King Lear: Melody + Spectacle

Examples where Melody and Spectacle are used in King Lear include the storm. The storm is a sound in the play that is used to foreshadow unearthly events to come. We first hear of the storm as King Lear is exiting his castle after he feel betrayed by his daughters. This is used to literally portray the weather but there are also other implications such as Lear’s mental state and to signify danger to come. Every time we enter a scene with Lear the play reminds us that the storm is continuing to rage, just like how Lear’s mental is continuing to deteriorate.

The fool uses song / melody throughout the play as a tool to convey his message. It almost acts as a disguise to the heavy truth that he bares. The fool’s role in the play is to be telling Lear the hidden truth occurring in his actions and how others may be deceiving him. Because fools are supposed to be comedians for the king to laugh at, no one takes his message at face value. When he sings certain lines it is very easy to dismiss it but it’s only when we see the events unfold we understand the wisdom that he is sharing.

Another example of sound used in King Lear is when trumpets or horns. These are a symbol of power. Examples of when these sounds occur are when the king enters a room or one of the princesses. This shows off their status and that their entrance is notable.

Spectacle is most commonly used as costume as characters are constantly creating disguises to be in the same room as another character without that character knowing. This changes the play as it allows for many plot points to occur. For example, almost all of the cast believes that Kent has been exiled and that they’ll never see him again, however he is present in many of the scenes. This allows him to still know what is going on and characters reveal plot points to him because they think it’s a totally different person. It shows off Lear’s mental demise as Edgar disguises himself as ‘Poor Tom’ who is a homeless naked person.
Who gives any thing to poor Tom? whom the foul
fiend hath led through fire and through flame, and
through ford and whirlipool e’er bog and quagmire; Poor Tom entering Lear’s hovel shows how far he has fallen. It shows how he now perceives himself to that of equal or lesser worth as this worthless peasant.

Aristotle’s Poetics

What does Aristotle mean by “imitation of action?” Explain

Acting

Aristotle lists six traits that determine the quality of a tragedy, what are they?

Plot, character, diction, thought, spectacle and song

Is there anything else you think might be important to creating a quality tragedy?

Na

To Aristotle, which trait is the most important: plot or character?

He thinks plot

Why does he think that?

“But most important of all is the structure of incidents. For tragedy an imitation

Do you agree or disagree?

What does Aristotle suggest here about causation and plot structure?

That it must have a beginning, middle and end

What does Aristotle say about unity of action?

That events will happen no matter who the characters are

Subplots?

No they don’t. “The imitation os one when the object imitated is one, so the plot being imitation of an action, must imitate one action and that a whole”

How does Aristotle define peripeteia and anagnorisis?

“Recognition, then. Being between persons, it may happen that one persdon omis is recognised by th other- when the latter is alreadt knwon-or it mayy be neccessary that the recogmition should be on borth sides.

What is the connection between them?

They are in sequence

What kind of reversal is best for evokling pity or fear?

Agaon we may recognise or discover whether a operson has done a thing or not, But the recognition which is most intimately connected with the plot and action isl, as  we hjave saif t, te recognition

1:  ???

2: Characters revealing plot points

3: When they remember something by looking at a certain object

4: When the sequence of events all adds up and everything clicks

The startling discovery that is made from natural means.

Paraphrase aristotle’s explanation of catharsis

What circumstances provoke fear or pity

Quotes

  1. Cannot be ill, cannot be good: if ill,Why hath it given me earnest of success,Commencing in a truth? I am thane of Cawdor:

    If good, why do I yield to that suggestion

    Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair

    And make my seated heart knock at my ribs,

    Against the use of nature? Present fears

    Are less than horrible imaginings:

    My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,

    Shakes so my single state of man that function

    Is smother’d in surmise, and nothing is

    But what is not.

    ——————————————————————————————–

  1. false face must hide what the false heart doth know

3.To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.”

 

“Look like the innocent flower,
But be the serpent under it.

 

“What’s done cannot be undone.”

