3.2 Blog Entry Macbeth scene

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOkyZWQ2bmQ

I have chosen this sleepwalking scene from a theater played by Judi Dench. What I liked about it is a very dramatic performance by actress who brought out the depth of Lady Macbeth’s despair. The scene is showing Lady Macbeth sleepwalking and talking about her bloody hands that can not be washed, and she is being observed by noun who saw her sleepwalking before and who was joined by priest to witness the scene. Bloody hands are symbol that means murder and in this case the worst kind of murder – regicide. The enormity of the crime is too much for Lady Macbeth to bear, so her guilty conscience comes alive at night. The guilty conscience part is often seen in tragedies that asks us was it all worth it?

Blog Entry 3.1 Macbeth

The picture shows Macbeth and the Lady Macbeth. Macbeth is shown looking at his bloody hands with his dismayed face, while Lady Macbeth is positioned behind him. She is keeping her hand on his head and looking at his hands with fearful eyes. Hi is having his face and his shirt also bloodied. I like this picture for a few reasons. First, picture is in color and is very graphic, I can see the red blood clearly which helps bring more drama to it. What is clear right away is sense of guilt and regret on their faces. Black background is helpful also because it isolates them and brigs the focus to the right place. Lady Macbeth is positioned in the back and looks like she's lurking from the shadows, like she is the one behind the murder. She looks worried but it seems to be trying to comfort Macbeth and saying " it's OK, you did what you had to do my love". It's a very convincing story telling picture.

Diamond ENG 102: Blog Entry 2.2: Warrior Archetype

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Entry Blog 2.2 Warior

GUNSLINGER- from the Dark Tower book by Stephen King

Warrior archetypes are very interesting for me mostly because they are on the mission. I’m always on some kind of mission myself, but small and peaceful. My last big mission was coming to this country which was very adventures and included taking risks. There is something very appealing in going to adventure and setting of to the unknown . Warriors are strong, brave, ruthless and their sense of self righteousness is amazing. This image appeals to me because Gunslinger is the ultimate warrior. Many warriors go to save their kingdom or the world but Gunslinger goes to a mission to save not just our world but all the other worlds that exist parallel to our world. He’s not from this world and he’s the last remaining gunslinger of the white army and in the same time the last obstacle for dark forces in destroying all life and existence itself.

Blog Entry 2.1 Goblin Market

Christina Rossetti was born in London on December 5^th 1830. She comes from a family of poets; her father and brother were both poets. Rossetti's first poems were written in 1842 and were printed by her grandfather. In 1850, under the pseudonym Ellen Alleyne, she contributed seven poems to the journal The Germ, which had been founded by her brother William Michael and his friends.

Goblin market is a story about two sisters, forbidden fruits and the goblin men. Sisters lived together in the house and have to leave every day to get the water from the stream. One day while going to stream they heard goblin men calling on them to buy fruit. Laura was very tempted to try the fruit and stayed behind her sister and went to goblin men. She did not  have the money but she offered lock of hair and “a tear more rare than a pearl”.  After eating the fruit and picking out one of the seeds she went home. Her sister Lizzie told her the story about Jeanie who also eat the fruit from goblin men and died within the year. The next day while working around the house Laura was longing for the evening and meeting with goblin men, but when the time came she no longer could hear the goblin men’s cry but Lizzie still did. Laura could not buy the fruit and fell into depression. When winter came Laura stopped her house work altogether. She remembers that she had a seed and when she plants it nothing happens which brings her even more harm. Lizzie decides to go to buy some fruit in hope it will help Laura who was dying. She got the silver penny and was greeted very friendly by goblins. After goblins realize that she wants to pay only with money and take fruits with her, they turn very hostile and start kicking and beating her and try to make her eat the fruit, but she refuses and they drench her in fruit pulp and juice. She escapes the goblins and returns home to her sister. Laura eats pulp and juice from her sister and the next morning she recovers and they live happily ever after.

Symbolism

Apples, lemons, figs, oranges, dates, melons- fruit can symbolize many things like forbidden fruit and temptation, it certainly has sexual connotation. It looks to me that all these different fruits represent different types of men and woman who are out there, hence the “all ripe together”-line 15, or “taste them and try”-line 25.

Cat’s face, whisked a tail, rat’s pace, crawled like a snail, wombat prowled obtuse and furry, a ratel tumbled hurry-scurry - these repetitive symbols must represent the some of the men qualities.

“She clipped a precious golden lock,
She dropped a tear more rare than pearl,”- because she has no money but she has to pay, she offers her virginity to the goblin men. I thing the clipping of the “golden lock” means losing virginity.

“They lay down, in their curtained bed:
Like two blossoms on one stem,
Like two flakes of new-fallen snow,
Like two wands of ivory…”-this probably represents the love of two people and how close they are or maybe were in one time  but are not anymore.

