This semester, we are going to study one of the shakespeare's play which is "KIng Lear." before reading this play, we are aked to wacth two movies. thew frist movie is called Reduced Shakespeare Company. The movie is acted out by only three people , they try to act out all shakespaere's plays within a few hours. It is a interesting show. I had never thought that acting out Shakespeare's play can be so much of fun. During the foundation year, our TESL club planned to act out King Lear, i felt it would be very difficult beacuse we don't understand the language and how are we going to find the prop that siut that era. from this movie, i learn that we can actually act out the play in the modern setting. For example, they act out all the 13 shakespeare's comedies with a football macth setting. The prop does not influence the play. It is how the actors makes the play interesting.

The second movie is "Shakespeare Wallah". it is a three hours show and it was a hard time to finish watching the show because it is black and white. I agree with what happen in the story that nowadays, less and less people is interested in wacthing a theatre. People prefer to watch something entertaining such as singing concert. For example, when Sanju's girl friend, a well known singer, came to the threatre every audience is distrated from watching the play. This shows that people show more inter in celebrity than wactchina play. People do not feel watching theatre is also entertaining and knowledgeable. Puting up a theatre requires a very high expenses. As a result, the treatre is less put up. The ending of the movie is bad becuase Sanju and Lizzie have to be separated becuase the different of culture.

Simulated teaching again?

This simulated teaching is served as a practice for my future career as a teacher. We were told that the first simulated teaching would start after the break. I felt so stressful when searching for material for my set induction and an extract from “Antigone”. I had a very bad experience about this. As I remembered clearly, my first simulated teaching on the short stories was totally screwed up. I started to get nervous and panic when my lecturer bombarded me with all kind of questions. Everything went up side down. My flow of thinking and my speech were disorganized and jumbled up. For this time on drama, I really prayed hard that things would be better. Don’t panic. Be calmed when being question. During the holiday, I had prepared what to teach. But the night before my presentation I changed my decision because I felt tense due to the performance of my friends. They used video clipping but I only planned to use a statement. It sounded boring, right? Therefore I changed a story as my set induction. I felt I could not take it anymore if I fail again. But I would do my best. I want to become Thomas Edison. When I was doing my presentation, nervousness became my companion. I had forgotten to use question strategies in checking my students’ understanding. But my lecturer taught me how. I did my induction poorly and my pre-reading was satisfied. Guess what? I got B-. Although it was not good but I got better that last one which was c+. I learn a lot from this and I wish I could get better grade in future and gain more confidence.

Interesting Greek Mythology

Today we have started the second play “King Lear” by Shakespeare. Before we analyzed the dialogue, we were introduced to the Greek mythology. As I mentioned earlier in my second post, knowing the context of the play can help us in understanding the better. This was the first time I got to know the Greek mythology in detail. I was impressed by the mirth because it is out of my expectation. In Greek mythology, the world is divided into two worlds which are the Celestial and the Terrestrial. Celestial is heaven(s) where the immortals live. In the Celestial world, god(s) is at the highest place. The second is angels. The third is fairies and the fourth is Satan and demon. On the other hand, humans and animals live in the Terrestrial or mortal world. The mortal is divided into human world and the animal world. In the human world, King will be at the highest place, the second is royalties and the last is people or citizen. The king is the highest place because people believe that he is selected by god(s). In the animal kingdom, lion is the king on the land because lion is the fiercest among others. Think of the cartoon "Lion King". Dolphin is the king in the sea because it is the most intelligent and eagle is the king in the air because it is the might one in the air. All these animals portray the positive side of the animal kingdom. There are also bad or evil animals in the animal kingdom. For example, hyenas on land, sharks in the sea and vultures in the air. All these animals eat scavenges. They are related to defeat and death in the play. Isn’t it interesting of knowing this mythology? Getting to know all these is important for reading Shakespeare’s play because he uses a lot of animal imagery to describe the characters in the plays.

What I feel about “Antigone” ?

After three weeks of thorough explanations in the lectures have make my life easier as we are assigned to do macro teaching and written assignment on this play. I have learned all the literary elements and the scenes that depict the themes through the analysis of the dialogues. I personally like this play because it is not very hard to understand. Besides, I also like the characters in this play. My favorite character is Creon because he realizes his mistake in the end of the play even though it is too late, his beloved and son are dead. He wishes he is dead too and there will be no tomorrow for him in the ended. It is important for a person to realize their mistake than never know. At first I hated him because he is arrogance. He never listens to others because he is the king. I admire Ismene because she sacrifices her life to die with Antigone when Antigone is caught from going against Creon’s edict not to bury Polynecies’ body. As in the beginning of the play she opposes strongly when Antigone wants to violate Creon’s law. Family value is important this play. Antigone buries Polynecies because he is her brother although it is illegal, Ismene sacrifices her life because Antigone is her sister and Harmon advises his father’s Creon because he afraid his father will lost his kingdom.
“Antigone” is a good play. I wish everyone will also enjoy this play too.

Who is Tiresias?

Tiresias plays the role as a blind prophet of Thebes in the Sophocles’ play, “Antigone”. In this plays, his prophecy about Creon’s plan of killing Antigone will bring death of his love and blood, is rejected by a willful and proud king. In the end, Tiresias’ word comes true before Creon changes his decision that he wants to release Antigone. It is too late because Antigone kills herself, Hermon (his son) kills himself beside Antigone and Eurydice (his wife) commits suicide when she learns of Hermon’s death. Sometimes I wonder why Tiresias’ prophecy is so powerful. Who is Tiresias?
Recently I was told to read about Tiresias. But I didn’t. Later my friend told me about the origin of Tiresias. The story is unbelievable. So, I decided to search the information myself. I was shocked after reading this Greek mythology. Guess what? Tiresias is changed into woman when he separated a pair of mating snakes and hit them with a stick when he was a young man. The snakes are actually gods. The lady Tiresias is married and she even has children. Several years later, she found the mating snake again. He is asked which sexes are more pleasurable when having intercourse. She says woman. This answer causes an argument between the two snakes. The female Greek God, Hera blinds Tiresias because she says being a man is more pleasurable. As compensation, the male Greek God, Zeus gives Tiresias the gift of prophecy. This is the origin of Tiresias. Try to read yourself, you will find it is interesting and unbelievable.