Blood Wedding #3

Readers are attracted to moments of intensity in a writer's work. By what means and with what effect have writers in your study offered heightened emotional moments designed to arrest the reader's attention?

Blood Wedding

Blood Wedding offers minimal heightened emotional moments but the scarcity of these moments makes each one that does happen even more important. This is first evident when the Mother explains her losses to give readers and listeners a possible emotional connection and / or sympathy towards that character.

MOTHER: Anything that can cut into a man's body! A beautiful man, with life like a flower in his mouth, who goes out to the vineyards or to his own olive groves, because they are his, inherited...

BRIDEGROOM: (Lowering his head) Mother, be quiet!

MOTHER: ... and that man does not return. Or if he does, it's only to have a palm placed over him or a dish of rock salt, so his body won't float. I don't know how you dare to carry a knife on you! Or why I allow this serpent inside the cupboard!

BRIDEGROOM: Haven't you said enough?

MOTHER: If I lived a hundred years, I would talk of nothing else! First your father. To me he smelled like carnations, and I enjoyed him only three short years. Then your brother. Is it fair? How can it be that something as small as a pistol or a knife can destroy a man who is like a bull?

The Wild Duck

The Wild Duck uses a lot more heightened emotional moments to show the reader the strong connections between Hjalmar and his daughter, Hedvig, and the weak connection between Gregers and his father, Mr Werle.

(Hjalmar Ekdal, wearing an overcoat and a gray felt hat, enters from the right.)

GINA (dropping her sewing and getting up): Ah, Hjalmar, here you are!

HEDVIG (jumping up at the same time): At last you're home, Daddy!

Blood Wedding #2

Narrative Structure

How has the plot been constructed?

It's been constructed through the use of actors. Plot being it's set after the mother has been widowed and one son murdered the other son to get married to a woman who was once engaged with a man from the family that killed both her husband and other son.

Are their parts?

Yes there are 3 acts and altogether there are 7 scenes, each telling the next part of the plot.

Is the plot circular?

It is not a circular plot, but I sense something bad is going to happen to the mother that'll make her experience sadness again, so circular in the sense of mentality.

Subplots?

Explanation of the bridegrooms wife's past engagements and history of the mother's losses of her husband and son.

How important/effective is the ending?

I haven't got to the ending at this point yet, but as in all tragedies, the ending is most of the time the most important part of the story/plot.

Has everything been revealed by the end or are there unanswered questions?

I am unable to answer this question effectively but an unanswered question I have now is what happened between Leonardo and the Wife to make them so madly in love with each other yet somehow ended up apart.

What period of time has been covered?

Not much, just a couple days and several hours after the wedding.

Is time important?

Not necessarily, but Leonardo's timing to come and take away the Wife during the wedding is important because it sparked all these events.

Blood Wedding #1

Stylistic Techniques

The wife and mother-in-law do a duet in poem form about a horse that doesn't want to drink water despite being thirsty.

Figurative Language

GIRL: Oh, what stockings! Women dream of such stockings! Look" a swallow here(she points to her ankle), a boat here (she points to her calf), and here (she points to her thigh) a rose!

Imagery

MOTHER: I wish that no one knew either the one who's alive or the one who's dead. I wish they were like two thistles that would prick any wagging tongue that touched them.

MOTHER: If I lived a hundred years, I would talk of nothing else! First, your father. To me he smelled like carnations, and I enjoyed him only three short years. Then your brother. Is it fair? How can it be that something as small as a pistol or a knife can destroy a man who is like a bull? I'll never be quiet. The months go by, and the desperation stings my eyes and the very tips of my hair!

Additional Journal

What I'm Tracking: Tracking how the plays are portraying society at the time and seeing if some of the portrayals still hold true to today.

The Wild Duck is portraying man as a being who believes strongly in their own abilities. That the common man is ashamed to take the fruits of others labors for granted. Hjalmar hates the prospect and is ashamed that his life has been built upon the charity of Mr. Werle. This still holds somewhat true to today's world, most people want to reap what they sow, but there are an increasing number of cheaters, people who live off of social welfare (not including the people who actually need it), and big bankers.

Oedipus portrays man as a being who tries to do good but in the end does evil. Today, some examples are people who seek power to help the people but get corrupted in the process like some politicians. An underlining meaning could also be that those who do not seek power are the best suited to withhold it.

The Wild Duck #4

"What is drama but life with the dull bits cut out?" To what extent do you find this statement applicable in at least two plays you have studied?

