Learning Log 3

The lesson on Act 1 Scene 2 is a lot more complicated and tougher than I thought. Some of the phrases in the original text of the Macbeth script seem almost completely different than the modern text. To me, it is difficult figuring out some words and phrases. I think this may also be the reason why the original text was used for the exam. This is probably to test our skills of interpreting the text. In some parts of the text, objects are used to express certain things. For example, "spring" is used to show success or victory of a war while "shipwracking storms" and "direful thunders" describe the dreadful problems they would face. "Two spent swimmers that do cling and choke their art..." literally means two exhausted swimmers trying to hold onto each other for survival to avoid drowning. This can also be used to describe the armies fighting in such a way it was impossible to tell which side was winning.

The class of 40 (39 were present), was divided into groups of three. The problem was that one of us had to do a one-man play, or rather a monologue. I don't think I can wait to see it. He would have to switch voices each time he plays a different role. I hope that he can do a good job on this one. Anyway, in a group of three, each of us would have to be one of the witches, speaking with whatever tone or pitch we would like to use. My idea is that the witches' voices would be high-, medium- and low-pitched - never mind its simplicity. It would be funny if some of the boys spoke in a high-pitched voice and the girls in a low-pitched voice.

We discussed about the 5 sentences each of us came up with. My group of 4 exchanged one another's comic strips with the sentences and decided to choose Chung Seng's sentences, since they were neatly written and had a good summary of Act 1 Scene 2. Drawing out the scenes described by the sentences is the hardest part but few of us can draw well. I would still like to see all of the different drawings and sentences in the comic grids each of us made. I think that this lesson was very interesting and I look forward to doing something like this again.