Blogger #8 - Miki Chiu - Period 3 - 12/22/21

 Aim: How is the play simultaneously lightened and darkened through Shakespeare’s implementation of “comic relief”?

Do Now:TEAMWORK

Work with your teams to construct a list of Famous US Conspiracy Theories you know. 

My team and I discusessed the United States president assassinations. For example, JFK was assassinated and the conspiracy theory is that either someone plotted it or the CIA did because he had too much information.

Class Discussion 

William- some conspiracies were that 5g data causes covid because it spreads through air and that flies and birds are government cameras

Sachi- deaths of Kurt Contains and Jeffery Epstein 

Joel- death of Versace and how Lincoln and Kennedy were both assassinated and had very similar information like how the secretary names were Kennedy and Lincoln 

Andy- Roswell incident, aliens, and men in black 

Edward- many conspiracies in Hollywood like Marilyn Monroe, the Black Dahlia, and the two Lees (Bruce Lee and Brandon Lee)

Sofya- the Sodder Children case on Christmas Eve of 1945, mother of 9 children woke up to smoke and the kids who lived upstairs went missing even though the house was burnt to a crisp and there were signs of burning flesh. This was coincidental because a life insurance agent went to their house not long ago and told them them their house would go up in smoke and the children would be destroyed

Edward- a lot of conspiracies like the three masons, Illuminati have control over the government 

William- JFK junior is alive and is planning to steal the election coming up and run for president with trump

Some more examples:

• The eye on the back of the dollar bill alluding to the Illuminati 

• Martin Luther King Jr.

• D.B. Cooper Hijacking

• Chamber behind the faces of Mount Rushmore 

• Area 51

• UFO conspiracies

• Loch Ness Monster

• Bigfoot

Here is an extra link if you want to get a deeper look into conspiracies: https://youtu.be/z1feVpZrjtk 

The Gunpowder Plot of 1605 

(which I summarized, but here is the original link if you want to check out the more detailed version. https://docs.google.com/file/d/19mZzOKUoHBfIueNggg2wEDJjXJA5IbYC/edit?usp=docslist_api&filetype=mspresentation)

1603 : James I became the King of England and fined Catholics for not attending the Church of England services. He also put Catholic priests to death.

1604: Robert Catesby (the brains behind the operation) and a group of Catholics plotted to blow up the Houses of Parliament on the day it opened; after plotting for over a year. The gang were made up of Catholics and they were angered that the Protestant King and Parliament would not let Catholics pratice their religion.

 

King James I started changing things and stopping the people’s practices of Catholicism which angered a lot of people.

Guy Fawkes: Catesby couldn’t work alone and so he gathered people who were like-minded, like Guido (Guy) Fawkes, who was an explosives expert, to help him. The gang’s plan became known as the Gunpowder Plot

The Plot - May 1604: Guy Fawkes and Thomas Percy rented a house near the House of Parliament. Fawkes pretended he was Percy’s servant and called himself John Johnson. They dug a tunnel that ran from the cellar of their house to the underneath of the House of Parliament, which was perfect for smuggling gunpowder. Fawkes was given the job of watching the barrels and lighting the fuse.

The plan takes shape: They kept digging until in March of 1605 when they heard a cellar under the House of Lords became available for rent. The gang abandoned their tunnel and packed the cellar with 36 barrels of gunpowder. They covered the barrels with firewood to hide it in case anyone looked inside.

The Plot Thickens: The riskiest part of the Gunpowder Plot was already in place. What’s next…?

Who sent the warning?: There were ten days to go and the gunpowder was ready, the gang was ready, everything was prepared. What could go wrong? Well, there was a mysterious letter that ruined this carefully plotted plan. Lord Monteagle who was an MP, cousin of Francis Tresham, and a good friend of King James I found a letter on October 26th of 1605 at dinner. A tall, mysterious stranger handed the letter to his servant in the street earlier that evening and the letter warned him to not attend the State Opening of Parliament on October 5th because something bad was going to happen. Monteagle showed the letter to Robert Cecil, but they were slow to act and King James as well as many ministers were suspicious that it might be a fake.

