Shakespeare's Othello

Hi ladies,


Off to the right you'll notice a new addition has been made; the Tragic Theory section.  This will mostly comprise ancient Greek traditions and writing conventions for the various elements found in a stage tragedy.

Also, this is separate from the Othello section.  This section will have critical commentary and relevant contextual information, such as links that tell us what on earth a Jacobean era is.

If you find any further links that you felt were of particular value, please email them to me or respond to this post; I'll have a look and hopefully add them to the list for everyone else to use too!

Enjoy your night,


- T. Marcus

In-class essay: Emma

Compare and contrast the roles and characterisation of Jane Fairfax and Mrs. Elton.

First class:

• Planning and at least first page done in-class.
• Written work will be left with teacher at end of class.
• Planning goes home with you.

At home tonight:

• Use notes and online resources to develop planning, adjusting or completely changing as necessary.
• Put newly adjusted planning in your folder, ready for tomorrow!

Tomorrow's class:

• Use new plan to edit and continue / re-write (as necessary) your essay into completed form.
• Hand-in at end of class.

Augustan vs Romantic eras

Hi ladies,

Study.com has an AMAZING looking sum-up vid here - the problem is, you can't watch ALL of it unless you sign up to be a member!  (Which I did not.  Great resource, but look at how much they charge!  The vultures...)

Anyway.

Watch as much of that vid as it will allow, then come back to this post.

So there's actually quite a lot of literature on these two subjects, and honestly there's no real substitute for doing your own research.

That said, this link will tell you that Romanticism was a huge shift in literary thinking in that they began to value the imagination of writers, believing that truth could be discovered through a deep, thoughtful focus on emotional expression rather than intelligent reasoning.

So why is this revolutionary?

The Augustans believed that we should rely heavily on reasoning.  They considered themselves enlightened, spending their literary energies seeking harmony and unity.  They were often pre-occupied with nature / pastoral themes, and had a tendency to imitate the classics such as Homer, Virgil, and others.  This is a good reference link, yet still doesn't have a lot of depth.  Having looked up quite a few different sources, the best I can tell is that the Augustan period had very few common characteristics by which to define its elements of literature.  This is helpful in a way.  The differences aren't stylistic, they are ideological.

Look at the two bulletpoints below.  It seems to me that these are the fundamental viewpoint from which all the other characteristics grew.

• Neoclassicists (those in the generally "Augustan" age) believed man was naturally flawed.
• Romanticists believed man was naturally good.

The most easily accessible summary of their contrasting thoughts goes like this, in terms of the differing beliefs of each era:

Augustan age

• ·      literature reflected society
• ·      classical themes, influences
• ·      desire for order and balance in measure;
• ·      intellect prevailed
• ·      relies on reason and fact, not speculation
• ·      trying to frame rules of writing

Romantic age

• ·      literature ‘reformed’ society (preface, Shelley’s ”Prometheus Unbound”)
• ·      moving away from the classical, rediscovery of the local
• ·      the indefinite and boundless
• ·      emotion and imagination prevailed
• ·      desires and dreams, the visionary, mystical
• ·   rejecting the rules of poetic diction (W. Wordsworth’s preface to the 2nd edition of ”Lyrical Ballads”)

(I found the list here.)

Further interesting thoughts will be in another tab I've setup on the right.

- T. Marcus

Emma - further links

Hi ladies,


I was looking for more information on Emma and marriage / relationships and found two more links.

This one is really intelligent in content and abysmal in its visual aesthetic; whoever put it online did so with zero forethought into making it accessible for web viewing.  I'm afraid I don't know the author of the writing, so you'll only be able to use it for consideration rather than quoting purposes.

"Marriage and the Marketplace" is similarly intelligent and compares / contrasts Emma to another of Austen's works called Mansfield Park.  Additionally, it's greatly superior in its web layout.

Enjoy.


- T. Marcus

Emma question #4

Hi ladies-


We'll talk about the due date, but let's set a tentative Thursday for this one.

"Seldom, very seldom does complete truth belong to any human disclosure; seldom can it happen that something is not a little disguised, or a little mistaken; but where, as in this case, though the conduct is mistaken, the feelings are not, it may not be very material."
- Chapter 49

How far and in what ways do you agree with this comment from Jane Austen's Emma?


- T. Marcus