For Monday: Emma, Chapters 1-8

 

For Monday: Austen, Emma, Chapters 1-8

NOTE: Feel free to read more than the first eight chapters if the mood takes you, but I want to start slow since starting any novel (especially Austen) takes a little getting used to. We’ll talk about some of the main characters and their relationships in class on Monday, as well as some issues of Class which are very important to the book. Give Austen’s language some time to sink in: this does not read like a modern novel, since the author’s voice is more like its own character, who makes snarky comments at times about the characters and even adopts their voices/perspectives. But once you get into it, I think you’ll find it very amusing and fascinating. Hope you enjoy it!

Answer two of the following:

Q1: In most novels of the time, and maybe novels of our time, Harriet Smith might be the main character, and Emma a side character (or even a villain!). Novels are usually about the education and growth of a young, naïve character into some kind of experience and wisdom, which Harriet would certainly qualify for. Based on that, why do you think Austen made Emma the main character? Doesn’t she seem already developed and ‘set’ as a character? Or is she writing a very different kind of novel?

Q2: Sort of related to Q1, why does Emma take such an interest in Harriet Smith? Are her motives truly altruistic, or does she have a selfish motive at heart? How do other people, such as Mr. Knightley, view her relationship with Harriet?

Q3: How does Emma define culture and being respectable in these chapters? Besides wealth, what separates someone (in her eyes) like Knightley and Robert Martin (the farmer who proposes to Harriet)? What makes someone worthy of polite society and her friendship? Do you think Austen agrees with this definition, or is it open for critique/satire?

Q4: What is the tone of Emma as a novel? Is it a satire like The School for Scandal, or a more serious/darker work like Dangerous Liasons? Or is it something more comic like Chaucer would write? How can we 'hear' the tone in the voice of the narrator herself? Can you isolate a specific passage that makes you confident of the tone/genre of the work itself?  

For Monday: Sheridan, The School for Scandal, Acts 4-5

 

Answer two of the following...

Q1: The great writer and playwright, Oscar Wilde, once wrote that, “an artist, sir, has no ethical sympathies at all. Virtue and wickedness are to him simply what the colours on his palette are to the painter. They are no more, and they are no less … Shakespeare, as Keats said, had as much delight in creating the one as he had in creating the other.” Do you think this is true for Sheridan and The School for Scandal? Is there a strong moral that emerges in the final act…or does the play remain mostly amoral, delighting in society’s depravity without strongly taking sides?

Q2: In his attempt to seduce Lady Teazle, Joseph Surface claims that “ ‘Tis this very conscious innocence that is of the greatest prejudice to you. What is it that makes you negligent of forms and careless of the world’s opinion? Why, the consciousness of your innocence. What makes you impatient of Sir Peter’s temper and outrageous at his suspicions? Why, the consciousness of your own innocence” (4.3). What does this mean? Why might she need to be “unconscious” of her innocence in order to be truly “innocent”?

Q3: Sir Peter continually proclaims Joseph Surface as “a man of sentiment…there is nothing in the world so noble as a man of sentiment” (4.3). The Oxford English Dictionary defines this as (among other definitions), “What one feels with regard to something; mental attitude (of approval or disapproval, etc.); an opinion or view as to what is right or agreeable.” How does Joseph seem to embody this quality, and by extension, why doesn’t Charles?

Q4: Do you feel that Charles and/or Lady Teazle are truly reformed by the end of the play? While Charles repents for his conduct and Lady Teazle returns her “diploma” to Lady Sneerwell, is this yet another act in the play? Are they still playing roles for a different audience? Or have the masks finally come off? How can we tell?

For Wednesday: Sheridan, The School for Scandal, Act III

Remember to read Act III of The School for Scandal (the last play in the book, if you have the Penguin Classics edition) for Wednesday's class. There are NO QUESTIONS for Wednesday, since we'll have an in-class response instead. Here are some ideas to consider as you read:

* Look at the argument Sir Peter and Lady Teazle get into in Act III, Scene i, which ends up in both of them threatening divorce. What sets them off? Why does he keep 'acting' like her enemy when he's clearly in love with her?

* Why does Sir Oliver get in on the act and play the role of Mr. Premium? Why does he simply confront Charles without the mask? 

* How does Act III also reveal the casual racism of the era, which forced people outside the norm of English life into stereotypical roles? Do you think Sheridan is trying to expose these stereotypes or taking them at face value? 

* What does Charles do that deeply offends Sir Oliver (disguised as Mr. Premium)? Why is this shocking to him, and probably to an eighteenth-century audience? 

* Is Charles a sympathetic character; are we rooting for him at this point in the play? If so, what makes him a more likable character than, say, his brother Joseph? Has Charles earned his bad reputation, or is it all slander from the 'school for scandal'? 

For Monday: Sheridan, The School for Scandal, Acts 1-2

 

Answer TWO of the following for Monday’s class:

Q1: Which characters or lines in the play reminded you the most of Dangerous Liasons? Why is this? What makes you know that both works are from the same general world, even if one takes place in France and the other in England?

