Pic of the day #15

Intro to Poetry

1. The poem is "Alone" by Edgar Allan Poe. The significance of the title is that he feels alone and isolated from those around him.

2. The poem has a very somber tone.

3. My mood as I read it was sad and thoughtful and I was in awe.

4. The shift starts at "Then..." when he shifts from describing in what context he felt alone to describing the cloud that hung over his head because of it.

5. The theme of the poem is isolation and the effects of being different.

Poe vs. Frost

In the poem “Alone” by Edgar Allan Poe, the author talks about being different and feeling isolated from those around him. Although Robert Frost does feel a sense of isolation in his poem “Birches”, it isn’t isolation from society, it’s isolation from himself. Frost demonstrates this with his nostalgic tone and child-like imagery, while Poe achieves his feeling of isolation through his somber tone and moody diction.

In Poe’s poem he feels isolated and different from the people around him. This causes him to have a somber tone, which is seen when he says “From the same source I have not taken my sorrow.” When Poe says he doesn’t take his feelings from the same place as everyone else, it has a very dreary tone because it suggests that he has experienced unusual tragedies. In contrast Frost’s poem has a very heavy and nostalgic tone that is meant to stick with people, and get them thinking about childhood and life. Frost achieves this tone with this quote, “So was I once myself a swinger of birches. And so I dream of going back to be.” Frost is talking about childhood innocence and freedom, and how he wishes to have that again. He feels a certain isolation from a part of himself that isn’t naïve anymore. In this way Frost writes with a heavier, and more nostalgic tone that is very different from Poe’s dark and somber tone.

Frost talks of innocence and feeling isolated from himself, as compared to Poe who feels isolated from everyone else. Frost uses a lot of child-like imagery to accomplish this feeling of isolation, while Poe accomplishes it through his use of moody diction. “I should prefer to have some boy bend them as he went out and in to fetch the cows.” In this quote Frost is talking about swinging on birch trees and bending them. He is saying that he would rather a boy do it than the ice, which adds to his feeling of isolation from that childhood innocence. Frost is reflecting on a time in his life that he wants to relive again, “I’d like to get away from earth awhile and then come back to it and begin over.” The imagery of leaving earth and coming back is very innocent and child-like in essence, as is the boy swinging on the tree. These images add to Frost’s feeling of isolation from that time in his life that he wish he could go back to because he is seeing it through the eyes of a child. In “Alone” Poe uses a lot of moody diction, the title being one example. He uses words like “torrent” and “thunder” and “demon”, which add to his feeling of isolation from those around him. These words are very dark and withdrawn, which is exactly how Poe feels. They only enhance his feeling of isolation because they allude to inner torment. This separates Poe from other people, and makes his poem all the more moody and isolated.

Although Frost feels isolation from a time in his life he wishes he could go back to, Poe feels isolation from everything around him. Poe accomplishes his somber tone and moody diction with words that allude to his inner turmoil, while Frost accomplishes his nostalgic tone with wistful thoughts and explains his isolation through child-like imagery. “One could do worse than be a swinger of birches.”

Hamlet

“What is a man, If his chief good and market of his time Be but to sleep and feed? a beast, no more. Sure he that made us with such large discourse, Looking before and after, gave us not That capability and god-like reason To fust in us unused.” In this quote from Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”, Hamlet sees Fortinbras’s men fighting for a piece of land that isn’t worth fighting over. He realizes they are doing it for their honor, and through performative utterance it is made clear to him that he too needs to fight for his honor. This moment is central in understanding Shakespeare’s dauntless tone for the last act and his continuing theme of courage and action. Hamlet is finally confronted with the reality of his situation, and he has to make the choice to either be a coward or to be brave and take action.

                When Hamlet is making his speech about him being a coward because he won’t kill Claudius, even though Fortinbras’s men are willing to fight over something worthless, he reveals to himself that he has to be brave through performative utterance. “What is a man, If his chief good and market of his time Be but to sleep and feed?” In this quote Hamlet is saying that he can’t be considered a man if he doesn’t fight for his honor, and he just passes through life without taking action. “But greatly to find quarrel in a straw When honour's at the stake.” Hamlet is saying that there is always a fight to be had when honor is at stake, even if it is over something trivial. In both instances Hamlet reveals to himself through his words that he needs to fight for his honor and the honor of his family. He reveals to himself that he has more cause than Fortinbras’s men to kill Claudius and that he must take action. This speech causes Hamlet to agree to duel Laertes so that he may have a chance to kill the king, and his actions were revealed to him through his speech.