In The Wild Duck, we find this statement mostly applicable. The story starts off at Mr. Werle's house, a party is being celebrated for his sons return. Immediately the entrance of Hjalmar sparks off friction between the Edkar and the Werle family. We also see that Mr. Werle's son, Gregers, is already accusing his father that he is just using him. No boring stuff there. From that point a majority of the play is set in Hjalmars apartment where the play goes very briefly about the daily lives of the Edkars but drama follows behind shortly as Gregers moves in a room the Edkars had out for rent, causing even more friction between the two families. This place is also where Hjalmar finds out Hedvig might not be his daughter.

In Oedipus, it is somewhat more apparent. Introduces a horrid prophecy. Tells of how Oedipus unknowingly kills his own father, which I'd say is not a dull part. His wife/mother kills herself, and Oedipus gouges out his own eyes. I'd call that drama with the dull parts cut out, literally.

The Wild Duck #3

"Visual action can be as important on the stage as speech." How far do you agree with this claim? In your answer you should refer to two or three plays you have studied.

Visual action is very important, as important, as speech. Without it, we could never fully scope the amount of emotion a character is going through. For example, when Oedipus finds out he married his mother and killed his father he "Rushed through the doors with a great cry" (232).

This action shows us the amount of pain and shame he is in, as oppose to him just screaming.

In The Wild Duck, I feel as though it isn't important currently where we are in the book. But some notable actions are when Hjalmar avoids his father, Old Edkar, when his father had come by the Werle house to make copies. This indicates that Hjalmar is ashamed to be dining at a house whose owner destroyed his fathers reputation and doesn't want his father to see even though Edkar already knew Hjalmar was supposed to be there.

The Wild Duck #2

A poem written by one of the characters

Dang Rich People by Hjalmar

They killed my father

Not really, but he might as well been dead

Sitting there drinking and smoking

Like a giraffe in quicksand

Reconciliation is not enough

I sit with my flute and only my flute

My family observes,

Absorbing me

No treats for you

I forgot,

While sulking in the shadows of their lives,

Dang Rich People

The Wild Duck #1

PoV/Characters

From whose point of view is the story told?

The story is told by all the actors within the play, since it's a play and there's no actual narrator besides the description of the stage movements.

Does this change?

No it does not.

How reliable is the narrative voice?

Very reliable since it's from the actors/characters themselves.

How well does the reader get to know the characters?

They only get to scratch the surface of each characters. Besides a few under the breath

comments, there's no insight into what the character is thinking. We can only analyze them

from their interactions with each other, they don't get to see the thought processes of these

characters actions.

How credible are they?

Somewhat credible, refer to previous question for a more definitive answer.

How are they presented?

Knowledge of the characters are presented by the interactions the characters have with

the other characters.

How does the writer persuade us to like/sympathize with some characters and

dislike others?

By the actions each individual character does and how they speak.

Blooms Taxonomy #1 & #2

Greek Tragedy

Is the Shepard/Herdsman a positive influence in Oedipus's life because he has revealed the truth and the truth is what matters? Or is truth on the tip of the fence of morality for us to determine when it is right to tell it.

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Does Goldilocks represent the basic nature of a human being? The basic nature being selfish

curiosity, that in the end you are only doing everything for yourself.

Oedipus #4

Did not do Journal entry 3.

Setting

Cultural Setting

Cultural settings include a belief in more than 1 God. Each God represents a different meaning such as Athena the God of War and Love. This is a time where kings ruled, in this case it is Oedipus.

Geographical Setting

Takes place in the city of Thebes, where Oedipus rules. Thebes is a city-state just like all the other cities in Greece.

Historical Setting

Back than, there weren't any states like what we have in the United States. Instead they had these things called city-states where cities were the states themselves.

The time this book took place was around the fifth century before Christ.

What effect does the setting have on story, character, theme?

Effects on story are such things as it gives us an insight into what life was like way back than, this goes the same for character. For example, we see characters back than as very sophisticated, gentlemen, and old world like because of the English translation of how they speak. Themes back than were very simplistic, and the setting of an ancient Greek city more than 2000 years ago gives that simplistic theme how should I say, a guideline question to our existence and questions on human behavior.

IOP Journal 5

Wecker approved my idea and I will be making last minute huge changes to my IOP. I will be comparing the structure of Pablo Neruda's political and love poems. Things I'm doing today

Making my Presentation Outline

Choosing a Love Poem and analyzing it

Choosing a Political Poem and analyzing it

Comparing the structures of those poems

-Conclusion: Pablo Neruda presents different emotional responses through the structure of his poems.

Get a transparency of those poems to present

IOP Journal 4

While I was narrowing down which poem I was going to analyze I had the idea in class that I could compare the structure of Pablo's love poems and political poems. Going to run it by Wecker tomorrow.

Anyways, didn't do much for my IOP today to be honest, focusing on the IB tests. Will do everything for my IOP tomorrow if Wecker approves my new idea, if she doesn't well than I'm basically already done. Will make up for the lack of writing in tomorrow's journal since I didn't work on my IOP today.

