AP Study

I was actually given an ap study book to borrow and it's pretty helpful. I showed a few people in class today. It seemed like the test basically. It gave a passage to read then had multiple choice questions to answer and the answers were in the back.

A Reflection on Unstructured Learning

I think the theme of this txt was that you learn by living. Sometimes when we have such a big goal ahead of us.. we get discouraged and can't take the next step forward. We're looking so far into the future, that we can't see what's  right in front of us. Thinking of a name for his costume was holding him back because he couldn't move on to anything else until that was done. When he stopped stressing over a name and just started living his life.. everything fell into place.

I just reread that paragraph I typed and it totally reminded me of the AP exam. This entire year it's seemed so far away and sometimes we get overwhelmed by how much we need to learn and prepare for it. But if we just take one step at a time.. we might surprise ourselves with how much we can accomplish.

AP Practice Test

The practice test I took was the one that had the answer key. I thought it would be more helpful to actually see what the correct answers would have been. The only difficult thing was that my eyes automatically saw which one was circled before I had time to really decide which one I would have picked. Overall the questions seemed pretty general. It was mostly reading comprehension which I'm usually not good at. One thing I did notice was that the answers were simple. I have a bad habit of over analysing everything. I need to understand that the question really might be that easy.

prose/poetry prompts

1977 No prose selection (instead, had the following prompt: A character’s attempt to recapture or reject the past is important in many plays, novels, and poems. Choose a work in which a character views the past with such feelings as reverence, bitterness, or longing. Show with clear evidence how the character’s view of the past is used to develop a theme in the work.)

-I feel like Macbeth's past actions cause his future ones. He has a conscience and feels bad about killing Duncan which is why he keeps killing more people because he's striving for a punishment or what he feels he deserves. Almost like self destruction.


1970 Meredith’s “Ferdinand and Miranda” from The Ordeal of Richard Feveral: Show how the young woman and the young man in the passage are made to seem naturally suited for one another.

-Macbeth and Lady Macbeth balance each other out. They both go through changes but they are always opposite of each other.

1992 Poem: “The Prelude” (William Wordsworth)

Prompt: Write an essay in which you trace the speaker's changing responses to his experiences and explain how they are conveyed by the poem's diction, imagery, and tone.

-being king, daggar..

 

1993 Poem: “The Centaur” (May Swenson)

Prompt: Read the following poem carefully. Then write an essay in which you discuss how such elements as language, imagery, structure, and point of view convey meaning in the poem.

 

 

My Plan

I plan on learning all of the lit terms and knowing them completely before the ap test. I also need to review the nine elements of poetry and make sure I remember all of them. I am also going to print out the practice tests posted on the blog so I can quiz myself.

Macbeth Lecture Notes part 2

-Lady Macbeth goes crazy at the end
-represents pure force

-Reinforces message witches gave to Macbeth

-Macbeth = heroic because he's aware of what he did and tried to push through. (strength of character)

-Lady Macbeth acts like nothing's wrong and is too casual

-The force she put on macbeth eventually kills her

-Macbeth wants to kill Banquo- doesn't tell wife..               (Before Banquet)

-Macbeth and Lady Macbeth = Living in 2 different worlds

-Peace of mind =if dead.. not tormented

-Macbeth's mind isn't at ease... psychological
-still has sense of right and wrong

(Kills Banquo's family)

-Act 3 scene 3 "come seeing night..."
-Let me be free so it doesn't bother me anymore (no more human feeling)

-"things bad begun.. make strong the acts of will."
-strength to go on?

-Murdering hisway to peace of mind
-Loss of physical relationships
-Lost great bond linking him to other human beings

(Act 5 scene 3)
-creates a life with no human desire in it

-"she should have died hereafter.."       Macbeth's refusal to take the life he created

-on the outside he looks like h has it all.. on the inside didn't care about anything

Witches

-Witches = fate (driving Macbeth the whole time)
-Shakespeare intends for us to never forget that evil intent

-Did Macbeth have a choice with what he did.. or was it the prophecy (thought) that tempted Macbeth beyond his ability to control himself.