                When Hamlet realizes he needs to fight for his honor because he has seen Fortinbras’s men, Shakespeare’s dauntless tone for the final act is revealed. Hamlet is brave, and determined to fight for his honor after he is inspired by the soldiers. Shakespeare’s tone for this act and the one following it is very courageous, and it shows determination. “My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!” In this quote Hamlet is stating his determination to kill Claudius no matter what, which supports Shakespeare’s dauntless tone. “Sir, in my heart there was a kind of fighting, That would not let me sleep” Hamlet is saying that even in his heart he can feel his bravery and courage coming forth, and this sets a mood for determination and fulfillment. This also sets a mood of anticipation and courage within the audience because they have been waiting for Hamlet to take action against Claudius. The scene with Fortinbras and the letter Claudius sent to execute Hamlet have only strengthened the audience’s resolve against Claudius. In the last scene Hamlet takes the poisoned rapier and stabs Claudius with it, which proves that Shakespeare’s tone was truly determined and brave because Hamlet actually carried out his intents.

                The constant theme in “Hamlet” is whether or not to take action. Hamlet spends the whole play deciding whether or not to kill Claudius, and Claudius spends the whole play trying to figure out how to deal with Hamlet. “My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!” In this quote Hamlet makes up his mind to kill Claudius, which follows the theme of deciding to take action. Hamlet finally realizes that he has more cause and will to take action than the soldiers, and that Claudius has threatened his honor so he must stop him. The quote, “To be or not to be,” also supports the theme of deciding whether or not to take action because Hamlet is trying to figure out who he is. He is trying to decide whether or not to kill Claudius, and the kind of man he wants to be. When Claudius sends the letter for Hamlet’s execution he makes his choice and takes action just as Hamlet does. Claudius also has a dilemma earlier in the play when he questions himself and his actions at the altar, which shows that he is in the same boat as Hamlet. The theme in the play is supported by Hamlet and Claudius because they are both trying to figure out how to take action and the kind of men they want to be.

                When Hamlet finally realizes his honor has been threatened, and that he is going to kill Claudius it is largely due to performative utterance. Hamlet gives a speech about men and honor, and it lights his inner fire which makes clear to him what he has to do. “What is a man, If his chief good and market of his time Be but to sleep and feed? a beast, no more. Sure he that made us with such large discourse, Looking before and after, gave us not That capability and god-like reason To fust in us unused.” Hamlet is talking about being a man and how he has to take action in this quote. That is the central theme in the story, not only with Hamlet but with Claudius as well. The theme of taking action sets up a dauntless tone that continues into the next act and helps Hamlet to kill Claudius. The speech Hamlet makes about taking action ties together performative utterance, tone, and theme with his strengthened resolve and brings about the fulfillment of his intents. 

Pic of the Day #14

Circles

One definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. In Shakespeare’s play entitled “Hamlet” the main character Hamlet spends most of the play contemplating whether or not he will avenge his father. He does this by investigating Claudius to see if he is guilty, even though he already acknowledged the fact that Claudius is guilty, by constantly putting on a show of madness for everyone in the court, and by speaking performative utterances. All of these actions display a level of insanity that transcends sociopathic, psychopathic, and schizophrenic behavior. Hamlet isn’t mad in the traditional sense; he is mad in his own sense. In each instance he is expecting, maybe even hoping, for a different result to alleviate him of the obligation he has to his father, but he gets none and the knowledge of what he has to do viciously cycles around in his head making him crazier and crazier.

One method to Hamlet’s madness is his investigation of Claudius. Hamlet doesn’t want Claudius to be guilty because then that would mean he would have to kill him. The fact that he learned of Claudius’s guilt from the ghost of his father gives evidence to the fact that he isn’t in his right mind, and maybe the apparition was a product of his knowledge of his father’s death. No one except Hamlet ever actually spoke to the ghost so maybe it was a form of his conscience appearing to him in a hallucination. The insanity of the whole thing is evident in the fact that he orchestrated the mouse trap even though he knew of Claudius’s guilt. He wanted the players to elicit some emotion from Claudius that disproved his theory so he wouldn’t have to take action. That’s why he was so moved by their outward performance. Again Claudius’s guilt was evident, and yet the distress of having to choose to take a human life unhinged Hamlet. Before the play he said, “Observe mine uncle: if his occulted guilt Do not itself unkennel in one speech, It is a damned ghost that we have seen, And my imaginations are as foul As Vulcan's stithy.” In this quote he is recognizing that the thoughts in his brain are foul and unwelcome adding even more to his hope that Claudius is innocent. This hope fuels his insanity as he expects a different result every time.

As the play progresses Hamlet puts on a show of madness to the whole court because he wants them to recognize his cry for help. He expects a different outcome every time he says something crazy because he wants the people around him to tell him he’s not crazy and that he doesn’t have to kill Claudius, but they can’t. His utterances aren’t taken lightly, and like De Boer said in his paper, “Polonius is vulnerable to Hamlet because of this mechanistic vision of human nature; madness, for him, is “madness”, and decent, sane behavior is as formalized and conventional as the various ceremonies of state that orbit around him.” The people around Hamlet are vulnerable to his performance because of their pre-existing ideas of madness, which constitute exactly the methods Hamlet uses to act out his madness. In his own way Hamlet is preserving his insanity by carrying out the same “experiment” and expecting people to realize that he’s stuck in a mad cycle. This might give evidence to the fact that Hamlet knows he’s insane and he doesn’t want to be sane, because sane people have to stick to convention. Hamlet uses his insanity to escape his situation and the constrictions society has put upon him. “This gives him the rhetorical space to explore various presentations of his own identity, and what better time for such exploration than within a performance of madness?” This quote supports the fact that Hamlet is using his madness to explore himself and show his true visage.