"Come buy, come buy," – constant repeating represents constant temptations and struggle in girl’s mind.

“Racing, whisking, tumbling, hobbling;”- also represents those qualities of men that could be tempting for women.

“One day remembering her kernel-stone”-this means that Laura remembers what she lost and suffers.

Archetypes

Goblin men- represent every type of evil doer; here concretely they offer forbidden fruit. They are the bad guys in the story that offer temptations.

Laura- represents typical good girl, like princess or Eva who was weak character and could not resist the temptation, so she went for it, in this case probably fell in love and got hurt.

Lizzie- represents smart character, one who likes to use brain over hurt and is always ready to jeopardize its own safety in order to save the loved one.

This poem is about love, temptations and loss. There is ongoing conflict between temptation to fall in love again and risk of being hurt and staying clear from men. It’s a story that many women can relate to, so poet is trying to warn them not to repeat the mistake that she and many women before her made. Resist and you shall be saved.

Blog Entry 1.3 Poem Breakdown

I have chosen poem by Amy Lowell and it is called The Camellia Tree of Matsue. After reading many poems on different web sites this one finally caught my intention for the reason I can not explain yet, but I’ll give my best shot to try to figure it out. Amy Lowell   was born in Brookline, Massachusetts in 1874 and was a businesswoman, civic leader, and horticulturalist. Lowell posthumously won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1926.

In this poem I encountered a lot of  symbolism, in this order: Matsue, Camellia Tree, blossoms, white, honey wax, pink, fair coral, gateway, wander, garden, trailing its roots, rustling silk, the scrape, gravel, the tree, flowers, erect, peering, shoji, master, gardener, axe, spouted, stump, the hold, quivered.

Matsue is a city in the Japan and the same named castle. The Camellia tree is a tree that grows in Asia, and the flowers are used for tea. Blossoms are the flower of a plant, especially of one producing an edible fruit. White is a color without hue at one extreme end of the scale of grays, opposite to black. Honey wax is a solid, yellowish, nonglycerine substance allied to fats and oils, secreted by bees, plastic when warm and melting at about 145°F, variously employed in making candles, models, casts, ointments, etc., and used by bees in constructing their honeycomb. Pink is a color varying from light crimson to pale reddish purple. Coral is the hard, variously colored, calcareous skeleton secreted by certain marine polyps. Gateway is an entrance or passage that may be closed by a gate. Wander is a verb and it means to ramble without a definite purpose or objective; roam, rove, or stray. Garden is a plot of ground, usually near a house, where flowers, shrubs, vegetables, fruits, or herbs are cultivated. Root is a part of the body of a plant that develops, typically, from the radicle and grows downward into the soil, anchoring the plant and absorbing nutriment and moisture. Rustling is a verb; it means to make a succession of slight, soft sounds, as of parts rubbing gently one on another, as leaves, silks, or papers. Silk is the soft, lustrous fiber obtained as a filament from the cocoon of the silkworm. The scrape is an act or instance of scraping. Gravel is small stones and pebbles, or a mixture of these with sand. Tree is a plant having a permanently woody main stem or trunk, ordinarily growing to a considerable height, and usually developing branches at some distance from the ground. Flower is a plant, considered with reference to its blossom or cultivated for its floral beauty. Erect means to be upright in position or posture. Peer means to peep out or appear slightly. Shoji is a light screen consisting of a framework of wood covered with paper or other translucent material, used originally in Japanese homes as one of a series of sliding panels between the interior and exterior or between two interior spaces. Master is the male head of a household. Gardener is a person who is employed to cultivate or care for a garden. Axe is an instrument with a bladed head on a handle or helve, used for hewing, cleaving, chopping etc. Spout is a verb, it means to emit or discharge forcibly in a stream or jet. Stump is the lower end of a tree or plant left after the main part falls or is cut off. Hold means something to hold a thing by, as a handle; something to grasp. Quiver is a verb, it means to shake with a slight but rapid motion; vibrate tremulously; tremble.

This poem is full of Japanese symbolism, and the camellia tree is the main subject, which is not surprising considering that the poet is horticulturalist and has a great knowledge of trees. For her this tree must represent something or someone of a great significance and beauty, which is obvious from her description of it, including beautiful colors. White represents something good and maybe innocent considering its connection with the blossom, and pink represents probably perfection. It seems to me what had happened next is that during the night someone was getting visits from someone in the house who is really not part of the house because it says that” The Camellia Tree would leave its place by  the gateway “. And the part with” Trailing its roots behind it like a train of rustling silk”, sounds like someone’s long hair or maybe a night gown. Seems to me that these night visits were happening until someone’s father maybe decided to put the stop on it. Also, in the process someone’s heart was broken.

  www.blackcatpoems.com  www.wikipedia.org. www.english.illinois.edu www.americanpoems.com www.dictionary.com