Work for Friday

Well, I say 'work'... what I'd like you to do is watch the opening of The Crucible. It's all set up in the PC in room 5; all you have to do is log on and you're away. Any probs, ask Mrs Harte next door. I'd like you to focus on the character of John Proctor, considering the extent to which he conforms to the conventions of the tragic hero as we've discussed.

I won't give you any homework this weekend; if you've not bought All My Sons yet, please ensure that you have it by Monday.

Have a good weekend,

Mr Boulter

"Weary, stale, flat and unprofitable"?

Certainly not a description of our lesson today, I hope, where we watched both the grand, colourful Branagh version of Act 1, Scenes 1 and 2, and the less conventional Ethan Hawke version. You should be getting a sense of how Shakespeare's words come to full life when performed, when they are actually used to communicate. Shakespeare was himself an actor and surely wrote his words with acting very much in mind. You should also be beginning to see how meanings are formed only partially by the writer: the interpretations of readers, actors, audiences, directors etc, also create meanings.

In the previous lesson, we read Scene 2 and talked about the way Claudius is presented as king, and the way a tension between Claudius and Hamlet is set up through Hamlet's use of asides and puns, and his first soliloquy.

Your homework is to make detailed notes on Scenes 1 and 2, and to read Scene 3. Next week too we'll talk about those tragedy questions, and think about how the tragic framework of Hamlet has already been set up in the first two scenes of the play.

Mr Snapper

When the feeling's gone and you can't go on...

Hi there

So it's wall-to-wall tragedy at the moment! We talked a bit about WHY tragedy has been such an important part of culture for so long - what exactly is there to ENJOY about a tragedy? Something that we will need to talk more about later. And I asked you to read the tragedy booklet I gave you and think about the questions on the back page - for discussion next week.

We've also started Hamlet, and we talked a bit about what we expect to LEARN from studying a Shakespeare play in detail. The list we came up with was something like this:

1. How writers (i.e. Shakespeare in this case) use language and structure to convey ideas
2. How literary texts (i.e. Hamlet in this case) give a REPRESENTATION of society and individuals within that society.
3. How readers make INTERPRETATIONS of texts that they read, in this case a complex literary text
4. How the MEANINGS of literary texts might change over time, and in particular how HAMLET might have been understood in Shakespeare's time

As we read through / listen to / watch the play, you will need to keep notes on aspects of all those topics, as well as trying to keep track of the characters and plot of the play. We'll talk more about this next week.

Our discussion on Act One Scene One focused on (1) the war which is being prepared, and what we learn about the relationship between Norway and Denmark, and (2) the Ghost of old Hamlet, and the Christian context in which the ghost is presented, with the image of the cock representing Christ and the Ghost representing the Devil.

Someone also pointed out that it was odd that the characters had Italian names although the play is set in Denmark: a very good point. The references to Rome and Julius Caesar are also part of the Italian / Classical framework of the play. At this point in the Renaissance, the influence of Italy on artists, writers and thinkers in Northern Europe was huge.

Mr Snapper

Homework and lesson review

Hi all,

Just a quick post to review our findings from today and set your homework. We looked at the end of The Crucible in the lesson, focusing on the character of John Proctor. In particular, we considered the extent to which the character could be said to conform to the conventions of the Greek model of the tragic hero, and compared him to Eddie Carbone from A View from the Bridge. There were some clear elements of crossover here, particularly in identifying features such as hubris (excessive or stubborn pride), an also the sense of agnorisis, in that Proctor seemed to come to an understanding of his own character and weaknesses before his death. It was also striking to note some very similar lines delivered by each character as they defended their honour through protecting their 'name'. We also discussed the idea, however, that Proctor seems less tragic than Eddie in some senses, as he controls his destiny at the end, and in some ways triumphs over the authorities in choosing to die rather than suffer dishonour in the eyes of his community.

For your homework, I'd just like you to complete our task of finding evidence to support the reading of Eddie as a classical tragic hero (see the picture on this post for a reminder of the features we identified, and click on it to make it bigger). If you could find at least one quotation for each, that would be great. Also, if you could get hold of a copy of All My Sons over the weekend, that would be very helpful. http://www.amazon.co.uk/All-My-Sons-Hereford-Plays/dp/0435225782/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1221856333&sr=8-2

Right, that's it- apologies for the high death count in this morning's viewing, but this is a tragedy unit after all! Things will get less gruesome (but not necessarily less tragic) from now on!

Mr Boulter

Background Review

Hello Year 12

My turn to post a review here.

We've done a quick whizz through some history, particularly looking at:
1 - the relationship between Shakespeare's Early Modern English, and the Middle English and Old English that came before it
2 - the way that Classical (Latin, Greek, French, generally Southern European) influences began to affect English language and literature after the Norman invasion
3 - the origin of the iambic pentameter in Greek poetry and drama, and the way it replaced Anglo-Saxon alliterative verse
4 - the origin of poetic form - verse, metre, etc - in the oral tradition - stories and songs performed with harps or sung without instruments etc.
5 - the continuing importance of the oral tradition at the time of Shakespeare (before books and printing were commonly available), including the continuing use of verse for drama

You should be able to see how all these things give us a sense of the background to Shakespearean Tragedy. At the end, we touched briefly on the origins of tragedy in Greece, and I asked you for homework to do some initial research into Greek Tragedy. In the coming week, we'll talk about what you've found out, and try to build a picture of some of the main features of Greek Tragedy. We'll also start reading Hamlet. And all this should also be useful in the parallel work you're doing with Mr Boulter.

You'll probably already know that one of the most famous Greek tragedies is Oedipus Rex. You may be interested in the following YouTube film - Oedipus with Vegetables. Those of you who've seen Star Wars with Vegetables already will know that you're in for a treat:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=NydKPClhYgM

Have a good weekend. I'll be reading your personal introductions this weekend.

Mr Snapper

Lesson Review and Homework

Hi Year 12,

Just to review what we've covered so far. By now you should have had listened to and discussed the whole of Miller's A View from the Bridge, with a particular focus on the ways that Eddie can be seen to be regarded as a tragic hero. Your task for homework is to investigate the following question:

How might A View from the Bridge be said to display the conventions of Greek tragedy?

I would expect you to present this information either through detailed notes or a mindmap if you learn well through working with images. I suggest that you investigate the generic features of Greek tragedy first and then apply them to the text; putting the whole of the question into Google (or even Ask Jeeves) is unlikely to get you very far. Some particular things to look for would be ideas about hamartia, hubris, and the use of a Chorus.

Please apply yourself fully to this task; enjoyment will only come from doing it to a high standard and exploring the question creatively.

I hope you enjoyed the play, and thank you for the reflections you wrote in the first lesson- very interesting and illuminating!

Mr Boulter

Hello Year 12!

Welcome to your AS blog for 2008 / 9. The purpose of this blog is as follows:

• To give you information such as homework tasks etc
• To encourage us to reflect on our learning, our approaches and achievements
• To provide opportunities for independence and wider study

Your teachers will post on here fairly regularly, and it's important that you check the blog at least twice per week. You can also take the opportunity to leave comments or questions through the comments facility.

I'll post more later, giving the course outlines and key details as explained in your lessons today; it was great to meet you all and we look forward to working with you this year.

Mr Boulter and Mr Snapper