Journal Entry #1
My racing mind can already envision how this land can change. I've read the letter once, twice, three times about how Macbeth has turned out to be the Thane of Cawdor and Glamis, as well as to become king, and I still cannot believe it. Feeling my heart pounding with happiness, I pace back and forth in my bedroom, wondering what on earth I will say to my husband, soon King of Scotland, Macbeth. This day has been getting better and better, since earlier, news has reached my ears that King Duncan shall be having dinner under our roof. Seriously! How stupid can he be! I guess it all works out for us in the end, and soon, my sweet husband will turn into a strong, powerful figure. He will soon become Macbeth, King of Scotland!
Journal Entry #2
My husband can be so aggravating sometimes! He has killed plenty of men out in the battlefield, why is it so different this time? Even if it is King Duncan, it should not make a difference in the end. Yes, his compassion is how I got to fall in love with him in the first place, but there are times when that factor gets in the way of his manhood and what is right for us. King Duncan is our one obstacle for Macbeth to be King, and Macbeth's obsession to do what is right is not going to get in my way to power! King Duncan shall die under the hands of my husband, I will make sure of that.
Journal Entry #3
Everything is finally in place. The servants have swallowed the deadly drugs in their alcohol that will keep them from protecting their precious king. All I have to do is wait for the sign Macbeth will send me when he kills Duncan, if his cowardice does not get in the way of the dagger that will end Duncan's life. Honestly, I could have done it myself if the memory of my father had not come to mind when I had a look at Duncan sleeping...No, I am not allowed to have second thoughts about this! Wait, I think I see him coming from the corridor. He's holding the bloody daggers. Yes, he has managed to kill Duncan!
Journal Entry #4
I cannot believe we have done it. Macbeth has finally been crowned king, and we have done all that we have set out to do. Although, it does not feel right. Macbeth has been acting nervous lately, causing me to feel a little worried about him. He keeps to his room all day, and whenever I see him, he looks rather tired and bedraggled. I am afraid that he is planning to do something we will regret, but I cannot be sure. But I should worry about that when the time comes. I have to keep a cheerful face and keep my confidence up for my guests tonight at the banquet. Macbeth, hopefully, will not spoil this wonderful night.
Journal Entry #5
I have no idea what is wrong with my husband. He claims that he saw Banquo's ghost, but honestly, I do not believe a word of this garbage. (How can it be real, since Banquo is not even dead? Unless... No, that cannot be true. )Again, I am starting to question his masculinity. When will he grow up and finally realize all the good he has done for us, instead of whimpering at every little thing his simple-minded imagination can conjure up? I was hoping for a well-respected king to show up at this banquet, the king I would have been proud to call my husband. But now, all he did was ruin this banquet for all the lords sitting at the table, and humiliated me while he cowered from something that was not even real! Macbeth is starting to become a lot more trouble than I realized.
Journal Entry #6
What is happening to me? When I look in the mirror, I do not see the young, well-respected, proud woman I used to be. Instead, I find this frail, pitiful, sorry-looking fragment of a woman. My arms and body are bone thin, my face is as pale as a ghost, and worst of all, the bags under my eyes tell me that I have been sleepwalking. It's true; after Macbeth had him come over few days ago, my doctor confirmed my suspicions. It scares me to think of what I have said during my sleepwalking. Have I mentioned anything to anyone that may have endangered mine or my husband's life upon that throne? I guess it is not only my husband that is losing his sanity.
Journal Entry #7
What have I done? Going into this plan with my husband, I believed that it was all going to be glory from here on out. Now, I can see that this was a curse in disguise. I cannot sleep anymore for fear of seeing the bodies and the lives that we have ruined in my sleep. Duncan, Banquo, Fleance, all of them haunt me in my dreams. It is no longer Macbeth who is a coward, it's me. No matter where I go, I see the ghosts of the dead everywhere, the ghosts that remind me of the guilt I feel pushing down on my heart. I have no place to hide from the pain and sorrow of my world.
Journal Entry #8
There is no other way to avoid this horrible pain I feel on my conscience. My body always tenses up when I think about my title as queen, and the terrible things I have done to obtain it. My heart starts to pound rapidly, as if it is trying to break out of my chest. I am not the proud, confident woman I was before our one moment of glory, but I feel a withered, self-loathing person in place of what I used to be. My time is almost up, and I shall bring myself to the same place my husband and I brought King Duncan. It is all for the best. After all, the world would be a better place without me bringing it down. I will soon be brought to meet the lives I have ruined. At least they will get their revenge.
