protagonist. The resolution or denouement is generally short in realistic dramas and virtually non-existent sometimes.
10 September 2009
Act I, A DOLL'S HOUSE
Students, please post your Reader's Response Journal entries to A Doll's House under the comments. Thanks!
01 September 2009
Assignments for the week of Aug. 31-Sept. 4
Flow Map Charts on Oedipus Rex were due Monday, 8/31. Projects on Oedipus Rex are due this Friday, 8/4. Unit Test on this play is this Thursday, 8/03. READ ALL NOTES ON THE BLOG AND STUDY TERMS WELL!
In-class essay: Comparative essay--Compare and contrast Oedipus and another major character from another play or novel that you've read. Must do prewriting, rough draft, get peer critiques from 3-4 peers, and edit/rewrite. Due Wednesday near the end of class. Must be in blue or black ink, on loose-leaf paper--Please DO NOT write on the back. Please double-space (skip lines to leave me space to comment, if necessary).
In-class essay: Comparative essay--Compare and contrast Oedipus and another major character from another play or novel that you've read. Must do prewriting, rough draft, get peer critiques from 3-4 peers, and edit/rewrite. Due Wednesday near the end of class. Must be in blue or black ink, on loose-leaf paper--Please DO NOT write on the back. Please double-space (skip lines to leave me space to comment, if necessary).
25 August 2009
More Notes on OEDIPUS REX
Background Notes on Greek Tragedy
Greek tragedy apparently started with the singing of a choral lyric, the dithyramb, in honor of Dionysus. It was performed in a circular dancing-place, the orchestra, by a group of men who may have impersonated satyrs by wearing masks and dressing in goat-skins. (The Greek word tragoedia means “goat-song.”) Eventually, the content of the dithyramb was widened to any mythological or heroic story, and an actor was introduced to answer any questions posed by the choral group. (The Greek word for actor is hypocrites, which literally means “answerer.” It is the source of our English word “hypocrite.”) Tragedy was recognized as an official state cult in Athens in 534 BC. According to tradition, different Greek playwrights kept adding actors to their respective plays.
Greek tragedies were performed in late March/early April at an annual state religious festival in honor of Dionysus. The presentation took the form of a contest between three playwrights who presented their works on three successive days. Each playwright would prepare a trilogy of three tragedies which often featured linked stories. The Greek theatre was in the open air, on the side of a hill, and performances usually lasted most of the day. Performances were apparently open to all citizens, even women.
The presentation of the plays probably resembled modern opera more than what we think of as a “play.” All of the choral parts were sung (to flute accompaniment), and some of the actors’ answers to the chorus were sung as well. The play as a whole was composed in various verse meters. All actors were male and wore masks, which may have had some amplifying capabilities. A Greek chorus danced as well as sang. (The Greek word choros means “a dance in a ring.”) No one knows exactly what sorts of steps the chorus performed as it sang. But choral songs in tragedy are often divided into three sections: strophe (“turning, circling”), antistrophe (“counter-turning, counter-circling”), and epode (“after-song”). So perhaps the chorus would dance one way around the orchestra (“dancing-floor”) while singing the strophe, turn another way during the antistrophe, and then stand still during the epode.
Tragedy depicts the downfall of a noble hero or heroine, usually through some combination of hubris, fate, and the will of the gods. The tragic hero’s powerful wish to achieve some goal inevitably encounters limits, usually those of human frailty (flaws in reason, hubris, society), the gods (through oracles, prophets, fate), or nature. Aristotle said that the tragic hero should have a flaw and/or make some mistake (hamartia). The hero need not die at the end, but he/she must undergo a change in fortune. In addition, the tragic hero may achieve some revelation or recognition (anagnorisis—“knowing again” or “knowing back” or “knowing throughout”) about human fate, destiny, and the will of the gods. Aristotle terms this sort of recognition “a change from ignorance to awareness of a bond of love or hate.”
The tragic hero is neither a paragon of virtue and justice nor undergoes the change to misfortune through any real badness or wickedness—he undergoes this change because of some mistake. He is neither a villain nor a model of perfection but is basically good and decent. Our word “mistake” (hamartia) is translated as “flaw” or as “error.” The hero falls through—though not entirely because of—some weakness of character, some moral blindness, or error. The gods are in some sense responsible for the hero’s fall.
