Okay, December isn't at all midwinter, but I took some poetic license.
Welcome to the first collaborative post between GP and AP! Over the break, GP students will be working on rough drafts for their literary analysis essays on A Midsummer Night's Dream. I'm challenging students to incorporate figurative language into their essays.
GP Students: tell your partners a little about the essay you're writing. Ask them about incorporating figurative language, run your thesis statements by them, or ask for suggestions about moving your conclusions past a simple recap of your paper.
AP Students: offer suggestions on any of the above, tell your partners about the best essay writing advice you've been given or learned on your own, and ask about the topics they are writing on and the angle they want to take.
Due 1/4.
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33 comments:
Well, I guess that I'll be the first to comment, perhaps I'll start a trend. I've decided that I might as well knock out this essay early so that I don't have to worry about it at the last minute like I generally do.
My Question:
Even though the lovers are actually under the influence of a potion at one point, their behavior is not always rational even when there has not been any magical intervention. Examine the play's treatment of love as a kind of madness. How does love affect the behavior and reasoning of lovers?
My Introduction:
The plot of William Shakespeare’s play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, focuses chiefly on three sets of lovers, Hermia and Lysander, Helena and Demetrius, and Titania and Oberon. All of these loves have their own conflicts, whether it be the dissatisfaction of a father, the dilemma of a one sided adoration, or an argument over the custody of a changeling child. These conflicts drive some, if not all, of the lovers to occasionally behave without any rationality even when there is not any kind of magical intervention. Through the plot and dialogue of his play, Shakespeare exhibits the treatment of love as a sort of madness.
Now, how can I make the much needed improvements to that?
Just to let you know, my username's AllforLeyna. I can't remember my account info so I have to post using my email.
Hey, My topic is how women and men are portrayed in the play.
This is my thesis:
In Elizabethan times, men and women were not thought as equal. As in much of history women were discriminated upon. Not too long ago the united states didn't allow women to hold offices, vote, and own land until 1920. In the play "A Midsummer Night's Dream" women were looked down upon too. They were not allowed to make their own decisions, they were forced to marry who their father wanted, and even threatened. Through history women and men have not been equal and Shakespeare shown with "A Midsummer Night's Dream" his time period was no exception.
Any ideas?
Hi, so as you know we have to talk to you about our essays. Honestly I'm not that far on my essay, but I'll finish it tonight! Anyway, my question was...
My Question:
Even though the lovers are actually under the influence of a potion at one point, their behavior is not always rational even when there has not been any magical intervention. Examine the play's treatment of love as a kind of madness. How does love affect the behavior and reasoning of lovers?
So I have my introduction paragraph done, but I haven't exactly formed a good thesis. My thesis will hopefully come along once I get a better idea of what I'm going to write in my essay. So, I think the main thing that you can help me with will be incorporating figurative language into my essay. I'm pretty sure that I'm going to use a simile or metaphor. If you have any suggestions about what I should compare, or where I should put the figuritive language I'd really appriciate it. Is it okay to put a metaphor in my introduction paragraph? Or is that too early? Or should I not even use a metaphor? Would alliteration or something like that be better? As you can probably see, I can really use some help. Thanks!
Dear Sunshine,
My essay topic is how love can affect people's behavior and reasoning and how sometimes people in love act irrational (even without the help of magical flower juice). I have chosen 3 characters from A Mid Summer Nights Dream, Helena, Hermia, and Oberon, in order to show how love had affected them. In my essay I need to incorporate some literary devices like imagery, alliteration, allusion, ect. My question for you is what literary devices do you suggest I use?
For my essay I have chosen this topic:
Analyze the play's views of men and woman. How does shakespeare portray each? Is one gender portrayed as superior to the other? Does one contain more flat characters than the other?
my idea was that the play's views of men and woman are ALMOST simlar. Shakespeare creates the characters in the right mind set... equally in their metality. But, the males are displayed as superior to the females. Examples:
~Egues is forcing Hermia to marry who he wants.
~Theseus "took" Hippolyta to be married to him.
~ Oberon places the potion in Titanias eyes to get what he wants:the changeling child.
A flat character is less important to the reader than others.
i think the males are more flat, because the mechanicals bring there count down. The mechanicals (I THINK) are really only in the play for comical relief. other wise, all the other characters are vital to the story line.
The woman are very dynamic characters because the are strong willed and exhibit many traits and qualities.
now i need to get it on paper.
