Havo 5

LITERATURE H5

THE DARK SIDE

HAVO 5 LITERATURE –The Dark Side

The dark side of our character!!

We all have a dark side in our character. We hope that it will never surface or that we will never have to use it. Literature shows us that certain situations in life bring out the worst in people. It is a very judgmental theme. Who can control his dark side and who can't!!

The Menendez brothers who killed their parents

The writers of different ages have been fascinated by the dark side of our character. It is much more interesting than the good natured side. It is where the murders are planned, the evil plans are made and the ruthlessness is awakened.

Let there be no doubt in your mind that we all have a dark side. A situation in life (war, destitution, hunger) will make people react in ways you would have never imagined. Can we judge them or not? Why do some give in to their evil thoughts and others don't?  These are questions we cannot answer until today.

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  No restraint

There are many situations in the world in which the ruling authority loses power. In such times (war, civil war) the people are no longer controlled by the proper authorities (police, army).

As soon as people realize that they can no longer be controlled they sometimes lose all restraint and become a different person.

There are situations in which perfectly normal family men became raving murderers. In wars we see young soldiers do horrible things because they know that they will not be judged for their actions.

In literature this idea is used to show "the nature of the beast". Authors play with the idea that we have no restraint when we are not controlled. They try to find elements that we can hold on to in turbulent times. They try to find what separates us from the animal within!!

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Heart of Darkness

First serialized in London’s Blackwood’s Magazine in 1899 and then published in book form three years later, Heart of Darkness has been called the best short novel written in English—a bridge between nineteenth- and twentieth-century literature and a forerunner of modern literary methods, as well as Joseph Conrad’s most critically acclaimed work. A lifelong interest in Africa finally propelled the thirty-two-year-old Conrad, originally from Poland, to the continent in 1889 where he became captain of a river steamboat, like the book’s protagonist, Charlie Marlow. A seasoned sailor and traveler who had spent the previous ten years as part of the British merchant marines, Conrad witnessed atrocities in the Belgian Congo during his six-month stay that would remain with him for the rest of his days; they lie at the very heart of his unrelenting novel.

SummaryHeart of Darkness is a frame story, i.e. a story within a story. Five men on board the Nellie are anchored in the Thames Estuary at dusk. One of them narrates what happened aboard but mainly retells the story told by another crew member, Charlie Marlow, about his journey to Africa and up the River Congo as a representative of a trading company. Marlow shares his experiences as a steamboat captain transporting ivory downriver but particularly focuses on the lack of efficiency of white trading agents and how they mistreated the natives. However, the centre of his story ishis search for the mysterious Kurtz, an ivory trader, who gathers huge quantities of ivory through very peculiar and secret methods and who has raised himself as the god of the tribes surrounding his station. It is through Kurtz that Marlow discovers the various forms of darkness in Congo and this throws light on himself.

Excerpt from Heart of Darkness

He muttered something about the villages round the lake. "Kurtz got the tribe to follow him, did he?" I suggested. He fidgeted a little. "They adored him", he said. The tone of these words was so extraordinary that I looked at him searchingly. It was curious to see his mingled eagerness and reluctance to speak of Kurtz. The man filled his life, occupied his thoughts, and swayed his emotions. "What can you expect?" he burst out, "he came to them with thunder and lightning, you know-and they had never seen anything like it-and very terrible. He could be very terrible. You can't judge Mr Kurtz as you would an ordinary man. No, no, no! Now just to give you an idea, I don't mind telling you, he wanted to shoot me too one day-but I don't judge him. "Shoot you", I cried. "What for?” "Well I had a small lot of ivory the chief of that village near my house gave me. You see I used to shoot game for them. Well, he wanted it, and wouldn't hear reason. He declared he would shoot me unless I gave him the ivory, and then cleared out of the country, because he could do so, and had a fancy for it, and there was nothing on earth to prevent him killing whom he jolly well pleased. And it was true too. I gave him the ivory.

