Macbeth acts IV-V

Macbeth again meets with the witches and they tell him that he should fear Macduff and an army will be coming for him. Macbeth decides to have the murderers kill Macduff's family. Ross takes the news to Macduff and it enrages him. He decides to put an army together and go show Macbeth what is up. Lady Macbeth is having issues while this is all going on. She is seen sleep-walking by her attendant and a doctor. She discloses her guilt of the murder while asleep and the doctor says she needs God not medicine. Finally she ends up killing herself. Her husband is faced with the war at his castle and Macduff finds him. Macduff slays Macbeth after they exchange words.

Macbeth scenes I-III

In the first three scenes of the play many different things take place. In the first scene readers are introduced to King Duncan who is conversing with a Captain. The Captain is reporting of war and telling the King of brave Macbeth's actions. Macbeth also hears of a prophecy from three witches that he shall be King. His wife, Lady Macbeth gets a letter from him and decides they must kill the King. In act two the couple go through with their plot and each take a part in the murder of the King. The attendants of the King flee for various countries as they feel they will shortly be accused. In the third act Macbeth realizes Banquo is very aware of what he has done and hires murderers to slay Banquo. After the murder Macbeth sees Banquo's ghost in his chair at the banquet.

Scene Presentations

I will be playing the part of Macbeth in Act 1 Scenes 4 & 5. In Scene 4 I converse with the King and am telling him of the war I have witnessed and enacted. In Scene 5 I converse with my wife, Lady Macbeth, who is asking of the King's presence and what I plan on doing. She is trying to convince me to take action but I get sick of her & exit the scene.

The Love Song

I thought this poem was about a man who is haunted by many situations/places/days/times/events. I feel like he is old in his narration and is reflecting either on his life or on his want to go back and change it somehow. I also feel that he is conflicted with many events and decisions he made in his life and is burdened by his outcome. I'm not sure if he is already dead because the end of the poem depicts him drowning. I think he may be dead the entire poem and in his after life he is burdened by his wrong choices he has made.

Poetry

The Chimney Sweeper
When he was little his mother died and his father put him to work as a chimney sweeper before he was old enough to understand what was happening.

Tom was upset his head was shaved but the narrator calms him by saying without hair you won't get soot in it.

At night, Tom had a dream about other boys like him dying.

There was an Angel in the dream who let the boys who died free and they went and washed their 'baggage' and soot off their bodies.

The boys ran around free and naked and the Angel told sleeping Tom he could do this one day too if he is a good kid.

Then Tom woke up and he went to work happy and warm because of his dream even though it was cold and he was a chimney sweeper.

London
He is walking through industrial parts of Thames with a weak saddened look to impress upon others who see him.

He is in pain, he can feel and hear everyone's cries.

The happy city is now black/dark and blood is on the walls of the town (war?).

In the late hours around the town, it is cursed with baby cries and death.

The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas & Harrison Bergeron

I did not like The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas. It was a twisted story that portrays a society that is 'happy' yet it is clear they are not. They do not smile or show much emotion and seem to be running through the motions of life. They are also aware of a child who is locked up in the community and barely fed and is completely abused. The ending gives hope to those in the society who can't take it and want something better... so they leave. Yet the narrator talks of happiness and how those who leave will be unable to find any. It is a distorted view and I feel that the community is brainwashed into this crazy lifestyle of knowing something is not right but keeping their mouth shut and accepting it. However, I do not understand what the town was gathering for naked and celebrating Summer for?

In Harrison Bergeron, the husband and wife are portrayed as a normal couple watching TV together. Yet, they are living in a society that has dictated everyone to be equal in every facet of life. The beautiful people must wear 'handicaps' and suffer for their assets. The wife is obviously not the smartest and the husband would know this but his 'handicap' makes him less aware because he is constantly distracted. I found this story to be very amusing. It is glorifying less intelligence and unattractiveness which is quite the opposite in our world now.

The Lottery & Goodman Brown

I did not like the story of Goodman Brown. As I understood it, he was a man of faith and had high trust in the Church. Yet, he was led down a journey by whom he thought a man of the devil and there was a worship going on in the dessert forest. It was possibly a dream at the end and the character of Goodman Brown could not understand if it was a dream or not. He had a hard time going to Church and feeling comfortable afterward. I feel the story was truly a dream of what he fears or that he is struggling with his faith and is having nightmares of what could happen if he falls into the trap of sin.

However, The Lottery  was a much different story. It was about a community coming together to select a paper from the black box. At the end of the Lottery one family has to go through the lottery together and had to see who ended up with the black dot. It turns out Tessie was selected. The community seemingly stones her to death? I feel that this was possibly population control? I think the society was severely messed up and had a demented tradition going on. I liked this story because it was easier to read and unpredictable.

Also, as discussed in class we are to blog our paper topics. I would like to write about my take of Edgar Allen Poe's Tell-Tale Heart. I want to write about my perception of the narrator being schizophrenic. I feel the story would give me ample evidence to support my inquiry.