Julius Caesar Duet Acting

Our passage selection is Act two Scene two Lines 8-48;

CALPURNIA

What mean you, Caesar? think you to walk forth?
You shall not stir out of your house to-day.

CAESAR

Caesar shall forth: the things that threaten'd me
Ne'er look'd but on my back; when they shall see
The face of Caesar, they are vanished.

CALPURNIA

Caesar, I never stood on ceremonies,
Yet now they fright me. There is one within,
Besides the things that we have heard and seen,
Recounts most horrid sights seen by the watch.
A lioness hath whelped in the streets;
And graves have yawn'd, and yielded up their dead;
Fierce fiery warriors fought upon the clouds,
In ranks and squadrons and right form of war,
Which drizzled blood upon the Capitol;
The noise of battle hurtled in the air,
Horses did neigh, and dying men did groan,
And ghosts did shriek and squeal about the streets.
O Caesar! these things are beyond all use,
And I do fear them.

CAESAR

What can be avoided
Whose end is purposed by the mighty gods?
Yet Caesar shall go forth; for these predictions
Are to the world in general as to Caesar.

CALPURNIA

When beggars die, there are no comets seen;
The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes.

CAESAR

Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once.
Of all the wonders that I yet have heard.
It seems to me most strange that men should fear;
Seeing that death, a necessary end,
Will come when it will come.

Re-enter Servant

What say the augurers?

Servant

They would not have you to stir forth to-day.
Plucking the entrails of an offering forth,
They could not find a heart within the beast.

CAESAR

The gods do this in shame of cowardice:
Caesar should be a beast without a heart,
If he should stay at home to-day for fear.
No, Caesar shall not: danger knows full well
That Caesar is more dangerous than he:
We are two lions litter'd in one day,
And I the elder and more terrible:
And Caesar shall go forth.

Context:

Calpurnia is begging Caesar to not go to the Capitol. They are at their house and this occurs on the morning of the Ides of March, which is the day the soothsayer had warned Caesar. The night before, there had been strange omens in a terrible storm and Calpurnia is also concerned and frightened by her dream of Ceasar's death (fountain of blood).

Significance:

The significance of this passage is that through Calpurnia's begging, we can see another characterization of women. In the earlier scenes, Portia had kneeled down to Brutus to get what she wants. This portrays women as kneeling down to men easily to get their way and what they need. Also, through Calpurnia's dreams, there is foreshaowing of Caesar's death. The things that she describes happened in her dream happens in Caesar's murder. This passage of Calpurnia's speech increases the audience's tension and creates mood for suspense before Caesar's great death scene (the climax).

My Learning Profile

In Humanities class, we learned about our learning profiles and how we learn best. As profile A learner and a Logic Dominant person, I learn best when focusing on the details of subjects. I need the detailed study and examination of the subject in order to understand better and I express feelings and ideas in words. Processing by writing also helps me to learn, and language is very important to me. It helps me learn structured learning the best and is helpful and useful to have the orderly sequencing of information beforehand. These ways will help me learn best to organize my thoughts and ideas.

I need to challenge myself to see the bigger pictures of things and to connect to information emotionally or kinesthetically. I always think before acting and am able to move forward and pick-up details even when under stress. Adding on, I need to see the orderly sequencing of information of what we’re going to do in class, so that I can prepare beforehand. Challenging myself to see bigger pictures and interpret things in different ways will allow me to enter part of my gestalt hemisphere and learn in different ways.

The strategies that would help me in my learning are to understand I formation from a whole perspective, emotions and movement. This process will help me see different a lot of possibilities and ways to figure things out in different situations. Positive and enjoyable movement exercises/experiences will help me to develop the necessary skills in order to interact emotionally and use my imagination and creativity fully. This will help me to develop my learning skills.

I would like the teachers to know that I learn best by focusing on the details, instructions and prefers the orderly sequence of what we are going to do in class given beforehand. Therefore, it would be appreciated if they handed out assignments with detailed instructions so that it will help me to know exactly what to do and also to have a list of the things we will do in class on the board so that I could prepare all my things.

Learning about my learning profile was very helpful and important because it informed me about the different strategies I can use to benefit my learning progress.

