M4M Quizlets

Progress on Final Project

My final project is coming together, I'd have to admit, fairly slowly but good thought has been put into it. At this moment, I have finished putting the box together but that's about it. The decorations to add onto the box and such will be done over the weekend. The pyrotechnics part of my presentation I think you be done with isopropyl alcohol and fire. The drawing of the clothes, I have had a few thoughts in mind but haven't yet put it onto paper. 

The largest struggle of this project for me might be getting swatches of material. I don't necessarily know any place nearby that will freely allow one to do that. Also I'll have to go to Michael's Arts and Crafts and maybe some other places and see what materials I could put on the box there. 

Moral Dilemmas and Hypocrisy

In the past portion of Measure for Measure we have read in class, the audience now fully understands the moral dilemma within Angelo. In his previous encounter with Isabella, he suddenly finds himself attracted to her pureness and virginity. As the head of the law (for now), he is supposed to be enforcing good and holding onto high standards and high morals, and yet, he is corrupt. He originally held that nothing could possibly free Isabella's brother from prison, but yet now he says that is she loves him, his brother will be freed. Isabella can also be somewhat hypocritical previously when Angelo asks her the "what if" scenario.  Isabella says of course to that but when the situation comes up from to her, she surely says no to it.

Comparing Merchant's Portia with Isabella

Both Portia from The Merchant of Venice and Isabella from Measure for Measure are complex characters Shakespeare has created. One significant trait that both have is power - power through speech. Since I have completed reading The Merchant of Venice, I understand that Portia is an extremely dominant character and also somewhat sly and deceptive - her and Narissa played mind games with Antonio and Bassanio. Isabella, however, I have not read so far into Measure for Measure but from the conversation with Angelo, her words, in a way, seduce him into having second thoughts abut condemning Claudio to death. When Isabella is scolding Angelo about his tyrannous nature, she puts Angelo into a complex situation where he has feelings for her not emotionally, but sexually, although she is a nun-to-be. Being able to capture other characters in this sort of matter is quite otherworldly and a unique talent of these women.

Comic Relief and its Function

In Act II, comic relief lightens the scene after Angelo condemns Claudio to be executed. In enters a character named elbow, whose dialogue in itself is humorous and somewhat ironic. Elbow states, "If it please your honor, I am the poor duke's constable, and my name is Elbow: I do lean upon justice, sir, and do bring in here before your good honor two notorious benefactors." First off, it is just funny how he makes an allusion to his name by saying he "leans" upon justice. Next, he makes an oxymoron by stating "notorious benefactor," which really don't make sense when used in conjunction with one another. Other parts of the conversation are similarly entertaining, despite what they are talking about.

Quizlets

The Infamous 14 year gap

The reason for the absence of 14 years within the play of Pericles is unknown. What happened between those 14 years that made it so Pericles was unable to come back for his daughter Marina? Shakespeare, and whoever else wrote this play along with him, I suppose lets the audience decide for themselves what exactly happened.

If I were to write in a portion or scene of the play dealing with the 14 year gap, I would, out of the blue, probably include something about the Greek gods in that scene. Doing this would be an extreme curve-ball to the Elizabethan Age where Greek mythology was hardly recognized as an appropriate worship compared to Christianity and the such. In this scene, I would write of how the gods look upon Pericles and see his future and stuff and must save and rescue his daughter for a certain purpose. I haven't read further into the play to know what exactly happens later, but if if I did, I would tie that in to the reason why the Greek gods would interfere with mortal affairs. This scene is certainly something out of the blue, but I think it would make an interesting story twist considering nothing referring to the Greek gods have come up prior in the play. 

The importance of essential / central metaphors

In Scene 5 of Pericles, the central metaphor of the play is expressed during a portion of comic relief in the play. While out sailing, Pericles and his ship is overcome by a terrible tempest in which the audience can recognize the struggle between nature and man. In all his melancholy, Pericles humbles himself to the storm and states, "...remember, earthly man / Is but a substance that must yield to you; / And I, as fits my nature, do obey you." The strength and unpredictability of the storm has overcome Pericles so much that he pretty much admits defeat. And thus defeated, is washed up onto shore by the storm, where he will begin a new.

Upon landing on shore, Pericles is greeted by three fishermen who are in awe at what they have found- a washed up man. As nearly anyone would wonder, the fisherman joked and asked where Pericles, the stranger had come from. The ensuing conversation marks a rebirth of Pericles, him starting with nothing, not even telling the fishermen he is a prince. Pericles gleams with purity at this moment, and this foreshadows possible changes in the following scenes in the play. 

The Depiction of Evil in Form/Figure

In the first four scenes, evil manifests itself in the characters of Antiochus and his daughter. If Pericles wishes to court his daughter, Pericles must solve Antiochus’ riddle. If Pericles answers incorrectly, he dies. Once he solves the riddle however, Pericles keeps it to himself, and tells Antiochus he knows the answer to the riddle, but does not state it. Antiochus then vows to kill Pericles. So whether or not Pericles got the answer right, the riddle was fashioned to kill any who tried to marry his daughter.