Q2: In Act 2, Mrs. Candour defends her delight in gossiping by saying, “surely you would not be quite so severe on those who only report what they hear?” (214). Do you think there’s any merit to this defense? If they’re not actively causing harm to other people, but just repeating what others have already said—whether true or false—are they really to blame? Or are they equally guilty?

Q3: We meet Sir Peter and Lady Teazle in this play, which is a new take on the age-old joke of old men marrying young wives (which we also encountered in The Wife of Bath’s Prologue). What does Sheridan seem to be poking fun at in this relationship: just his age? Or some factor of marriage between unequal partners? (hint: Jane Austen will pick up on this theme herself)

Q4:  Dangerous Liasons was a more serious work of satire, while The School for Scandal is more humorous and light-hearted. But where might the joke be less ‘funny’ in this play? In other words, why might Sheridan have the same intentions for the play as the film? Where is the comedy not really a comedy?

After Spring Break: The Midterm Paper (new DUE DATE) and other info

I've made a few tweaks to the schedule after Spring Break, which are pasted below. The biggest thing is that your Mid-Term Paper is due ANY TIME the week we return, but NO LATER than Friday by around 5pm. That should give you some extra time to work on it and iron out the connections between Sonnets. The Mid-Term assignment sheet is posted about four posts down (scroll down to find it).  

Be sure that you have a copy of Sheridan's The School for Scandal, which is a play we'll start reading the week after we return from class. We'll watch a film that introduces the world and the context of the play called Dangerous Liasons, which is an adaptation of an 18th century French novel that was all the rage in Austen's day, and of which she was a big fan. 

Here's the revised schedule for the rest of the semester, which we should pretty much stick to:

M 17                SPRING BREAK

 

M 24               Film: Dangerous Liasons

W 26               Film: Dangerous Liasons

F 28                Film Discussion/ Mid-Term Paper due

 

M 31               Sheridan, The School for Scandal, Acts 1-2

 

APRIL

W 2                Sheridan, The School for Scandal, Act 3

R 3                 [Scissortail Creative Writing Festival begins]

F 4                 Scissortail Creative Writing Festival [no class]

 

M 7                 Sheridan, The School for Scandal, Acts 4-5

W 9                 Context: The Age of the Novel

F 11                Austen, from "Love and Friendship" [handout]

 

M 14                Austen, Emma TBA

W 16               Austen, Emma, TBA

F 18                Austen, Emma, TBA

 

M 21               Austen, Emma TBA  

W 23               Austen, Emma, TBA

F 25                Short Paper #3 due in class  

 

M 28                Austen, Emma, TBA

W 30               Austen, Emma, TBA  

 

MAY

F 2                   Austen, Emma, TBA  

 

M 5                  Austen, Emma, TBA

W 7                 Wrap-Up/Discuss Final Paper

F 9                  [Extra class if needed]

 

Final Paper due TBA

 

 

For Wednesday: Shakespeare, The Sonnets, Part 5

Read the following Sonnets for our last (sigh) official class on The Sonnets, even though we'll be discussing your Paper #2 assignment on Friday (so I guess that still counts). However, I tried to summarize the rest of the 'story' of the Sonnets up with the following Sonnets, though feel free to read more around them--I still left out some great ones! 

Read the following for Wednesday's class: 116, 121, 126, 127, 129, 130, 134, 135, 138, 144.

We'll do an in-class writing response when you come to class on Wednesday, but consider some of the following ideas:

* What makes Sonnet 126 different from all the rest? Look less at what the sonnet is saying than how it is written...compare how it looks on the page to other sonnets (hint, hint).

* Sonnet 116 is one of the most famous sonnets in the entire sequence, almost as much as Sonnet 18, and is often read at weddings. What makes this sonnet so traditionally romantic, and why is it coming so late in the sequence (especially since he ends things with the young man in Sonnet 126)? Is it out of place?

* How does Sonnet 121 seemt to negate Sonnet 116, and why do they come so close together in the sequence?

* Sonnet 127 is the first one featuring the "Dark Mistress," as most scholars call her. How is his relationship markedly different with her than the Young Man?

* Sonnet 130 is another super famous one, and is often contrasted with Sonnet 18. Is this also a romantic sonnet? How is his love and appreciation different for the woman than the man?

* Look at all the possible meanings of "will" in Sonnet 135, one of which is the poet's own name, Will. Read the longer note on page 339 if you really want to open your eyes to all the possibilities! 

* What kind of relationship does the poet have with the mistress by Sonnet 138? Is this deep love and affection? Deep distrust and paranoia? Or a reluctant truce?

Class Updates!

 I sent everyone an e-mail about this, but I wanted to post it here as well just in case. Here's what to expect for the rest of this week and next week:

* I sent everyone the In-Class Writing Response to the Sonnets we planned to do today in class. You can bring that to class on Monday OR e-mail it to me between now and then. 

* The new questions for Monday are in the post BELOW this one. You can also find the Short Paper #2 assignment and the Mid-Term Assignment in the post below that one (though I handed them both out on Monday).

* The Short Paper #2 will NOT be due on Monday anymore. We'll move it two days back to Friday (next Friday, the 14th). The Mid-Term will have the same due date after Spring Break.

Let me know if you have any other questions! Hope to see you on Monday!