The only thing i need help with is how do you put figurative langauge into an essay. My question is about how in a midsummer nights dream, the question who is dreaming comes up a lot. so i have to describe the audience, the characters and the author on what would happen if it was not a dream and how would they react. If you have any other suggestions please tell me thanks.
Hey, i guess you know we have to work on our essays on A Midsummer Night's Dream. I pretty much know what im going to write but I need to figure out a good way to open and finish my paragraphs, because that's where i seem to be lacking. I always seem to just go right at the question and i think I should ease it in their though. What do you think I should do?
Mango.playlist:
my topic for the essay we are writing is how the behavior of the lovers is not always rational, even when they are not under the influence of a powerful love potion.
I was thinking for my intro paragraph to use some quotes from outside sources in relation to this topic. I'm trying to emphasize that love can ultimately drive a person to do things they wouldn't normally do. I have chosen some quotes from in the play, like Hermia's obsession with Demetrius. I have everything I need to start off the essay, but I want to make a powerful conclusion as well.
Any ideas? Are there any certain literary devices I could use throughout my essay to make it more interesting?
Ok there's the thing I'm not that good at writing. It's just that its not my thing & I want to do good on this upcoming essay. My topic is men & women and who is more superior. I'm an okay writer I just have problems with having enough content & I'm not that good at incorperating quotes correctly in my essay. Can you guys help me? I want to do well on this assignment.
Hey! My question is, even though the lovers are actually under the influence of a potion at one point, their behavior is not always rational even when there has not been any magical intervention. Examine the play's treatment of love as a kind of madness. How does love affect the behavior and reasoning of lovers?
So far i have decided to talk about how helena obsesses over demetrius and how hermia freaks out on helena but i need another topic i was thinking maybe something with oberon and titania but i couldnt think of anything... any ideas?
Well my topic for this essay is how love affected the lover's behavior and reasoning without the potion. And i really dont know what my thesis statement should be. Have any suggestions?
Hey, my essay is on the portrail of men and women in the play A midsummer Night's dream in my essay my three body paragraph's arespecific portrail of specific characters and how the male dominance affected them, examples of male dominance throughout the play andthe realation between flat and round characters of men and women.
whts up dannille ur thesis could be about how lovers and lunatics differ and state wht ur 3 body paragrapghs could be.
Ohh okay thanks
First of all, My topic is about how does love affect the behavior and reasoning of lovers in the play, Midsummer Night's Dream. The play treats love as a madness
I guess my question is do you have any tips on how to make my sentences flow better and interesting.
Alright my question is:
Even though the lovers are actually under the influence of a potion at one point, their behavior is not always rational even when there has not been any magical intervention. Examine the play's treatment of love as a kind of madness. How does love affect the behavior and reasoning of lovers?
I have written a rough draft but i need help on the introduction and conclusion. Thanks
Hey, my question for "Midsummers Night Dream" deals with the fact that Shakespeare incorporates dreaming. If Shakespeare did not do this then the plot line and the resolution to the plot would have been very different. I analyzed characters relationships with each other and if the play was not a dream how their relationship would be affected.
My question is how should I put figurative language in and make a clear understanding of what I am trying to say. Also my thesis is :
There are many different characters that could have been affected if they were not dreaming,such as, Oberon and Titania,Hermia and Helena and finally Bottom and the Mechanicals.
Any pointers or ideas for a better thesis I am all for and any ideas, also for the a good conclusion that doesn't summarize everything?
Thanks So much!
Flying Ace:
Unfortunately, when I was in GP my class read Julius Caesar instead of A Midsummer Night's Dream. I therefore don't know much about the play, but I can help with your structure and such.
As for your opening paragraph, here's a few suggestions:
a. Your first two sentences seem a little awkward to me. Maybe you could try to combine them into one sentence. (In Elizabethan times, as in much of history,...?)
b. Make sure you capitalize the United States in your paper.
c. The "not too long ago" and "until 1920" portions of your third sentence seem to conflict a little. I'd suggest taking one or the other of them out.
d. I'd suggest mentioning somewhere in your fourth sentence that the play was written in Elizabethan times, to make the connection with your first point.
e. "They were not allowed to make their own decisions, were forced to marry who their father wanted, and were even threatened."
f. "Throughout history, women and men have not been equal, and in "A Midsummer Night's Dream," Shakespeare shows that his time period was no exception."
Other than those few things, it looks good to me. So what are you planning on talking about in the body of your essay? Make sure you mention how women in the play "were not allowed to make their own decisions... forced to marry who their father wanted, and even threatened," since they're your main points in the opening.
Keep up the good work!