Plot is the most important element of tragedy. The best tragic plot is single and complex, rather than double (“with opposite endings for good and bad”—a characteristic of comedy in which the good are rewarded and the wicked punished). All plots have some pathos (“suffering”), but a complex plot includes reversal and recognition.
a) “reversal” (peripeteia)—occurs when a situation seems to be developing in one direction, then suddenly reverses to another.
b) “recognition” (anagnorisis)—a change from ignorance to awareness of a bond of love or hate. Recognition scenes in tragedy are of some horrible event or secret, while those in comedy usually reunite long-lost relatives or friends. A plot with tragic reversals and recognitions best arouses pity and fear.
c) “suffering” (pathos)—this can also be translated as “a calamity,” the third element of plot is “a destructive or painful act.” (The English words “sympathy,” “empathy,” and “apathy” all stem from this Greek word.)
Analysis of Oedipus Rex
IMAGERY AND FORESHADOWING
Recurring images of darkness and light are associated with knowledge and ignorance…these images work as examples of a kind of foreshadowing.
THEMES/MOTIFS
1) Knowledge and ignorance
2) Choices and Consequences
3) Public versus Private Life
4) The quest for identity
5) The nature of innocence and guilt
6) The nature of moral responsibility
7) Human will versus fate
8) The abuse of power
CHARACTERS
1. Jocasta—she alternately condemns and upholds the authority of the oracles as best suits the direction of the argument at the moment. Finally, she gives up the struggle and hangs herself.
2. Creon—states that he does not wish for the throne; when he does become king, he acts with compassion towards Oedipus, leading him into the palace and then, as Oedipus requests, into exile.
3. Teiresias—he represents Apollo
4. Oedipus—prideful, stubborn, “blind” to the truth, suspicious of Creon’s motives.
STYLE
The protagonist inspires in his audience both emotions of pity and fear/horror; there is an opportunity for catharsis. Also, Sophocles builds suspense by doling out information bit by bit and postponing the crises.
STRUCTURE
The Prologue introduces the play; the parodos brings in the Chorus; there are four scenes presented with odes separating each scene; lastly, there is the Exodos (final act/scene). The fate of Oedipus is revealed herein.
STAGING
The Chorus performed on a raised stage—there were no female actors; plays were performed in amphitheatres; actors wore large masks and costumes—sometimes they wore elevated shoes.
CHORUS
Choral ode has a 3-part structure: a) strophe, b) antistrophe, c) epode (song and dance pattern). Choral odes bring an additional viewpoint to the play and often this perspective is broader and more socio-religious than those offered by individual characters; it is also conservative and traditional at times, in an effort to reflect the views of its society rather than the protagonist.
SETTING
Action occurs outside Oedipus’s palaces in Thebes.
Arg!! More Notes on Oedipus Rex
The three “unities: unity of place; unity of time; and unity of action.
Place: The setting of the play should be one location: in Oedipus Rex it is the steps before the palace.
Time: The action of the play should represent the passage of no more than one day. Previous events leading up to the present situation were recounted on stage.
Action: No action or scene in the play was to be a digression; all were contribute directly in some way to the plot. (There was very little irrelevant by-play as the action developed.)
Remember—1) To the Greeks the act counted, not the motive.
2) The murder of Liaus wasn’t a crime per se—in fact it was any Greek’s duty
to harm his enemies (as well as helping his friends). And as far as he knew
at the time Laius was an enemy—by insulting Oedipus he had made
himself one.
3) The worst conceivable crime was to kill one’s father; the second worst was to sleep with one’s mother.
4) Oedipus, the greatest of men, the solver of riddles, can only solve the
riddle of his own origins by revealing a truth too awful to bear.
5) The power of the curse—Oedipus, having cursed the murderer of Laius, feels he must carry out the sentence on himself.
The Sphinx is a creature having the haunches of a lion, the wings of a great bird, and horribly, the face and breast of a woman. She is treacherous and merciless: those who cannot answer her riddle suffer the horrible fate of being gobbled up whole and raw, eaten by this ravenous monster. Oedipus ends the Sphinx’s reign of terror over the people of Thebes by solving her riddle; but the man who overcomes the great threat to human culture posed by the Sphinx is the same man responsible for causing an even more serious pollution—this same man commits the cardinal sins of patricide/regicide and incest. Both the response and the responder to the riddle of the Sphinx is Man and Man turns out to be both the preserver and the polluter of the society. One possible interpretation of Sophocles’ message to his fifth century audience—that man has the power to both preserve and destroy. In order to make the right decision, he must go about his business with both eyes open.
