Macbeth

  This week,we talked about Macbeth in literature class. I didn't know anything about Macbeth before lesson. Now I am going to talk about it. Macbeth was written by Wiiliam Shakespeare. It is the shortest tragic story of Shakespeare.

  The theme of Macbeth is ambition for power and kingdom. Three witches say to Macbeth that” You will be king” thanks to prophecy and he trusts them. His wife,Lady Macbeth, wants that his husband should be king. So he kills king Duncan. Than Macbeth asks to witches what danger is possible for him. And they reply “... for none of woman born,shall harm Macbeth”. 

  Bonquo is his close friend. But he was killed by Macbeth. Because he says that “A boy will be king you whose family is Duncan”. He was right. Macbeth is killed by Macduff who was born cesarean. After that son of Duncan,Malcolm, becomes king. 

  We can see here ambition and it causes his death. Even, because of him ,his close friend dies. Not only Bonquo but also Macbeth dies. In addition to this Macbeth and Lady Macbeth fell guilty and pangs of conscience. But this situation can't change results. 

  To sum up; I think that everybody should read Macbeth. May be we understand somethings about faults. May be we can some cues for peole.

Romeo and Juliet

  This week we talked about one of the works of Shakespeare. It is Romeo and Juliet. It is a theatrical work. I had some information about Romeo and Juliet. Before course I read the text compeletely. After the course I learned details. 

  Many people know the famous sentence of Romeo and Juliet. It is “ Romeo, Romeo , why do you have to be Romeo?” I have known this sentence too. But I learned why Juliet said it. It's reason is Romeo's family and his surname. In addition to this,I learned why they died, why they couldn't come together. Romeo and Juliet is a upsetting love story. Unfortunately at the end of the story some people die with Romeo and Juliet. In my opinion, a situation is interesting. Romeo loved a women so much before Juliet. He suffered because of her. As soon as he saw Juliet he forgets her completely. So should we believe his love? 

  We can see many metaphorical expression in Romeo and Juliet. The language is rich. It shows that Shakespeare used language efficiently. Sometimes it is hard to understand for me. But complete text is clear. 

  To sum up, Romeo and Juliet is enjoyable for me. To read it is plessure. Two weeks later we are going to watch it on the stage. I have already understood it but I am sure that the theater which is showed by ELT students will be more clear.

Shakespeare

  This week I couldn't attend to the course. The topic of course was Shakespeare. I learned new things about him. 

 Firstly, he married when he was so young. In addition to this his wife was older than him. He died early. Before course, I thought that Shakespeare didn't marry. Because he was related to the literature so much. May be he hadn't got enough time to marry. I didn't have so much information about Shakespeare. But thanks to the course, I learned many things about him and his works. For example I have known only “Hamlet” and “ Romeo and Juliet”. Even I didn't know story of his works. Now I know other works of him and their types. 

 I am reading Romeo and Juliet at first time. It's story is upsetting. Next course we are going to talk about it. 

 Shakespeare and his works form an important part of literature. Until end of the literature course we will talk about them. I am sure, I will learn interesting things.

Doctor Faustus

We talked about Dr.Faustus in Literature course. I learned some interesting things. At the same time story of Faustus is terrifying for me. 

 Generally the story is related to choosings of Doctor Faustus. When I was watching to movie,I was scared especially from Mephistophilis. Even its reflection is terrible. Dr.Faustus sells his soul to devil. It is Mephistophilis. If I were him, I couldn't sell my soul. It is so excited and terrifying. 

 Doctor Faustus didn't believe God. He hasn't got fate belief. So he bargains with demon. Magic, mystery, devil and angel were in story.

  Now that, topics of stories changed. We can see mystical events in story. It wasn't effected on church. Story of Dr.Faustus isn't boring. In my opinion, it is thrilling. To sum up, Dr.Faustus's story is enjoyable and full of suspense. This story reflects ideas of humans about evils and angels. 

The Glance of Dark Period

 Last week we talked about Middle Ages. And now we are going to talk about important events of Middle Ages. 

