Literature assignment #2

Have you ever been betrayed?

Ÿ  Yes

Give an example

Ÿ  It was quite a few years back, when I was about thirteen or fourteen years of age. It so happened that my Dad was dating this woman who I have grown to love. At times I would spend the day or sleep over by her because she had a daughter who was the only child. One evening my father had to work late so he decided to send me by this lady to spend the night because he did not want me staying home alone. Unlike the other fun sleepovers I realized this sleepover was a little tense. Reason being that before time we use to like watch television, cook, do our nails and stuff like that together but this time I realized that every time I enter the room the place is silent and they would like direct their questions to each other ignoring me and stuff like that.

Me as a little girl didn’t think much of it because they were much older so I thought it was grown people business. The other day came now and it was time for me to return home. Upon returning home now I noticed my dad was highly upset with me, dragging me in the room and stuff like that to speak to me. Now this lady told my father about for the whole stay I was rude to her, giving her back-chat, and cutting my eyes to her. Not only that, she went on to tell him about how when she tell me to do chores I refuse to do them and a whole heap of lie! Reminding you that this lady and her daughter hadn’t communicated with me since I stepped foot in the house.

While my father was telling about it, I was there feeling like I little wimp denying all the false accusations brought against me. In the end it all got resolve because we have this general meeting like a mediation where we sorted out what really went down. I never felt so betrayed in my life!

Have you ever felt that u were betrayed and misunderstood the situation?

Ÿ  There was this time when I was living in Montserrat with my mother when I felt I was betrayed but in the end misunderstood the situation.

It was a weekend and my friend was suppose to have a party that I got invited to but my mother told me I couldn’t go because I asked her when she was in her “bad mood”. Anyway I decided that I have to attend that party so I sat down and thought of a plan. My plan was to sleep over by my aunt that weekend and go to the party which I did.  The party ended like three in the morning so since everyone was tired and I could not have gotten a ride back home my friend told me to sleep over and I called my aunt who said it was fine with her. That same night before going to the party, my cousin and I got into an argument over some trivial matter, I cant even remember but my mother called the other morning for me and she told her that I didn’t sleep there so now my mother was pissed. So when I finally returned by my aunt and she told me what my cousin did I felt betrayed because I thought that was her payback because of the argument we had that night before. Then my aunt explained to my cousin what really happened and she said she didn’t know. I personally find that dumb because if my mother asked if I woke up already obviously I was to be sleeping there the night. In the end my cousin called back my mother and told her that she didn’t see me when she got up but I did spend the night there and it was a misunderstanding on her path. Up to this day I don’t know if my mother believed it or not because she hasn’t mentioned it since.

Look at the various William Shakespeare plays you have studied. Why do the characters always resort to violence, trickery or evilness?

Ÿ  In studying the various Shakespearean plays over the years such as The Merchant of Venice, Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet and so forth, it is quite evident that in all of the Shakespearean novels, the main characters always result to some kind of foul play namely, violence, trickery or evilness.

Personally, I believe the characters lean towards the acts of foul play because they fail to get what their hearts desire. For example, in the novel Much Ado About Nothing, violence, trickery and evilness was used by Don John because he hated his brother so much and wanted to attain everything his brother did, but because he could not have things his way, he turned to the acts of violence, trickery and widely speaking, evilness.

The strange thing about it is that these character who turn to the acts of violence, trickery and evilness, in the end still did not get what they yearned because they were always caught for the act and faced corresponding penalties.

Look at the background of the text and explain what is going on in the era of the year of that book.

Ÿ  The background or era of the text Winter’s Tale is similar to that of The Merchant Of Venice, in that the religious views always conflicted with each other and because of that someone or people suffers. In The Merchant Of Venice, there is an ongoing war between the Christians and the Jews similar to that of Winter’s Tale where the Christians and the Pagans have their internal strife occurring between each other.  However, in the novel the Winter’s Tale, because of this internal strife between both religious parties namely the Catholics and the Protestants, England suffered great damage such as the decline in the economy, the uncertainty of leadership and they were also now vulnerable to stronger rivals which were living in the continent because of the disunity among the people.

However, the war between both religious parties (Bohemia Europe and Catholic Habsburgs) continued up to the 1600’s. Although Rudolf II and Ferdinand II tried to restore the power of the Catholic church, the Bohemians revolted which lead to the overthrow or Ferdinand and a thirty years war which ended with “The Peace of Westphalia” which basically clarified or stated the religious authority Habsburg had over Bohemia.

What is the Elizabethan Era?

Ÿ   The Elizabethan Era was a time associated with Queen 1’s reign and is often depicted as the globe age in the English history. The symbol of Britannia was first used in 1572 and often there after to mark the Elizabethan age as a renaissance that inspired national pride through classical ideals, international expansion and naval triumph over the hated Spanish foe.

It is the height of English Renaissance and saw the flowering of poetry , music and literature. The era is most famous for theatre, as William Shakespeare and many others composed plays that broke free of England’s past style of theatre.

English drama came of age during the reign of Elizabeth1, developing into a sophisticated and very popular art form. Although plays like Shakespeare were mainly responsible for the great theatrical achievements of the time, the importance of actors, audiences, and theatre building should not be underestimated. In 1597, the city fathers closed down The Theatre. In late 1598, Richard Burbage and his men dismantled it and hauled it in pieces across the Thames to Southwark. It took them six months to rebuild it, and when they did they renamed it the Globe. The first Globe met its demise in 1613, and was rebuilt almost four centuries later with the production of Henry V.