Pollution: A pollution is a religious uncleanliness which is usually the result of murder of of other serious crimes(intentional or unintentional) and infects anyone and anything which comes into contact with.
Symbols: Oedipus’ swollen feet
The Three-Way Crossroads
Even More Notes on Oedipus Rex
Oedipus Rex, Oedipus the King, and Oedipus Tyrannos are three titles for the same play. “Tyrannos” means “tyrant,” and today means to the Greeks what it does to us; however originally, it was simply the title given to a ruler who came to the throne through his merit, not through hereditary succession.
For the Greeks the fertility of the soil and of the community were linked; therefore, one sees the imagery of agriculture and fertility in this play.
The fertility and the righteousness of a ruler were thought to be directly connected to the prosperity of his land.
The Chorus was very important in Greek plays. The Chorus was both engaged and passive, at times, both a participant and an observer. Made up of citizens, the Chorus was, in some way, Everyman—an Athenian citizen.
Sophocles wrote Oedipus Rex when war-torn Athens had just been ravaged by a severe plague that devastated the city, killing its people and undermining faith in the laws and religious customs of the commonwealth.
Functions of the Choral Odes
Parodos: The Chorus establishes a melancholy mood and provides exposition. The leading citizens of Thebes are confused, frightened, and desperate.
Ode 1: Prepares the audience for what will occur, including the fact that the killer of Laius will be caught and that Teiresias will make a bold, bewildering pronouncement.
Ode 2: Helps establish themes, such as the importance of keeping the laws of the gods and maintaining faith in the oracles of Delphi, and warns against hubris.
Ode 3: Focuses attention on the critical issues: who are the parents of Oedipus? The tone is desperate and full of concern for their beloved king.
Ode 4: Expresses great sympathy for Oedipus, which, in part, manipulates the audience’s emotional response.
Exodos: The Choragos closes the play with a comment about human frailty and the unpredictable nature of existence.
More Notes on Oedipus Rex
--all violence takes place offstage
--all the action takes place in a single location and involves a small number of characters interacting with the central figure of Oedipus, who remains on stage for nearly the entire play
---The Chorus are turned into a “collective actor” within Oedipus Rex
--Oedipus Rex is mostly dramatic dialogue; BUT, what is left unsaid is often more powerful than what is explicitly expressed.
--Many lines contain a possible double meaning or ambiguity.
--Verbal irony and dramatic irony
--Oedipus’s initial desire to learn the identity of who murdered Laius is really a consuming desire to know his own identity.
--Tragic characters choose their destinies. Their choices cause their downfalls.
Yep ! More Notes on Oedipus Rex
Tragedies were performed in the context of a religious and civic festival, honoring the god Dionysus, provider of the grapes and wine that constituted one of the city’s major exports, and the patron goddess Athene. The inhabitants all came together to reaffirm their cohesion as a community. On the tragic stage, issues deeply affecting both the private individual and the citizen as a member of his or her polis were presented in such a way as to arouse pity and fear and to effect a purging of those emotions in the viewers.
A motif is a design or recurrent image or idea. The motif of the quest for knowledge is apparent from the beginning of Oedipus the King . In the priest’s speech, he refers to « speaking, » « teaching, » « hearing, » and « learning, » all of which are associated with knowledge. Oedipus’ initial desire to learn the identity of who murdered Laius is really a consuming desire to know his own identity.
Certain conditions must exist in tragedies. First, tragic characters must be of high birth or noble status in society. Second, they must experience a series of events that threaten their positions. These events should have a causal relationship; each event affects the next, so that every action is crucial to the plot. Finally, tragic characters must suffer a tragic fall through their own actions. The gods interfere to some degree ; they may even determine the outcome of the plot. However, they never direct the plot or the characters’ actions. Characters are responsible for their own actions—that is what renders tragedy tragic. A person who dies after an air conditioner falls on his/her head as he or she passes underneath it is not a tragic character because that person made no conscious choice. The even was simply an accident. Tragic characters, on the other hand, choose their destinies. It is their choices that cause their downfalls.