Hamlet explores his inner thoughts through speech, which contributes to Bloom’s theory of self-hearing which states that by listening to one’s own speech that person can discover things about themselves. Hamlet has many lines in the play which reveal to him the truth of himself and his situation, yet he doesn’t act on those revelations. This is because he continually reveals his thoughts with the intent of changing his own mind. He never succeeds in his venture because almost every time he ponders, he feeds his insanity and convinces himself that killing Claudius would be the right thing to do. It is a constant theme that Hamlet can’t translate his thoughts into actions. “Why, what an ass am I! This is most brave, That I, the son of a dear father murder'd, Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell, Must, like a whore, unpack my heart with words, And fall a-cursing, like a very drab, A scullion!” In this quote Hamlet is bashing on himself because he can’t take action which only strengthens the argument that he knows Claudius is guilty and he should take action. The fact that he is prompted to these lamentations proves that he is insane because he is trying to spur himself into action, but he keeps getting the same result which is no action at all. He is stuck trying to convince himself not to kill Claudius, and trying to prompt himself to do the actual deed.

When people think of circuses and Rumpelstiltskin they associate those two symbols with insanity and the abnormal. The spinning of the carousel and the spinning wheel are just two examples of endless circles that people can get stuck in. They are never ending cycles that produce no new results. Hamlet’s circles are his speech, his investigation of Claudius, and his outward show of madness. Each time he presents his insanity he expects a different result, whether it be to convince himself not to kill Claudius or to get the people around him to notice his dilemma. This feeds his inner torture as he tries to break the cycle of avenging his father’s death and get his life back. 

The Performative Utterance in Hamlet

• ultimately hamlet seems to spend the play speaking but not doing
• his utterances betray little to no wavering in his understanding of his duty
• the divide between what is said and what is done is like Austin's theory of performativity
• certain language does not merely describe action, but acts in being spoken
• the locutionary force - the ability of language to deliver a message 
• the illocutionary force - what is done in being said
• perlocutionary force - what is achieved by being said
• Bloom argues that Shakespeare's characters develop through "self-overhearing"
• a man incapable of realizing the power of his own agency, but capable of using the spoken word, could come to learn of his agency by realizing that his speech has power to create change in the world
• the uncertain distance between what is sincere and what is not
• mimesis - a subtle kind of play acting like how Hamlet pretends to be crazy to throw everyone off

Hamlet Project: Michael Hall, Annie Heisler, Daniel Black, Taylor Wall, Ashlyn Bishop, Henry Freebourn, and Brenissa Flores

Act 1 Scene 1

Bernardo and Francisco are on a platform outside the castle, as they are changing guard Horatio and Marcellus approach. Marcellus asks “Has this thing appear’d again to-night?” As they talk a ghost appears, as it approaches they confirm their suspicions that it does indeed look like the late King Hamlet. Horatio, a scholar and a skeptic that there is in fact a ghost, attempts to question it, “Stay! speak, speak! I charge thee, speak!” But even with Horatio’s pleas the ghost never speaks, as the ghost leaves they decide to bring this mater to young Hamlet in the hope that he can learn why his father’s ghost is here.  

Full scene, with dialogue and pictures: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZGB5fTaXzc&list=PLC84C5B9B0B170EFB

Funny song recapping all of act 1:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abIverogh-o

Act 1 Scene 2

Woman marries brother-in-law:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/real-life-stories/i-married-my-dead-husbands-brother-52661

The reason for Hamlet's sorrow:

People are fake grieving and aren't deeply upset by King Hamlet's death:

Hamlet wants to end his life out of anger but suicide is a sin:

Hamlet: Act I Scene III

Polonius and Laertes are both very protective over Ophelia, their daughter and little sister.  They want her to keep her purity and innocence by staying away from Hamlet as they believe he has bad and selfish intentions.

Before saying goodbye to Laertes, Polonius gives his son a lot of long-winded advice and shared wisdom.  He advises him to live simply and remain true to himself.

Act 1 Scene 4 :

(resource: http://nfs.sparknotes.com/hamlet/page_52.html)

Act 1. Scene IV

SCENE IV. The platform.

Enter HAMLET, HORATIO, and MARCELLUS
HAMLET:  The air is really cold here dude.

HORATIO:  Yeah.

HAMLET:  What time is it?