 The invention of the printing press is the most important educational event. So common people could get Bible easily. They could learn their belief from Bible. Books fee were decreased. Result of it, impression of church was decreased. People started to criticize management. Special schools were opened like grammar. 

 After than some movements appeared. The Renaissance is the most important political movement of this age. Result of it effected community. Humanism was considered important. Thanks to The Renaissance people was aware the corruption of church.

  As a result at the end of the Middle Ages people though about themselves and they started to appreciate their ideas.

middle ages

                     General Features of Middle Ages
History of people is divided into ages because of important events like war,invasion. These periods have different features. One of them is middle age.

 Middle ages is known dark times because of church. Church had an great importance. People couldn't venture to object against church. So many things were forbidden by it. Because;if people realized mistakes of church,they would loss their belief. So church used this method. In addition to this,people had status according to their job. So people hadn't got equal rigts.

  Literature was verbal generally in middle ages. But first written works were seen in this period. Heroic stories and poems were told. Not only heroic but also romance stories took their place. Especially,bards interested in stories and poems. So, verbal things formed large part of literature. 

 English and French works effected literature of middle ages result of social and political events. These are Norman Conquest,Peasants' Revolt,The Blackdeath and effected to nearly whole region. Church was effected especially Norman Conquest. Thanks to it, nation realized corruption of religious institution.

 After this victory English language became local. Bible could reach common people. Church lost it's impression. Than an upsetting event occured in Middle Ages. It was The Blackdeath. It caused to decrease population. I learned an interesting information from Linguistic course. A common word “ Bless you! “ comes from middle ages. The Blackdeath started with cough and sneeze. So people said each other “God bless you.” 

 The most important evidence of this period is The Canterbury Tales. It consists of many stories. It was written about different subjects. Pilgrims gave some help to these stories by telling them in various places.

  As a result,many events effect nations,cultures,countries,literatures. So,English literature reached today by effecting critical unusal event.

Epic Poem

 

Beowulf was a hero in epic poem which was written in Anglo-Saxon Period. The poem was found and published by Tolkian.

The poem has some main characters. These are Beowulf,Hrothgar,Grendel,Grendels Mother,Dragon and Wiglof. Beowulf is the most important character in the poem. Generally,the poem is about to heroism and contains violence. Grendel is a monster. Although he is a young man,he achieves to kill the Grendel. After that Beowulf becomes king. While he is king,Dragon attacks his relatives’ land because of Grendel’s mother.Beowulf has strong kinship. So he wants to help his relatives . At the same time,he wanted to be a hero. He achieves to kill Dragon again.Unfortunately;when he fights against the monster,the hero hurts. But his wounds are fatal. Some time later the hero Beowulf dies.

Beowulf says that “ Fate goes ever as fate must.”

As a result , we understand the story of poem their warrior culture,the importance of kinship and good & evil and Beowulf has belief of destiny.

History of Literature

  English Language was effected by different language like other languages.These are Celtic,Latin,German and French. 

  Most people believe that Britain was so powerful country since it's establishment. But in the past Britain was invaded many times. At the end of these invasions,English Language was changed naturally.

  I want to share some informations about invasion of England.

• The 55 and 54 BC Caesar's invasion of Britain
• The 43 AD Roman conquest of Britain
• The 296 Roman invasion during Carausian Revolt

The fifth to sixth country Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain. 

  Literature of country like a real mirror. For example, it reflects national will,national life and national ideas. So history of literature is datefield which shows public's spiritual and physical development. At the same time literature is impressed neighboring country.

  As a result,so many factors have important roles about destiny of literature.

Language is structure making publics special. Language is always developing. At the same time, language is affected public's structure. People must have some information about this transformation. Education can help this progression. But this education may has both negative and positive effects.

Person's cultural evoluation has an important role at education period. Language has a relationship between public structure. Artists' works reflects public's ideas.

It is necessary that analysis of cultural values in public development period. Literature lessons have an important effect on this analysis. People can learn different subjects about cultures.

In other way ; literature education has negative influence. Literature lessons may cause anxiety for students. For example as an English teacher candidate, I am worrying about lesson's content because I haven't got much information about Shakespeare.

As a result, literature lessons are benefical for students.