Punctuating Exercise

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, 
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

Psychologist Report

Date:05/12/13
Name of patient:Lady Jane Macbeth
Age:41
Family situation: Spouse: Mr P.Macbeth
                       Children: N/A

Report: Patient presents as experiencing symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. Reports of sleepwalking and murmuring, as well as difficulty of sleep. Patient regularly experiences periods of anxiety. Symptoms include violently rubbing hands together and talking to herself. Patient should undergo a minimum of 9 weeks of treatment, attending two appointments per week. Patient will also receive antidepressants for at least the first 5 weeks of treatment. Patient will be required to remain in care for a minimum of 3 weeks after the treatment begins.

Consultant psychologist's signature: Dr H.Bull

Macbeth's Soliloquy Poem

Murder!

Hear not the bloody instrument of thy wicked dreams,

Take but the sensible steps,

To see the ravishing present, not the horror of thy creation

Thou still moves,

Like a sentinel, towards the dagger of thy vision, to clutch it,

But the brain is oppressed

with the cold heat of thy wither’d strides

He lives,

But his eyes are curtain’d in his sleep, not by nature,

And his breath is made dead  

By thy fatal vision, and thy blade of witchcraft

Art thou a wolf of abuse, in the dungeon?

That howls at the heat of this business that fools thy stealthy mind,

Or art thou the hand of nature?

That informs thy other senses of no such business

Continuation of Macbeth's Response

MACBETH:
To-morrow, as he purposes.

My dearest, I but question our means of introversion

The very seed of which shall grow,

Into something bigger than ourselves.

Duncan hath honoured my endeavours

Hence, I shall persist with my undying loyalty

We must purge our souls of such evil conceptions

And end these proceedings hereafter.

The king shall go as he intends.

Horoscopes

MACBETH
Star Sign: CAPRICORN

Prediction: You will have an interesting encounter, which will give you a new view on life. Your position on the ladder of importance will change. Confusion will arise in your mind and you will be presented with a choice. Sometimes allowing yourself to be persuaded can result with a desired outcome. But remember, you can't always have everything you want.


BANQUO
Star Sign: PICES

Prediction: Stay alert, you will receive some exciting news about someone close to you. You don't like to take too many risks and prefer to play things safe. You should not act upon everything you hear. Remember not to get bogged down in the future too much and focus on the present. But watch out, someone you know will be foolish; do not follow in their footsteps.

LADY MACBETH
Star Sign: SCORPIO

Prediction: A loved one will share a compelling report of recent events, which will intrigue you. You will do what you must to satisfy your desires, regardless of who it affects. You are purposeful and expect loyalty from the people closest to you, but do not always return it. Being in charge makes you feel powerful and you don't like it when people change their minds and doubt their promises. You determination is exemplary, however  only when you use it for the right purposes.

What brings out the power of the opening scene in each image?

Water Words

What aspects of 'The Crucible' can you analyse?

Structure

staging / setting / costume / stage directions / genre / plot development / pace /suspense / emotion / melodrama / tension...

Character

relationships / development / complexity / strengths and weaknesses / language use...

Historical background

Communism / McCarthyism / Salem...

Themes

power / women / status / conscience / loyalty / identity / change / fear / 

envy / revenge / reputation / hysteria / religious intolerance...

Language

stage directions / speech / biblical / Latin / education / power...

Imagery and symbolism

heat and fire / cold / light / crucible / birds / law...

Thoughts about Salem Residents

Negative Qualities  <------------------------------Both-------------------------------> Positive Qualities

1. believed others corrupt                      1. forefathers were Puritans               1. hard working

                                                               persecuted in England                    2. strict morals

2. no holidays - only occasional              2. close to wilderness                         3. disciplined

    celebrations                                                                                             4. dedicated

3. plenty who did not conform                                                                        5. communal                             

4. difficult conditions: hard                                                                              

    winters, unfertile soil

5. minded each other's business

6. suspicious

7. told on each other to

    magistrates

8. dangers of starting again in the new 

    world were fading and frustrations 

    and envy emerging

9. close to wilderness

10. afraid of heathens who they thought

     were devilish

11. parochial

12. missionaries who failed to convert 

      native Americans

13. resistant

14. long suffering

15. theocratic - combined state and

      religion

16. repressed

17. long held hatreds of neighbours

18. jealousy

19. Europeans considered US 
     missionaries a barbaric frontierand a 
     sect of fanatics

Creative Writing Piece

"No."

It's funny to think that this one single, simplistic word, that I had uttered no less than thousands of times throughout my life, was to determine my fate. 

I could tell that they didn't believe me. No one did. They just stared at me like predators about to pounce on helpless prey. What was I to do? I was telling the truth, or at least I thought I was. This accusation had begun to play tricks on my mind and I couldn't help but wonder if it might possibly be true......

But no. It couldn't be. I wasn't what they said I was. I knew I wasn't one of 'THEM'. 

As countless thoughts hurtled through my head, I barely realised the two men approaching. They grabbed me by my arms and tugged me up. 

'I'm innocent' I uttered, unheard. How could I prove myself? Here was the problem; I couldn't. 

They were leading me towards the door now. I turned my head to see that not one eye in the crowd had moved. They were all still looking, their icy glares piercing through me, judging me, hating me. 

"Liar!" I could hear them screaming with their eyes. "Dirty Liar!" It hurt to see that the people I once knew and loved as friends had deserted me, distrusting me to the point of disgust. 

Along the dim corridor, my each struggling footstep echoing in the deafening silence, bringing back memories of my first day here.  They thrust me into the cell in the same way they did the first time; shamelessly, as if I were Saton himself. 