What to do?: It was all quiet for a few days while the gang found out about the letter. Catesby was not going to give up and he sent Fawkes down to the cellar to check if the gunpowder was still safe. All they could do now was wait.

November 4th 1605: The King ordered a search of the cellars and Fawkes was found with a pile of wood and gunpowder. He was arrested and taken to the Tower of London. The Gunpowder Plot had failed. 

Torture in the Tower: After his arrest, Fawkes was taken to see King James and his court. He refused to answer most of their questions and made it clear that he did not have any regrets. He also would not reveal who the other plotters were, which infuriated the King. Reports were written at the time quoting him say, “You would have me discover my friends.” This basically means he would not rat out his gang. After his audience with the king, Fawkes was taken to the Tower of London where they hoped they could get him to talk. Fawkes was tough and did not give any secrets. He was tortured on the rack to get him to reveal the other plotters. He eventually did because it was very painful and he was under torture. Their trial was at Westminster Hall in Parliament; in January of 1606.

Torture in the Tower for The Other Plotters: The rest fo the gang had been hiding in a house in the Midlands when soldiers surrounded their house. Catesby, Percy, and the Winter brothers were shot dead. The remainder of the gang were brought back to the Tower of London where they were tried and found guilty of High Treason.

Torture in the Tower for The Other Plotters - January 1606: 

All seven were sentenced to be…

Hung = The prisoner was hung but cut loose just before they lost consciousness.

Drawn = Their stomach was then sliced open and their guts pulled out. The heart would be pulled out last, and shown to the dying person.

Quartered = Finally, the head would be cut off and the body cut into four quarters.

This was a very painful death because it's slow and they keep repeating the hanging until they lose consciousness. Then, they slice their stomach open to grab the insides which is extremely painful because the intestines are long and it will take forever to pull out. Last, their heads would be cut off and their bodies were cut into four. Their heads were placed on spikes for everyone to see, which you can also see from act 1 of Macbeth.

The Fifth of November: Every year on the 5th of November Fawkes is remembered during the anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot. Throughout England, bonfires are lit and fireworks are set while a stuffed model of a man is burnt on the bonfire to celebrate the failure of the Gunpowder Plot.

Rhymes and Chants: 

Remember, Remember the fifth of November

Gunpowder, treason and plot.

I see no reason, why gunpowder treason

Should ever be forgot.

Guy Fawkes, Guy

Stick him up on high

Put him on the fire

And there let him die

Bonfire Food: People bake potatoes,eat sausages and a soup called Parkin which is 

made of oatmeal, ginger, treacle and syrup. There are beautiful fireworks all over the 

country.

The Gunpowder Plot and Act II, iii:

• “Faith, here’s an equivocator that could swear in both the scales against either scale, who committed treason enough for God’s sake, yet could not equivocate to heaven. Oh, come in, equivocator” (Macbeth 2.3).

• The insistent reference to equivocation seems to be alluding to the Catholic priest Henry Garnet, (AKA Father Garnet) who was hung, drawn and quartered for his role in the Gunpowder Plot and was deeply criticized for equivocating. Allegedly, Garnet had heard confession from Robert Catesby, one of the plotters, which revealed his intention to kill the King, but obeyed the Seal of the Confessional by keeping it secret. Jesuits were particularly associated with equivocation, which is a way of avoiding the sin of lying by implying something untrue through ambiguous phrasing. Garnet’s defense of equivocation was extremely damaging in his trial, and the porter’s light-hearted remarks seem to be playing on popular derision of the priest.

• Watch for further equivocation (a respondent who avoids giving a clear direct answer; liars) throughout the play as a whole.

Comic Relief

Comic Relief (N) - A humorous scene or speech in a serious drama which is meant to provide relief from emotional intensity and, by contrast, to heighten the seriousness of the story.