-Witches prophetic powers are important

-Looking for things that will help interpret situation differently

-witches exist to tempt and torment people..
-Promises come true but not in the way he planned
(Allusion to The Monkey's Paw)

-Banquo =alternative. (honor's more important)

-Macbeth's desires = imagination + Lady Macbeth

-Witches represent the story macbeth wants to believe

-Shakespeare doesn't give answers to witches (almost like someones dark thinking)

-One evil man doesn't signify all evil

-Witches show up every once in a while

-Social/political implications of women?

(Positive value in macbeth = witches)
-Witches are excluded in society (women)
-Women + witches + supernatural = power.

Beware of the Sophomores!!!

Macbeth Lecture Notes

-Macbeth is fairly simple
(rise and fall of a man)

Act 3 He's already king... no where to go but down

-Hamlet talks to us and we see him transparently
-Macbeth doesnt connnect to audience (no real humor)

Scene with Porter.. humor?

-Not a plot driven paly.. it's a character play
-Macbeth is a tragic character because he was highly successful and honorable
(all this had promise and potential)
-By the end of the play he is isolated and caused his own downfall in a sense.

-Loss came about from his own free decisions
-Architect of his own destruction
-His death was his consequence (suicide) caused his own death

-Why isn't Macbeth happy with what he has.. needs more
(ambitious)

*Act 1 scene 7 lines 21-28 (motivation)
-Macbeth is motivated because he's in the middle of something he doesn't understand.

-"what beast was this..."
macbeth had talked to his wife about killing before

-We all have an idea of what's right and wrong

-In killing Duncan, Macbeth will be breaking everything that holds the community together.

-Lady Macbeth wants to keep the vision of king in his mind

-Lady Macbeth = (pure) evil
-"Blind Ambition"

-She characterizes right and wrong as unmanly

-Macbeth sees the daggar but can't grasp it.
-How can Macbeth actually kill Duncan when he's so torn apart about it.

-When Duncan wakes up and sees Macbeth with the daggars.. he feels he has no choice.. he has to kill him now

*He put himself in the situations where these actions are necessary
-Macbeth tricks himself into killing

Macbeth As King

-Setting himself up for failure

-Tragic Character as a villian=give him a conscience

-Macbeth suffers a lot throughout the play (self destructive)

-Lady Macbeth lacks his willpower, lack of resolve.. can't take inner torment... and she kills herself.
(sleepwalking)

-lack of inner will/ can't seperate herself from what went on.

-Lady Macbeth = destruction.

Macbeth Quiz

1. Macbeth won the respect of King Duncan by

A. slaying the traitor Macdonwald.

2. King Duncan rewarded Macbeth by dubbing him

B. the Thane of Cawdor

3. In addressing Banquo, the witches called him which of these?

"Lesser than Macbeth, and greater." (I)

"Not so happy as Macbeth, yet much happier." (II)

"A future father of kings." (III)

A. I and II

4. When Macbeth said, "Two truths are told / As happy prologues" he was referring to

C. the predictions made to Banquo and to himself.

5. "Nothing in his life / Became him like the leaving it" is a reference to

A. the traitorous Thane of Cawdor.

6. Duncan's statement, "I have begun to plant thee and will labour / To make thee full of growing" is an example of

C. personification.

7. Lady Macbeth characterizes her husband as being

B. "too full of the milk of human kindness."

8. When Macbeth agonizes over the possible killing of the king, which of these does he say?

A. I and III

9. Macbeth's statement to his wife, "Bring forth men-children only" signifies that he

B. is concerned over the succession to the throne

10. As part of the plan to kill the king, Lady Macbeth would

A. get the chamberlains drunk.

11. Trace Macbeth's transformation from a good man to an evil man.

In the beginning Macbeth and Banquo kill Macdonwald who was an evil man. Macbeth was noble but became obsessed with power and the throne and eventually killed people for it.

12. What motivates Macbeth to take the evil path he chooses?

I feel like the witches motivate Macbeth's evil path because they are the ones who gave him the idea to be king.. which started it all.

13. What influence do the witches have on Macbeth?

The witches definately have a negative influence on Macbeth. They tell him his future or his fate.

14. Contrast Macbeth's response to the witches' predictions with Banquo's.

Macbeth was tempted by the prophecies where Banquo was more cautious and warned about the witches false agendas.

15. Describe the relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Trace how it changes over the course of the play.