HORATIO:  A little bit before midnight man.

HAMLET:  No, it’s way past that man.

HORATIO:  Really?  Oh shit my bad, the ghost is going to come out pretty soon.

(A flourish of trumpets, and ordnance shot off, within)

What the fuck was that dude?

HAMLET:  The bitch ass king is staying up all night,
And, as he drinks a bunch of expensive shit,
They play a bunch of instruments.

HORATIO:  Is that normal for a king to do or what?  I thought you had to be all proper and shit.

HAMLET:  Yeah:
But even though I was born here
And it’s customary for us, I think
We shouldn’t make it a tradition and shit.
These other dickhead countries
Trying to fuck with us:
They think we’re drunks, and make fun of us
They insult our titles and shit; and I got to say, sometimes being too drunk does affect us
Fucks up our achievements, even though they’re still fucking awesome,
It’s the worst of our character man.
Quite often certain men,
Have this fucked up thing inside them,
That they’ve had since birth (and it isn’t their fault,
Since nature cannot choose his origin)
By the crazy growth and expansion of some compulsion,
That slowly crushes each wall of reason inside of a mind,
Or a habit they have that is weird and shit,
The form of compulsions, that these men,
Who have these flaws,
Being like a child of nature and shit, or some randon thing-
Their motives and morals (though good intentioned),
As infinite as man may undergo--
Will eventually be seen as all fucked up by his peers
Because of that one stupid flaw: the dram of eale
Doth all the noble substance of a doubt
To his own scandal.

HORATIO:  Holy shit it’s the ghost!

Enter Ghost

HAMLET:  Jesus save us!
I don’t give much of a fuck whether you worship god or the devil,
Bring on your bullshit from heaven or your bullshit from hell,
I don’t give a fuck whether you have good intentions or evil ones,
You came in such a fucked up way
That I’ll talk to you: I'll call you Hamlet,
King, father: answer me douchebag!
Tell me man,
Why your old dead-ass bones,
Have risen from the grave, all ominous and shit,
We saw you peacefully cremated before,
God or the devil or whatever opened his huge ass jaws,
To spit you back up again. What may this mean,
That you, you dead motherfucker, still in your armor
Haunt the castle by night,
Making night scary as shit and crazy; and we dumb ass bitches of nature
So disgustingly pretend to make sense
With thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls?
Say, why is this? wherefore? what should we do?

Ghost beckons HAMLET

HORATIO:  It wants you to go with it,
He might do some weird shit to you though.

MARCELLUS:  It sure is a polite motherfucker.
It wants you to go somewhere private:
But seriously don’t follow it.

HORATIO:  No Hamlet don’t go near that dickhead.

HAMLET:  If it won’t talk to me then I’m going after it.

HORATIO:  Don’t go man!

HAMLET:  Why dude, what is there to be afraid of?
I’m not a bitch-ass like you;
And my soul, that ghost can’t do shit,
With my soul all immortal and shit?
It’s still waving, so I’m going.

HORATIO:  What if it wants to lead you into a flood,
Or shove you off a ciff,
Off of his nest and into the ocean,
And there you’ll lose your sanity,
Which will take your control of your own mind
And drive you totally insane? think of this man:
That place will make you desperate for home and sanity and all that  shit,
For no fucking reason, into everybody’s brain
That wants to jump into the sea
And hear the waves smashing their eardrums.

HAMLET:  It’s still waving!
Leave the room, I’ll follow you guys.

MARCELLUS:  Sorry Hamlet but I’m not letting you follow any weird ass ghosts.

HAMLET:  Get your fucking hands off of me before I decide to break them.

HORATIO:  I command you; you won’t go.

HAMLET:  This is my fucking destiny bro,
It makes every single fucking stupid little vein inside me
As fucking tough as like steel or something.
The ghost is still calling me.  Get the fuck off of me guys.
I swear I’ll turn you into ghosts like this bitch if you don’t fucking leave me be!
I said get the fuck away before I pop a cap in you both!

Exit Ghost and HAMLET

HORATIO:  Yo Marcellus I think Hamlet’s lost his shit.

MARCELLUS:  Let's follow that asshole; he’s too insane to obey.  When did he get so mean?

HORATIO:  Let’s do it.  What problems can it cause?

MARCELLUS:  Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.

HORATIO:  Jesus will take care of this.

MARCELLUS:  Nah that’s bullshit, if we want this done we do it ourselves.

Exit

Hamlet Act 2 Scenes 1 and 2: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oa-ae6_okmg

Mad World by Gary Jules and Crazy sung by Ceelo Green because of the talk of Hamlet's mad mind.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrbOR1nLkYU

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=blush+chet+faker

A song about lust for Hamlet's feelings towards Ophelia and the contents of his love letter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OH9A6tn_P6g

Ignorance by Paramore because of Hamlet tricking Polonius and Polonius buying it with blind faith.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A63VwWz1ij0

Brick By Boring Brick by Paramore because of Hamlet portraying Denmark as his "prison". (It also has lyrics of castles).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjZSv_KYlWI

Transparent Lies by Alexz Johnson because Hamlet sees right through Guildenstern and Rosencrantz' reason for visiting. 

