UNIT 4:
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The Consequences of Our Ethics and Morality — DATES: April 28, 2014—June 13, 2014 (35 Days)
— GENRE(S): Modern Drama / Shakespearean Drama — CURRICULAR OBJECTIVES: Critical / Analytical Response to Literary Text — TEXTS: The Crucible, “Half-Hanged Mary,” Macbeth |
MAJOR ASSESSMENTS (See Associated CharT FOR BLOCK A or BLOCk C)
13. "SHAKESPEARE IS EVERYWHERE" PRESENTATION
12. THE CRUCIBLE DEBATE
3. CARTLT #2: THE CRUCIBLE
6. PRT #3: MACBETH (CPU)
10. MACBETH EXAM
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DUE: April 28, 2014
DEADDATE: May 15, 2014 DUE: May 9, 2014
DEADDATE: April 28, 2014 DUE: May 13, 2014
DEADDATE: May 27, 2014 DUE: May 30, 2014
DEADDATE: June 13, 2014 DUE: June 6, 2014
DEADDATE: June 13, 2014 |
Shakespeare Is Everywhere
Shakespeare is the most quoted author of all time. Many authors borrow Shakespeare's plots (A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley, Mama Day by Gloria Naylor); children's television reworks his ideas (Wishbone, Duck Tales); adult television alludes to his work (Star Trek, Frasier); cartoonists play with the Bard's words ("Calvin and Hobbes," "Garfield"); he is referred to in films (Renaissance Man, Clueless); and advertisements borrow his snappier phrases for captions and voice-overs.
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The Glass Menagerie
LINK TO THE GLASS MENAGERIE ON IMDB.COM
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The Glass Menagerie is a four-character memory play by Tennessee Williams which premiered in 1944 and catapulted Williams from obscurity to fame. The play has strong autobiographical elements, featuring characters based on Williams himself, his histrionic mother, and his mentally fragile sister Laura. The characters and story mimic Williams's own life more closely than any of his other works. Williams (whose real name was Thomas) would be Tom, his mother, Amanda. His sickly and mentally unstable older sister Rose provides the basis for the fragile Laura (whose nickname in the play is "Blue Roses", a result of a bout of pleurosis as a high school student), though it has also been suggested that Laura may incorporate aspects of Williams himself, referencing his introverted nature and obsessive focus on a part of life (writing for Williams and glass animals in Laura's case). Williams, who was close to Rose growing up, learnt to his horror that in 1943 in his absence his sister had been subjected to a botched lobotomy. Rose was left incapacitated (and institutionalized) for the rest of her life. With the success of The Glass Menagerie, Williams was to give half of the royalties from the play to his mother. Eventually he was to leave the bulk of his estate to ensure Rose's continuing care. Rose died in 1996.
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The Crucible
LINK TO THE CRUCIBLE ON IMDB.COM
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A small group of teen girls in 1692 Salem, Massachusetts caught in an innocent conjuring of love potions to catch young men are forced to tell lies that Satan had invaded them and forced them to participate in the rites and are then forced to name those involved. Thrown into the mix are greedy preachers and other major landowners trying to steal others' land and one young woman infatuated with a married man and determined to get rid of his innocent wife.
Arthur Miller wrote the events and the subsequent trials—where those who demanded their innocence were executed, those who would not name names were incarcerated and tortured, and those who admitted their guilt were immediately freed—as a parable of the Congressional Communist witch hunts led by Senator Joe McCarthy in 1950's America.
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Critical Analytical Response to Literary Text #2
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Macbeth
WARNING: Video contains violent / disturbing imagery.
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Macbeth, Shakespeare’s shortest tragedy, is considered one of his darkest and most powerful tragedies. Set in Scotland, the play dramatizes the corrosive psychological and political effects produced when evil is chosen as a way to fulfill the ambition for power. It tells the story of a brave general who receives a prophecy that one day he will become King. Consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth commits murder and takes the throne for himself. Wracked with guilt and paranoia, he becomes a tyrannical ruler, forced to commit more and more murders to protect himself from enmity and suspicion.
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INSTRUCTIONS & SOURCE TEXT
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SUPPORTING RESOURCES
THE PLAY AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND:
UNDERSTANDING SHAKESPEARE: |
Personal Response #3: CPU
A personal response is a paper which explains your own reactions to what you have read. Your emotions and perspectives are prominent; your writing should be honest and personal, not dry and scholarly. (This does not mean that you can get away with poor writing, however. Your paper should still be clear and effective!) When you write a personal response, use “I.” A personal response, by definition, can take any of several forms. However, for this assignment you are expected to write using the Critical / Personal / Universal (CPU) format.
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