What was happening to Salem? It was as if some paranoia had gripped us in its fingers so firmly that we’d lost all sense of compassion. With friend turning on friend, and constant stories of misconceived identity weaving in and out of neighbourhoods, it wasn’t entirely surprising that no one knew what to believe anymore. And yet no one was willing to risk ignoring these rumours, knowing somewhere in the back of their minds that it all could well be true.

I can’t sleep knowing that this could be my last night. I think of all the things I have accomplished in my life. All the things I still want to accomplish. I think of my mother, the little woman with the tired face; yet still so incredibly loving. And my father, who I try so hard to remember but never can. All I know of him is a pocket-sized sketch my mother would always carry with her. She found the subject of him so very hard to talk about and so we simply didn’t.

As morning dawns, the gloomy feeling all around sends a shiver through me. Will this be my last…..last ever………..

The paired footsteps sound along the corridor, causing my heart rate to gain speed. Without a word, the door to my cell is thrust open and I stand up immediately. They enter and one of them goes behind me and chains my hands together.

This is it.

They lead me along the corridor, through the doorway, down the steps and into the broad daylight. I can see the rope with the loop at the end, awaiting me.

What more could I have done? All I can think about is something my mother said to me when I was young. It was Christmas and she had had a little too much to drink, just like every year. Strange that I would think of it now. ‘When your life flashes before your eyes, make sure you have plenty to watch” she had said. The mood was jolly when she said that but right now I couldn’t think of a less ‘jolly’ situation. Would I have plenty to watch? I myself didn’t know.

My feet carry me forward, drawing me nearer to my final destination.

I am now in front of the rope, cherishing my last minutes of life. I knew I was still hoping for a miracle but my time was running out. I couldn’t wait forever.

I am not a witch. The words swam through my heard faster and faster, blocking out my other thoughts. I am not a witch. I am not a witch. I am not a witch. I am not a witch. I couldn’t contain it any longer. It was bubbling so violently inside me that I had to release it.

“ I AM NOT A WITCH!! I’M INNOCENT!!”

Silence. Only the morning bird found it’s voice to reply.

My First Thoughts About Tragedy

My first thoughts about tragedy are that it is a broad subject and can be found in many forms. I feel that tragedy can be broken down into three categories; Media, Emotions and Misfortune.

MEDIA
In media, tragedy features in areas such as Greek Theatre and in famous playwrights work such as Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet or King Lear. Tragedy was first invented in Greek Theatre, using masks to portray emotions and tragedy was quite prominent throughout Shakespeare's work; he wrote 10 in total, quite a few of which are (very!) famous. Also, books and films can be based around/have the theme of tragedy, however it can be difficult to put such an powerful and sensitive subject into words/ film.

EMOTION
Tragedy, whether it is staged (theatre, filmography etc.) or real-life can cause us to feel a wide range of melancholic emotions and we can not only feel but show these emotions through actions such as crying. There are far to many to name but some examples of emotions that tragedy could evoke are despair, depression, pain, fear, hopelessness and anguish. Additionally, if we watch someone suffer due to tragedy, it can make us feel empathetic towards the subjects of the tragedy and lucky that such things are not happening to us.


Tragedy can also allow us to feel emotions such as universal understanding. This means that we can relate to what others are feeling and feel sympathetic towards them.

MISFORTUNE
I classify misfortune as real life events that can be called tragic. I feel that natural disasters, such as hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes etc. , happenings such as 9/11 or the attack on pearl harbour, personal disasters such as death of someone close or illness (of someone close or yourself) and world wide issues such as war, poverty, crime (eg. murder, theft etc.), discrimination etc. can all be classified as misfortune. Misfortune means unfortunate occurrences and I feel all the examples I have given above fall into that category.

In conclusion, I feel that tragedy is quite prominent in the world today and can often be found around us. Almost all people experience tragedy some time throughout their lives, whether it be something personal or through some style of media, and this experience comes with emotions attached.

5 Images to Represent Tragedy

As the buildings go up in flames, so does all hope and happiness.

Not everyone can portray tragedy through words.

The tears roll, one by one, each only able to express just one small part of all the emotions inside.

The vast waves cover everything like a blanket of pain and despair.

The spotlight falls on the tragic mask, which lies alone, rejected.

Word Frequency in the Crucible

What can we deduce about the play from the Wordle?

There are quite a few ideas about the Crucible that we can deduce from this wordle. 

Firstly, we can see that the names of characters are quite frequent throughout the wordle. This is clear through the fact that many, if not most of the larger words, such as Proctor, Hale or Danforth are clearly (sur)names. Also, Proctor is the largest word on the wordle,meaning that it is the most frequent word throughout the play. This implies that Proctor is the protagonist in the Crucible, implicating that he features regularly throughout the play.

In this wordle, male characters are addressed by their surnames, whereas female character's are called by their first names. For, example, surname's such as Proctor, Danforth and Hale are all the last names of men and names such as Abigail, Mary and Elizabeth are all first names of females. From this we can tell that men were classed higher in society and were more respected and to show this, they would be called by their last names. 

 The Crucible seems to have a theme related to religion. This is demonstrated by words such as devil, church, pray and god featuring in the wordle. This leads us to think that Salem, at the time in which the play is set, was a very religious society, and it was part of people's nature to be religious and engage in religious activities.

We can also say that this play is very accusative. In a classmates blog, the word 'you' came up as one of the most used words, and using our background knowledge of the storyline behind this Crucible, we know what context 'you' is likely to be used in. Also, words such as confess and judge support this, seeing as they relate to accusative situations.

Witches