Madness in the Method

Choose one set of interpretive questions and answer them. You get no credit for copying others’ answers. Good luck!

MACBETH: Some Interpretative Questions

• What are the Weird Sisters?
What do they want? What is their dramatic function in the play? Are they real or just in Macbeth’s mind?

• Who is Macbeth?
- a noble statesman?
- a brave warrior with hubris?
- a psychopath?
- a weak man led by the ambition of his wife?

• What is Macbeth’s relationship with his wife?
Have they talked before about ruling Scotland?
Would Macbeth have killed Duncan without her?
Which is the stronger of the two?

• What kind of a king is Duncan?
Is he a tough soldier or a kindly father-figure?
What is the state of Scotland at the start of the play?

• Who is Banquo?
Is he ambitious?
What is his relationship with Macbeth?
What is his ghost? A revenging spirit – or Macbeth’s imagination? .

• What is the significance of children in the play?

• Who are Malcolm and Donalbain? What kind of future does Scotland have under Malcolm?

• Who is Macduff?
Is he brave and loyal or cowardly deserting his family?
Why does he defeat Macbeth rather than Malcolm?

• What is Macbeth’s journey though the play?
What does he feel when he speaks: ‘Tomorrow and tomorrow . . .’
What is Lady M’s journey? Compare the two.

Today I asked you guys to cast your vote for my former student, Melinda Toole – Miss Alabama, to win the Miss Congeniality award in the Miss America pageant.  Please take some time (today only) to go to http://www.cmt.com/shows/events/miss_america/2007/miss_congeniality/ and vote. 

Since everytime I turn around there are awards shows on the television promoting movie and TV actors, I thought we would pay tribute to the characters that we have studied thus far.  Choose 4 of the following categories and “vote” for a character that we have studied this year to win that award. Be sure to justify your reasoning with a sentence or two to back up your choice.

• Best Actress
• Best Actor
• Best Supporting Actress
• Best Supporting Actor
• Best On-Screen (in-text) Fight
• Best Line
• Best Villian
• Best Best Overall Screenplay (story)

Many of you are noticing those famous words on your thesis sheets… “So what?”.  This is the question that I must ask when evaluating whether you thesis takes a stand or sets out to prove something.  Here are examples of some of the directions that I have seen today which prompted me to ask the question:

… to further the plot…  Isnt’ the plot going to ‘further’ itself anyway?

… makes it an influential work…  Is that arguable?  Influentual to whom and why?

… is expressed…  Can you prove the “to be” verb of “is”?  Is that up for argument? 

Direction is the toughest part of a thesis, but once you have a clear one, the analysis is easier.  Do you have any other thoughts on what would make direction easier to write?

…

This is the place for research paper tips.  Offer three good tips on research in general or research on your topic.  Include internet advanced search tips, text searches, best books on reserve, organization tips, etc.  Good luck!

Have you taken a stab at writing a working thesis yet?  Use this post to comment on your process.  Write your topic and your working thesis.  Ask questions of other readers and get some feedback regarding your points and direction.  Remember SUBJECT + DIRECTION + THREE REASONS= THESIS.

Lady Macbeth has devised a plan that should secure the title of King for Macbeth.  What do you think are some loopholes in the plan?  Does this remind you of any other book or movie plan?  Why do you think Macbeth is so easily persuaded?  Also, add your thoughts on their relationship so far.

Check out this list of female villains. Post your thoughts on Lady Macbeth as we meet her and learn how her mind works.

The top five stage murderesses

1. Lady Macbeth

2.Medea

Another byword for female villainy, bunny-boiler and bad mother, Medea has come to represent all that is monstrous in women. She is also a witch, which makes men doubly fear her. Crimes include fratricide, infanticide and murdering her ex-husband’s fiancee (with a poisoned dress).

But there is a good argument that Medea is more sinned against than sinning. She gives up everything for Jason (who proves treacherous) and is a vilified refugee in a strange country; even killing her own children can be interpreted as a desperate act of misguided protection. Her real crime? Getting away scot-free.

3.Goneril

Just plain nasty. And my, what a temper – not a nice female trait. The moment she gets her share of daddy Lear’s kingdom, she starts humiliating the old fool. Driven by rage and ambition, she sets out to cuckold and murder her husband.

When her equally unpleasant sister, Regan, threatens her, Goneril uncorks the poison. Eventually, she kills herself out of sheer pique, which is just as well – otherwise, she might have spontaneously combusted.

4.Lulu

The anti-heroine of Wedekind’s plays Earth Spirit and Pandora’s Box, sexy, amoral Lulu leaves death and destruction in her wake. She is one of the 20th century’s most potent myths and male fantasies – the eternal whore, the blank screen on which men can project fantasies about sex and death. She is always available.

In fact, Lulu is a woman who behaves just like the worst of men: a female Don Juan who loves them and leaves them – stone cold dead in the case of three husbands. Her crime? She just doesn’t care. Her punishment? She is butchered by Jack the Ripper. So that’s all right, then.

5.Salomé

Oscar Wilde’s heroine is a murderous nymphet, a sulky teenage temptress. Her crime is that she knows her own power too well and uses it – in the dance of the seven veils – to manipulate Herod, the stepfather who lusts after her, for her own petty revenge. Who can blame her?

She is a girl flexing her muscles and enjoying it. Like Lulu, she melds sex and death so perfectly that she has taken on mythic status – when her only real crime is to be a stroppy teenager, piqued because she feels she has been ignored.

Gardner, Lyn. “Sympathy for the She-Devils”. The Guardian [United Kingdom]. 8 Nov. 2006: Arts.Guardian.com.uk 18 Jan. 2007

We are finishing Act 1, and you can see how twisted our story is going to get.  There are many characters and subplots that will compose the 5 acts of this work.  Identify something that has happened in Act 1 that has made you think, peaked your curiousity, or that is memorable.  Explain the event and the characters involved.  Once an event has been mentioned, nobody else can use that one!  Look, it’s our own mini notes section on Act 1…

Go to the class wikispace and login.  (see link and procedures in previous post)

Click “Topic Sign Up”

Choose your class.

Fill in the table beside your name.  Be as specific or as general as you need to be for now.  The table will grow with you, so you can type several lines if needed. 

Happy Topic Hunting!!!

Go to the class wikispace and sign in.  Use the page set aside for Links to add your links that correspond to your topic.  Share!  We can all benefit from your work.  You can include preliminary research links as well as source links that you know pass the Web Site Evaluation test.  Please put the link under the correct heading and PLEASE leave a brief description of the site.  There is nothing worse than a list of random URL’s that nobody understands.  Thanks!

Site:  http://caldwell.wikispaces.com/Links

You created your login and password to sign in (it should be first name, last initial, period number… but who knows!)