Hamlet Act 1 Scene 4 & 5

• Hamlet goes with Horatio and Marcellus to the watch to see the ghost of his dead father
• Hamlet sees his father's ghost and he goes with the ghost despite what Horatio and Marcellus say
• the ghost tells Hamlet that Claudius poisoned him and that Hamlet's mother Gertrude knows about it
• the ghost leaves as morning comes and Hamlet returns to Marcellus and Horatio and makes them swear to never tell of anything that happened under any circumstances 

Hamlet Act 1 Scene 3

• Polonius' daughter Ophelia has been seeing Hamlet and she tells her brother Laertes about it
• Laertes warns her about being with Hamlet because of the stress and pressure he has to deal with and because his situation is unstable
• Ophelia tells her father of Hamlet's declaration of love and how he has been acting crazy lately
• Polonius warns his daughter to be careful with Hamlet 

Pic of the day #13

Hamlet Act 1 Scene 2

• Claudius (Hamlet senior's brother) has married Gertrude (Hamlet senior's wife) and he is now king
• He starts off by saying that although King Hamlet has died recently they must move on
• Claudius then allows Polonius's son Laertes to go to France 
• Hamlet (junior) doesn't like Claudius 
• Hamlet's mother asks him why he is sad and he says he is not 
• He says he is sad inside but doesn't show it, and infers that those that grieve publicly may not grieve inwardly
• Claudius is being a jerk and says it is unmanly to grieve and then tells Hamlet he can't go back to school in Wittenberg
• Hamlet puts on a show of an obedient son to his mother and Claudius, but inside he dislikes his mother for betraying his father in marrying Claudius who he doesn't like either
• Horatio tells him he saw the ghost of his father and Hamlet believes him
• Hamlet tells Horatio he will come tonight to speak to the ghost

Hamlet Act 1 Scene 1

• Bernardo comes to relieve Francisco of his watch at the castle platform
• Francisco leaves and Horatio and Marcellus enter
• Bernardo tells Horatio of the apparition he had seen the night before
• The apparition appears and they think it is the ghost of the recently dead king Hamlet (senior)
• The ghost will not speak to them so Horatio wants to tell Hamlet (junior) they saw his father's ghost and they think it is a bad omen
• They hope the ghost will speak to Hamlet (junior)

Pic of the day #12

Vocab #6

abase - verb cause to feel shame; hurt the pride of
abdicate - verb give up, such as power, as of monarchs and emperors, or duties and obligations
abomination - noun an action that is vicious or vile; an action that arouses disgust or abhorrence; a person who is loathsome or disgusting; hate coupled with disgust
brusque - adj. marked by rude or peremptory shortness
saboteur - noun someone who commits sabotage or deliberately causes wrecks; a member of a clandestine subversive organization who tries to help a potential invader
debauchery - noun a wild gathering involving excessive drinking and promiscuity
proliferate - verb cause to grow or increase rapidly; grow rapidly
anachronism - noun an artifact that belongs to another time; a person who seems to be displaced in time; who belongs to another age; something located at a time when it could not have existed or occurred
nomenclature - noun a system of words used to name things in a particular discipline
expurgate - verb edit by omitting or modifying parts considered indelicate
bellicose - adj. having or showing a ready disposition to fight
gauche - adj. lacking social polish
rapacious - adj. excessively greedy and grasping; devouring or craving food in great quantities; living by preying on other animals especially by catching living prey
paradox - noun (logic) a statement that contradicts itself
conundrum - noun a difficult problem
anomaly - noun (astronomy) position of a planet as defined by its angular distance from its perihelion (as observed from the sun); a person who is unusual; deviation from the normal or common order or form or rule
ephemeral - adj. lasting a very short time; noun anything short-lived, as an insect that lives only for a day in its winged form
rancorous - adj. showing deep-seated resentment
churlish - adj. having a bad disposition; surly; rude and boorish
precipitous - adj. characterized by precipices; extremely steep;done with very great haste and without due deliberation

Canterbury Tales Essay

Chaucer spent a lot of time travelling the world and meeting a vast array of people. He met poor people, rich people, titled people, church people, and many other different people with varying social classifications. This is why in his book The Canterbury Tales he used modern English. He wanted everyone to be able to read his book no matter what class they were. This suggests that his purpose in writing the story was to question the social class system and to question the established literary traditions of his time period. However, his story also honors the class system and literary techniques of his time through the use of societal traditions to write his story. Chaucer both honors and questions the social and literary system of his time in The Canterbury Tales by using a satirical tone to develop his characters, by using humor to emphasize his characters’ traits, and by using irony to question tradition.