Tuesday, 13 December 2011
Tuesday, 8 November 2011
'Visual on Identity' project
1. What I am proud of about our projects is how we were able to come up with quotes from different and contrasting poems and short stories, and find a similar theme within each of them. I have never been to good at getting a deeper meaning behind a passage of words, and I am glad that we have done that successfully (I hope?) during working on this project.
2. While we were listening to each other's presentations, I think the one thing that kept on coming up each time was how identity can be changed and affected by so many factors in our world. Even those things that happen every day, like meeting our friends, going to school, making simple decisions, can have an affect on our identity, or what it could look like in the future.
3. I believe that this project gave us a bigger understanding of what identity is, compared to the composition. The visual project gave us many situations and examples of how identity can be influenced, so I was able to connect with how my identity has changed with this project. Even though the composition was not a bad project, I think that this visual project was more engaging, and I understood the topic a lot better.
2. While we were listening to each other's presentations, I think the one thing that kept on coming up each time was how identity can be changed and affected by so many factors in our world. Even those things that happen every day, like meeting our friends, going to school, making simple decisions, can have an affect on our identity, or what it could look like in the future.
3. I believe that this project gave us a bigger understanding of what identity is, compared to the composition. The visual project gave us many situations and examples of how identity can be influenced, so I was able to connect with how my identity has changed with this project. Even though the composition was not a bad project, I think that this visual project was more engaging, and I understood the topic a lot better.
Macbeth or Lady Macbeth
For my journal entries, I have decided to be Lady Macbeth. I think it might be interesting to see how she has evolved from a strong, powerful woman, to a remorseful, sad mortal who commits suicide days later. It is such a big contrast between how her personalities and identity changes, that it might be fun to see how I might interpret her thoughts. Macbeth would also be fun to do, although his parts are mainly on the actions he commits, while Lady Macbeth's role focuses on how she feels.
Sunday, 2 October 2011
Journal Entry #2 - Poetry questions
Which of the poems had the most meaning for you personally?
The poem that has the most meaning to me would have to be "I am from swing sets and jungle gyms". The character that the author has created made us feel such a connection with what I feel about childhood, as well as many others, because we miss that sweet innocence that only a child has. The poem "Alone" reminds me of those times in my life where I have felt hopeless, where it seems like no one understands what I am going through. Even though you can never be alone, there are moments when it feels like you are on your own.
"As I Grew Older" had helped us remember our hopes and dreams when we were a child, but now, as we understand the difference between fantasy and reality, those dreams start to fade away as we think about more realistic aspirations. "I am from pink tights and speak your mind" captures the memories that we had as a child, where everything was magic and you believe what you wanted to believe. It was hard to connect with a character such as one from "Richard Cory", as I had never felt what he feels, or lived the lifestyle he has. I can still understand his pain when his numerous possessions not only do not make him happy, but make him feel like an outsider to those who are not as fortunate as him in wealth.
What thoughts and/or feelings did the texts evoke in you? Why?
Both "Richard Cory" and "Alone" creates a feeling of loneliness and being an outsider, but in different ways. In "Richard Cory", the poet clearly sets apart the 'He' (Cory) from the 'We' (narrator), so you can see that in a seemingly low-class part of town, the residents tend to separate themselves from Cory, because of his marvellous lifestyle. Even though he was friendly to those living down town, he was still treated as an outsider, and maybe even a loner. "Alone" makes you think of an unfortunate soul living on the streets with no one to care for them. Looking at the bigger picture, I believe this poem is about a human's need for relationships with people they care about, or else they have nothing to live for. The feeling of loneliness here shows that no one can make it in the world without people to care for.
The poem "As I grew Older" is a little interesting, with a feeling of either regret or hopelessness. It starts off by saying that when you were younger, you had the most amazing dreams of what you wanted your life to be. What I am wondering is, why did the wall rise up? I was thinking that because he was older, his dreams have become smaller and more realistic, but now he regrets not following his dream. One quote may change that, when he says "I am black". Since he lived during the time where people were quite racist, is his skin colour the wall and the hinderance that was rising in front of his dream, giving this poem a sense of hopelessness?
"I am from swing sets and jungle gyms" and "I am from pink tights and speak your mind" both make me think about reminiscing about the past and our childhood days.
"I am from swing sets..." has brought two of the narrators lives together, and looks at the transition s/he has made from her schooldays to maturity. I can create a connection with what she feels, since I usually think about my other life in Australia, and wonder about who I could have been, as well as who I am now. "I am from pink tights..." is more of thinking about the past, at the happiness that you have felt as a child, and how your whole life was a fairytale.