Those round knobs were not ornamental but symbolic; they were expressive and puzzling, striking and disturbing-food for thought and also for the vultures if there had been any looking down from the sky; but at all events for such ants as were industrious enough to ascend the pole.

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They would have been more impressive, those heads on the stakes if their faces had not been turned to the house. Only one, the first I made out, was facing my way. I was not as shocked as you may think. The start back I had given was really nothing but a movement of surprise. I had expected to see a knob of wood there, you know. I turned deliberately to the first I had seen-and there it was, black, dried, sunken, with closed eyelids,-a head that seemed to sleep at the top of that pole, and, with the shrunken dry lips showing a narrow white line of teeth, was smiling too, smiling continuously at some endless and jocose dream of that eternal slumber. I am not disclosing any trade secrets. In fact the manager said afterwards that Mr. Kurtz's methods had ruined the district. I have no opinion on that point, but I want you clearly to understand that there was nothing exactly profitable in these heads being there. They only showed that Mr. Kurtz lacked restraint in the gratification of his various lusts, that there was something wanting in him-some small matter which, when the pressing need arose, could not be found under his magnificent eloquence. Whether he knew of this deficiency himself I can't say. I think the knowledge came to him at last-only at the very last. But the wilderness had found him early, and had taken on him terrible vengeance for the fantastic invasion. I think it had whispered to him things about himself which he did not know, things of which he had no conception till he took council with his great solitude- and the whispers had proved irresistibly fascinating. It echoed loudly within him because he was hollow at the core.....I put down the glass, and the head that had appeared near enough to be spoken to seemed at once to have leaped away from me into inaccessible distance.

Character descriptions

MarlowThe protagonist of Heart of Darkness, Marlow is philosophical, independent-minded, and generally skeptical of those around him. He is also a master storyteller, eloquent and able to draw his listeners into his tale. Although Marlow shares many of his fellow Europeans’ prejudices, he has seen enough of the world and has encountered enough debased white men to make him skeptical of imperialism.

KurtzThe chief of the Inner Station and the object of Marlow’s quest. Among Kurtz’s many talents are his charisma and his ability to lead men. Kurtz is a man who understands the power of words, and his writings are marked by an eloquence that obscures their horrifying message. Although he remains an enigma even to Marlow, Kurtz clearly exerts a powerful influence on the people in his life. His downfall seems to be a result of his willingness to ignore the hypocritical rules that govern European colonial conduct: Kurtz has “kicked himself loose of the earth” by fraternizing excessively with the natives and not keeping up appearances. Kurtz has become wildly successful but he has also indulged his own evil desires and alienated himself from his fellow white men.

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1. Do you agree with these quotes and why? Would Kurtz agree? Would Marlow?

“Might is right.” K would agree, M would disagree.(Diegene die macht heeft, bepaalt wat juist is.)

“All men are created equal.” M would agree, K would disagree. “The ends justify the means.” K would agree, M would disagree.

“Survival of the fittest.” K would agree, M would disagree. “No man is good enough to govern another man without that other’s consent.” M would

agree, K would disagree.(Geen enkele man is goed genoeg om over het leven van een ander te beslissen zonder de

instemming van die persoon.) “Equality in society beats inequality, whether the latter be of the British-aristocratic sort

or of the domestic slavery sort.” M would agree, K would disagree.(Een maatschappij waarin gelijkheid geldt is beter dan een waarin ongelijkheid heerst, of

de ongelijkheid nou qua klasse is of in de zin van slavernij.)

2. What has made Kurtz into such a terrible man? Gebrek aan toezicht en de mogelijkheid om zijn gang te gaan zonder consequenties.

