Blog #7

Macbeth's Recommendation-

1. Game of Thrones-This is basically a medieval version of house of cards. Throughout the show characters, murder, plot and scheme to get more power. Everything centers around who is able to get to be king and sit on the iron throne. Macbeth would enjoy this show because the characters would be very relate able for him. Characters like Stannis would be relate able because Stannis tries very hard to become king. He murders and falls prey to a witch that is trying to control him. Characters like Cersis have a strong resemblance to Lady Macbeth. She tries to manipulate her children and other people around her so that she gains more power.
2. Breaking Bad- Breaking bad is a show about a teacher who becomes a drug lord and eventually ends up dieing because he gained too much power. This is very similar to the plot of Macbeth. In breaking bad, Walter gets the idea of making drugs from seeing a drug bust happen and learning about how much drugs are worth. He then has to kill people and become ruthless and cold heated to keep up his empire. eventually he becomes crazy and ends up getting killed and losing everything he got. This is very similar to Macbeth. Macbeth gets the idea that he will become king and then starts to do bad things to make that happen. He starts to kill people and eventually goes crazy. This shows how the idea of gaining lots and lots of power is an awful motivator that ends with death.
3. The exorcist- This movie is about a family that has a daughter who gets possessed by a demon and it starts to give her nightmares and a priest has to come and save her. This would be enjoyed by Macbeth because he believes in the supernatural. He  believes the witches and makes major life decisions based on what they say. This movie is about how the supernatural can control and have major effects on your life.
4.  Mystery Files: Hitler- This is a documentary on Hitler talking about his life and how he came to power. This would interest Macbeth because he would be impressed by how Hitler came to power. Macbeth was not the popular choice or the next in line for the throne but he was still able to find a way to come to power. Hitler was known by almost no ones just 4 years before he came to power. Both of these men found ways to circumvent the expected transfer of power. Once they got power, the power went to their heads and it made them crazy. 

2. "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." - Lord Acton
To what extent would Shakespeare agree with this statement? Use the play and your own experience as your support.


I think that this idea of power corrupting is a core theme in the play and so Shakespeare would agree to a large extent. 

As soon as the idea of having more power comes into Macbeth's head, he starts to do bad things. When he is told that he will become King, his first thought is to murder the current King. Without that prophecy and the idea that he would gain more power, he never would have done such a corrupt thing. This shows how even the idea of power starts to corrupt.

Now that he has absolute power, he becomes crazy. How crazy he is becoming can be seen in the dinner party scene. He sees something that is likely caused by the guilt of his actions. The ghost of Banquo comes back to where he would have been had he not been killed. This causes Macbeth to scream at the ghost and it is a very unsettling and powerful scene. The reactions of the other lords does a good job of showing just how crazy he is becoming. None of the lords know what to do and they are all very confused. They start grasping at straws trying to find explanations for what is happening as Lady Macbeth tries to cover for Macbeth. 

Because Macbeth is afraid of losing his power, he does more and more corrupt things to try to keep it. One of these things is the murder of Banquo. Banquo was his friend and at the start of the play they were very close and trusted each other. As the play goes on, Banquo starts to wonder if Macbeth is doing foul things to get all the power he has. This combined with the fact that Banquo's children will become king and Macbeth doesn't want that to happen, causes Macbeth to murder his own friend. The power he has has corrupted him so thoroughly that he has no problem with murdering his own friend.

As the play progresses, Macbeth's power increases but so does his willingness to murder and his lack of sanity.

As far as examples from my own life, I don't really have anything meaningful. No one in my life has corrupting power that they really are running away with. I could talk about how some teachers chose to have a day off in their class sometimes because they don't want to teach and they have the power to make that decision but that seems a little trivial.

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How do the elevated diction and elaborate syntax contrast with the feelings of the narrator in paragraphs 11-12?

"I had my own reasons for being dismayed at this apparition; too well I remembered the perfidious hints given by Mrs. Reed about my disposition, &c.; the promise pledged by Mr. Brocklehurst to apprise Miss Temple and the teachers of my vicious nature. All along I had been dreading the fulfillment of this promise,--I had been looking out daily for the "Coming Man," whose information respecting my past life and conversation was to brand me as a bad child for ever: now there he was.

He stood at Miss Temple's side; he was speaking low in her ear: I did not doubt he was making disclosures of my villainy; and I watched her eye with painful anxiety, expecting every moment to see its dark orb turn on me a glance of repugnance and contempt. I listened too; and as I happened to be seated quite at the top of the room, I caught most of what he said: its import relieved me from immediate apprehension."

Basically what is happening here is a man, Mr. Brocklehurst, is coming to where Jane is. Mr. B knows something that Jane did in the past and she is scared because he promised that he would tell what she did. This is bad because the people around here don't know her "villainy" and so they would shun her if they knew what she had done. Her mood in this is scared and meek. 

This mood is contrasted by a very complex and educated diction and syntax. She uses a very extravagant diction throughout but when her character is called into question she starts to increase the complexity of her language. Whatever she did probably made her look like a street orphan and she didn't want to seem like that to the audience so she tries to appear educated. She uses words like villainy to describe what she did which makes it seem more sophisticated. A villain normally has a plan and therefore has some sort of thought and effort put into what they did. She is once again trying to make the bad things she did look more educated. She feels like the audience is looking down on her so she uses words they would likely not know to make them feel less than her. This is her defense mechanism.

