The River 2008

Keep following the exploits of your fellow Searchers at Who We Are (the SFHP second-semester blog) or Stars and Shadows (the Myth to Sci-Fi blog).

If you feel like procrastinating - and continuing to discuss issues, SFHP-style - I'll be reposting threads here, and some students will copy their entries from Who We Are or Stars and Shadows as well.

I hope that finals went well for you! Thank you so much for a wonderful, rewarding, and - yes - exhausting semester - you were exciting to teach, and I look forward from hearing from you all the way to graduation - and beyond!

Keep track of your star, and keep reaching for the ones in the sky...

These scripts are available for those who never shared with partners, or who have lost their original copies.
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Is Macbeth a tragic figure?

You can easily see how he isn't one. Yet you can also see that he is.

Which one is he? Which term describes him more accurately?

Your response to "Is Macbeth a tragic figure?" will hinge on a variety of factors - your personal definition of tragedy as it compares to the "dictionary definition" of the term, your emotional and logical responses to Macbeth's actions, your connection to the character, your degree of sympathy or empathy, your understanding of his motives and his character, your comprehension of the various relationships Macbeth establishes (and the deceit he arranges soon after becoming king), your recognition of the possibilities life afforded him before and after each choice...I could go on, but you get the picture.

This is a simple question that demands a complex, nuanced, and well-thought-out response; something as simple and polarized as "Macbeth is bad because he kills" just doesn't cut it. Always remember to state the why for every what!

This post is due at 11:59pm on Monday, January 26th. Your post should be at least two seven-sentence paragraphs long, and while punctuation, grammar, and mechanics all count towards your grade, I want to impress upon you the importance of demonstrating clear thoughts and interesting arguments. Compose your replies carefully!

This post is worth a maximum of ten extra-credit points. You cannot lose points from your overall grade on this assignment, but your mark will reflect your effort and your finished product.

Good luck!

As per the usual, post your questions in the thread, and I (or your classmates) will attempt to provide you with a satisfactory response. Please do not ask questions from the Jeopardy review, even if - especially if - they were not answered by your class. This is a thread for clarification and discovery; the time for Jeopardy material has come and gone.

Please be patient while waiting for an explanation, as I am also working with students who are studying or making up missed work in Room D1 and may not be able to respond instantly.

Fire away!

EDIT: If you are here, and wish to study in D1, the presentation of the "Final Macbeth PowerPoint" (which contains material from the exam and was posted in the Study Stash, but never presented in class) will begin at 5:30 and will conclude roughly one hour later, with periodic breaks for study (and for me to answer the questions from this thread).

The blog is now closed. Good luck tomorrow!

Some material you may find useful as you study for Friday's exam:

The "There Will Be Blood" PowerPoint, as well as the expanded discussion of the play's "star point" themes.

Also, here's the final Macbeth PowerPoint.

Finally, here's a sampling of Macbeth quotes that I've analyzed for you; some of these quotes (as well as others) will appear in our Jeopardy sessions and on the final.

Please remember that the material from the photocopied packets from earlier in the unit - the history of Macbeth and Shakespeare's language, as well as Susan Snyder's wonderful essay - will be included in both Jeopardy and the final exam as well.

I hope this helps.

SFHPers,

I apologize for the "radio silence" over the three-day weekend. As my comment in the earlier post mentioned, I haven't had e-mail or blog access since school ended Friday. It appears that all of my mail kept arriving, so that's good; I responded to those of you whose questions seemed to need immediate responses.

Late extra credit will not be accepted. I hope you can understand why.

Finally, I'm still finishing grades on the philosophy pages, and I seem to be missing them from far, far too many of you. Either there's a pile of them on my desk in D1 that I forgot to grab Friday night, or about twenty of you decided to skip it even after I gave you an opportunity to make it up. I sincerely, sincerely hope that the latter isn't true.

If you have ANY work that I haven't graded yet, please give it to me tomorrow. By the time your grades are finished, I will have entered roughly 4,300 marks - not counting freshmen, of course - so this is something of a titanic endeavor. I will post "rough" grades tomorrow, but more accurate ones will be available on Wednesday.

We'll speak more about grades tomorrow. For now, prepare for the inauguration!

Here's the guide that was up on the board today; while it's mainly for Acts III, IV, and V, it serves as a nifty mini-guide for the play as a whole. (A larger guide will show up tomorrow.)

This will be your final required blog post. There will be a couple of others to close out the semester, and the study session, materials, etc. will still be posted here...but this is the last post everyone will respond to, so knock it out of the park!
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As part of my ongoing effort to support Arcadia High's drama program, I am offering extra credit to those of you who see "Rabbit Hole" and respond to these questions in a typewritten document. Please staple your ticket to the lower left corner of your first page, and please answer all questions honestly, completely, and well. Your work will be due by 11:59pm on Saturday, January 17th, and I would appreciate it very much if you could send your work in earlier!

Enjoy the play...

Be careful what you wish for; you may receive it.
- Anonymous, from W.W. Jacobs’s “The Monkey’s Paw”

Simba: I'm gonna be king of Pride Rock.
Scar: Oh, goody.
Simba: My dad just showed me the whole kingdom. And I'm gonna rule it all!
Scar: Yes, well, forgive me for not leaping for joy...bad back, you know.
- “The Lion King”

The secret life of Bernard Madoff unraveled as he stood in his upper East Side apartment in pale blue bathrobe and slippers, facing two FBI agents.

"We're here to find out if there's an innocent explanation," Special Agent Theodore Cacioppi told him at the Thursday morning encounter.

"There is no innocent explanation," Madoff replied.
- New York Daily News

I dare do all that may become a man; / Who dares do more, is none.
- Macbeth, Act I.vii
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Does Duncan deserve to live?
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Here are the rest of the answers for today's activity.

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.

Abraham Lincoln

(NOTE: Participation in this thread is voluntary.)

We stand at a tipping point in history.

I just finished my holiday celebrations, and I hope yours are going wonderfully!

The "Wall-E" discussion thread will be up in a few days. Until then, please use this thread to wish each other well, brag about presents, etc. (Another thread will be posted for New Year's resolutions on the 31st.)

All the best,

Mr. Feraco