 

Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires

 

When our actions do not, our fears make us traitors

 

 

Fern Hill – 1.10

Title: Fern Hill

Text Type – Poem

Author – Dylan Thomas

Now as I was young and easy under the apple boughs
About the lilting house and happy as the grass was green,
The night above the dingle starry,
Time let me hail and climb
Golden in the heydays of his eyes,
And honoured among wagons I was prince of the apple towns
And once below a time I lordly had the trees and leaves
Trail with daisies and barley
Down the rivers of the windfall light.

And as I was green and carefree, famous among the barns
About the happy yard and singing as the farm was home,
In the sun that is young once only,
Time let me play and be
Golden in the mercy of his means,
And green and golden I was huntsman and herdsman, the calves
Sang to my horn, the foxes on the hills barked clear and cold,
And the sabbath rang slowly
In the pebbles of the holy streams.

All the sun long it was running, it was lovely, the hay
Fields high as the house, the tunes from the chimneys, it was air
And playing, lovely and watery
And fire green as grass.
And nightly under the simple stars
As I rode to sleep the owls were bearing the farm away,
All the moon long I heard, blessed among stables, the nightjars
Flying with the ricks, and the horses
Flashing into the dark.

And then to awake, and the farm, like a wanderer white
With the dew, come back, the cock on his shoulder: it was all
Shining, it was Adam and maiden,
The sky gathered again
And the sun grew round that very day.
So it must have been after the birth of the simple light
In the first, spinning place, the spellbound horses walking warm
Out of the whinnying green stable
On to the fields of praise.

And honoured among foxes and pheasants by the gay house
Under the new made clouds and happy as the heart was long,
In the sun born over and over,
I ran my heedless ways,
My wishes raced through the house high hay
And nothing I cared, at my sky blue trades, that time allows
In all his tuneful turning so few and such morning songs
Before the children green and golden
Follow him out of grace,

Nothing I cared, in the lamb white days, that time would take me
Up to the swallow thronged loft by the shadow of my hand,
In the moon that is always rising,
Nor that riding to sleep
I should hear him fly with the high fields
And wake to the farm forever fled from the childless land.
Oh as I was young and easy in the mercy of his means,
Time held me green and dying
Though I sang in my chains like the sea

The overall theme of this poem is comparing ones life of now and their childhood. What I think Thomas is trying to express in this poem is how the world seemed like a different place when he was a child and that he had such an innocent view on the world. As a child the narrator felt like he was in control of the Fern Hill “And honoured among wagons I was prince of the apple towns” this quote shows that he didn’t need others to make him feel powerful, he was respected by his surroundings and he was dominant in his own world. The author uses imagery, similes and metaphors to describe how he viewed the landscape around him as a child; “All the sun long it was running, it was lovely, the hay fields high as the house, the tunes from the chimneys, it was air and playing, lovely and watery And fire green as grass.” Thomas clearly shows the desire to relive his past as he misses the feeling of not having to worry about anything. He clearly has fond memories of this place he is revisiting and as a reader it feels sad because it reminds us of how limited our time is on this earth and how fast it can go.

I feel like this is a very easy poem to relate to as everyone who has reached a mature enough age knows how it feels to look back on their youth and recall memories and think about how different times have gotten. Even though I am still considered to be young I still often find myself reflecting on the past and how much of a different person I am. When I look back on myself when I was really young my flaws then really stand out, as a young child I was ignorant, selfish and stupid. I still have many flaws to this day but I know that no single human being will ever be perfect. I think when reading this poem that it’s nice to look back on when times were easier but I think that it’s important to understand that I am a different person know and in my opinion a better one. I know that in ten years time I will look back on today and judge myself harshly because my opinions and outlook on life will be very different. Recalling on your life should be a fun activity and there’s no point of moaning about when times were better. I still have a big future ahead of me and I want to use that to change the world as opposed to reliving the easier times because it’s impossible to go back.

This poem is very deep and has many layers attached to it. I think that portrays how quickly time flies and how looking back, everything is so different. It accurately portrayed what the past feels like.

