Masterpiece Academy Question

Laflin 1

Aaron Laflin

Dr. Preston

AP English

8 June 2015

A Process

    Trust is deserved, earned, and honored. I Believe that this is what was displayed in Open Source Learning. As soon as we walked in the door on the first day of school I felt we deserved trust because of the simple fact that we made it to AP English as a senior in high school. Once we established ourselves prestined colleagues that is when we earned an even high level of trust. The ending, or honoring the trust, was delayed until after we completed our masterpiece.

    “The lie that tells the truth,” is a pathway for fiction to tell the truth. Basically, the lie is the made up elements of the storyline. The truth in it is the message that is hidden beneath the lie. The best author to display this is C.S. Lewis. Through works like The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, he conveys these truths beneath the lies which makes him even more creative. A lot of C.S. Lewis is done through spiritual aspects which I can relate to with my faith.

    I believe to be able to re/connect with a passion that drives you is to do just that. You should be motivated enough just because it is your passion. If you aren’t motivated it's just not a passion. Its as simple as that. To continue, I just have to keep focusing on the path that I have created so it can lead me to my destination.

    One thing that made me laugh out loud was actually Miles’ masterpiece. He had a video that showed how awkward some greetings with people can be. His piece was purposefully satirical, but true at the same time. This is what made it sink in deep with me personally. Another thing that contributed to me laughing out loud was the way he presented it. Also, the fact that he was the actor in this video made it even funnier.

    This isn’t exactly a theme through each others masterpiece, but it is the way people have presented it. Almost everyone, especially the great presentations, latched on to inspiration. The way it is presented is far more appealing than the actual content (to me at least). Inspiration can be found everywhere and anywhere. That's the beauty in it. Recently, Stevie talked about her inspiration coming from her own experiences and Siera's was from a powerful video. Both were completely different forms of inspiration, but conveyed a strong message at the same time.

    I know I completed my task of becoming a hero in a hero's journey. The call to adventure was given to me the first day of class, but it took me a second to actually respond. I sprung into action probably midway through the first semester. Once this semester hit I was off and running and then I capitalized at the end with my masterpiece. I believed the process has brought me out a little more enlightened than of the beginning.

ACT I Study Questions

I-1

1) Beginning the play with a dialogue between the witches sets the mood to be dark, evil, and mysterious. This foreshadows the plot, theme, and mood for the future of the story in the same manner. In comparison of Shakespeare's other plays, Macbeth requires more ambiguity and the syntax and diction used needs to be more bleak. For example, Hamlet highlighted the themes of betrayal and complexity of relationships and power. Even though, the theme falls in the same ballpark with Macbeth, the gloominess of the plot of Macbeth overpowers that of Hamlet. In the beginning of the play, the witches were going to meet Macbeth at the "ere of sunset." Line 10 was "Paddock calls" and line 11 was "Anon." The phrase paddock class means a toad, which symbolizes transformation. The word anon means soon or shortly. The "toad" and it's transformation could metaphorically be compared to Macbeth and his evolving and transforming to be a completely different person or even having a transformation in his status and power. The witch's response as anon signifies how Macbeth will shortly have a transformation - to be declared a thane. 

I-2

1. The bloody seargent indirectly characterizes Macbeth by glorifying his actions towards Macdonwald. Macdonwald is a rebel who was executed. He tried to attack them. Macbeth executed macdonwald with his sword. This did not end the fight with the rebels, the Norwegians are still attacking.
2. The traitor was the Thane of Cawdor, as we learn from Ross. Duncan says that its a relief the thane of cawdor was executed and that Macbeth now owns his previous title.

I-3

1. The witches speech gives a first look at Macbeth and his wife without saying who they are. Indirect characterization of the two. Similar to Hamlet where he gives a mini synopsis early in the story. "Weird" in Shakespeare's day meant future seers not weird as we know it, prophecy and destiny. Shakespeare means that Macbeth's wife has him by the balls. They  cast a spell to control his destiny.
2. Macbeth says something very similar to what the witches said at the beginning of the play. This could be him falling into the destiny the witches set up. Dried, chapped fingers, gender ambiguity, hairy, old, they have literal beards. The witches tell Macbeth that he will thane of Candor and eventually King, right then he finds out he is thane of Cawdor. Banquo asked the witch why they had nothing for him, they told him he is lesser but greater than Macbeth. We knew he was thane before he was thane.
3. Banquo says the witches were a figment of their imagination that they lie or that they are hallucinating. Macbeth learns that he is thane of Cawdor from Ross and Angus. During lines 114-156 he was going over his plan in his head and how everything had just happened to him. He acts very happy and shows no incredulity at being thane. Macbeth's aside shows him rationalizing what happened to him and he begins to think that he is going to be King soon. Macbeth tells Banquo that he is happy and excited and nothing more he explains his behavior by saying he is confused.

I-4

1.Cawdor was executed after openly confessing his treason and pleading for mercy. Malcolm tried to stick up for the thane, but the king responds by basically saying that you can't trust a man according to his face. He doesn't believe the thane was truly repentant.

2.The king greets them by saying that he can never repay them enough for their good deeds, but announces he will leave all his estate and names his son, Malcolm, prince of Cumberland. He then proposes that they go to Macbeth's castle at Inverness. Macbeth tells himself that the only way to be king is to get rid of Malcolm, and even though he'll be appalled at his action, he must do it.