In the beginning Lady Macbeth seemed to almost bully Macbeth into doing things such as killing the king. By the end however, Macbeth is obsessed with becoming king.. where lady Macbeth has become consumed with guilt. They almost switch roles in a sense.

1. "Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible / To feeling as to sight?" is a reference to the

B. dagger.

2. Lady Macbeth confessed that she would have killed King Duncan herself except for the fact that

B. he looked like her father

3. Shakespeare introduced the Porter in order to

C. provide comic relief.

4. Malcolm and Donalbain flee after the murder

A. because they fear the daggers in men's smiles.

5. Macbeth arranges for Banquo's death by telling the hired killers that

A. Banquo had thwarted their careers.

6. Macbeth startles his dinner guests by

A. conversing with the Ghost of Banquo

7. The Witches threw into the cauldron

"Eye of bat and tongue of frog"(I)

"Wool of bat and tongue of dog" (II)

"Fang of snake and eagle's glare" (III)

A. I and II

8. The three apparitions which appeared to Macbeth were

An armed head. (I)

A child with a crown. (II)

A bloody child (III)

C. I, II, and III

9. In Act IV, Malcolm is at first lukewarm toward Macduff because he

B. suspects a trick.

10. Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane when

B. the camouflaged soldiers make their advance

11. What is the significance of the line "Fair is foul, and foul is fair" (I, i, 10)?

It is basically trying to say that fair and foul can be different in different prespectives. Like a foul for one can be fair for the other. especially in the wars lost for one would give victory to others. It also connects to theme of appearnce vs reality as what seems to be fair can be foul. It is a paradox that signifies that there is no significance of good and bad things as their role can be reversed. It also develops the wicked and evil character of the witches

12. How does Macbeth function as a morality play?

It teaches a moral lesson and shows that by the end justice is served when macbeth dies and Malcom can be king.

13. How does Shakespeare use the technique of dramatic irony in Macbeth?

Dramatic irony is when the audience knows more than the characters. One example of this is when the audience knows that the witches have bad intentions but Macbeth doesn't know that.

?14. How does Lady Macbeth overcome her husband's resistance to the idea of killing King Duncan?

Macbeth eventually gives in and kills Duncan giving Lady Macbeth what she wants.

 

15. Contrast Macduff's response to the news of his wife's and children's deaths with Macbeth's response to being told Lady Macbeth is dead

 Macbeth was sad.. but still very focused on becoming king and he seemed to get over it faster. Macduff was outraged and filled with anger. He was determined to seek revenge which is what motivated him.

Macbeth Notes

Witches = foreshadowing (prophecy)

-theme- we see the hatred of women

-Shakespeare had to be careful because he was writing a play and the current king james I had relations to some characters in real life.
-Many underlying things

-Sailors wife= foreshadows lady macbeth

-3 witches told macbeth he would be king.

-Banquo wants to know what about him

-Do the witches have a purpose?

- Banquo = key player, big part of Macbeths rise and fall (after math)

-Angus and Ross inform Macbeth he has the title to be next in line for king

-Previous thane of Cawdor = in line for treason (norway)

Literary elements used that add to theme and tone

-Foreshadowing- 3 witches
-Witches often speak in Rhyme.. which adds to the theme of predestination (prophecy)
"When the hurlyburly's done, when the battle's lost and won."
-Sailors wife Foreshadows lady Macbeth
-Metaphor= (chestnuts in her lap) Stripping away manhood
-Chaiasmus= "Fair is foul and foul is fair..
hover through the fog and filthy air" "By each one her chappy finger laying upon her skinny lips: you should be women."- Imagery
-Paradox- Contradicting statement that portrays some kind of truth
"Fair is foul and foul is fair"

Lady macbeth wants the throne.. but realizes king Duncan is in the way.

In the castle before dinner Macbeth ponders his thoughts of murdering Duncan

When macbeth decides not to kill duncan.. lady m. is outraged and calls him a coward

They come up with a plan to get the guards drunk then sneak in and murder Duncan.. then smear his blood on the sleeping guards to frame them.

Banquo and his son Fleance go to macbeths castle around midnight.. they talk to macbeth about the witches briefly..

B. and F leave.. and then macbeth has a vision of a daggar.. pointing towards duncan

Macbeth kills duncan but lady macbeth has to take the daggars back to the room to frame the guards.. mysterious knocking frightens macbeth.. he goes into his room and washes off the blood.