Oedipus #2

Wednesday's Homework

• Read to page 210
• Journal: How does the background information on Greek Theater and History inform your reading of Oedipus? Use specific examples to explore the connections between context and content.

Lines 549-577

CHORUS But this rep

roach, it may be, came from wrath

All hasty, rather than from judgment calm.

CREON And who informed him that the seer, seduced

By my false counsel, spoke his lying words?

CHORUS The words were said, but on what grounds I know not.

CREON And was it with calm eyes and judgment clear,

The charge was brought against my name and fame?

CHORUS I cannot say. To what our rulers do

I close my eyes. But here he comes himself.

This part in the text relates to the chorus's that these playwrights used in their plays. So far there have been 4 distinct actors that have been given names.

Oedipus

Teiresias

Creon

Jocasta

Sophocles first introduced 3 actors, I guess what made this a masterpiece is the fact that he added a 4th actor and a couple extras such as the boy that guided Teiresias and the attendant that came with Jocasta.

Lines 651-663

CREON What seek’st thou, then? to drive me from the land?

OEDIPUS Not so. I seek not banishment, but death.

CREON When thou show’st first what grudge I bear to thee?

OEDIPUS

And say’st thou this defying, yielding not?

CREON I see thy judgment fails.

OEDIPUS

I hold mine own.

CREON Mine has an equal claim.

OEDIPUS

Thou villain born!

CREON And if thy mind is darkened…?

OEDIPUS

Still obey!

CREON Not to a tyrant ruler.

OEDIPUS

O my country!

CREON I, too, can claim that country. ’Tis not thine!

Sophocles would increase the complexity of his characters. The fact that he added a conflict between Oedipus and Creon creates this new type of dialog and conversations that only exists between these two characters.

Oedipus #1

Conversations between characters and/or authors

Oedipus lines 8-13:

Myself, whom all name Oedipus the Great.—

Do thou, then, agèd Sire, since thine the right

To speak for these, tell clearly why ye stand

Awe-stricken, or adoring; speak to me

As willing helper. Dull and cold this heart

To see you prostrate thus, and feel no ruth.

Priest lines 14-16:

Yes, Oedipus, thou ruler of my land,

Thou seest us how we sit, as suppliants, bowed

Around thine altars; some as yet unfledged

and...

Priest lines 44-47:

And now, O Oedipus, most honoured lord,

We pray thee, we, thy suppliants, find for us

Some succour, whether floating voice of God,

Or speech of man brings knowledge to thy soul

What really makes me wonder is what Oedipus had done to deserve this such love from a loyal citizen. How was his method of becoming so powerful? Was he born into it? Or was he part of a comedy before he became a tragedy? His loyal servants seem to worship him as a God and it interests me how exactly he got to that point.

Oedipus thinks he's so great that he refers to himself as Oedipus the Great. Which leads me to think that me must have done something great to reach that level of confidence, but then again, back than most people were either born into power or took it by force. I would like to know which of these methods he chose and hopefully it is answered later in the book.

I think it is highly unlikely that he took power by force, there's a possibility that he overthrew an oppressive government but that's not likely since people who sought power sought it to take control and not to liberate. Proof to show this is that everyone loves him, which means he probably didn't take power by force and which leads me to believe that he did something great to obtain power.

IOP Journal 3

None of my ideas fell through, and the thing about his childhood affecting his poetic style was a bust but Wecker said I could just analyze a poem in front of the class for my IOP. Sounds like a good idea and I'm probably am going to go with that unless I can think of something better. Probably not the best idea since my presentation is at the end of this week.

Anyways, I'm probably not going to analyze a poem that we have already done, doesn't need to be bland than it already is. I'm going to pick one of the ones I got off the internet and I'll make a finalized decision on which one I want to do tomorrow on the next blog.

Starting the beginnings of an outline, getting an idea of a central thesis in my head and will write it down on paper once I pick the poem I want to do and is concrete.

IOP Journal 2

The topic about how his political view affected his poetry writing is already taken. Basically coming up with more ideas about how I'm going to do this before my presentation this Friday. I'm going to surf the web and look for various Pablo Neruda poems besides the ones we have already done in class. Once I get all of that, I'm going to analyze those and see what other kind of ideas/conclusions I can come up with and tell them to Wecker tomorrow to see if any of those fall through.

IOP Journal 1

I chose poetry and the author I chose is Pablo Neruda. I thought about doing things such as how he grew up during childhood affected his poetic style. I thought about doing how his political views influenced his poetry writing. I also thought about doing his tendency to treat woman as more as materialistic things to conquer rather than a deep love for every woman he comes by.