ENG 3U7--Blog Topic #3

Hey 3U7--Please choose one of the following topics on which to post a response, and then comment briefly on someone else's post.

Option 1: Lear claims to be "a man/More sinned against than sinning" (3.2.60-61); doing so, he suggests that the treatment that Goneril and Regan offer him is worse than the treatment he offered them. This would seem in many ways to be the crux of interpreting King Lear. Please ponder Lear's claim in the context of the reading that seems to be embedded in either Shakespeare's play text, the Masterpiece Theatre presentation starring Ian Holm, or in Susanna Hamnet's play, Nearly Lear.

Option 2: The cosmic and human cruelty that characterizes the world of King Lear was somewhat mitigated by the comedy offered by Susanna Hamnet in her Nearly Lear. During our question period she explained her approach as being motivated by a desire to offer the audience an emotional break from the "horror" of the play. Did you find this approach to be effective? Is it consistent with Shakespeare's own project?

Option 3: Susanna Hamnet left off her interpretation of King Lear with a video presentation of Lear and Cordelia in younger, happier days. She explained this as an attempt to transcend the tragedy of Shakespeare's conclusion with a simple, spiritual truth. Do you think it was an effective strategy? Did it make you think about King Lear differently?

ENG 3U7--Blog Topic #2

Hey 3U7--Here's your second blog topic. This time you have a choice between three options. Don't forget to comment on a classmate's post as well!

1. What textual evidence is there to support or, conversely, take issue with critic Frank Kermode's assertion that King Lear is Shakespeare's "cruellest" play?

2. Ponder Goneril's murder of Regan and her subsequent suicide. What are Goneril's motivations? Are her actions logically consistent? Please ensure you support your argument with textual evidence.

3. Ponder Edmund's desire to do good before he dies. Is this a final attempt to "scam" his way out of damnation, or is his conversion sincere? Please ensure you support your argument with textual evidence.

ENG 3U7--Blog Topic #1

Thanks for finding this site!

What we'll do here is discuss issues that arise as we study our texts. Our classroom will thereby become wall-less and clock-less; it will be a VIRTUAL COSMOS from which there is no escape! Muwahahahahaha!

Er, ahem. I mean it will be a great learning tool.

So . . . on to the first blog topic. We've been reading King Lear and at the same time viewing the Masterpiece Theatre adaption of the stage play starring Ian Holm. Please post a comment here identifying an interesting point of dialogue between Shakespeare's original play and the interpretation offered in the Masterpiece Theatre version. Reflect on any of the following elements of the presentation: the imagery (how does it comment on the action and/or the characters?), the set, the costuming, the casting choices (for example, Lear is played by a man who is short of stature, compared to other Lears; what implications arise?), the acting and delivery of certain lines (emotion, facial expressions, body language), the pacing (including pauses), the staging (focussing on who stands/moves where and how), or the omissions (the lines that have been cut). Once you have offered your comment (or shortly thereafter), please offer a couple respectful lines in response to someone else's post. Feel free to comment on any 3U7's post (BB or FF).

Thanks!

ENG 4U1--Another Blog Possibility

Hi folks--In a well organized paragraph, explore the connections that can be made between Oryx and Crake and either Hamlet or Waiting for Godot.

ENG 4U1--Oryx and Crake Blog Topic 2

Hi folks--In a well organized paragraph on Oryx and Crake, please ponder one of the issues we discussed in class:

(a) Please explore the way chaos "wins" out, despite Crake's efforts to engineer a perfectly controlled world.

(b) In what ways is the story of the Crakers like other religious stories?

(c) Please explore the way that the Crakers defy Crake's literalism by embracing symbolism (in religion [pages 374, 404, 429] and art [430]).

(d) Please explore Crake's reductive analysis of art on page 205. Is he accurate or inaccurate?

ENG 4U1--Blog for Oryx and Crake

Hi folks--Check out the Oryx and Crake-inspired art on Ms. Schwartz's blog (http://englishschwartz.blogspot.com). Please write a well organized paragraph that evaluates the imaginative and emotional validity of these representations (i.e., do they evoke something powerful? do they convey the emotions of story? do they offer thought-provoking interpretations?).

cheerio

ENG 4U1--Waiting for Godot Blog

Hey 4U1--Have you ever seen the Seinfeld parking lot episode? Here's a link to a short clip from it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcq2Otabd50. One might suggest that Seinfeld is offering a parody of Waiting for Godot in this episode for the four friends walk endlessly around a parking garage looking for Kramer's car, babble on to each other about insignificant things, watch a gold fish die, and even get arrested (note the box that Kramer is carrying around in the clip; it's comparable to the basket that Lucky carries in Waiting For Godot). They always end up back in the parking garage, though, and never manage to get out of it at the end (their car, once they finally locate it, stalls). The final episode of Seinfeld also has Absurdist elements for it finds the friends locked in a jail cell, and, once again, babbling on to one another about trivial things (when this episode aired, audiences hated it, because there was no traditional "closure" offered). Can you think of any other TV shows, movies, or video games with Absurdist, Waiting for Godot-like elements (i.e., nonsense, awkward silliness, nothingness, unmotivated emotion, madness, moments of existential panic)? In a short paragraph of 5-7 sentences, identify the show, movie, or game, describe the Absurdist elements and propose how/why they are significant to the text in which they appear.

Hint: many of these elements can be found in farce-based comedies, from Bugs Bunny cartoons to The Family Guy, and in quirky dramas like Fargo.

ENG 4U1--Hamlet Link

Hi folks--Check out this link to a Hamlet spoof on Youtube (from The Last Action Hero). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMv46EZA630.

ENG 4U1--First Hamlet Blog Assignment

Hi 4U1!

Happy first Monday in March (though it's WAY too cold outside) and welcome to your first Hamlet blogging assignment. I'm very interested to see what you make of this . . . .

Hamlet, very generally considered, is a play about revenge; revenge dramas were immensely popular in the early 1600s and they continue to intrigue us to this day. In fact, a film titled The Last House on the Left is going to be released later this month, and its tag line sums up the revenge plot quite nicely: "If bad people hurt someone you love, how far would you go to hurt them back?" Try to think of another modern day film, TV show, book or video game that makes use of the revenge plot, and describe (briefly) how the revenge plot unfolds. Finally, consider the following question: what is it about the idea of revenge that is so broadly appealing?

Please write 5-8 well-crafted sentences and post your response by Monday, March 9/09. Thanks!

ENG 4U1--Hey 4U1!

Thanks for locating this site. Just to make sure you can access this blog, and so we can learn a little more about you, please answer the question that I mentioned in class: if you could be an animal, what kind of animal would you be and why? (If you're one of the couple people who already answered on Ms. Schwartz's blog, my apologies, but we'd love to hear from you again!)

ENG 4U1--Blogging Assignment

Hi 4U1

Please be informed that I'm moving the due date for your first blog to Tuesday, Feb. 17 in consideration of the change in blogging directions (i.e., you're using this page now, not Ms. Schwartz's). Early responses are, however, always appreciated.

For the assignment, choose ONE of the following topics; remember to offer 5-8 sentences in your well crafted response:

1. Identify an essay we read in class that you think was particularly effective and convincing, and explain why you think the author made his/her case well.

2. What are the potential dangers in using satire to get an urgent point across? If you had to convince people to act on an important issue, would you take an approach similar to Swift's or would you take a more direct one?

Thanks!