Reflection: Speaking and Listening CA

Our Speaking and Listening CA was done in form of a press conference, with Victor Frankenstein and his creature being questioned by several people ( Henry Clerval, a professor, a reverend, a detective, a villager and a reporter). The creature had just burnt down the villager's barn as well as destroyed several houses, releasing terror on the village. However, the creature blames his creator, for abandoning him in the first place.

Overall, I think we did quite well. It wasn't very awkward and we managed to stay in character throughout the press conference. Jacelyn, who was the reverend, did an excellent job of being appalled at Frankenstein's actions. For that matter, everyone represented their character really well, with Bryan (the villager) being horrified and scared, Jamie ( Henry Clerval) defending Frankenstein loyally, Jasmin (the professor) awed at the fact that Frankenstein brought a dead being back to life, Nicole (the reporter) being inquisitive and slightly nosy at time, Maxwell ( the detective) neutral and maintaining peace throughout the press conference and lastly, but not least, Hasmah ( the creature ) who portrayed the sympathetic case of the creature excellently. 

As for myself, I played Victor Frankenstein, who admitted he had created the creature but refused to take responsibility towards the creature and its actions. I was slightly nervous, fidgeted too much and I spoke too fast and soft at times. However, I do think I managed to maintain Victor's calm, irresponsible character throughout the presentation.

Although the press conference was good, I still think that there is room for improvement. We could have overcome the short silence towards the end of the presentation and we could have ended it on a slightly smoother note. Also, we could have worked harder on staying focused as some of us started smiling at some point in the presentation and showed more emotion. Our press conference was meant to be full of emotions, but that didn't really come off that well.

All in all, it was a great performance, though it had room for improvement. 

How does Shelley create the atmosphere using language:

Shelley creates an atmosphere of horror using language by using various devices as well as by decribing how Frankenstein was feeling. Shelley starts off by mentioning that it was a "dreary night of November". November is a winter month, a season usually associated with death and gloom(i.e trees dying, animals hybernating). That by itself forshadows that the story that follows is going to be filled with gloom and possibly death, which fills the reader with dread. Shelley uses pathethic fallacy to accentuate the gloomy atmosphere ( "rain pattered dismally" ). This gives an inanimate object (rain) a human feeling (dismal), making it seem as if it was so gloomy, even rain, a thing with no emotion or feelings was "dismal". This is especially effective as it highlights the overall mood and atmospere of the scene, allowing readers to feel and imagine what it must feel like to be in the protagonist's position.

The excerp is filled with negative words and ideas, such as "catastrophe", "wretch", "agony", "detain" and "convulsive". This creates a somber mood, which is later deepened by Shelley when she describes Frankenstein's disgust and horror towards his own creation (his main reason being that his creation was not attactive, showing how superficial and materialistic he is). By describing Frankenstein's doing as a "catastrophe", readers are put under the impression that the creature is monstrous and repulsive, though later, readers might feel slightly angered towards Frankenstein as they realize that the creature was innocent, and that it was Frankenstein who was at fault, for creating him which such enthusiasm and later rejecting and abandoning him. He says he feels "detained" when the creature reached out towards him, telling us that he feels trapped, like he cannot escape from his doings. 

The main linguistic device used is descriptive and emotive language. Shelley describes the scene and mood in great detail, in a way that would pull the reader's emotions. A good example would be Shelley describing the creature; "Beautiful! -- Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of pearly whitenessl but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun white sockets in which they were set, his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips." The creature is first described as being quite attractive, but Shelley made all the good features seem negative ("formed a more horrid contrast") and finally ending it by describing the creature's negative features. Her description was so vivid, readers could clearly picture the creation in their minds.

Mary Shelley cleverly combines this with emotive language, expressing the protagonist's reaction and feelings towards the creature ("How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delinete the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavoured to form?"). Another good example would be the fourth paragraph, describing Frankenstein's reaction to his creation. It was both descriptive and heart-wrenching as readers probably sympathized with the creation, for he did nothing wrong and yet was rejected by his creator. This adds to the atmosphere as the dread is slowly being replaced by fear and sympathy.  

