Oral Presentation Reflection

1) Macbeth is a very interesting play, because it introduces us to characters with strong personalities and opinions, and also shows several different values that are important in human relations (or the lack of those values). "How far is one willing to "go" to get what they desire most?" If someone could answer this question perfectly, this person is Lady Macbeth. She might be, in many aspects, a terrible person, but she's definitely a great character. She is basically willing to do whatever it takes to be queen, from lying to the king himself to make him feel welcome at her castle: "Your servants ever//Have theirs, themselves, and what is theirs, in compt,//To make their audit at your highness' pleasure,//Still to return your own." saying that they are all there to serve him, to convincing Macbeth, at that same night to kill Duncan, using all her skills to manipulate her own husband: "I have given suck, and know//How tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me://I would, while it was smiling in my face,//Have pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums,//And dash'd the brains out, had I so sworn//As you have to this." telling him that she would never let someone down even if she had promised to do something as terrible as killing a baby. "How do we deal with conflicting elements within our personalities?". Macbeth had a really hard decision to make, one that made him question all his values and think about wrong and right. He is sure that his destiny is to be king, because he blindingly believes in the witches prophecies and in the existence of fate; but on the other hand he prizes his honor and have learned to love and respect King Duncan, who he truly considers a good king. Such a heavy decision affects Macbeth deeply, he becomes very unquiet and confuse: "We will proceed no further in this business://He hath honour'd me of late; and I have bought//Golden opinions from all sorts of people,//Which would be worn now in their newest gloss,//No cast aside so soon." Says Macbeth, giving up on the assassination plan just moments before changing his mind for: "I am settled, and bend up//Each corporal agent to this terrible feat.//Away, and mock the time with fairest show://False face must hide what the false heart doth know.". This very contrasting opinions show that trying to make a decision that goes against your beliefs can make you very unstable and therefore more likely to be manipulated by someone else, in this case Lady Macbeth, who is exceptionally talented at playing with people's minds. I think this two characteristics are very important, thus they can be seen during almost the whole play. Lady Macbeth's "determination" and Macbeth's conflicting nature are among many other values that are explored by Shakespeare and help to shape the way the play goes on, but they are specially important to understand this two main characters, their actions and reactions throughout the story.

2) What did you learn about working in groups? Explain.
It can be harder than working on your own because you have different opinions to deal with, and that makes some steps longer than they would be if made individually. But it can also be helpful to have support and someone to talk to about your ideas, because sometimes other people may add a lot to your initial thought.

3) Overall, something important that I have learned is... Because.
It is extremely important to be in the right group, and that makes a lot of difference in the final product. Having someone that you can trust that will do their share of the work just makes you feel more relaxed and that sometimes even lead to fun breaks and jokes during the time you are working on the assignment, making it easier to feel good about what you are doing instead of wishing you were somewhere else, and it's really noticeable in the presentations who enjoyed working on their project and who didn't.

4) Something that I noticed that I need to work on for next time is... Because.
I need to make it clear that I'm not only available but also that I actually want to help, because some members of our group (including myself) are really perfectionist and tend to try to do as much as they can by themselves so that it can be exactly the way they imagined it which may sometimes result in a great work, but not always in a fair division of the tasks.

5) Overall something that I am proud of is... Because.
I'm really proud of how we turned something that could have been boring (we had to work during the weekend) in something that was fun and not so serious, but at the same time we dedicated enough time and effort to make it the best it could be. That way we felt like the task was easier and at the same time I believe we will get a good mark for our video.

6) If you were to divide a pie with the % work each group member contributed, how would you divide up your pie, including yourself.
I would have to say that Katie ended up with most of the work (the project was in her computer) so I would give her 35%, Yuki have helped a lot making the puppets, so 25%, Maddy and I have basically had the same amount of work, therefore 20% for each one of us.

Macbeth - Scenes 1.6 & 1.7

My understanding of the scenes so far and why we have planned to use the EQ's that we have chosen.

The first scene we are presenting is scene 6 in act one, it's a very short scene, but it's also very important to the play because it shows that Lady Macbeth is completely capable of lying to the king without any remorse. When they meet in the castle where she lives with Macbeth, she is very graceful and respectful, exactly what the king would expect from his hostess, but in her mind the plan to kill him is very clear and welcoming him so nicely is just the first step to it. For this act we choose the EQ: "What is integrity?" because Lady Macbeth's lack of it is just absurd.
Our second is scene 7 still in act 1 and it's by itself a pivotal moment in the story, is in that scene that Macbeth is so confused that he has to leave a banquet in honour of the king to take some air and think of what he's about to do. After a moment thinking about Duncan, how he is a great king and trusts Macbeth, he decides not to proceed with the plan, and the story would have been completely different if Lady Macbeth hadn't interrupted him. She comes to check on him and as soon as she understands that he is getting cold feet, she accuses him of cowardice and unmanliness, with some strong arguments she finally convince him of stick with the plan. Because of Macbeth's confusion and how nervous he is, plus the fact that "his" final decision is not even his decision at all, we selected the EQ: "How do we deal with conflicting elements within our personalities".

comment to conflicting...

You have many good examples on how M deals with confilicting emotions with regards to the situation. I would like to see you further develop these points by bringing in actual quotes from the play to support what you are saying. I like the insight you have and the depth of understanding you as you write about the situation.

Response to Macbeth - First Act

How do we deal with conflicting elements within our personality?

Every individual has a single personality, some have a very strong well defined one and others have a more malleable kind that can sometimes be adjusted to fit the situation or other people around, this malleability can be good or bad. Its good when the person uses it to fit in and be able to help someone or get something out of it, but it can be dangerous when the person's lack of personality let this person susceptible to being controlled by others. Particularly in Macbeth, he had a really hard decision to make, he could kill the king to become the next one or he could choose not to have blood in his hands. In the beginning of the play I think Macbeth was a pretty loyal and honourable man, so I believe that the person who was corrupting his mind was his wife Lady Macbeth, who was really ambitious and wanted power for her husband and herself. Even though Macbeth was controlled by his wife I don’t think this means his personality was not strong or that he wasn’t noble, the problem here is that he really loved his wife and thus tried to do what she desired the most. In the end this conflict inside him was so big, so strong that it led him to madness, but before that we could notice that he couldn’t sleep anymore or concentrate in anything. That shows how dangerous playing with other people’s feelings and values can be.