Throughout the story Chaucer has a satirical tone that mocks and criticizes his characters’ weaknesses, but he also has an underlying tone of respect for tradition. In The Sea-Captain’s Tale Chaucer uses a tone of mocking when he describes the wife’s predicament. Her husband doesn’t want to pay for her dresses and lavish parties, so she must obtain money from another man. His tone is very satirical in describing what she views as a problem because her weakness is that she cares so much about how people view her. Chaucer also has a satirical tone when describing Brother John because he is very conniving and he uses the husband’s money to pay to sleep with the wife even though he is a monk.  Although Chaucer’s main goal was to provide commentary on society, he does show a level of respect for certain traditions. In The Knight’s Tale Chaucer uses the traditions of chivalry and courtly love to tell the story of Palamon and Arcite’s love for Emily. This shows that he does honor some traditions of society, even if he is criticizing it.

Chaucer uses humor to call attention to his characters’ best and worst traits. In The Sea-Captain’s Tale Chaucer uses humor when the wife describes the husband’s performance in bed as horrible in the beginning and great at the end. This parallels her selfishness in not getting what she wants in the beginning, and her being content in the end because she got the money. Chaucer also uses humor to call attention to the merchant’s stinginess when at the end the wife offers sex as payment. In The Knight’s Tale Chaucer uses humor to bring attention to Arcite’s love for Emily by making him sing ridiculous lamentations while frolicking in the flowers. Chaucer’s humor serves to mock the characters’ traits and make them seem even more ridiculous.

There is a lot of use of irony in Chaucer’s stories because he wants to make commentary on how the characters are perceived in society, and what they are actually like. In The Sea-Captain’s Tale Chaucer uses irony when he describes a rich merchant who doesn’t want to pay for any of his wife’s expenses. He also uses irony when he describes Brother John who is a monk, but he lusts after the wife despite his vows. Chaucer uses irony in describing the wife because she only cares about her reputation and how people view her, and yet she would betray her husband to uphold her reputation. In The Knight’s Tale it is very ironic that the knight’s code of chivalry and courtly love is what comes between two knights. It is ironic because one wouldn’t expect the knight’s code to elicit jealousy and deceit. Chaucer’s use of irony is very important because it makes his social commentary very obvious and provides the audience with insight into social problems.

Chaucer encountered many people in his travels, and that shaped his opinions of society and its traditions. He tried to battle the status quo by producing literature in a form that all could read, and by commenting on the illusions society had of certain people. He did honor some societal and literary traditions in his writing by including chivalry and courtly love to tell the knight’s story, but ultimately he criticized a lot of social problems through his use of a satirical tone, through his use of humor, and through his use of irony. 

Vocab #5

shenanigans. secret or dishonest activity or maneuvering
ricochet - noun a glancing rebound; verb spring back; spring away from an impact
schism - noun division of a group into opposing factions; the formal separation of a church into two churches or the withdrawal of one group over doctrinal differences
eschew - verb avoid and stay away from deliberately; stay clear of
plethora - noun extreme excess
ebullient - adj. joyously unrestrained
garrulous - adj. full of trivial conversation
harangue - noun a loud bombastic declamation expressed with strong emotion; verb deliver a harangue to; address forcefully
interdependence - noun a reciprocal relation between interdependent entities (objects or individuals or groups)
capricious - adj. determined by chance or impulse or whim rather than by necessity or reason; changeable
loquacious - adj. full of trivial conversation
ephemeral - adj. lasting a very short time; noun anything short-lived, as an insect that lives only for a day in its winged form
inchoate - adj. only partly in existence; imperfectly formed
juxtapose - verb place side by side
perspicacious - adj. acutely insightful and wise; mentally acute or penetratingly discerning
codswallop - noun nonsensical talk or writing
mungo. cloth made from recycled woven or felted materials
sesquipedelian. .characterized by long words; long-winded
wonky - adj. inclined to shake as from weakness or defect; turned or twisted toward one side
diphthong - noun a vowel sound that starts near the articulatory position for one vowel and moves toward the position for another

Green Eggs and Hamlet

1. To quote Freaky Friday loosely, "Hamlet is a guy, he's just bopping around, doesn't know which way's up, I don't think the guy has a clue..." and that's about all I know about Hamlet.
2. Shakespeare was a playwright who wrote Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Hamlet etc.  and he lived a few hundred years ago during the 17th century and he used a lot of iambic pentameter. Oh, he also married this chick named Anne Hathaway which I only know because I like the present day Anne Hathaway.
3. People usually frown when they hear Shakespeare because his work is hard to understand because he makes so many allusions synonymous with his time period and you literally have to read between the lines for everything.
4. We can make studying Hamlet a cool experience by acting it out and really getting in to it as a class instead of reading it on our own at home.

The Point of Canterbury Tales is...

