Taming of The Shrew Blog Post

In the Shakespearean play "taming of the Shrew". The main part of the play, rather than being the play, is inside of the play itself. It starts with a Drunkard [Christopher Sly], is fooled into thinking that he is a lord. There, he and his "wife" [a paige in disguise] watch the play. The Play inside of the play, is the main "play" itself. What would be the significance of this "play within a play"? to put it simply , i would give a very different feel to the way its viewed. The spectators would view the spectators watching the play. This would make the major play almost unrealistic, in the fact that we know its a play [when we watch the play].

Some may wonder what the "shrew" is in this play. Is it your everyday furry woodland rodent? or is there a different meaning to this, maybe something symbolic? in the story it is obvious that there is. Katerina in the play is very rude and short tempered. thus she is considered a "shrew", which can be a symbol for her behaviour. This is significant to the play because the main theme of the play is "taming of the shrew" hence the title. Without kate being a "shrew", the play would lose itself in terms of story, comedic value, and title.

From the beginning until the end, there is a large amount of character development in the main characters. Most obvious ones being that the sisters get married, Bianca is considered "less obedient" then her sister, and Kate finally gets tamed. If you read the story, then its obvious that the sisters get married, and as Bapista had wished, Kate being married first. Bianca, whom in the beginning is introduced as a "fair and kind maiden of unparalleled beauty". is later the same, fair and kind, but is considered less tamed than kate, a switch from the beginning. This leads to the final most important change, where Kate finally gets "tamed." When she is first introduced, she is rude, short tempered, and is "mildly" disrespectful. Nearing the end, through Petrucio's dubious methods, she becomes calm, courteous, and respectful. This can be supported by the large monologue she delivers at the end.
  Fie, fie! unknit that threatening unkind brow, 
    And dart not scornful glances from those eyes, 
    To wound thy lord, thy king, thy governor: 
    It blots thy beauty as frosts do bite the meads, 
    Confounds thy fame as whirlwinds shake fair buds, 
    And in no sense is meet or amiable. 
    A woman moved is like a fountain troubled, 
    Muddy, ill-seeming, thick, bereft of beauty; 
    And while it is so, none so dry or thirsty 
    Will deign to sip or touch one drop of it. 
    Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper, 
    Thy head, thy sovereign; one that cares for thee, 
    And for thy maintenance commits his body 
    To painful labour both by sea and land, 
    To watch the night in storms, the day in cold, 
    Whilst thou liest warm at home, secure and safe; 
    And craves no other tribute at thy hands 
    But love, fair looks and true obedience; 
    Too little payment for so great a debt. 
    Such duty as the subject owes the prince 
    Even such a woman oweth to her husband; 
    And when she is froward, peevish, sullen, sour, 
    And not obedient to his honest will, 
    What is she but a foul contending rebel 
    And graceless traitor to her loving lord? 
    I am ashamed that women are so simple 
    To offer war where they should kneel for peace; 
    Or seek for rule, supremacy and sway, 
    When they are bound to serve, love and obey. 
    Why are our bodies soft and weak and smooth, 
    Unapt to toil and trouble in the world, 
    But that our soft conditions and our hearts 
    Should well agree with our external parts? 
    Come, come, you froward and unable worms! 
    My mind hath been as big as one of yours, 
    My heart as great, my reason haply more, 
    To bandy word for word and frown for frown; 
    But now I see our lances are but straws, 
    Our strength as weak, our weakness past compare, 
    That seeming to be most which we indeed least are. 
    Then vail your stomachs, for it is no boot, 
    And place your hands below your husband's foot: 
    In token of which duty, if he please, 
    My hand is ready; may it do him ease. 


The monologue above is delivered by Kate, showing that she has finally been tamed.

To Kill a Mockingbird Chapters 12-20

The Paragraphs below will outline the themes in the story, the symbolism present in the chapters outlined.