Greek tragedy apparently started with the singing of a choral lyric, the dithyramb, in honor of Dionysus. It was performed in a circular dancing-place, the orchestra, by a group of men who may have impersonated satyrs by wearing masks and dressing in goat-skins. (The Greek word tragoedia means “goat-song.”) Eventually, the content of the dithyramb was widened to any mythological or heroic story, and an actor was introduced to answer any questions posed by the choral group. (The Greek word for actor is hypocrites, which literally means “answerer.” It is the source of our English word “hypocrite.”) Tragedy was recognized as an official state cult in Athens in 534 BC. According to tradition, different Greek playwrights kept adding actors to their respective plays.
Greek tragedies were performed in late March/early April at an annual state religious festival in honor of Dionysus. The presentation took the form of a contest between three playwrights who presented their works on three successive days. Each playwright would prepare a trilogy of three tragedies which often featured linked stories. The Greek theatre was in the open air, on the side of a hill, and performances usually lasted most of the day. Performances were apparently open to all citizens, even women.
The presentation of the plays probably resembled modern opera more than what we think of as a “play.” All of the choral parts were sung (to flute accompaniment), and some of the actors’ answers to the chorus were sung as well. The play as a whole was composed in various verse meters. All actors were male and wore masks, which may have had some amplifying capabilities. A Greek chorus danced as well as sang. (The Greek word choros means “a dance in a ring.”) No one knows exactly what sorts of steps the chorus performed as it sang. But choral songs in tragedy are often divided into three sections: strophe (“turning, circling”), antistrophe (“counter-turning, counter-circling”), and epode (“after-song”). So perhaps the chorus would dance one way around the orchestra (“dancing-floor”) while singing the strophe, turn another way during the antistrophe, and then stand still during the epode.
Tragedy depicts the downfall of a noble hero or heroine, usually through some combination of hubris, fate, and the will of the gods. The tragic hero’s powerful wish to achieve some goal inevitably encounters limits, usually those of human frailty (flaws in reason, hubris, society), the gods (through oracles, prophets, fate), or nature. Aristotle said that the tragic hero should have a flaw and/or make some mistake (hamartia). The hero need not die at the end, but he/she must undergo a change in fortune. In addition, the tragic hero may achieve some revelation or recognition (anagnorisis—“knowing again” or “knowing back” or “knowing throughout”) about human fate, destiny, and the will of the gods. Aristotle terms this sort of recognition “a change from ignorance to awareness of a bond of love or hate.”
The tragic hero is neither a paragon of virtue and justice nor undergoes the change to misfortune through any real badness or wickedness—he undergoes this change because of some mistake. He is neither a villain nor a model of perfection but is basically good and decent. Our word “mistake” (hamartia) is translated as “flaw” or as “error.” The hero falls through—though not entirely because of—some weakness of character, some moral blindness, or error. The gods are in some sense responsible for the hero’s fall.
Plot is the most important element of tragedy. The best tragic plot is single and complex, rather than double (“with opposite endings for good and bad”—a characteristic of comedy in which the good are rewarded and the wicked punished). All plots have some pathos (“suffering”), but a complex plot includes reversal and recognition.
a) “reversal” (peripeteia)—occurs when a situation seems to be developing in one direction, then suddenly reverses to another.
b) “recognition” (anagnorisis)—a change from ignorance to awareness of a bond of love or hate. Recognition scenes in tragedy are of some horrible event or secret, while those in comedy usually reunite long-lost relatives or friends. A plot with tragic reversals and recognitions best arouses pity and fear.
c) “suffering” (pathos)—this can also be translated as “a calamity,” the third element of plot is “a destructive or painful act.” (The English words “sympathy,” “empathy,” and “apathy” all stem from this Greek word.)
Analysis of Oedipus Rex
IMAGERY AND FORESHADOWING
Recurring images of darkness and light are associated with knowledge and ignorance…these images work as examples of a kind of foreshadowing.
THEMES/MOTIFS
1) Knowledge and ignorance
2) Choices and Consequences
3) Public versus Private Life
4) The quest for identity
5) The nature of innocence and guilt
6) The nature of moral responsibility
7) Human will versus fate
8) The abuse of power
CHARACTERS
1. Jocasta—she alternately condemns and upholds the authority of the oracles as best suits the direction of the argument at the moment. Finally, she gives up the struggle and hangs herself.