A further example of emotive language would be how (in paragraph 3) Frankenstein is trying to remind himself why and how he allowed himself toobsess over his experiment ("I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart"). Filled with emotion, Shelley describes how Frankenstein let the experiment bring out the worst in him and at the end, he wasn't happy with his result. Disappointment and regret rings through every word and readers  are able to comprehend why Frankenstein was so horrified in the first place. Shelley even made Frankenstein's feelings obvious from his actions ("traversing in my[Frankenstein's] bedchamber"). Traversing is something someone does when disturbed, and it is made clear that Frankenstein is disturbed about his creation and how he regrets making it.

Shelley uses a lot of contrast. The most obvious example would be the contrast between life and death ("I collected the instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet."). This probably best emphasizes on the atmosphere that surrounds Frankenstein as he struggles to decide what he feels towards the creature. Shelley described Frankenstein's experiment's main purpose to be "infusing life into an inanimate body". Here, Shelley makes use od contrast to accent the fact that the creature was inanimate (not meant to be alive) and Frankenstein, who succeeded despite trying to do something deemed impossible, might not have done the right thing.

 Also, Shelley uses alot of contrast between light and darkness ("candle nearly burnt out", "half extinguished light", "dull" [ all words from the semantic field of light]), possibly to symbolise how things are going to get darker in the story (light is going to burn out [good events are going to turn bad]), creating a feeling of suspense as well as fear.

Shelley refers to another great piece of literature (Dante's Inferno) as well as its writer. In Inferno, Dante visits Hell and sees all kinds of monsters and evil creatures, things more horrible than anyone has ever imagined. By saying that Frankenstein was "a thing such as even Dante could not have conceived", Shelley makes the reader question their views on the monster. Is it really as bad as Frankenstein makes it seem? It also might insinuate that Frankenstein is saying that maybe creating this creature was a sin, as Dante also descirbed all the horrible sins he witnessed in Hell in Inferno. By making this connection, Shelley makes it easier for the reader to try and imagine the horrors Frankenstein was facing, as the horrors in Inferno was said to be the worst kind of horrors any man could witness.


Since this book was written in the 1800's, readers reacted to this book very extremely. The idea of bringing something made of dead body parts to life was unthinkable, and defied everything they stood for and believed in. They would be appalled, and all this contributed to the haunted, dismal atmosphere Shelley is creating. Readers at that time were not used to be scared by horror stories, and so this reaction was completely new to them, making it very extreme.

Overall, Shelley makes effective use of language to create atmosphere. Her descriptions make it easier for the reader to imagine the scene and try to understand the feelings that are being felt by Frankenstein. 

Frankenstein: Chapter 4

How does Shelley create an atmosphere of horror and dread around Victor’s experiments?

Shelley creates an atmosphere of horror and dread around Victor's experiments by using very descriptive language to describe his actions (i.e his visits to the charnel-houses). Also, by describing the effect of his experiments on him (how it makes him impossible for him even to appreciate his surroundings), readers feel scared and dread what will happen next. He gets taken over by "slow fevers" every night and suffers from nightmares. We can also see he is going slightly mad as he starts thinking and describing and treating his experiment as he would his child. Shelley uses words from the semantic field of birth (‘conceive’, ‘labour’, ‘bore’) to accentuate this fact. 

Romeo & Juliet Independent Study

Act 1 of the play Romeo and Juliet has been very interesting. In this scene, we get to know the characters as well as how the romance between Romeo and Juliet starts. In this act, Romeo is seen to be in love with Rosaline at first. His friends Benvolio and Mercutio persuade him to gatecrash Capulet's feast in order to meet Rosaline. In the meantime, Paris asks Capulet for Juliet's hand in marriage. Capulet declines, saying that he should wait another 2 years. He then invites him to the feast to meet Juliet. Lady Capulet tries to persuade Juliet into marring Paris, and so, Juliet agrees to try to love him.
At the feast,Tybalt sees Romeo, and makes plans for attacking him, but is stopped by Capulet. Romeo sees Juliet and is astonished by her beauty. He dances with her, and after exchanging some barter, they kiss. They are interrupted by Juliet's Nurse, who tells her that her mother is looking for her. When Romeo asks who her mother is, he is shocked to find out that Juliet is a Capulet. This causes him to leave the feast. As he leaves, Juliet asks Nurse who Romeo is, and like Romeo, she is shocked to learn that he is a Montague. The scene ends leaving both Romeo and Juliet madly in love and confused.
I explored many different writing techniques used by Shakespeare in this scene. For example, how he used the prologue to draw the audience in. Shakespeare also uses loads of puns, similes and double meanings. He is very descriptive and this helps to build the setting for the play. Overall, it was a very interesting scene and I managed to learn a lot from it.