Pictures of The Globe Theatre

   

The theatre of the Absurd

Ÿ  The is a theatrical style originating in France in the late 1940’s. It relates heavily on existential philosophy and is a category for plays of absurdist fiction, written by a number of playwrights from the late 1940’s - 1960’s, as well as the theatre which has evolved from their work. It expresses the belief that, in a godless universe, human existence has no meaning or purpose and therefore all communication breaks down. Logical construction and argument give way to irrational and illogical speech and its ultimate conclusion, silence.  The theatrical style aims to show a world where man is born with only himself and nothing else (no God), and must earn his place in the metaphysical world.

Pictures of the Theater of the Absurd

     

      

Synopsis of William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was the son of John Shakespeare, a successful glover and alderman originally from Snitterfield, and Mary Arden, the daughter of an affluent landowning farmer.

William Shakespeare  who was baptized 26 April 1564 and  died on the 23^rd of April 1616, was a respected poet and playwright widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet. His surviving works, including some collaborations, consist of about 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and several other poems. Some of Shakespear's famous plays includes Hamlet, King Lear, and Macbeth.

Shakespeare was born and raise in Stratford-upon- Avon. At the age of eighteen, Shakespeare married twenty six year old Anne Hathaway, and six months after the marriage Anne gave birth to a daughter, Susanna, baptised 26 May 1583. Twins, son Hamnet and daughter Judith, followed almost two years later and were baptised 2 February 1585.Hamnet died of unknown causes at the age of 11 and was buried 11 August 1596.

              Shakespeare divided his time between London and Stratford during his career. In 1596, the year before he bought New Place as his family home in Stratford, Shakespeare was living in the of St. Helen's, Bishopsgate, north of the River Thames. He moved across the river to Southwark by 1599, the year his company constructed the Globe Theatre there. By 1604, he had moved north of the river again, to an area north of St Paul's Cathedral with many fine houses.

Shakespeare was buried in the chancel of the Holy Trinity Church two days after his death. The epitaph carved into the stone slab covering his grave includes a curse against moving his bones, which was carefully avoided during restoration of the church in 2008:

Shakespeare's grave.

Good frend for Iesvs sake forbeare,

To digg the dvst encloased heare.

Bleste be ye man yt spares thes stones,

And cvrst be he yt moves my bones.

Some scholars claim that members of Shakespeare's family were Catholics, at a time when Catholic practice was against the law. Shakespeare's mother, Mary Arden, certainly came from a pious Catholic family. The strongest evidence might be a Catholic statement of faith signed by John Shakespeare, found in 1757 in the rafters of his former house in Henley Street. The document is now lost, however, and scholars differ on its authenticity. In 1591, the authorities reported that John had missed church "for fear of process for debt", a common Catholic excuse. In 1606, William's daughter Susanna was listed among those who failed to attend Easter communion in Stratford. Scholars find evidence both for and against Shakespeare's Catholicism in his plays, but the truth may be impossible to prove either way.

Literary Terms and Meanings

Literary Devices

Imagery- the “word pictures” that writers create to help evoke an emotional response

Symbolism- an object, person, place or experience that means more than what it is

Allusion- a reference in a work of literature to a character, place or situation from history or from another work of literature, music or art

Juxtaposition- the placement of two things near each other

Motif- a dominant idea or central theme

Dramatic Irony- the words or actions of the character of a work of literature have a different meaning for the readers than they do for the characters

Tragic Irony- the use of dramatic irony and tragedy so that the audience is aware that the character’s words or actions will bring about a tragic or fatal result while the character himself is not

Elements of Drama

Act- to perform on the stage

Scene- the setting or locale of the action of a play, story etc. A division of a play, usually part of an act, in which the action is continuous and there is no shift of place

Exposition- that part of a play which reveals what has happened before, who the characters are etc

Conflict- the struggle between the characters forces or ideas at the centre of the story

Complication- a confused situation, something that makes the situation more difficult

Climax- the outcome of the main conflict of a play or novel

Subplot- a secondary or subordinate plot in a play, novel etc

Denouement- the solution or unraveling of the plot in a story or play

Peripetia- a sudden change in circumstances or fortune

Characterization- the methods of a writer, used to reveal the personality of a character

Protagonist- the hero or main character of the story

Antagonist- the character who usually opposes the protagonist

Main Plot- the main event of the story

Forms of Drama

Comedy- a funny play, or television show that has a happy ending

History- all recorded events of the past

Tragedy- a serious play having an unhappy or disastrous ending brought about by the characters or central characters impelled

Romance- a type of novel in which the emphasis is on love

Farce- an exaggerated comedy based on broadly humorous situations

Satire- writing that exposes and redicules the follies of people or societies; like parody, holds its objects up to ridicule, object may be a person or institution

Tragicomedy- a play or other literary work combining tragic and comic elements

Theatre of the Absurd- designated for particular plays of absurdist fiction written by a number of primarily European playwrights in the late 1940’s

Modern Drama- the western development of drama beginning in the late 19^th century

Melodrama- a dramatic work which exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to emotions

Features of Drama

Monologue- when the character may be speaking his or her thoughts aloud, directly addressing another character, or speaking to the audience

Dialogue- a spoken conversation between two or more people

Soliloquy- often used in drama whereby a character relates his or her thoughts and feelings to himself and to the audience, without addressing any of the other characters, and is delivered often when they are alone or think they are alone

Aside- a dramatic device in which a character speaks to the audience

Set- to place in a sitting position

Stage Direction- an instruction written as part of the script of a play

Stage Convention- something that in normal life seems weird but on stage seems real

Chorus- a number of people singing or speaking simultaneously

Dramatic Unities- the unities of time, place, and action that are observed in classical drama

Disguise- to change the customary dress or appearance of; to furnish with a false appearance or an assumed identity