Here is a picture of my learning profile on my electronic portfolio page. https://sites.google.com/a/iskl.edu.my/shchoi15/home

Daughter of Venice Annotations

Donna Jo Napoli uses a combination of metaphors, similes and imagery to drag the reader’s attention into the book, Daughter of Venice.

In chapters 11-15 of this book, there are varieties of similes used to describe the characters’ actions or feelings. “Instead, Messer Cuttlefish has a massive book, so massive that it has to be wheeled around when it’s not sitting on a shelf. He stands over it like a guardsman.”(143) This is a phrase representing a simile comparing the tutor, Messer Cuttlefish, to a guardsman. Donna especially chose a guardsman to use for this simile because it shows him guarding the book from Donata, which signifies that most girls are not allowed for education. Another simile can be found on page 147, where it focuses on Donata and her life. “So on Saturday I work like a madwoman, doing both my share of the chores and Laura’s.” This quote refers to Donata as a madwoman. I think the author did this because Donata is mad herself to take a dangerous risk to go out, dressed as a boy, working and making handbills. This also signifies that Donata is different from all the other girls and that she has a very out-going personality. However, her elder sister, Andriana has a different personality from Donata. “In any case, Andriana sounds like a paragon of modesty, which is much better than if she had actually played a second tune perfectly.”(150) This phrase shows that Andriana is a true lady and the author used this simile because the fact that Donata is referring to Andriana as a paragon of modesty, Donata knows that she is not lady-like herself. Her heart, however, is very lady-like towards Noe. “Noe puts his hand on my shoulder. The effect is like the shock of cold mountain water when we swim in summer.”(155) Donna compares Noe’s hand to the shock of cold mountain water. My interpretation is that Donna did this as an effect of foreshadowing. Sooner or later, Noe will be shocked by the fact that Donata is a girl and Donata will be shocked at how she likes Noe.

Donna Jo Napoli also uses some metaphors to express characters’ emotions. “Messer Zonico is a seppia-an ugly cuttlefish.” This quote compares Messer Zonico to an ugly cuttlefish and shows Donata’s feelings towards the tutor. The author used an ugly cuttlefish for this simile to represent the setting of the book. Since the setting is the Canal Grande, there are some cuttlefish and referring to Messer Zonico as an ugly cuttlefish shows Donata’s anger towards not being able to have rights.

Imagery is a great way to give a visual picture in the readers’ minds. “The first morning light breaks over the roofs across the Canal Grande. I watch it gradually filter through our room, lighting up the painted white and green walls, bringing to life the plaster flowers and ribbons and tassels that decorate our ceilings.” This phrase shows the beautiful morning in Venice and the glowing of sunlight in the Canal Grande. The readers can imagine the wonderful rays of sunlight gradually spreading out through Venice. Donna uses the morning light as a representation of hope and dreams increasing of Donata. This quote really creates a very beautifully image of Venice. Another imagery can be found on page 143. “Then his tight little mouth wrinkles along the upper lip and his cheeks puff.” This is an imagery of Messer Zonico’s facial expression. This quote is specifically detailed and creates a great image in the reader’s mind as if you could copy his facial expressions yourself.

Donna Jo Napoli uses metaphors, similes and imagery to help the reader get more interest into the book and have good visual views of the book and the characters.

How can Da Vinci be characterized as a true Renaissance Man?

Leonardo da Vinci can be characterized as a true Renaissance Man because he was respected by many people through his unbelievable skills. Da Vinci was a scientist because he was the first man to dissect the dead human bodies and observe the structure of them. Through these, Da Vinci began to draw paintings with anatomically accurate drawings of people. Source 7 in the Renaissance textbook shows Leonardo’s sketches of the muscles of human bodies. This sketch is very accurate with specific details of the human’s arm muscles. Leonardo’s sketches in his notebook were so realistic and important it remains in museums today in some manuscripts. Also, in portrait paintings, Leonardo shows great skills of being an artist, showing people’s feelings through the facial expressions painted. Source 15 shows the portrait of Mona Lisa, in which we can feel her mysterious smile through the realistic painting. As shown in Sources 13 and 17, Leonardo made experiments in drawing machines that were used for fights and wars. Therefore, Duke discovered Leonardo’s skill and commissioned Da Vinci to design weapons, buildings and machinery. This made Leonardo da Vinci as a scientist. Leonardo’s fabulous skills and the effort to try new things, had made Florence arts and many other things more strong and powerful.