2. Creon—states that he does not wish for the throne; when he does become king, he acts with compassion towards Oedipus, leading him into the palace and then, as Oedipus requests, into exile.
3. Teiresias—he represents Apollo
4. Oedipus—prideful, stubborn, “blind” to the truth, suspicious of Creon’s motives.
STYLE
The protagonist inspires in his audience both emotions of pity and fear/horror; there is an opportunity for catharsis. Also, Sophocles builds suspense by doling out information bit by bit and postponing the crises.
STRUCTURE
The Prologue introduces the play; the parodos brings in the Chorus; there are four scenes presented with odes separating each scene; lastly, there is the Exodos (final act/scene). The fate of Oedipus is revealed herein.
STAGING
The Chorus performed on a raised stage—there were no female actors; plays were performed in amphitheatres; actors wore large masks and costumes—sometimes they wore elevated shoes.
CHORUS
Choral ode has a 3-part structure: a) strophe, b) antistrophe, c) epode (song and dance pattern). Choral odes bring an additional viewpoint to the play and often this perspective is broader and more socio-religious than those offered by individual characters; it is also conservative and traditional at times, in an effort to reflect the views of its society rather than the protagonist.
SETTING
Action occurs outside Oedipus’s palaces in Thebes.
Arg!! More Notes on Oedipus Rex
The three “unities: unity of place; unity of time; and unity of action.
Place: The setting of the play should be one location: in Oedipus Rex it is the steps before the palace.
Time: The action of the play should represent the passage of no more than one day. Previous events leading up to the present situation were recounted on stage.
Action: No action or scene in the play was to be a digression; all were contribute directly in some way to the plot. (There was very little irrelevant by-play as the action developed.)
Remember—1) To the Greeks the act counted, not the motive.
2) The murder of Liaus wasn’t a crime per se—in fact it was any Greek’s duty
to harm his enemies (as well as helping his friends). And as far as he knew
at the time Laius was an enemy—by insulting Oedipus he had made
himself one.
3) The worst conceivable crime was to kill one’s father; the second worst was to sleep with one’s mother.
4) Oedipus, the greatest of men, the solver of riddles, can only solve the
riddle of his own origins by revealing a truth too awful to bear.
5) The power of the curse—Oedipus, having cursed the murderer of Laius, feels he must carry out the sentence on himself.
The Sphinx is a creature having the haunches of a lion, the wings of a great bird, and horribly, the face and breast of a woman. She is treacherous and merciless: those who cannot answer her riddle suffer the horrible fate of being gobbled up whole and raw, eaten by this ravenous monster. Oedipus ends the Sphinx’s reign of terror over the people of Thebes by solving her riddle; but the man who overcomes the great threat to human culture posed by the Sphinx is the same man responsible for causing an even more serious pollution—this same man commits the cardinal sins of patricide/regicide and incest. Both the response and the responder to the riddle of the Sphinx is Man and Man turns out to be both the preserver and the polluter of the society. One possible interpretation of Sophocles’ message to his fifth century audience—that man has the power to both preserve and destroy. In order to make the right decision, he must go about his business with both eyes open.
Pollution: A pollution is a religious uncleanliness which is usually the result of murder of of other serious crimes(intentional or unintentional) and infects anyone and anything which comes into contact with.
Symbols: Oedipus’ swollen feet
The Three-Way Crossroads
Even More Notes on Oedipus Rex
Oedipus Rex, Oedipus the King, and Oedipus Tyrannos are three titles for the same play. “Tyrannos” means “tyrant,” and today means to the Greeks what it does to us; however originally, it was simply the title given to a ruler who came to the throne through his merit, not through hereditary succession.
For the Greeks the fertility of the soil and of the community were linked; therefore, one sees the imagery of agriculture and fertility in this play.
The fertility and the righteousness of a ruler were thought to be directly connected to the prosperity of his land.
The Chorus was very important in Greek plays. The Chorus was both engaged and passive, at times, both a participant and an observer. Made up of citizens, the Chorus was, in some way, Everyman—an Athenian citizen.
Sophocles wrote Oedipus Rex when war-torn Athens had just been ravaged by a severe plague that devastated the city, killing its people and undermining faith in the laws and religious customs of the commonwealth.
Functions of the Choral Odes
Parodos: The Chorus establishes a melancholy mood and provides exposition. The leading citizens of Thebes are confused, frightened, and desperate.