Notes: 

✔ Shakespeare often employed the idea of comic relief to break up the seriousness, tension or mood in a tragedy.

✔ Shakespeare’s audience would have been expecting it after a serious scene.

Last class, we witnessed the murder scene of Duncan, and all the anxiety that was surrounding that. One of Macbeth and Lady Macbeths first plot discussions was “When does he go home? Tomorrow as he purposes.” He was only supposed to be there for a short period of time and they killed him in the middle of the evening which means by the morning someone would discover his body. King Duncan was supposed to leave in the morning so when people started looking for him, they would find him dead. The audience would have been devastated that the King had just died and would be looking for a relief, but it also heightens the seriousness of the act that has just been performed. 

Reading/ Acting!

Macbeth—Act II, iii [2 pgs—Enter Macbeth] The Famous “Porter’s Scene”

Notes:

✔  Porter: Was responsible for a Castle Entrance and for the guardrooms. They also insured no one entered/left w/o permission. (The knocking sound was because of the porter. They were responsible for the castle entrance and ensured that no one entered or left, like a gatekeeper.)

✔  Knocking: Was eerie b/c of the Bubonic Plague; i.e. Knocking for the dead! (People would go around houses to knock to retrieve dead bodies.)

✔  Shakespeare created the first “knock knock” joke as a result of this scene. 

Roles acted by…

Stage Directions - Kenneth

Porter - Joel

Macduff - Edward

Porter’s Speech Analysis

Class Discussion 

Ruth said equivocator meant to deceive, mislead, etc. This person is very good at equivocating to the point where they have committed treason and bent justice but yet can’t equivocate their way into heaven.

Josh said the farmer was saving up crops just for it to be a surplus and not be able to sell out and it is selfish.

Edward said the equivocator is basically someone who thought he could get away with his lie and he couldn’t even lie his way into heaven.

Continued

The bell rings and Ms. Peterson says we’ll discuss the rest later because this is a two day lesson.

Reflection

Through today’s lesson, I’ve learned more about the background and historical connections of Macbeth and have started to realize a change in Lady Macbeth’s character. During the previous lessons, Lady Macbeth was first introduced as a cunning, brave, fearless woman who wanted to take charge and kill Duncan to become queen. After she saw Duncan sleeping, she couldn't bear the thought that he looked just like her father. This character development also shows how she is a hypocrite because she used to call Macbeth a coward. It is only the second act of the book and these characters are already going through emotional rollercoasters. Today, I learned about the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 where there are conflicts, causes, effects, and historical context. Basically James I became King of England and did not let Catholics practice their religion which caused a group of people to rebel and plan a plot against the Houses of Parliament. This all has a connection because Shakespeare’s Scottish play was written in 1606 which is just 3 years after King James I was crowned and during that time the Gunpowder Plot had been discovered. Macbeth is a play about treason and overthrowing a King. The famous line, “Knock, knock! Who’s there, in the other devil’s name? Faith, here’s an equivocator that could swear in both the scales against either scale, who committed treason enough for God’s sake, yet could not equivocate to heaven. Oh, come in, equivocator.” is supposed to be a reference to the Catholic priest Henry Garnet who was deeply criticized for equivocating and then hung, drawn and quartered. Shakespeare’s allusions to the events of the Gunpowder Plot and what happened after leave the audience with a better understanding of both the play and the historical event. This could help me get a better understanding of the historical context behind his work and a deeper connection to the Macbeth play itself. Therefore, I’ve gotten a deeper understanding of the book and the Gunpowder Plot.

Blogger #9 - Vincent Chen - Period 8 - 12/22/2021

 We started the class off by finishing the lesson from yesterday, answering the teamwork questions. Then we started to watch the movie adaptation of Macbeth. The scene that we started with corresponds to act ii scene ii [42:07—50:30—approx. 14:21]. The scene starts with the murder of King Duncan. In the original play, the murder was not shown, but in the movie adaptation, the brutal act was showned, with Macbeth stabbing Duncan multiple times. Another noteworthy change would be that in the adaptation, Duncan was shown to have woken before being killed. After that we started the new lesson. 

