Masterpiece Academy Essay

Montaigne ended his essay "Of The Education of Children" this way:

To return to my subject, there is nothing like alluring the appetite and affections; otherwise you make nothing but so many asses laden with books; by dint of the lash, you give them their pocketful of learning to keep; whereas, to do well you should not only lodge it with them, but make them espouse it. (1580)

The word espouse originally meant "to marry" and took on connotations like "embrace," "love," and "advocate."  Have you espoused learning?  Explain your growth in this course via a narrative that portrays you as the dynamic protagonist in your own bildungsroman.  Please include the following elements.

ELEMENT 1: You have been treated as colleagues and you have been given a great deal of choice in this course; this represents a high level of trust.  Did you and the others deserve it?  Earn it?  Honor it? 

ELEMENT 2: Fiction has been called "the lie that tells the truth."  Which works, authors, or characters rang true enough to make you feel like they described parts of you and/or your journey? (Please mention at least three.  It makes them sad when we forget them.)

ELEMENT 3: Have you re/connected with a passion that drives you?  If so, how will you continue your learning?  If not, how will you proceed?

ELEMENT 4: [Something about literature or this course that made you laugh out loud.]

ELEMENT 5: [A unifying theme that runs through a minimum of five (5) presentations; a quality of the content, or the speakers, or their communication techniques that strikes you as something important that we have in common.]  Please illustrate/support your point with specific examples from the presentations.

ELEMENT 6: Evaluate whether you completed the hero's journey.  Are you a hero?  To what extent did you respond to the call of adventure?  Did you find a mentor, conquer a challenge, and return enlightened?

ELEMENT 7: For old time's sake, sneak in a literary technique.  Don't make a big deal out of it.  I'll know it's there

   I could write an essay, but that would not accurately depict the course of the year in this class. I am completely remixing this essay, by using my blog as my outlet. Through every post and picture you will find everything you need to know about this class and my assignments.

Macbeth Act V Notes

• Lady Macbeth has become sick from her guilt. Making her go insane.
• Macduff and Malcolm are coming towards Macbeth's kingdom.
• A cry is heard and Lady Macbeth has died.
• Young Siward tries to kill Macbeth
• Macbeth and Macduff fight
• Ross delivers the news to Siward that Siward's one was killed during battle
• Macduff walks in with Macbeth's head. Macbeth is dead.

Macbeth Notes

Scene 2

• Lady Macbeth doesn't want Macbeth to feel sorry or anything weak.

• Macbeth is starting to feel guilty. The audience has a strong notion on the nature of good and bad.

• Glamis is the last title Macbeth earned rightly.

• Forgot to leave the dagger in the drunk guards hands.

• Lady Macbeth didn't want to kill the king because he reminds her of her father, but she encourages Macbeth too.

• Lady Macbeth says Macbeth is not constant, but riding the waves of adrenalin. 

• Shakespeare uses the knocking as a distraction, or sense of guilt. Inescapable reality.

• The Gorgon is like looking at Medusa, it is paralyzing.

• Now that Duncan is dead, everything is going crazy. The birds are prey, the horses are eating each other. Everything in nature is being disrupted.

Act 3

• Malcom and Donalbin left to find safety and figure things out.

• Don't know why Duncan's sons don't take his place as king.

• Murder happened at night, in the morning everything was discovered.

• References Brutus and Caesar. 

What About My Masterpiece?

Shakespeare had all day every to write but my colleagues and I have to work with ours in between our other endeavors. Breanna, Eli and I have been watching movies and discussing how they really appear. We will begin putting more posts to our movie blog soon!

Love is Blind

Macbeth sees Lady Macbeth differently then how the audience sees Lady Macbeth. He listens to her and takes in her words even though they sound like madness to us. Lady Macbeth tells him to look cool and calm on the outside, but on the inside to continue to be evil and plot the kings murder. I guess you could say love is truly blind and Macbeth might as well have been born without eyes.

Literature Analysis

1.The Great Gatsby is focused around Nick Carraway, a young man from Minnesota, who moves to New York in the summer of 1922. He finds himself in West Egg, an area that is populated by the rich. Nick Carraway's neighbor is Jay Gatsby, a rich, highly mysterious man, who throws lavish over the top parties every weekend. Nick gets invited to one of Gatsby's parties, and through Nick's newfound love interest, Jordan, Nick is able to learn a bit about Gatsby. He founds out Gatsby is madly in love with a woman named Daisy, who he has not spoken to in years. Daisy happens to be Nick's cousin and married to a man name Tom. Regardless of this marriage, Gatsby and Daisy start a love affair. Things turn awry when Tom confronts Gatsby. This confrontation leads to a distressed Daisy taking Gatsby's car and driving off. In the midst of all this chaos Daisy ends up hitting and killing a woman named Myrtle. Myrtle's husband thinking Gatsby was driving the car ends up shooting Gatsby and killing him. Nick throws a funeral for Gatsby where there is little attendance. Nick then ends up cutting off all relationships he has in West Egg and returns to the Midwest.

Resource of the Day

My resource of the day is from Sarah Stevens. I was looking for a site were I could put Breanna and my project information and research. Sarah went through the same dilemma and gave me her words of wisdom. She went through many programs where you had to pay for having the site or started out free but then would charge. We then decided to end with blogger to make it easy and it is a format that Breanna and I are familiar with. So there you have it. Thanks Sarah!