Chaucer used The Canterbury Tales to make social commentary on every different class. He did this by using irony, for example the rich merchant who didn't want to give money to his wife, by using humor to make the characters' worst traits seem even more ridiculous, and by creating a satirical tone.

Pic of the Day #11

Canterbury Tales II: What a Character

The Sea Captain's Tale:

The author uses direct characterization to describe the monk, the merchant, and the wife. He starts off by saying the wife is beautiful, the merchant is stingy, and the monk was handsome and well liked. Chaucer's tone is somewhat mocking and sarcastic when he is speaking of the wife and how rich men's beautiful wives like to be sociable and plan parties and buy dresses, but the husband doesn't want to pay for it so they must find some other man to pay for it. The tone is satirical in the case of the monk because the monk is conniving and when the wife asks him for money he secretly borrows it from the husband so that she will sleep with him. It is also ironic because the wife couldn't directly ask the husband for money, and the husband was rich but he wouldn't give money to his wife. The author was also being very ironic when the wife said the husband wasn't good in bed, but at the end he was very...vivacious. Chaucer used a really funny pun at the end when he said, "So my tale ends: and while we live may God give us tail in plenty!" The meaning of the pun was to say he hopes he gets to sleep with a lot of women while he's alive, and the pun was on the words "tale" and "tail". There is a lot of sexual humor in this story especially at the end when the wife says she'll pay her husband back in full for the 100 francs she spent.

Character Study 1

It's weird to think that last year around this time I was stressing over college applications and personal statements. I've learned a lot since then, like the fact that college is just like high school except with a bigger vocabulary, and it's actually cool to be obsessed with coffee and cats. I was actually really surprised I got in to UCSD considering up until the last month I had no idea what I was going to write in my essays. Procrastination and idiocy at its finest. Don't worry I'm only studying the prerequisites for medical school everyone. And now the surgery scheduling starts flying in, I'm sure. Anyway, like I said everything is pretty normal, too normal. It's like I just packed up my crap and my mom dropped me off in to a state of limbo. "Bye Charlie! I love you!" she said as she drove off in to the sunset, leaving me in the middle of a nerd congregation. The thing is that I'm bored, and I forgot to bring Maurice, my five foot tall teddy bear, with me to school. It’s a good thing I didn't take him though, because San Diego is pretty sketchy and he would have gotten stolen. 

There are two types of people in this world. There are the people who when a stranger yells, "Someone help me my cat got away!" will keep walking like assholes. Then there are the people like me who will immediately start chasing after the alleged cat, and straight in to the arms of a kidnapper. In my defense we were by a busy intersection and the cat could have easily gotten ran over. It was my duty as a human being and cat lover to potentially put my freedom at risk. That being said I would take a dead cat any day over being bound and blind folded in the back seat of one of those sketchy, white pedophile vans. Honestly, could you get any more obvious? These kidnappers are seriously lacking in their profession, and the one next to me smells like that liquid ass spray. My eyes are watering and I am gagging, that is so gross. I'm guessing he's not married. 

“Let me go you stupid ham planets!” I yell in the direction of the odorous one. “We can’t! Do you know how much money we’ll get for kidnapping that guy from The Maze Runner?” said a rather high pitched male voice. I guess it came from Smelly. “Are you freaking kidding me? I look nothing like Dylan O’Brien! I’m a girl with long hair! How idiotic can you get?” I yell back at the imbecile. “Damn it Marty! I can’t believe you did this again! You told me this was the right guy!” said a new voice from the front of the vehicle. Next thing I know someone presses a cloth to my mouth and the world goes dark.

I’m jostled awake some time later, and suddenly I’m thrown out of the moving van. I go air born for a second and then my fall is cushioned by grass. “Yeah that’s right! Drive away you pieces of crap!” I yell after the van that I hear tearing away from where ever they dropped me. I’m still bound and blind folded and I can hear kids playing in the background so I’m guessing they dropped me off at a park. At least they didn’t drop me off in the ghetto. Well this is awkward, I have to find a way to untie myself. “Excuse me! Can someone please untie me?” I yell loud enough for the people to hear. Next thing I know I hear a bunch of soccer moms screaming and running away while grabbing their children. “I hope your implants fall out!” I scream toward those assholes. “Can I help you?” I hear a bubbly female voice say from behind me. “Yes actually, if you could untie me that would be awesome.” I say to the girl. After she unties me I take off the blindfold and look down at a short girl with blond hair and big green eyes. She looks nice enough. “Hi my name is Annie!” she chirps at me. “Hey, my name is Charlie. Thanks for untying me!” I say gratefully. “So umm, what just happened? Why were you blind folded?” she asks me. “It’s a long story…” I sigh.