In the chapters the main theme that is present throughout is basically “courage to stand up and help those who are being wrongfully discriminated against.” Because in the later chapters in 12-20, it focuses on the trial of Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping a white woman. The theme applies due to the fact that Atticus Finch is the man who has the “courage to stand up”, and it is prevalent to the reader that Tom Robinson is clearly Innocent of all wrong doing, because in chapter 18 where Atticus is questioning the young woman, it is shown that she is lying through the questions that Atticus asks and how he questions her. It is revealed that her father, the town drunk is abusive, and that the woman whom had no friends, and had a bad attitude accused the man, Tom Robinson of rape, when he physically could not do it if her story was accurate [due to his hand being cut off/severely mutilated]. Also Later Tom Robinson also describes what feels like the true story.

“I said come here, nigger, and bust up this chiffarobe for me, I gotta nickel for

you. He coulda done it easy enough, he could. So he come in the yard an‘ I went

in the house to get him the nickel and I turned around an ’fore I knew it he was on

me. Just run up behind me, he did. He got me round the neck, cussin‘ me an’

sayin‘ dirt—I fought’n’hollered, but he had me round the neck. He hit me agin

an‘ agin—”

-Chapter 18 pg.241

This Excerpt shows Mayella’s story which is not possible, due to the fact that she states that he held her down while hitting her again and again, impossible due to Tom Robinson’s Hand Being Lost.

The Major symbol throughout the whole Story, the mockingbird, is strongly present here as well. In the chapters outlined, the mocking bird which is known as a symbol of innocence is Tom Robinson, whom was wrongfully accused of rape against a white woman. The title which also serves as the theme “enhancer”, which is “to kill a mockingbird”, which literally means to kill an innocent being whom like the mocking bird “worked as hard as it could.” In the paragraph above it states how he is innocent. This also symbolizes the “evil” that resides in the white community at that time as it is considered a “sin to kill a mockingbird…”.

 

The image above is again NOT MY IMAGE it is from

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/41/Leibowitz%2C_Samuel_%26_Scottsboro_Boys_1932.jpg

I picked this picture which could be considered an Esoteric Meaning, considering the Tom Robinson Trial could very well be based on the Scottsboro boys, whom were wrongfully convicted of raping white women.

To Kill a MockingBird Chapters 9-11

For Chapters 9-11 on to kill a mockingbird I will be analyzing the character development and symbolism in the chapters.

There is a significant development/change in character especially in terms of change in attitude and point of view. As in chapter 9 when the house burns down, and scout gets covered in that blanket by boo Radley to keep her warm, it is revealed that he is a good character after all, or later where the man Tom Robinson gets accused of rape, and Atticus defends him and when Atticus shoots the rabid dog, also puts up a different view of Atticus then we originally had. In chapters 10-11 where the finch family visit finch’s landing and around town it develops the minor characters as racist, vile people, changing from the original good people. Scout herself also has some significant change in character, as she witnesses the other people of the town’s hatred against Atticus and his family for protecting a black man.

Symbolism is also heavily presented in the chapters, such as Atticus’ courage when he is asked to shoot that dog, symbolizes the town’s dependence on him to take care of those things and themselves [the hatred they present towards things]. Another would be when Scout commends Atticus’ masculine qualities, which symbolizes what she learns about courage. Finally the most important symbols presented in these chapters are Mrs. Dubose’s white camellias, because they also represent innocence as they’re white, considered to be a pure color, when Jem destroys them represents the same thing as killing a mockingbird. And when Mrs. Dubose gives Jem her posthumous gift of the white Camilla symbolizes the purity that Atticus wants in everyone, and the rejection of the gift by Jem symbolizes his inability to see purity.

 

AGAIN NOT MY IMAGE

http://www.statesymbolsusa.org/IMAGES/Alabama/camellia-flower-white.jpg

The picture above shows a white Camilla, I picked it because there is a bit involving it on chapter 11. This is a symbolic representation of chapter 11, and in the story itself it is also a symbolic representation [for more information refer to paragraph above.