The poem that has the most meaning to me would have to be "I am from swing sets and jungle gyms". The character that the author has created made us feel such a connection with what I feel about childhood, as well as many others, because we miss that sweet innocence that only a child has. The poem "Alone" reminds me of those times in my life where I have felt hopeless, where it seems like no one understands what I am going through. Even though you can never be alone, there are moments when it feels like you are on your own.
"As I Grew Older" had helped us remember our hopes and dreams when we were a child, but now, as we understand the difference between fantasy and reality, those dreams start to fade away as we think about more realistic aspirations. "I am from pink tights and speak your mind" captures the memories that we had as a child, where everything was magic and you believe what you wanted to believe. It was hard to connect with a character such as one from "Richard Cory", as I had never felt what he feels, or lived the lifestyle he has. I can still understand his pain when his numerous possessions not only do not make him happy, but make him feel like an outsider to those who are not as fortunate as him in wealth.
What thoughts and/or feelings did the texts evoke in you? Why?
Both "Richard Cory" and "Alone" creates a feeling of loneliness and being an outsider, but in different ways. In "Richard Cory", the poet clearly sets apart the 'He' (Cory) from the 'We' (narrator), so you can see that in a seemingly low-class part of town, the residents tend to separate themselves from Cory, because of his marvellous lifestyle. Even though he was friendly to those living down town, he was still treated as an outsider, and maybe even a loner. "Alone" makes you think of an unfortunate soul living on the streets with no one to care for them. Looking at the bigger picture, I believe this poem is about a human's need for relationships with people they care about, or else they have nothing to live for. The feeling of loneliness here shows that no one can make it in the world without people to care for.
The poem "As I grew Older" is a little interesting, with a feeling of either regret or hopelessness. It starts off by saying that when you were younger, you had the most amazing dreams of what you wanted your life to be. What I am wondering is, why did the wall rise up? I was thinking that because he was older, his dreams have become smaller and more realistic, but now he regrets not following his dream. One quote may change that, when he says "I am black". Since he lived during the time where people were quite racist, is his skin colour the wall and the hinderance that was rising in front of his dream, giving this poem a sense of hopelessness?
"I am from swing sets and jungle gyms" and "I am from pink tights and speak your mind" both make me think about reminiscing about the past and our childhood days.
"I am from swing sets..." has brought two of the narrators lives together, and looks at the transition s/he has made from her schooldays to maturity. I can create a connection with what she feels, since I usually think about my other life in Australia, and wonder about who I could have been, as well as who I am now. "I am from pink tights..." is more of thinking about the past, at the happiness that you have felt as a child, and how your whole life was a fairytale.
Saturday, 1 October 2011
Smalltown Boy - A Song about Identity
SMALLTOWN BOY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Xa79n1CdKY&feature=youtube_gdata_player
I do not own anything! Rights to the song belong to Bronski Beat =)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Xa79n1CdKY&feature=youtube_gdata_player
I do not own anything! Rights to the song belong to Bronski Beat =)
Wednesday, 28 September 2011
Journal Entry #1
"To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in the private heart is true for all men, - that is genius."
"Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string."
Sometime in our lives, everyone wants to be different, to stand out from the crowd in some way. Unfortunately, humanity plants that fear inside our head that being different is not a good thing to be. It is like how some people hate others because of a difference of skin colour, or those that have different beliefs from ourselves. Humanity makes us think that being different is a scary thing, but Emerson wants us to avoid the image of uniqueness that has been set out for us.
The first quote describes what Emerson thinks genius is, which is believing what you want to believe instead of sticking to the morals others think. It tells you that thinking differently from others and believing it, when you have been trained all your life not to create your own path but follow others'.
In the second quote, it states that you should be true to yourself, because if you trust that everything you do is right, then you will always be happy with what you can accomplish. If I am correct in thinking that the iron string he talks about is part of an instrument, like a cello, or a guitar, then every heart true to itself will contribute to making that beautiful sound, and creating a better life for yourself.
"Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string."
Sometime in our lives, everyone wants to be different, to stand out from the crowd in some way. Unfortunately, humanity plants that fear inside our head that being different is not a good thing to be. It is like how some people hate others because of a difference of skin colour, or those that have different beliefs from ourselves. Humanity makes us think that being different is a scary thing, but Emerson wants us to avoid the image of uniqueness that has been set out for us.
The first quote describes what Emerson thinks genius is, which is believing what you want to believe instead of sticking to the morals others think. It tells you that thinking differently from others and believing it, when you have been trained all your life not to create your own path but follow others'.
In the second quote, it states that you should be true to yourself, because if you trust that everything you do is right, then you will always be happy with what you can accomplish. If I am correct in thinking that the iron string he talks about is part of an instrument, like a cello, or a guitar, then every heart true to itself will contribute to making that beautiful sound, and creating a better life for yourself.
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