Aim: How is the play simultaneously lightened and darkened through Shakespeare’s implementation of “comic relief”?

Do now: Working with our teams, we started a discussion of conspiracy theories in the US:

• We did not land on the moon. 

• Vaccines cause autism.

• Illuminati

• COVID - 19 is not real. 

Next we launched into a whole class discussion about the do now. Conspiracy theories that they came up with included that JFK was killed by two people. Another one would be 911 was an inside job. 

We then started to learn about the gunpowder plot of 1605: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/19mZzOKUoHBfIueNggg2wEDJjXJA5IbYC/edit#slide=id.p1 

The gunpowder plot of 1605 related back to Macbeth act ii as both included a plot to kill the king. However one difference would be that the gunpowder plot did not work and ended in the torture and death of the plotters  while in Macbeth, the plot worked and it ended with the death of King duncan. 

Comic Relief –(N):A humorous scene or speech in a serious drama which is meant to provide relief from emotional intensity and, by contrast, to heighten the seriousness of the story.

It is noted that Shakespeare liked to use comic relief to ease the seriousness of his plays. 

Next we started reading Macbeth—Act II, iii [2 pgs—Enter Macbeth] The Famous “Porter’s Scene”. This scene was a comic relief, with jokes to lift the seriousness of the mood after the killing of Duncan. 

NOTES:

• Porter: Was responsible for a Castle Entrance and for the guardrooms. They also ensured no one entered/left w/o permission.

• Knocking: Was eerie b/c of the Bubonic Plague; i.e. Knocking for the dead Shakespeare created the first “knock knock” joke as a result of this scene.

We ended the class by trying to interpret the jokes in act ii scene iii: 

Jokes about the Farmer explanation: The farmer represented greed, as he hoarded many crops to sell for the famine that never came. 

Reflection: 

What did I learn: Throughout today’s lesson, I learned about the gunpowder plot and how it connects to Macbeth. I also learned about what comic relief is and how Shakespeare uses that in his plays. When analyzing one of his comic reliefs, I learned about how it is a comic relief, what it means and to what history context it relates to. I also learned some fun facts about Shakespeare and his plays as well as facts about the gunpowder plot. What stood out to me was how the plotters were tortured, including specific details as to how they were being kept alive when they were being drawned. 

Why did I learn it: I learned these facts so that I can better understand the play Macbeth. Shakespeare plays in general are hard to understand, so using outside references helps greatly with understanding and establishing a connection to understanding his plays. 

How will I use what I learned: I will keep in mind the things I learned today so that in future lessons on the topic of Macbeth, I can retain what I learned today to help analyze the play and what each character’s lines and actions signify and foreshadow.

Blogger #11 Annie Lin Period 12.22.2021

 Reminder: For tomorrow you won’t need your macbeth book and your devices for this class

                  Make sure at least one person in the team have a pen

Aim: How is the tone, mood and theme in Macbeth illuminated by the symbols in Act II, scene ii, while contributing to the work as a whole?

The first half of today’s lesson is a continuation of yesterday’s lesson therefore, there is no Do Now for this aim as it was completely previously. 

At the beginning of class, we had a little class discussion on the following questions: 

1. How has the tone and mood shifted in this scene?

Towards the end of the scene Macbeth and Lady Macbeth were nervous, frantic, upset, angry, and Macbeth refused to go back to the crime scene. While in the beginning they almost did things with conviction and they just went and did it. They had ambition and they did all the mental work almost persuading themselves to commit to the killing. 

2. In what way has dynamic characterization been displayed?

Lady Macbeth starts off with a character that was very loving, caring, strong, ambitious and convincing. Later on she starts to show weakness and changes as she mentions how Duncan resembles her father in his sleep. She used that as the reason she can’t do the deed. 

