Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Oral Presentation Reflections
In the play Macbeth, the main character Macbeth connects to the essential question "How far is one willing to go to get what they desire most?” He connects to this essential question because he shows a great ambition for power and is he is willing to do whatever to achieve it. His ambition starts when the he meets the witches and they say "All hail, Macbeth! Hail thee, thane of Cawdor! / All hail, Macbeth! that shalt be king here after.(I.iii.51-52)." Sceptical at first, Macbeth finds it is hard to believe the witches but when their first prediction that he will become the next Thane of Cawdor comes true, he becomes very curious as to how he will become king. "If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown men /Without my stir (I.iii.29)." he thinks to himself as he thinks as to how he will become king. He realizes that in order to become the new king he must kill King Duncan whom he is very loyal to. Following Lady Macbeth's plan Macbeth goes through with killing Duncan and blaming it on the guards. He then becomes king and becomes very powerful.
After he becomes king, he gains a large amount of power, which connects to the essential question "How does power corrupt?” As Macbeth gained more power, he also became more corrupt. He realizes that since the witch’s prophecy came true that he would be king, the second half of the prophecy would also become true. This was that Banquo's sons were to become king. He became worried that Banquo's sons would replace him so he convinces some of his men that Banquo is the enemy and to kill Banquo and his son Fleance. He shows his corruption by killing those who are close to him in an attempt to stay in power. He also orders his men to seize Macduff's castle and to kill his wife and children after he finds out that Macduff may become a threat to his power.
"The castle of Macduff I will surprise; Seize upon Fife; give the edge o' the sword His wife, his babies, and all unfortunate souls That trace him in his line. No boasting like a fool; (IV.i.1164-167)."
He becomes so corrupt that he is willing to kill anyone that may threaten him and he is willing to kill their family. This also connects back to the essential question "How far is one willing to go to get what they desire most?" At the beginning of the play Macbeth is a loyal and brave solider but his lust for power changes him into a tyrant and a ruthless person, which in the end is his downfall.
I learned a lot when working in groups. I learned that it is a great way to see many different points of view and understandings of the play. I also learned that it is best to start the project early because anything could go wrong. For example, with our presentation we had technical difficulties which prevented us from completing the project on time. We should have started and nearly completed the project early so that if technical difficulties occurred we would have enough time to fix it and polish the project as needed. Something that I learned for next time is to work on the project early, especially when you have the chance as you never know when something can go wrong and it also gives you more time to polish the project as needed. I also noticed that I may need to speak up more to my group so that we can have many different and thoughtful ideas.
Overall, I am proud of our final project as I think it was an original and funny way of showing the play of Macbeth. I think that there were some funny parts that people may connect with as well. If I were to divide a pie into the percentage of work each group member completed, I think that I would give Jack and Braden both 35% and myself 30%. I feel that we all did a fair share of work however; I feel that they contributed a little more than I did, and I feel that I could have contributed more.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)