Divergent 1.10

Title: Divergent

Text Type – Novel

Author – Veronica Roth

Divergent follows the character Beatrice in a dystopian future where society has been split into five different factions which revolve around one specific personality trait. The factions consist of; Dauntless (who value bravery), Abnegation (who value selflessness), Amity (who value peace), Candor (who value honesty) and erudite (who value intelligence). In this society you are born into a faction but when you turn sixteen you may choose to stick with your faction, which is what the majority of people do or you can change factions. Beatrice is born into the faction of Abnegation but when she is of an age to choose she transfers over to Dauntless which is extreme because Abnegation children are generally considered ‘goody two shoes’ but then she goes to Dauntless who are extreme and live life on the edge. During this time Beatrice finds out that she is ‘Divergent’ which means that she fits the traits of multiple factions and this is considered to be extremely dangerous. When she joins Dauntless she must endue many trials to test her bravery like combat training, survival training and facing your worst fears. One of the first trials she withstands is free-falling into a pit, she is the first of the group to jump and gets her name changed to Tris as she begins her new life. Through out her trials she makes many friends and foe but one of the instructors known as ‘Four’ becomes her love interest. Four helps Tris through her training but then she finds out that Four is also divergent. Everyone is the Dauntless house gets given a mysterious serum and one night Tris wakes up to see all of her peers mind controlled walking single file like perfect soldiers. She joins the line trying to act the same but is very confused. Along the way she meets Four and he is unaffected by the serum. It is revealed that due to them being divergent. Tris and Four have to work together to destroy the leaders of this new-found uprising.

For me reading Divergent I could easily relate it to the world because of how in the book the society forces everyone into this black and white world where you can only be one thing and it’s considered bad to think differently to everyone else. This is displayed throughout the entire book because Tris is told that being divergent is dangerous and unacceptable. The only reason why the government doesn’t want anyone to be divergent is so they can control everyone. Living a closed-minded life style is encouraged in order to enforce control. Tris even gets told by other divergents to hide her true self because other people shouldn’t know. Tris was a very strong Female protagonist, “Becoming fearless isn’t the point. That’s impossible. It’s learning how to control your fear, and how to be free from it.” This is a quote in the book that really represented her character well. She over comes so many challenges just by believing in her self and her ability to get anywhere. She is able to control and manage her biggest fears by the end of the book.

The concept of making everyone follow a ‘social norm’ really relates to me and how I feel about the school system. At school it feel really frustrated to be forced into this system where everyone is compared but in a way where everyone has to be the same. The biggest culprit is the school uniform, every day at school we are forced to dress the same and it just feels like they’re trying to stop us from truly expressing ourselves. We have to wear these uncomfortable stale clothes and after a while it feels like it seems to influence the behavior of the students. I defiantly feel more sluggish and bored when wearing the uniform because that’s the effect the clothes have. During mufti ways I feel more energetic and comfortable cause I feel like I can be me. Another example of when I see this happen is NCEA itself, we are constantly being compared on how well we can do what the system wants. Someone can be really talented but just because they don’t do what the school system wants they get classified as dumb or unworthy. This reminds me of an Albert Einstein quote: “Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” This is a problem that the school system has and Divergent is able to show this very well because Tris is easily the most capable of passing the simulation she is held back by the expectation of society.

Film Study: The Fifth Element

Project Outline:

Mr Waugh’s Notes:

Features of Dystopia:

CENTRAL ANTIHERO CHARACTER

FUTURE CORRUPTED BY ELEMENTS RECOGNISABLE IN CURRENT SOCIETY

Quit smoking dispenser

FILM-MAKING TECHNIQUES

QUOTES:

“Time not important. Only life important”

“Evil begets evil, Mr President – shooting at it will only make it stronger”

Ozzymandias

Achieved – More than one example, at least one effect

Merit – Depth: HOW that language effects adds to the idea

Excellence – Integration: How the effects work together to create deeper meaning


I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert… near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed:

And on the pedestal these words appear:
‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.