3. In retrospect, how feasible was their plan?

Unfortunately for them their plan was not very feasible as Rory pointed out, they made the crime scene too perfect with the clues all perfectly lying there leading to the “murderer”, which may cause suspicion as the clues may not look convincing enough for someone such as an detective. There are many holes and unexplainable places in their plan. 

Afterwards we watched around 5 minutes of the movie and then we started the new lesson which was posted today. 

Aim: How is the play simultaneously lightened and darkened through Shakespeare’s implementation of “comic relief”?

Do Now: For the Do Now, we listed a bunch of famous conspiracy theories in the United States. There were quite a lot of them that were mentioned but here are what I was able to capture. Most of them were related to the government and technologies. 

• Illuminati

• 

• Area 51

• Mark Zuckerberg was actually an alien as he shows no emotions

• The moon landing was fake

• ​​

• Assassinations of the princes

• Bermuda triangle

• ​​

• Birds aren’t real and they work for the government helping to spy on the people

• 

• When you eat vegetables, they control your mind

• The government is watching us through our webcams which class said it's the truth

• 5G is controlling your mind 

• The Twin Towers incident were buried explosives instead of airplanes

• ​​

• Barack Obama not being born in the US 

• There are cameras all around us 

• The world is ending- this one comes up every once in a while from 2010 to 2012 and similar events happened when we are crossing from the year 1999 to 2000

• The Frozen Theory- the movie Frozen was actually made and named Frozen because Disney does not want more people to believe that Walt Disney’s body was frozen in the Carribeans. When you search “Walt Disney Frozen”, the results would be the movie Frozen instead of information for his potentially frozen body hidden somewhere. 

• 

Mrs. Peterson provided a few more conspiracy theories that weren’t said before. 

• 

After the very interesting and intriguing discussion about conspiracy theories, we went on and read about the Gunpowder Plot linked in the slides and here. 

Note: we didn’t get to finish the last slide before the bell rang. 

Some helpful mentions during the reading:

• On slide 16 the quote “You would have me discover my friends.” would be similar to the modern saying, “You want me to snitch my friends?”

• On slide 19 the hung method would be repeated multiple times until the person actually died. For the drawn method, the length of the intestines makes the process long enough for the person to already experience extreme pain and torture for quite some time before they get to die. And it can be interesting to know that for a short time after death or before being removed, the heart can still beat and pump as long as it has oxygen. 

Reflection: 

In today’s class, I better understood the shift in the mood and tone from the previous scenes to act one scene two and the display of dynamic characterization. The second one was like an “oh wow” moment as I really looked at it today and realized how different the couple had acted. The do now however was very interesting and intriguing. I never fully realized the amount of conspiracy theories that were going around. Some of them are creepy and make me more cautious of my technologies and surroundings. Others gave me goosebumps and interested me to find out more about the conspiracy theory such as the conspiracy of Area 51. Someone today asked a very good question which is, “What happened to the other 50 areas before Area 51?” I did some research after class, but sadly I wasn’t able to find anything that shows that Area 51 was labeled 51 because of order. I think 51 is just a number they added a name to. I believe that the US government has Area 51 as a shield and as a tool to attract all the attention of the public. As the public gets more intrigued about the conspiracy behind Area 51, they are less likely to look at other places and find out about other stuff. It wouldn’t make sense for the secret base of the United States to be easily discovered and known by the public. A third of the conspiracy we listed makes me lose trust in the government and a bit of my sense of safety with my electronic devices lying around in my room. Another one third of the conspiracy makes me contemplate and reflect on society today for there to be a well known conspiracy that eating vegetables will allow them to gain control of your brain and that 5G is also controlling our minds along with other conspiracies that all lead to our minds being controlled. It is just unbelievable to me that knowing the brain is still the most confusing, difficult and most unknown territory of our body for the experts in medical fields, and still believing that our minds are that easily conquered and manipulated. I will definitely use what I learned today and use it to observe the world and to observe the characters in future readings. It is fascinating how a character can change that much in their characterization within a short period of time. I will look further into the conspiracies I heard of in today’s lesson that makes sense to me because it is a very interesting topic for me to explore. The Gunpowder Plot was also interesting as luck is shown to be able to help the events and to ruin the events planned. 