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Sin: greed and jealousy
Published: unknown
Date:april 1999
Author: betc eruo rscq paris

Little Picture:
This picture shows two women clutching at a purse. They dont looke entirely human. They both have very pale and sharp features.They have large frizzy hair. They look pretty similar. all the colors are pretty bland and there is a faint shadow/highlight around the two models. They are wearing almost the exact same shirt and very similar pants.

Big Picture:
This is saying that the only way you can stand out is with this purse. Both women look identical and the only thing that is different is the purse. This ad is saying that the purse will also make everyone jealous. Which ever women didn't have the purse to begin with wanted it so bad that she attacked the other woman to get it. This is playing off of humans need to stand out.

Intended audience:
The intended audience is social climbers. Both of these woman are wearing a lot of makeup. This is because they were not born beautiful. They have to find other things to make themselves looks beautiful. They also are doing what is considered beautiful my society. Both of them are wearing what is likely to be what is currently "hip". They don't naturally have power or friends or beauty so they have to find things. This ad is saying that the purse will set you apart from these people. It will make actual rich people think you are cool and rich too.

1. Since my name is a family name I have to assume it has a lot of importance, but I wouldn't say that it defines me.  I know that my dad's grandfather was the first and now I am the fourth. I also have a picture that hangs in my room with my name and my coat of arms. Although, I know it is a family name I have no idea where it comes from. I've been told Leverett is old French for rabbit so I have to assume I am a decedent of French knights or royalty but that doesn't really define me either. I think today with how mobile our societies are, we don't attach as much weight to the name of someone. We are judged by what we accomplish not what our ancestors have.

2. A time I have had a dilemma of being part of two things is in wrestling. In wrestling, whenever you win or lose a match it adds or subtracts anywhere from 2 to 6 points to the match score. At the end of the match, when all 14 weight classes have wrestled, the team with the highest match score wins. This make you have to think about how you win and how you lose. I have had to wrestle state top tens, people who were much better than me so my team wouldn't lose as many match points. This is a hard thing to do because I don’t really have a chance of beating these people. This means my first instinct is to not fight as hard because all it will do is delay the match. But, since my team needs me I have to fight through it.

Another interesting dilemma is when the team needs you to win but it has to be by a pin. I have been in a position where If I win my match by decision, my team will lose so I have to pin my opponent. This means that I have to put myself in riskier situation, risking my win, so that my team has a chance at winning. This is not as vexing a dilemma since I benefit from both outcomes so I have no reason not to try to win for my team, but it is still interesting to look at how different motives affect our actions.

We are the Other - David and Lou, South Minneapolis, MN (2012)
Link: http://know.wingyounghuie.com/post/32176877104

Little Picture: This picture depicts two men sitting on a front porch. One man is white, wearing a tank top and gym shorts, and is smoking a cigarette. The other man is wearing a short sleeve dress shirt and jeans. Both seem to be very relaxed and at home where they are.

Big Picture: The first thing that really jumps out at me is that the two men are separated by a pole in the picture. This is very symbolic. The photographer is trying to create a divide between the world of a black man and a white man. He does this by placing one man on each side of the pole to suggest the are part of different worlds. He then breaks the stereotype of each character. Being a black man in Chicago normally has gang connotations. The photographer breaks this stereotype by having the African american man wear a dress shirt and look professional . The white man is wearing what would be most related to an African American gang member. This clothing switch is the authors way of breaking the norms that are attached to each race.


Both presents the concept of othering as a negative thing. In the picture, othering is shown to be negative and biased. Both these men on a surface level should be inherently different. They grew up in different places, environments, social classes and with different skin tones. They shouldn't get along, but they do. In the description of the picture, the photographer talks about the conversation he had with the two men. He says the men couldn't be more similar. Every question he asked was greeted by an answer from one and an affirmative nod from the other man. This shows how the men should be inherently different but are actually quite similar. This shows the concept of othering to be false.

In The Handmaid's Tale, othering is presented through clothing. Each different group wears different color and type of clothes. This creates the foundation for othering that some characters in the novel follow. Some breaks from this idea is when people from different groups, people wearing different clothing, have interaction with each other. Examples of this are The commander and Nick. Both of these men break the rules and the society but for different reasons. The commander breaks the rules not because he doesn't thing Offred is different from him and therefore not worthy of his time, but more for selfish reasons. The commander doesn't want to help Offred he wants to have sex and a more intimate connection with her. I don't think this is displaying othering as a bad thing because of his selfish intentions but it is still a break from othering. A more positive break from othering is Nick. It is hard to tell what degree nick is trying to help Offred and to what degree he is just looking to have fun. The intentions of the actions that break away from the mind set of othering is very important. Nick's actions can be interpreted either way i would say. When Nick offers to have sex with Offred, it is hard to understand his motives. He seems to want to help Offred by getting her pregnant and offering her a break from her mundane life. It can also be interpreted as simply Nick looking for a sexual adventure. I think that Nick wanting to help Offred is slightly higher priority for him. Nick's display of othering is also a much more positive display similar to the picture. The commander is selfish and is promoting the idea of othering while Nick and the photograph are saying that othering shouldn't happen and that it is a negative bias causing people to feel left out.