http://www.usposttoday.com/mona-lisas-secrets-may-be-unlocked-leonardo-da-vinci/

http://www.google.com/images?hl=ko&biw=1362&bih=596&rlz=1R2SKPB_koMY391&q=leonardo%20da%20vinci&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi

Brunelleschi's Risk-Taking

The story of Brunelleschi's dome is one of human ambition achieved through virtuosity, creative leadership, courage and risk-taking. I believe from these various characteristics, the one that most prompted Brunelleschi to succeed in the construction of his master piece was risk-taking. He was taking a great risk to build the biggest dome ever. Filippo Brunelleschi, an intelligent Florentine architect, took the risk of planning a way to build the dome. This was a risk because domes were last made by the ancient Romans and were long forgotten. He took the risk of bringing the idea back to life, studying how the Romans built their domes and attempting to build one himself. Because the cathedral was so wide, many architects did not think it would be possible to build a dome across it. Brunelleschi was taking a huge risk when he began to build the dome, considering the fact that it might collapse in the middle part. Brunelleschi succeeded in building the dome to be self-supporting by constructing it with an inner and outer shell. The inner shell was built with light materials and the outer shell was built with heavier materials. Brunelleschi’s risk-taking in trying to experiment with his idea and then making it work had a positive effect on Florence. Brunelleschi also had high expectations from the people of Florence of building the dome. It would be a great pride of the Florence. Through Fillippo Brunelleschi’s risk-taking and making an attempt to do something new, Florence had great success in building the greatest dome ever built.

Where Do We Get New Ideas?

Everyone has a mind of their own and comes up with different new ideas. New ideas mostly come through deep thoughts of people’s minds. New ideas can come from many different things such as nature, your daily life, what you experience, media and many more. In humanities class, we mostly write and think. Therefore, most of our new ideas come from our deep and thorough thoughts. When you are given a question or a subject to think about, you refer to what you have experienced before. From here you can expand your memories to bigger categories and develop your thoughts. This can help you create a new idea. These are examples of how new ideas can be born in our humanities learning environment. But if we refer to our whole school community, there are other ways we think of new ideas. In our school community, there used to be a lot of meetings discussing for improvement of ISKL’s society. Since there are people who have been in the school for a long period of time and some who are new, they will have different opinions about the school and how to make the community better. And if we think of a bigger community like the nation and/or world, there would be countless new ideas to come. As we all known, the major source to new ideas is nature, such as mountains, hills, trees, sun, moon, sky, stars and more! From what’s originally there, you can develop them to create something new. New ideas can also come from our daily life. If there are some uncomfortable things surrounding our home or other places, we can draw new ideas to make things a better situation. As pointed the above, we can create new ideas from many things in our environment. However, the most important factor of new ideas is our attitude. Our enthusiastic, positive and creative way of thinking for our human life is the most.

My Favorite Story-What Makes a Good Story?

As I look over our short story unit, my favorite short story was “Thank You, “Ma’m.” Mostly, I like this story because of the author’s message-theme. The theme is how believing in others may change them since they will want to maintain/earn respect. I agree with this theme. I believe that teaching people what is right and wrong requires to be done wisely. Instead of scolding them for what they have done wrong, you could teach them how to be right. This theme of respect and compassion is portrayed in the short story through the protagonist, Mrs. Luella Bates washing Jones. Based on the story, she is a religious woman with confidence and a sweet heart. She shows trust, belief and respect towards a poor boy, Roger. However when they first meet in the exposition, the boy tries to steal Luella’s purse. Therefore the rising action makes the reader have tension when Luella simply picks up the boy and screams at him. You may be curious of her next action. Will she hurt the boy? Why is she dragging him home? However, the author releases the tension through the resolution. Resolution is that she brings Roger home, makes him wash his face and feeds him supper. She even understands his want to buy something and gives him ten dollars to buy himself some blue suede shoes. Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones treats the boy Roger with kindness, which wraps up the whole theme of compassion and respect. Through this story, I can realize how sometimes in life, we may face difficulties. At those times we can try to understand each other and help each other to succeed in life.