I-5

1. Macbeth was honest with his wife when he informs her of his new title as "Thane of Cawdor." He refers to the witches as "weird sisters" probably because he doesn't want her know that he is associated with the "evil servants."

Lady Macbeth responds by saying that she thinks Macbeth is playng things off as if everything is fine. By saying "but be the serpent under't", she describes him as someone that lies to make everything appear under control. This doesn't really match the characterization of Macbeth so far in the story which implies that there is something the audience doesn't know about him. 

2. The wife was confident about the guests visit. She also seemed prepared and a little cocky about the way her and her husband would handle it.

3. Lady Macbeth. Yes she wants to kill Duncan. No, he isn't sure whether he wants to follow through with Lady Macbeths orders or not. She tells him not to let Duncan see tomorrow. 

4. The question appears to answer itself. 

I-6

1. The opening speeches (1.6.1-10) describe how the surroundings of the castle are "pleasant" and the air is sweet-maybe even too sweet. From the outside, the castle appears to be paradise.
Lady Macbeth's welcome is formal. Her language is totally different from her language in the previous scene which shows how fake and dishonest her welcome was.

I-7

1. "If it were done when 'tis done then 'twere well." If it were done when it was done it was done well. (Meaning if he completed the death quickly and efficiently and with no complications then he did the job well.) Macbeth is determined to kill the king and be done with him but in lines 1-12 he is fearful of how the "inventor" will judge his actions. He's violating the hospitality of his kinship and responsibilities as a host towards his guest by trying to kill his guest instead of protecting them. The motivation that Macbeth attributes to himself in lines 25-28 is the attribute of an Arabic heaven-like God. He will be seen as a "God" and that is his source of motivation to get the job done. 

2. In lines 28-30 she is complaining about him leaving the chamber because it was  almost time for dinner. Macbeth responds to her complaining by saying did he ask for me? And lady Macbeth says don't you know he did? The positions are lady Macbeth is ready for the King to be killed while Macbeth is still hesitant and on the fence about it. Macbeth convinced Lady Macbeth by explaining that he is an respected person and doesn't want to lose his honor while Lady Macbeth convinces Macbeth by convincing him to gain the power and kill the king. The stronger person in the scene is Lady Macbeth because  she's more verbally confident in her argument while convincing Macbeth to kill the King. 

Insight to Macbeth

• Great chain of being- to begin with God, next closest was king(ruler), down to servants and social classes, then to animals.
• Any attempt to break great chain of being leads to universal chaos.
• People were really searching for things to make sense. They didn't know who to listen to with power. Did people listen to supernatural God or Christian God?
• Witches and witchcraft is used a lot in Macbeth.
• Fair is foul and foul is fair.(chiasmus,paradox,juxtaposition)
• When Shakespeare wrote Macbeth the king had wrote demonology which was related to witchcraft. Right before Macbeth was published witchcraft became a federal offense or crime. 
• Macbeth is such a dark and supernatural play that people won't actually call the play Macbeth because it is bad luck.
• King James himself symbolized the Union of Scotland in England.
• Shakespeare might have had to gain his approval because of the witchcraft and everything the king had done.
• Macbeth finds himself committing the greatest sin ever imaginable so he can't live with himself. 
• "Come what come may, time and the hour runs through the roughest day."

Tobermory Explained

The tone of the short story was serious but with some humor to it. Saki deliberately made it this way to accomplish more in the writing. Throughout the story, things that testify for this could be that  Cornelius Appin deserved sort of what he got coming to him. Yes, he did succesfully teach the cat to talk, but it backfired. Knowing this he ultimately failed and should have realized that teaching another animal like an elephant probably wasn't the greatest idea. Saki was ultimately trying to teach to learn from mistakes.
In doing this he did add in humor. The last sentence had humor in it when Clovis said,"If he was trying German Irregular verbs on the poor beast... he deserved all he got." Clovis was completely serious when saying this, but also sarcastic at the same time. Another example of humor is when the newspaper was mispelling Appin's name because Appin was messing up when teaching the German. Obviously Saki did this for a purpose, but it's hard to tell if the newspaper was also doing it on purpose.

Inspiration from Jiro

In spite of the Jiro providing inspiration for all of us, here are some quotes relating to Jiro:

"If you do what you love, you will never work a day in your life." - Marc Anthony

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.” -Steve Jobs

“If your work is becoming uninteresting, so are you.  Work is an inanimate thing and can be made lively and interesting only by injecting yourself into it.  Your job is only as big as you are.”  ~ George Hubbs

Taking a Look at Other Blogs

There are some really interesting blogs out there. One in particular that I like is Joey's. He has both the posts that are assigned as well as topics that he has written about. The quality of the work is great and it keeps you entertained. Another blog I like is Miles' blog. He constructs his entries with fresh topics. Also, you can count on getting a good laugh every once in a while.

Stop and Smell the Roses

"Don 't hurry. Don't worry. You're only here for a short visit. So don't forget to stop and smell the roses." Walter Hagen
Hagen put it perfectly. We don't need to hurry, life is short, so smell the roses. Often times we get so busy and caught up in our lives that we forget to pause for a moment. Whether it is because of school, work, or just being busy, don't forget to smell the roses.