Ode 1: Prepares the audience for what will occur, including the fact that the killer of Laius will be caught and that Teiresias will make a bold, bewildering pronouncement.
Ode 2: Helps establish themes, such as the importance of keeping the laws of the gods and maintaining faith in the oracles of Delphi, and warns against hubris.
Ode 3: Focuses attention on the critical issues: who are the parents of Oedipus? The tone is desperate and full of concern for their beloved king.
Ode 4: Expresses great sympathy for Oedipus, which, in part, manipulates the audience’s emotional response.
Exodos: The Choragos closes the play with a comment about human frailty and the unpredictable nature of existence.
More Notes on Oedipus Rex
--all violence takes place offstage
--all the action takes place in a single location and involves a small number of characters interacting with the central figure of Oedipus, who remains on stage for nearly the entire play
---The Chorus are turned into a “collective actor” within Oedipus Rex
--Oedipus Rex is mostly dramatic dialogue; BUT, what is left unsaid is often more powerful than what is explicitly expressed.
--Many lines contain a possible double meaning or ambiguity.
--Verbal irony and dramatic irony
--Oedipus’s initial desire to learn the identity of who murdered Laius is really a consuming desire to know his own identity.
--Tragic characters choose their destinies. Their choices cause their downfalls.
Yep ! More Notes on Oedipus Rex
Tragedies were performed in the context of a religious and civic festival, honoring the god Dionysus, provider of the grapes and wine that constituted one of the city’s major exports, and the patron goddess Athene. The inhabitants all came together to reaffirm their cohesion as a community. On the tragic stage, issues deeply affecting both the private individual and the citizen as a member of his or her polis were presented in such a way as to arouse pity and fear and to effect a purging of those emotions in the viewers.
A motif is a design or recurrent image or idea. The motif of the quest for knowledge is apparent from the beginning of Oedipus the King . In the priest’s speech, he refers to « speaking, » « teaching, » « hearing, » and « learning, » all of which are associated with knowledge. Oedipus’ initial desire to learn the identity of who murdered Laius is really a consuming desire to know his own identity.
Certain conditions must exist in tragedies. First, tragic characters must be of high birth or noble status in society. Second, they must experience a series of events that threaten their positions. These events should have a causal relationship; each event affects the next, so that every action is crucial to the plot. Finally, tragic characters must suffer a tragic fall through their own actions. The gods interfere to some degree ; they may even determine the outcome of the plot. However, they never direct the plot or the characters’ actions. Characters are responsible for their own actions—that is what renders tragedy tragic. A person who dies after an air conditioner falls on his/her head as he or she passes underneath it is not a tragic character because that person made no conscious choice. The even was simply an accident. Tragic characters, on the other hand, choose their destinies. It is their choices that cause their downfalls.
Notes...
Analysis of Oedipus Rex
IMAGERY AND FORESHADOWING
Recurring images of darkness and light are associated with knowledge and ignorance…these images work as examples of a kind of foreshadowing.
THEMES/MOTIFS
1) Knowledge and ignorance
2) Choices and Consequences
3) Public versus Private Life
4) The quest for identity
5) The nature of innocence and guilt
6) The nature of moral responsibility
7) Human will versus fate
8) The abuse of power
CHARACTERS
1. Jocasta—she alternately condemns and upholds the authority of the oracles as best suits the direction of the argument at the moment. Finally, she gives up the struggle and hangs herself.
2. Creon—states that he does not wish for the throne; when he does become king, he acts with compassion towards Oedipus, leading him into the palace and then, as Oedipus requests, into exile.
3. Teiresias—he represents Apollo
4. Oedipus—prideful, stubborn, “blind” to the truth, suspicious of Creon’s motives.
STYLE
The protagonist inspires in his audience both emotions of pity and fear/horror; there is an opportunity for catharsis. Also, Sophocles builds suspense by doling out information bit by bit and postponing the crises.
STRUCTURE
The Prologue introduces the play; the parodos brings in the Chorus; there are four scenes presented with odes separating each scene; lastly, there is the Exodos (final act/scene). The fate of Oedipus is revealed herein.
STAGING
The Chorus performed on a raised stage—there were no female actors; plays were performed in amphitheatres; actors wore large masks and costumes—sometimes they wore elevated shoes.
