Thursday, February 26, 2009
Wednesday and Thursday
Read the play -- expect a reading check next class meeting. Work on your recitation and its introduction.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Monday and Tuesday
A- and B-day: Finish reading the play. Choose a top choice and an alternate passage for your recitation. Only five recitations can come from Act I, five from Act II, and so on.
Recitations must include
author and title
act and scene
speaker and audience
a brief summary to provide context for the passage
the reason you think this passage is particularly important to the play
a beautiful recitation in the king's best English, acted like Olivier
Recitations must include
author and title
act and scene
speaker and audience
a brief summary to provide context for the passage
the reason you think this passage is particularly important to the play
a beautiful recitation in the king's best English, acted like Olivier
Sunday, February 22, 2009
A note on comprehension
Look at previous post below for assignment. This post is to answer some classroom questions that were left hanging on Thursday and Friday. Some students asked if Portia knows which casket is the right one. These lines from III.2.9-10 reveal several things. One, she does know the correct box. Two, she is TRUE to her father and to her word. This constancy on her part makes her all the more valued as a wife. (Contrast her behavior with Jessica's behavior toward her father's will). Portia's lines to Bassanio:
Portia: I would detain you here some month or two
Before you venture for me. I could teach you
How to choose right, but I am then forsworn.
So will I never be.
Further, she gets all a-flutter when Bassanio picks the lead box but has not yet opened it. She prays in an aside for love to lighten up a little because she is feeling overwhelmed by her passions:
O love, be moderate, allay thy ecstasy,
In measure rain thy joy, scant this excess.
I feel too much thy blessing. Make it less,
For fear I surfeit!
She clearly knows the right answer, and Bassanio is clearly the man she most prefers -- so her father was right, in this sense. Note that she gives him a ring with a deal attached to it, too.
Another question concerns the suitors that are present in the introduction to Portia in I.2. Remember the Neapolitan Prince, the County Palatine, Monsieur Le Bon, Falconbridge of England, the Scot, and the German Duke of Saxony? They did not choose a casket at all. Nerissa informs the worried Portia,
"You need not fear, lady, the having any of these lords. They have acquainted me with their determinations, which is, indeed, to return to their home and to trouble you with no more suit unless you may be won by some other sort than your father's imposition, depending on the caskets" (I.2.109 approximately).
Some students were surprised to learn that the men are bound by the deal too. It is a CONTRACT, which is a thematic element and thus informs the subplots as well as the main plot. Here Portia speaks to the Prince of Morocco, the first man to risk the casket game:
You must take your chance,
And either not attempt to choose at all
Or swear before you choose, if you choose wrong,
Never to speak to lady afterward
In way of marriage. Therefore be advised (II.1.38-42).
This contract appears voided for the Prince of Aragon (the idiot with the spit cup) by the note inside the casket, which reads, in the words of the "portrait of a blinking idiot," as follows:
Take what wife you will to bed,
I will ever be your head.
So be gone. You are sped.
I hope that makes some things a little more clear.
Portia: I would detain you here some month or two
Before you venture for me. I could teach you
How to choose right, but I am then forsworn.
So will I never be.
Further, she gets all a-flutter when Bassanio picks the lead box but has not yet opened it. She prays in an aside for love to lighten up a little because she is feeling overwhelmed by her passions:
O love, be moderate, allay thy ecstasy,
In measure rain thy joy, scant this excess.
I feel too much thy blessing. Make it less,
For fear I surfeit!
She clearly knows the right answer, and Bassanio is clearly the man she most prefers -- so her father was right, in this sense. Note that she gives him a ring with a deal attached to it, too.
Another question concerns the suitors that are present in the introduction to Portia in I.2. Remember the Neapolitan Prince, the County Palatine, Monsieur Le Bon, Falconbridge of England, the Scot, and the German Duke of Saxony? They did not choose a casket at all. Nerissa informs the worried Portia,
"You need not fear, lady, the having any of these lords. They have acquainted me with their determinations, which is, indeed, to return to their home and to trouble you with no more suit unless you may be won by some other sort than your father's imposition, depending on the caskets" (I.2.109 approximately).
Some students were surprised to learn that the men are bound by the deal too. It is a CONTRACT, which is a thematic element and thus informs the subplots as well as the main plot. Here Portia speaks to the Prince of Morocco, the first man to risk the casket game:
You must take your chance,
And either not attempt to choose at all
Or swear before you choose, if you choose wrong,
Never to speak to lady afterward
In way of marriage. Therefore be advised (II.1.38-42).
This contract appears voided for the Prince of Aragon (the idiot with the spit cup) by the note inside the casket, which reads, in the words of the "portrait of a blinking idiot," as follows:
Take what wife you will to bed,
I will ever be your head.
So be gone. You are sped.
I hope that makes some things a little more clear.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Thursday
B-day, you are to do this assignment too after reading Act II:
1. How does the parade of suitors reflect on the play's theme of cultural difference? See Nerissa's reaction to Gratiano. What does each woman's instant reaction to these local boys say of cultural difference?
2. Look at the little affair between Lorenzo and Jessica. What do you think of this? Of Shylock's reaction? Who has been wronged? Who is the wrongdoer? What role do you anticipate this storyline will play in the outcome of the play?
1. How does the parade of suitors reflect on the play's theme of cultural difference? See Nerissa's reaction to Gratiano. What does each woman's instant reaction to these local boys say of cultural difference?
2. Look at the little affair between Lorenzo and Jessica. What do you think of this? Of Shylock's reaction? Who has been wronged? Who is the wrongdoer? What role do you anticipate this storyline will play in the outcome of the play?
Monday, February 16, 2009
Monday
B-day: Make it YOUR business to turn in double entry journals on The Metamorphosis.
A-day meets again on Tuesday. A-day's assignment: Choose one of the following, and, after reading Act II, respond in about a page:
1. How does the parade of suitors reflect on the play's theme of cultural difference? See Nerissa's reaction to Gratiano. What does each woman's instant reaction to these local boys say of cultural difference?
2. Look at the little affair between Lorenzo and Jessica. What do you think of this? Of Shylock's reaction? Who has been wronged? Who is the wrongdoer? What role do you anticipate this storyline will play in the outcome of the play?
A-day meets again on Tuesday. A-day's assignment: Choose one of the following, and, after reading Act II, respond in about a page:
1. How does the parade of suitors reflect on the play's theme of cultural difference? See Nerissa's reaction to Gratiano. What does each woman's instant reaction to these local boys say of cultural difference?
2. Look at the little affair between Lorenzo and Jessica. What do you think of this? Of Shylock's reaction? Who has been wronged? Who is the wrongdoer? What role do you anticipate this storyline will play in the outcome of the play?
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Thursday
Come to work on Act I skits. Due on Monday for B-day, Tuesday for A-day.
To clarify: All characters should appear in the skits, but NOT their every spoken line. You can cut as many lines as necessary as long as you keep the narrative intact. Just let everybody say something and reveal a little of their character.
To clarify: All characters should appear in the skits, but NOT their every spoken line. You can cut as many lines as necessary as long as you keep the narrative intact. Just let everybody say something and reveal a little of their character.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Monday, February 2, 2009
Monday
Bring in books that you have used and will not need again. Be ready to
tackle a little Shakespeare.
tackle a little Shakespeare.
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