Macduff and lennox were knocking at the door

Macduff asks to see the king.. so macbeth takes him there and when macduff sees he has been murdered he freaks out and runs out of the room screaming.

Macbeth and lennox run in to look

Malcom and donablain arrive and are told there father was killed

Macbeth says that in the furry of Duncans death he killed the guards(Chamberlains)

Malcom and Donablain feel unsafe and fear they are next

Ross declares that macbeth has been made king

Suspicioun grows about the two princes because they fled the scene

Macbeth fears Banquo will seize the thrown so he hires a group of murderers to kill Banquo and his son Feance

Fleance escapes but Macbeth is visited by Banquos ghost durring a noble dinner and is fearful

Macbeth goes to see the three witches who give him prophecy to fear Macduff

When Macbeth hears that Macduff has fled to england to be with Malcom he orders that Macduff's wife and kids be killed

Macduff is filled with grief and vows revenge.. he joins malcoms army in england and rides to scotland to challenge macbeth's forces

Lady macbeth goes through some sleep walking and eventually kills herself

Macbeth grieves

At first macbeth feels invincible due to the witches prophecy but he is fearful, however, when he learns that the English army is advancing on Dunsinane shielded with boughs cut from Birnam Wood. Birnam Wood is indeed coming to Dunsinane, fulfilling half of the witches’ prophecy.

Macbeth keeps fighting until macduff kills and beheads him..

Malcom is now the king of Scotland.. and declares he has good intentions.

Lit Analysis #3 Notes

The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

-An African American man lives underground to write his life story

-He believes he is invisible in the social world. Not physicaly but in the sense that no one really sees him for who he is.

-He begins to tell us about his time in the south and how he was humiliated in order to recieve a scholarship to a really good black college.

-At the college he gets a job driving a wealthy white man named Mr. Norton around.

-He takes him to a black bar, then ends up getting kicked out of the school because he showed him a bad version of black life and is apparently blind to racial conflict.

-He is sent to New York to find a job with one of the trustees from the school.

-The son of the trustee helps him get a low paying job at a paint company.

-He got hurt at work and temporarily lost his memory.

-After collapsing on the street.. Mary takes him to her home in Harlem and allows him to stay for free.

-She gives him a sense of his herritage.

-He is offered a job working for the Brotherhood(An organization that works to help oppressed people.)

-He delivers speaches and begins to be a well known person in the multi racial brotherhood.

-After recieving a racist letter from someone in the brotherhood.. problems arise and the narrator is forced to disguise himself in order to avoid being beat up.

-The brotherhood is suspected of selfish intentions and the narrator desides to go against them.

-One night he is called to Harlem and finds a riot where people in the brotherhood wanted to hang him.

-While running from then, and the police, the narrator falls in a manhole where he has stayed ever since.

-He says he is now finally ready to emerge into the world again.

*To me the theme of this book is to stay true to yourself. By following the crowd and trying to fit in and be something you're not.. you become invisible.

-I know a verse that I think really fits the overall theme of this book..

"Don't be conformed to this world: but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is good, and acceptable, and perfect."

Macbeth Notes

Macbeth is suppose to upset people.. Shows life at most brutal point.

• In a barbaric era, population pressures made war and even the slaughter of one community by another a fact of life.
• "Macbeth" means "Son of Life" -a christian name
• "canmore" means big head/great ruler

Evil/Predestination

-Supernatural forces

*Full of double meanings. "fair is foul and foul is fair"

*Is the message of Macbeth one of despair or hope?
-dog eat dog world... human life itself is meaningless and tiresome.

*Shakespeare wrote Macbeth around 1605-1606.. historical

*Need to understand historical background in order to make connections in the play.

-Macbeth is an openly political play.

-Shakespeare changed history in Macbeth to create suspense and tension.

-If we understand the background we can figure out the motives of the characters.

-Macbeth was a man of penetrating genius, a high spirit, unbounded ambition. -Intelligent and ambitious.

* "Too full o' th' milk of human kindness/to catch the nearest way. Thou wouldst be great,/Art not without ambition but without/the illness should attend it."

Top 3 Blogs

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These videos were really well made and had a lot of good information!