CHORUS
Choral ode has a 3-part structure: a) strophe, b) antistrophe, c) epode (song and dance pattern). Choral odes bring an additional viewpoint to the play and often this perspective is broader and more socio-religious than those offered by individual characters; it is also conservative and traditional at times, in an effort to reflect the views of its society rather than the protagonist.
SETTING
Action occurs outside Oedipus’s palaces in Thebes.
IMAGERY AND FORESHADOWING
Recurring images of darkness and light are associated with knowledge and ignorance…these images work as examples of a kind of foreshadowing.
THEMES/MOTIFS
1) Knowledge and ignorance
2) Choices and Consequences
3) Public versus Private Life
4) The quest for identity
5) The nature of innocence and guilt
6) The nature of moral responsibility
7) Human will versus fate
8) The abuse of power
CHARACTERS
1. Jocasta—she alternately condemns and upholds the authority of the oracles as best suits the direction of the argument at the moment. Finally, she gives up the struggle and hangs herself.
2. Creon—states that he does not wish for the throne; when he does become king, he acts with compassion towards Oedipus, leading him into the palace and then, as Oedipus requests, into exile.
3. Teiresias—he represents Apollo
4. Oedipus—prideful, stubborn, “blind” to the truth, suspicious of Creon’s motives.
STYLE
The protagonist inspires in his audience both emotions of pity and fear/horror; there is an opportunity for catharsis. Also, Sophocles builds suspense by doling out information bit by bit and postponing the crises.
STRUCTURE
The Prologue introduces the play; the parodos brings in the Chorus; there are four scenes presented with odes separating each scene; lastly, there is the Exodos (final act/scene). The fate of Oedipus is revealed herein.
STAGING
The Chorus performed on a raised stage—there were no female actors; plays were performed in amphitheatres; actors wore large masks and costumes—sometimes they wore elevated shoes.
CHORUS
Choral ode has a 3-part structure: a) strophe, b) antistrophe, c) epode (song and dance pattern). Choral odes bring an additional viewpoint to the play and often this perspective is broader and more socio-religious than those offered by individual characters; it is also conservative and traditional at times, in an effort to reflect the views of its society rather than the protagonist.
SETTING
Action occurs outside Oedipus’s palaces in Thebes.
Notes on OEDIPUS REX continued...
Questions on Scene 3/Choral Ode
1. Discuss how the messenger’s arrival makes us feel that the plot has been tied into a « knot » that needs to be undone.
2. Look up the Greek word « philos. » How is this ironic when Oedipus uses this word in speaking to Jocasta ?
3. How do you respond to Oedipus’ reaction of relief to the messenger’s message ? Why ?
4. How does the fact that Oedipus should derive comfort from what ought to be bad news highlight the way in which everything is turned upside down in this legend ?
5. By refusing to go near his parents, and thus, theoretically, eliminating the chance of fulfilling the oracle, what is Oedepus really avoiding ?
6. Who is « Liaus’ man »?
7. What does Jocasta mean in lines 140-142 ?
8. Why do you think Jocasta does not want the truth about Oedipus’ birth revealed ?
9. How is Oedipus being unfair to Jocasta in lines 158-162 ?
10.What is Oedipus’ reaction to his being a foundling ?
11.What is the Chorus’ reaction to this news ?
1. Discuss how the messenger’s arrival makes us feel that the plot has been tied into a « knot » that needs to be undone.
2. Look up the Greek word « philos. » How is this ironic when Oedipus uses this word in speaking to Jocasta ?
3. How do you respond to Oedipus’ reaction of relief to the messenger’s message ? Why ?
4. How does the fact that Oedipus should derive comfort from what ought to be bad news highlight the way in which everything is turned upside down in this legend ?
5. By refusing to go near his parents, and thus, theoretically, eliminating the chance of fulfilling the oracle, what is Oedepus really avoiding ?
6. Who is « Liaus’ man »?
7. What does Jocasta mean in lines 140-142 ?
8. Why do you think Jocasta does not want the truth about Oedipus’ birth revealed ?
9. How is Oedipus being unfair to Jocasta in lines 158-162 ?
10.What is Oedipus’ reaction to his being a foundling ?
11.What is the Chorus’ reaction to this news ?