Diary Entry: Juliet

Dear Diary,
I must be the person with the best, yet the worst luck in the world! You would never guess what happened today. Father held a feast in our home today, it was rather fun. Lord Paris fancies me. Apparently, this was my chance to meet and fall in love with him, but how can I when my heart belongs to another?
Indeed, I did find love in the feast, but it wasn't for Lord Paris. Oh no, it was for Romeo. Romeo Montague.
I met him on the dance floor. At first,he was masked and with no doubt, the most mysterious man I have ever met. The minute he lifted his mask, I set my eyes on the most handsome young men in all of Verona.With his sweet words, and irresistible charm, I could not help but fall in love with him.The second he kissed me, I knew that he was my one true love. Its true, I'm in love with Romeo Montague, who just happens to be the son of Father's worst enemy.
The Capulet's and the Montague's have been feuding for as long as anyone can remember. Father and Mother will never allow this. They both want me to marry Lord Paris. He's alright, I suppose, but what is he compared to my sweet Romeo?
I don't know what to do now. I want to meet him again, to pursue my love for him. However, I'm afraid that if I do, Mother and Father might find out and will kill us for it.
Who would have thought love to be this complicated?

Reflection on Lesson 3 ( Act 1, Scene 2 & 3 )

Today, we studied Act 1, Scene 2 and Act 1, Scene 3 of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. We split the class in half, and each acted out one act.

Act 1, Scene 2 was played out by Danial (Romeo) , Hong Yi (Benvolio), Terry (Peter and Paris) and Jake (Lord Capulet). This was the scene where Paris asks Lord Capulet for Juliet's hand in marriage, but Lord Capulet declines, saying Juliet is too young. However, seeing his disappointment, Lord Capulet invites Paris to a feast he was holding that night, where Paris will meet Juliet. Benvolio, upon learning about the feast, convinces Romeo to attend so that Romeo can meet Rosaline, the girl he likes. The acting was good. However, more body language and stage movement would be ideal.

Act 1, Scene 3 was played out by Jasmin (Nurse), Jamie (Peter), Azzah (Juliet), Kai Song (Narrator) and myself (Lady Capulet). In this scene, Lady Capulet tries to convince Juliet to accept Paris' hand in marriage with the help of the nurse. I think we did quite a good job, though more attention needs to be given on stage movement and facial expressions. 

Shakespeare Insult Presentation

In this lesson, we learnt about Shakespearean insults (what they meant and how they were used). We divided ourselves into two groups and each performed a short sketch about an argument of our choice, using Shakespearean language and insults.

My group ( Jasmin, Danial, Terry, Jake and myself)'s sketch was about an argument on a macbook between Terry, Danial and Jake, with Jasmin and I overlooking it and wondering what to do with them. Our presentation was short, and went straight to the point of the task (using Shakespearean insults). However, there are things we need to improve on, namely organisation, presentation methods as well as volume of our voices. 

The second group (Jamie, Kai Song, Azzah and Hong Yi) performed a very entertaining sketch about 3 girls fighting over a boy. It was lively, and it used Shakespeare's insults very well. The performance was performed well, with loud voices and good tone. However, they started to face each other towards the end of the performance, instead of the audience. Other than that, it was a great sketch.

As a class, we learnt a lot about Shakespearean insults as well as how to present a good presentation. 