To Kill a Mockingbird first Post

In this first Paragraph I will be writing about important quotes and the meaning they hold. The First and in my opinion the most important for describing setting would be the one on page 6 [2^nd paragraph], the quote goes on to describe the hot and slow environment of Maycomb. It ends with the quote “…recently maycomb was told to fear nothing but fear it self.” This though it may not look significant states the time the story could’ve taken place in, as this was originally said by Franklin D. Roosevelt in his first inaugural address. He said

 “So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself -- nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.” By looking into the address, it could mean that he was referring to the great depression, finally since the time that this was addressed was in 1933 it would most likely be in that time.

This Second Paragraph will state the ideas conveyed in the first 8 chapters, there were a lot of ideas but some of the most important ones were; school life back in the 30’s was strict, there was a large divide between social classes, and the final being black people were largely discriminated against during the 30’s and the depression. School life during the 30s was strict as the general society around that time was strict in the way it viewed race, class, and sex. The large divide between the class was made clear when comparing 3 families, and their kids who were at school [Atticus Finchà Cunninghamà Yule], where Atticus’ family was well fed and clean, Cunningham’s family was poor and had to borrow from Atticus, and Yule being most poor being unable to afford to stay clean. And by looking at the kids at school [no black kids distinguished] and the “helpers” that the finch family had [who was black], we could say that slavery was still going on in the south, and that African-American kids weren’t allowed to go to school.

AGAIN NOT MY IMAGE

http://www.seattlepi.com/dayart/20070914/450_mockingbird.jpg

Another literal meaning was conveyed in the image, as it shows a dead mockingbird. I chose this because this is a symbolic meaning also as later in the book something happens with boo and [ANOTHER BLACK MAN], whereas both are peaceful and innocent just like a mockingbird, killing it would be bad.

Engrish 10-The Loons (So Much Homework from other courses)

Significant amounts of Symbolism is used in the story itself, the title itself being a big indicator of the plight of Métis, and smaller things within the story which also help the main symbolism used. The Main symbol used to symbolize generally the whole story is of the loons, as in the story the loons live peacefully, but as time goes on and western civilization encroaches in on their habitat they are driven out, just like the Métis and the red river and other settlements. Another symbol  that is used to support that would be Piquette herself, as she is unhappy all the time, and when she finds some happiness she ends up dying, another symbol of the metis (she was also a metis, this shouldn’t be confused with an allegory). So generally, the Métis story is symbolized by things that play an important part in this story.

This Paragraph will explore the mood of the story and its characters. By reading the story it seems that  the way its written makes it seem apathetic, it progress from that into a darker mood near the end, and in the end a sort of a sadder mood. The mood of the characters can be divided into the main characters also, Piquette seems to have a apathetic, uncaring, yet sad mood throughout the story. Vanessa on the other hand seemed to have the opposite personality/mood in the story, warm, caring, and upbeat, shown when she tried to connect with Piquette on many occasions. 

http://image38.webshots.com/38/5/23/45/2388523450075656480EDodnw_ph.jpg

NOT MY IMAGE

This picture shows a loon in the water, I picked this image to symbolize the Story "The Loons" because of the loon being chosen as the main symbol for the story. This would be considered a literal representation, as loons tend to be shy and disappear just like in the story.[not the shy part, the disappearing part]

Herro

Herro good people of the interwebs, as the title of this blog suggests i am part of a grade 10 english class. Things that i would like to Achieve from this specific class would be the ability to write essays and other pieces of writing [ stories, letters etc]. My general hobbies include sleeping, chess, and reading (surprisingly), Extracurricular activities that i have participated or are currently participating in includes but is not limited to, Taekwondo, soccer, rock climbing, mountain biking, and experimenting [with cooking!]. I Personally Like English because of its ability to express ideas fluently across a wide variety of people [whom speak english], i don't like it in the terms of my own lack of skills to think of ideas to express and handwriting. Two goals which i hope to achieve in this term would be to get a mark higher than 85% as the final grade, to further improve my english skills, and finally to organize and utilize my time more efficiently so i wont do poorly further courses.