Annie takes me to coffee and tells me those jerk-offs tossed me in Seattle, Washington. “That is so rude! They could’ve at least dropped me off in California! People these days…” I exclaim after hearing what state I’m in. “That is pretty rude. I still can’t believe they thought you were Dylan O’Brien. You look nothing alike!” she says agreeing with my earlier thoughts. “How am I going to get home? They took my money, all twenty dollars of it.” I say wistfully, thinking about all the coffee I could have bought with that money. Hey, college is expensive. “Well you could work at the magazine with me! It would be so much fun!” she says smiling. “That would be perfect!” I say smiling back at the small girl who saved me from the impending soccer moms. “We should probably get you some clothes though,” she says eyeing my shirt. “And I should probably call my mom…” I say while shuddering at the thought of her freaking out.

Six months later…

          As I stare down at my article in the new magazine I work for I realize two things. Seattle has really good coffee, and being kidnapped makes for a great story. After my mom finally sent over all of my stuff I started working at the magazine with Annie, and she suggested that my first piece be about my kidnapping. It’s kind of embarrassing writing about how I was mistaken for a guy though. Next time someone asks me to chase after their runaway cat I’m going to have to pass. 

Bede and Canterbury Notes

Bede (pp.74-82) & the Prologue to Canterbury Tales (pp.90-115) Collaboration Notes

Pages 74-82 Taylor

From A History of the English Church and People:

• most people were illiterate so Bede got documents through the monastery
• Britain and Ireland: Britain is an island off the coast of Germany
• land is good for grain and timber
• good pasturage for cattle/draft animals
• alot of fish
• pearls and scarlet dye extracted from shellfish
• land has many metals: copper, iron, lead, silver
• has a lot of coal
• 28 noble cities: five languages and four nations (English, British, Scots, Picts)
• Britons were first to colonize, a common language is latin
• Scots settled ireland and Picts showed up and asked permission to join their island
• Scots refused so Picts settled on Britain, Picts took Scottish wives so the king comes from the female royal line
• Scots migrated to Britain under chieftain Reuda they are called Dalreudians

From the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle:

• The Vikings split up in East Anglia and Northumbria
• vikings defeated many earls/lords of the British king in Sussex, Kent, Essex etc.
• King Alfred ordered new longships to be built against the ash-ships
• The english engaged in a naval battle with the danes
• The danes made king edward break the peace by taking a woman
• they got into a huge fight and a lot of people with weird names died
• they negotiated peace with northumbria and the anglians

Pages 90-98-michael

• Bio
• ·         Written by Geoffrey Chaucer(circa 1343-1400)
• ·         No one knows what inspired Canterbury Tales, the tale embodies medieval literature such as romance and comedy.
• A Closer look
• ·         The story tells of a pilgrimage of all people both rich and poor together, and starts with a prologue.
• ·         There are 24 different tales through the eyes of different people on the voyage.
• ·         Captures the essence of the time, shows all parts of medieval society.
• Prologue
• ·         Canterbury is a town outside London where a cathedral stands that is the place where Archbishop Thomas a Becket was murdered in 1170
• ·         The pilgrimage began in April 1387, at an inn on the way the narrator meets a group of people who are all going on the pilgrimage and he joins their fellowship.
• ·         Among the company was, a Knight was told of many heroic tales and battles he had been through.
• ·          With him was his son and squire, some 20 years of age. He is described as being fresh and yet experienced and knew what he was doing.
• ·         There was also a Yeoman( Attendant) for the knight and squire, “he was properly Forester I guess”
• A nun, Known as Madam Eglantyne. She was pleasant and friendly in her ways; her way of smiling was very simple and coy.

Pages 99-107 Hikaru

• the monk has a great horse, and is a hunter
• the friar is benevolent, a beggar
• the merchant is known for his money handling skills, but is in debt
• there is a clerk who likes philosophy books, spends his money on them
• the Sergeant of Law was well respected and erudite
• several craftsmen as part of a guild - Haberdasher as hatmaker, weaver, carpenter, tapestry maker
• a shipman who knew the seas from Tunisia to Sweden, a great seaman
• a doctor who was excellent in curing people, saved his money

Pages 108-115 Annie

the plowman was an honest worker, was a good man living by the gospel (Ten Commandments)

the miller was a big man, very strong and hearty. He played bagpipes and stole grain. He was a brawny looking dude.

The manciple was illiterate but very good with money.

The reeve was old and thin. He played his bussiness by the books with taxes and such. He had his rich treasure stored away. He and from Norfolk.

The summoner resembled a cherub. He had bad boils on his face. He was mean looking and scared children. He resembled an ogre. Some thought he was insane.

The pardoner rode with the summoner. He had waxy, yellow, rat tail hair with no hood. With bulging eyeballs. Small voice. a man of  God with many relics.

This is the story of the ranks of an aseembled company in southwark at the high class hostelry know as the tabard.

They were all drinking. A manly man came. the man proposes that they all tell two stories on the way to Canterbury Nd two stories back, the winner gets dinner at the tavern paid by all. The man will go with them and be the judge. They all started off on the journey.