Shakespeare Presentation

Shakespeare was born in a very conservative society. Mia and Terry talked about this. Arranged marriages were very common and were controlled by parents. Women in those days received very few rights. They were not allowed to enter professions like acting, medicine, law and politics. Men were allowed to beat up their wives. People in those days also believed very strongly in witchcraft. If they believed that they had found a witch, she would be killed immediately.

Danial and I decided to do a presentation on Shakespearean theatre.The theatre in Shakespearean times was very different from today’s theatre. You were allowed to talk, eat, drink, cheer and boo. Most of Shakespeare’s plays were performed in The Globe theatre. It was built in 1599 a company called Lord Chamberlain’s men. Shakespeare was a shareholder in that company. It could hold up to 3000 people at a time, and attracted audiences of all ages throughout the hierarchy. Two plays were performed every day, usually in the afternoon. This was because it was too hot in the morning and too dark in the evening. Natural light was needed as there was no artificial light during those times.

The Globe theatre had a diameter of more than 30 meters. The stage itself was approximately 13 meters wide and 8 meters deep, though it only rose 1.5 meters from the ground. Many tools such as trap doors, candles, curtains and signs were also added. It was built out of timber, nails and stones and was open aired.

You were seated in The Globe according to your position on the social hierarchy. The peasants stood in the “pit”. They had to pay a penny per person as entrance fee and were referred to as “groundlings”. The gentry paid to sit in the galleries. They would be given cushions for extra comfort. Nobleman would pay up to 5 dollars, and sit on chairs on the stage itself.  Queen Elizabeth herself loved to watch Shakespeare’s plays, but never attended theatres. She had them performed privately at indoor playhouses instead.

Language was used to describe the scenery rather than using props. Shakespeare’s plays were supposed to be read instead of seen, so he made use of many language techniques such as alliteration, repetition, rhyme, assonance and onomatopoeia.

The theatre was not very popular at that time. People would frown upon it and it was even banned in some places. Shakespeare changed all that. His plays were so interesting and popular amongst the people that theatre became one of Britain’s favorite past times. Women were not allowed to act in plays nor attend theatre. Women’s roles were played by young boys instead.However, wealthy women were allowed, although they wore masks when they came to watch a play.

The Globe was not the only theatre in which Shakespeare’s plays were performed, although it was the most famous. Other places included The Theatre, The Curtain, Newington Butts, The Rose, The Swan, The Inn Yards, Blackfriars Theatre, The Royal Palaces. 

Some say that his play Romeo and Juliet was said to be inspired my his own marriage to Anne Hathaway.Jamie and Kai Song presented this idea. She was 8 years older than him and was pregnant before marriage. Shakespeare’s father arranged the marriage to prevent further gossip. Shakespeare himself was unhappy with the wedlock union and as time went on, their relationship got worse.

Others however, believed that Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet was  just an English version of Arthur Brooks’  “The tragic tale of Romeo and Juliet”, which was originally written in Italian. Jamie and Kai Song both presented very well as they spoke clearly, maintaining eye contact with the class.
Azzah and Jake talked about the people who inspired Shakespeare. Most of his inspiration came from his family, friends, childhood, religion, other authors and history. His sister's personalities was reflected in many Shakespearean heroines. Their presentation was very interesting as most of the information was new to me. They both spoke loudly and clearly, which meant that the class understood them perfectly, as well as maintained eye contact.

Jasmin and Hong Yi presented a presentation about one of Shakespeare's most renowned plays: Julius Ceasar. A riveting tale of power, jealousy and treachery, Julius Ceasar tells the story of how Ceasar's best friend (Brutus), scared over the fact that he might be crowned King, decides to betray him by joining a band of conspirators in murdering him. In the end, a loyal friend of Ceasar's called Antony deceives Brutus into thinking that he understood him and then kills him after revealing his true intentions, avenging Ceasar. Although the play is called Julius Ceasar, most of it is written from Brutus' point of view. This play also demonstrates Shakespeare's writing techniques, such as foreshadowing ( hinting that something might happen through another event, such as a dream or a piece of advice). This presentation was presented and explained without using many notes, something I find very good.
Overall, I think the class managed to present their presentations well.