TASK:

  1. Name on language effect used in this poem
  2. Quote an example using this effect
  3. How does Shelley use this effect to communicate the idea of hubris in his sonnet

One language effect used in this poem is

 

 

Quarantine – The Loners 1.10

Title: Quarantine – The Loners

Text Type – Novel

Author – Lex Thomas

Quarantine, The Loners is a book about a teenager called David and his younger brother Will. It’s Wills first year at Mckinley High School. The school year has just started and once school starts they find out that the school is contaminated with a disease which is fatal to anyone who isn’t a teenager, this means that all the teachers have been killed. The military reacts to this situation by closing the school in making sure no one can leave. Fast forward a year later and the school is divided into factions who fight for survival among their peers. David must do what it takes to protect Will and the ones he cares about even if means risking his own life. In order to protect him and his friends David start his own faction full of ‘loner kids’ who had nowhere to go before. David keeps finding himself in situations where he is being targeted by the two most powerful factions known as ‘Varsity’ and ‘The Pretty Ones’ who go out of their ways to hurt David and his crew.

The story of “Quarantine, The Loners” heavily focuses on a relationship aspect. Through out the entire book David is constantly being harassed by other factions as they she his new movement as a threat. David shows many moments of sacrifice and selflessness in the book. During the early chapters David has to hide Will in a small janitors closet while David goes out, risking his life to collect food and resources that are necessary for the two to survive. During one of Davids outings he finds a girl he doesn’t know getting chased by a member of varsity, out of selflessness David goes out of his way to save this girl. It is later to be revealed that this girl ‘Lucy’ was Wills old crush from before the school was encapsulated. Will begins to grow envious of David’s heroism because he wants to do more to impress the people around him. David and Lucy begin a relationship and Will’s envy only grows and he goes out of his way to sabotage Davids plans to help out others. At one stage David get kidnapped and Varsity attempts to lynch him, Will and the Loners make out a plan in order to save David and Will is very heroic. Unfortunately Will does not get the recognition for his noble act and his malice towards his brother intensifies.

While reading this novel I grew really fond of the character ‘David’ as he was the most relatable to me. The reason I found David relatable is because through out the book David constantly has to try and do the right thing in order to protect and gain the support of his peers. He demonstrates this when he spends his entire time in the quarantine protecting his brother only for Will to resent David. David is constantly trying to support, please and protect his little brother but he gets harassed because of his good will. For me I’ve had situations where I’ve been trying to do the right thing in order to satisfy my peers but it seemed no matter what I did someone was getting hurt. For me and David it seems that the best thing we could do is find the lesser of the two evils and make some sort of compromise. There were times where I had done as much as I can to maintain a friendship but everything I did seemed to upset them. David has to deal with the struggles of his brother going out of his way to ruin his relationships with other people and I could relate to this feeling. Something the Me and David both found out was that as soon as you find yourself in a position where you are no longer associated with the person we care about, they end up regretting their bitterness towards you and the relationship continues.

I think that the story did a good job at conveying how every character felt and it lead to me relating to a character like David but also I could put others in the shoes of other characters and see a different perspective as to how they might feel in these situations. It was interesting to see how a school might react to having to all of a sudden having to survive in dire conditions and I think that the concept of factions would be a fairly accurate thing that would happen as at school people tend to stick to their friends groups and they’re pretty much just like faction.


 

 

 

Lord of the Flies – William Golding

In the novel ‘Lord of Flies,’ William Golding tries to convey his message through the use of an important place. The place he uses it ‘The Island’ and he uses it to express the idea of isolation and how it affects human behavior. The book displays this influence because when the group of boys are alone on the island they are no longer being controlled by their parents and have to survive using their natural human instincts. As the story progresses the boys natural nature leads them to fight against one another.

During the first chapter of the book the boys are all on the same page and try to cooperate so they can stay safe and survive. An example of this is when Ralph had the entire group of boys to vote for who they want to lead their group, this shows that they still relate to the civilized world because they are using democracy to make a decision. Further into the book the kids organise themselves into different roles, these include hunters and hit builders.

 

 

Glasses

It is introduced when the character ‘Piggy’ is introduced, he is wearing them and he calls them his specs.

It is used for Piggy to see and to light the fire on the mountain

 


“With that word the heat seemed to increase till it became a threatening
weight and the lagoon attacked them with a blinding effulgence”

“Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!” “You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are what they are?”

“Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy”

The b