Blogger #6 - Akshitha Dhachina - Period 9 - 12/22/2021

 We started the class by watching Act 2 Scene 2 of the movie “Macbeth”. 

   

We then discussed a few of the differences between the movie and the play itself. 

Some differences were

1. The literal death of King was not shown during the play because King James was in the audience, and also because it would have been a gruesome scene.

2. Macbeth never took the daggers of the guard to kill Duncan.

3. King Duncan did not wake up right before his assassination

Aim: How is the play simultaneously lightened and darkened through Shakespeare’s implementation of “comic relief”? 

Do Now: TEAMWORK

Work with your teams to construct a list of Famous US Conspiracy Theories you know.

My group and I came up with two conspiracy theories. The first is that Hitler is still alive, and the second is that Michael Jackson is still alive. When the discussion was opened to the whole class, group one talked about ships disappearing in the Bermuda triangle and the existence of aliens in Area 51. Another group said that birds worked for the bourgeoisie. Many other students gave examples that are as follows: 9/11 was an inside job, Jeffrey did not actually suicide, and artists dying at the age of 27. After this Ms. Peterson gave us more examples such as the moon landings, Bigfoot sightings in the state of Washington, JFK and Martin Luther King Junior’s assassinations, and secrets in the chambersof Mt. Rushmore. 

Next, we took a look at the Gunpowder plot of 1605. This was true story about a group of Catholics that decided to blow up Parliament the day that it opened. It started when King James the First did not allow the Catholics to practice the religion and even killed Catholic priests. Robert Catesby, the brains of this plot, and Guy Fawkes, an explosives expert, along with others, plotted to hide gunpowder and use it to blow up Parliament. After trying to build a tunnel to smuggle the gunpowder, they finally had the gunpowder hid in a cellar. Just before the plan could be executed, the king was warned through a letter of possible danger. When cellars were searched, Fawkes was found with the gunpowder. He was brought before the king, but refused to reveal the names of the other plotters. Unfortunately after much torture, he finaly gave in. A few plotters were shot, but the rest were hung( hanging someone until they are about lose consciousness and doing this process again), drawn(cutting open and taking out all your organs, the last being the heart), and quartered(cut the body in four pieces and sticking the head on a pole), The plot was a failure, but November fifth is celebrated in Fawkes honor.  

Comic Relief –(N):A humorous scene or speech in a serious drama which is meant to provide relief from emotional intensity and, by contrast, to heighten the seriousness of the story.  

Shakespeare understood that the audience had just been through the heavy topic of a king dying, so he used comic relief as a way to lighten the mood. This not only made people feel lighter, but also magnified the scene that occurred before. 

Then, we read Act 2 Scene 3. This is the “Porter Scene”.

1. Porter: Was responsible for a Castle Entrance and for the guardrooms.  They also ensured no one entered or left without permission.

2. Knocking: Was eerie because of the Bubonic Plague; i.e. Knocking for the dead!

3. Shakespeare created the first “knock knock” joke as a result of this scene. 

After this, we were asked to fill out a chart that explained what the porter said. He was like the devil at the gate of hell, letting people in. He discussed three professions, a tailor, a farmer, and an equivocator. We were to discuss the joke, state what sin they committed, and in the next class, Ms. Peterson will tell us the allusion. 

Reflection: Today I learned the use of comic relief. If Shakespeare was not careful to include these, the audience would be strained to enjoy the entire play. I also learned that to truly enjoy Shakespeare's works, I must break it down to its tiniest details. The author is very careful with everything from word choice to literary devices; it is the job of the reader to read carefully and thoroughly. I also learned that the gunpowder plot was a failure, but today it is recognized and celebrated. A failure is only a failure if you don’t try.