Oedipus Rex
Questions on Scene 4/Choral Ode
1. How does the messenger’s well-meaning effort to jog the old herdsman’s memory remind us of the way a cross-examiner might try to get a recalcitrant witness to « remember » in court ?
2. Why is the old man (herdsman) reluctant to answer ?
3. What does Oedipus threaten to do to make the herdsman talk ?
4. Why does the herdsman shrink from saying what he’s been forced to tell ?
5. Why does Oedipus feel compelled to hear the truth uttered aloud ?
6. The rapid-fire dialogue between Oedipus and the herdsman is an example of what ?
7. Why does Oedipus want never again to see the light of sun now that the truth has been clearly revealed ?
8. Do the Chorus’ words suggest that Oedipus did anything to deserve his fate ?
9. Oedipus’ fall from grace is an example of what ?
10. Explain the metaphor of « Time » in Antistrophe 2.
11. Choruses frequently meditate on the ways in which affection brings suffering. Why ?
Questions on the Exodos
1. Describe the prelude to Jocasta’s death.
2. How did Jocasta die ?
3. What was Oedipus’ reaction to Jocasta’s suicide ?
4. Why did Oedipus commit this act ?
5. Whom does Oedipus curse ?
6. What does Oedipus mean when he says that Apollo was the curse, but he himself is the agent of his own blinding ?
7. Is it reasonable that Oedipus feels he cannot bear to look on anything in the world anymore ?
8. What ironies are involved in Oedipus’ curse on the man who saved him ?
9. Why is he disturbed that his friends pity him and feel pain for him ?
10. Do you agree or disagree witgh the Chorus that Oedipus would be better off dead than blind and banished ?
11. What might Oedipus’ decision to go on living in blindness, exile, and suffering say about his heroic statue ?
12. Why does Oedipus say that he deserves worse punishment than hanging ?
13. Now that Oedipus is blind, where is his inner vision turned ?
14. How are Creon’s tone and remarks reminiscent of Jocasta ?
15. Is there evidence that Creon is cool and impatient with Oedipus ?
16. Analyze lines 222-242.
17. How is Oedipus’ speech like a funeral lament ?
18. Is Creon’s admonition about Oedipus’ children mean-spirited, kindly, justified ? Why ?
1. How does the messenger’s well-meaning effort to jog the old herdsman’s memory remind us of the way a cross-examiner might try to get a recalcitrant witness to « remember » in court ?
2. Why is the old man (herdsman) reluctant to answer ?
3. What does Oedipus threaten to do to make the herdsman talk ?
4. Why does the herdsman shrink from saying what he’s been forced to tell ?
5. Why does Oedipus feel compelled to hear the truth uttered aloud ?
6. The rapid-fire dialogue between Oedipus and the herdsman is an example of what ?
7. Why does Oedipus want never again to see the light of sun now that the truth has been clearly revealed ?
8. Do the Chorus’ words suggest that Oedipus did anything to deserve his fate ?
9. Oedipus’ fall from grace is an example of what ?
10. Explain the metaphor of « Time » in Antistrophe 2.
11. Choruses frequently meditate on the ways in which affection brings suffering. Why ?
Questions on the Exodos
1. Describe the prelude to Jocasta’s death.
2. How did Jocasta die ?
3. What was Oedipus’ reaction to Jocasta’s suicide ?
4. Why did Oedipus commit this act ?
5. Whom does Oedipus curse ?
6. What does Oedipus mean when he says that Apollo was the curse, but he himself is the agent of his own blinding ?
7. Is it reasonable that Oedipus feels he cannot bear to look on anything in the world anymore ?
8. What ironies are involved in Oedipus’ curse on the man who saved him ?
9. Why is he disturbed that his friends pity him and feel pain for him ?
10. Do you agree or disagree witgh the Chorus that Oedipus would be better off dead than blind and banished ?
11. What might Oedipus’ decision to go on living in blindness, exile, and suffering say about his heroic statue ?
12. Why does Oedipus say that he deserves worse punishment than hanging ?
13. Now that Oedipus is blind, where is his inner vision turned ?
14. How are Creon’s tone and remarks reminiscent of Jocasta ?
15. Is there evidence that Creon is cool and impatient with Oedipus ?
16. Analyze lines 222-242.
17. How is Oedipus’ speech like a funeral lament ?
18. Is Creon’s admonition about Oedipus’ children mean-spirited, kindly, justified ? Why ?
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