Incest itself is an extremely foul practice. Especially between father and daughter, and the fact that it is consensual is striking. This incestuous relationship between Antiochus and his daughter is twisted and since they wish to keep the relationship a secret is obvious. Those who have tried to court Antiochus’s daughter before Pericles have fallen into an abyss where they have not known that they are doomed to die. However, before Antiochus can kill Pericles, he escapes, back to his city of Tyre.

Because Antiochus doesn’t want his dirty, sinful deed revealed, he hires an assassin named Thaliard to kill Pericles. The evil of this incest has evolved, pretty much causing a chain reaction of events, to the unease of Antiochus.  But, as we learn later in Scene 3 that Pericles escapes, thus leaving the possibility of Pericles revealing the evils of Antiochus and his daughter. 

If I were have to list my favorite epic, it would be the trilogy of the video game "Halo". Basically stating, the plot centers on an interstellar war between humanity and a theocratic alliance of aliens known as the "Covenant". The Covenant are led by their leaders, The Prophets, and worship an ancient civilization known as the "Forerunners" who perished in combat with the parasitic "Flood". The Flood are organic, infected, warper creatures, who can take the hosts of other bodies and spread the plague. The plot is obviously more complex than this, but what my favorite part is the main character / protagonist, named Master Chief, or Spartan-117. He is an elite super-soldier who is he last of his military breed. And he saves the world.

This youtube link basically sums it up, somewhat serious/humorous: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIwnrIOqhO8&feature=related

If I were to plot a hierarchy of my family, I'd have to certainly start with my father's side because on my mom's side, she has all sisters, so there wouldn't be any lineage from that side. So on my father's side, I don't know my great-grandparents echelon, so I'll start with my grandfather. So my grandparents had 4 children, the two older children are male, and the two younger are female. My dad is the oldest of his siblings. So if my grandfather was King, my dad would be first in line for succession. My mom and dad had only one child, me, so thus, I would be second in line for succession. This is the line of succession for the Magsino family.

The soliloquy I've been working on for the past few days is nearly coming to its completion. It is about Oberon trying to sleep the night after accepting what has happened, and thinking about what he should do next. The writing portion of it was quite fun and intellectually challenging. I've been revising the iambic pentameter style to make is as accurate as I possible can, while still keeping the meaning. Next, more recently, we have had to assign speech methods to lines so that when we read our soliloquy, we can read it and voice it with emphasis and proper sound techniques.

Towards the end of Act IV in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare shows us just exactly the nature of romantic love. Take Oberon for example. In the beginning of Act II, we are introduced to Oberon who is entangled in an argument between him and his wife. he wants to changeling child to to bad and his wife, the queen doesn't want him to take it. Oberon decides to prank his wife, and his wife ends up unconditionally loving Bottom. This was all part of Oberon's plan, but he noticed just how his wife acts when she was truly in love. She brought Bottom gifts, petted him, etc. All along this situation was a power struggle of love, to get even with his wife. Oberon has become jealous, and now accepts how complex love is, how confusing it is, and most importantly, how it cannot be forced upon one another.

In Act 3 of A Midsummer Night's Dream, there are several soliloquy dialogues that state the intention of the character carrying out the action. In Scene 2, Puck reports back to Oberon about his dealings with Titania. He states that he has been successful in doing as he wished- squeezing the juice of the flower into the Fairy Queen's eyes. Puck also tells Oberon that the Fairy Queen ended up falling in love with Bottom, who now has a donkey's head, which makes him looks like a monster. In addition, Puck also tells that he has juiced one of the Athenians, the wrong one of course. By the end of the scene, Oberon and Puck have to conjure a way to fix the mess they have caused amongst the four lovers. The way they will do it, I predict, will possibly through some more magic, which Shakespeare shows an abundance of in this play.

I finished reading the second Act of A Midsummer Night's Dream and am enjoying the plot and characters so far. It seems that soon all of the characters introduced will come together and create one big convoluted maelstrom of scenes filled with emotions. I enjoy the trickery the fairies are playing on the humans. Moreover, if I were Hermia, I would be upset but extremely confused on what is exactly going on. I'm hoping in the next Act those foolish actors will come in and have their parts in this.

Act 1 of A Midsummer Night's Dream is definitely leaving me with a draught of suspense. I'm curious to see how Helena develops further in the play and if she does truly snitch on Hermia and Lysander when they do go into the woods. Moreover, the several men performing the play about Pyramus and Thisbe give me a sense of foreshadowing. I've learned of this story in Greek mythology before, and I did find it somewhat saddening how desperate uncertainty can drive what someone does. I also kind of want to punch Bottom, he's really annoying. When they state they will meet in the woods to rehearse the play, I immediately knew these two groups: Hermia and Lysander, and the performers; would somehow meet or get mixed together. I enjoyed the first Act and really looking forward to the plot and character development in the later acts.

I finished my sonnet about my experience doing my Senior Service project last night. The initial apprehension, the truth, and the outcome of my true experience. This was an interesting assignment, since I've never written a sonnet before. I love how it brings out a creative side in all of us, as we saw yesterday with some of the other students, that no other assignments could. It did take longer than I expected, I tried to follow scansion and such and it took me roughly over two hours, but I enjoyed it.