Hi, I don't know who my partner is but, basically, I need help with the whole figurative language thing, my question is what important dramatical propose do the Mechanicals serve, so I'm saying that they provide a mirror to the lovers, in thinking that they are in a tragedy and taking themselves seriously
Hey, My topic is how women and men are portrayed in the play/ whether one gender has more flat characters than the others:
I am having trouble deciding whether one gender is more flat or not. To me it seems that the womewn are more flat but I am having trouble finding examples on why they are more flat than the men.Do you have any ideas. Thanks for the help!
smhdancer1286-
Your first two ideas seem good- they will give you variety because one is about a character's personal behavior and the other is about behavior toward a friend as a result of love. For the third one, maybe you could do something about Titania's love for her little prince, and how that is causing her to act toward Oberon? I haven't seen the play in a while so I don't really remermber details, but I hope that helps!
bklions21!
sounds like you got your essay under control i have not read the play myself however it sounds very interesting. if you need any help composing your essay just let me know
soccersteph422
Peter:
A way to make your sentences flow better is by using transition words and not repeating yourself.
If you need more help, send me some of your sentences that you are having trouble with. Then I'll be able to edit them so that you have ideas of how a sentence should sound to be fluent throughout your writing.
For my essay i decided on this question:
Even though the lovers are actually under the influence of a potion at one point, their behavior is not always rational even when there has not been any magical intervention. Examine the play's treatment of love as a kind of madness. How does love affect the behavior and reasoning of lovers?
i have chosen 3 exapmles of how it affects all four lovers. So i think the main thing that you can help me with is how to use figurative language and literary devices. i dont know how to incorporate them into my paragraphs.
My 4 paragraph:
Oberon, the king of fairies, had a plan to have his attendant, Puck, put a love potion on the unsuspecting lovers, Lysander and Demetrius. Oberon thought his actions were helping the situation by making everyone fall in love with the people he believed should be together. This was an exceptional plan until Puck unknowingly gave the magic to the wrong lovers. When the magic is put on their eyes, the first person they see is the one they love. “what thou seest when thou dost wake, do it for thy true love take.” II. ii. (33-34) When Helena found Lysander, she didn’t know if he was sleeping or dead so she woke him up. The first person Lysander saw was Helena, he explained to her how he loved her and not Hermia. While Hermia was sleeping, she has a dream that something stole her heart. “methought a serpent ate my heart away.” II. ii. (155) As she woke up she couldn’t find Lysander but found Demetrius. Hermia accused him of killing Lysander because she couldn’t find him when she woke up. Oberon heard them arguing and decided to put the magic juice on Demetrius’ eyes as Lysander and Helena find Demetrius. He wakes up and sees Helena also. Both men now love Helena and she thinks that everyone is teasing her. Lysander and Demetrius fight over Helena, Hermia walks to Lysander and asks why he left. Lysander said because he hates her now and loves Helena.
any ideas?
i am having trouble incorporating figurative language
also finding examples on how to prove the male characters are more flat??
help pleasee : )
I have another question.Since we need a works cited, if you just used quotes from the book, then what do you write for your works cited?
Dear Maddy,
I do not know much about A Midsummer Night's Dream, but from what I do know I like your topic and where you can go with it. My advice to you would be to concentrate on the literary devices that support your topic. Imagery will help bring the different scenes to life that explain the reasoning behind your topic. A metaphor may help explain the feeling you are trying to get across by relating it to a different situation. You can also give the different points of views of the characters to show the inner workings of their thoughts.
These are just a few suggestions as to the literary devices you can use and how you can use them.
Good luck on your paper!
Sunshine,
thanks for your helpful advice! I think that adding imagery and a few metaphors will definitely help my essay.
Ok sorry took me a while to find this. MY question is about the citation. do we have to repeat the play's title for the citations in every new paragraph, or just the first one?
@kaitlyn209
you only need to write the title in the first in text citation
i.e. (A Midsummer Night's Dream.I.ii 56-78)
TITLE NEEDS TO BE IN ITALICS!!!
jesse13,
Hey sorry it took me so long to respond to your last post. Hopefully you haven't turned your paper in yet... but if you have, I'm sure you did just fine!
As for your question, Mr. Drew always tells my class to avoid adding in extra fluff while attempting to slowly introduce a topic, so jumping right in isn't really that bad! Just be sure to elaborate on your thoughts,include important details, and make sure it isn't too short or over simplified.
A good way to close your paragraphs would be to give a very brief overview of the more important points and then connect them to the next topic. And, as always, make use of good transition words when connecting to the next paragraph.
Good Luck!
iwritegood101
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