3. Explain the title of the book.Zie aantekening.

Apocalypse Now http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tt0xxAMTp8M

The Strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde R.L. Stevenson

Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a gothic (a genre of literature and film that combines fiction and horror, death, and at times romance) novella by the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson first published in 1886. The work is also known as The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, or simply Jekyll & Hyde. It is about a London lawyer named Gabriel John Utterson who investigates strange occurrences between his old friend, Dr Henry Jekyll, and the evil Edward Hyde. The novella's impact is such that it has become a part of the language, with the very phrase "Jekyll and Hyde" coming to mean a person who is vastly different in moral character from one situation to the next.

Plot

Gabriel John Utterson and his cousin Richard Enfield reach the door of a large house on their weekly walk. Enfield tells Utterson that months ago he saw a sinister-looking man named Edward Hyde trample a young girl after accidentally bumping into her. Enfield forced Hyde to pay £100 to avoid a scandal. Hyde brought them to this door and provided a cheque signed by a reputable gentleman (later revealed to be Dr. Henry Jekyll, a friend and client of Utterson).

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Utterson is disturbed because Jekyll recently changed his will to make Hyde the sole beneficiary. Utterson fears that Hyde is blackmailing Jekyll. When Utterson tries to discuss Hyde with Jekyll, Jekyll turns pale and asks that Hyde be left alone.

One night in October, a servant sees Hyde beat to death Sir Danvers Carew, another of Utterson's clients. The police contact Utterson, who leads officers to Hyde's apartment. Hyde has vanished, but they find half of a broken cane. Utterson recognizes the cane as one he had given to Jekyll. Utterson visits Jekyll, who shows Utterson a note, allegedly written to Jekyll by Hyde, apologising for the trouble that he has caused. However, Hyde's handwriting is similar to Jekyll's own, leading Utterson to conclude that Jekyll forged the note to protect Hyde.

For two months, Jekyll reverts to his former sociable manner, but in early January, he starts refusing visitors. Dr. Hastie Lanyon, a mutual acquaintance of Jekyll and Utterson, dies of shock after receiving information relating to Jekyll. Before his death, Lanyon gives Utterson a letter to be opened after Jekyll's death or disappearance. In late February, during another walk with Enfield, Utterson starts a conversation with Jekyll at a window of his laboratory. Jekyll suddenly slams the window and disappears. In early March, Jekyll's butler, Mr. Poole, visits Utterson and says Jekyll has secluded himself in his laboratory for weeks. Utterson and Poole break into the laboratory, where they find Hyde wearing Jekyll's clothes and apparently dead from suicide. They find a letter from Jekyll to Utterson. Utterson reads Lanyon's letter, then Jekyll's. Lanyon's letter reveals his deterioration resulted from the shock of seeing Hyde drink a serum that turned him into Jekyll. Jekyll's letter explains that he had indulged in unstated vices and feared discovery. He found a way to transform himself and thereby indulge his vices without fear of detection. Jekyll's transformed personality, Hyde, was evil, self-indulgent, and uncaring to anyone but himself. Initially, Jekyll controlled the transformations with the serum, but one night in August, he became Hyde involuntarily in his sleep.

Jekyll resolved to cease becoming Hyde. One night, he had a moment of weakness and drank the serum. Hyde, furious at having been caged for so long, killed Carew. Horrified, Jekyll tried more adamantly to stop the transformations. Then, in early January, he transformed involuntarily while awake. Far from his laboratory and hunted by the police as a murderer, Hyde needed help to avoid capture. He wrote to Lanyon (in Jekyll's hand), asking his friend to bring chemicals from his laboratory. In Lanyon's presence, Hyde mixed the chemicals, drank the serum, and transformed into Jekyll. The shock of the sight instigated Lanyon's deterioration and death. Meanwhile, Jekyll's involuntary transformations increased in frequency and required ever larger doses of serum to reverse. It was one of these transformations that caused Jekyll to slam his window shut on Enfield and Utterson.

Eventually, one of the chemicals used in the serum ran low, and subsequent batches prepared from new stocks failed to work. Jekyll speculated that one of the original ingredients must have some unknown impurity that made it work. Knowing he would become Hyde permanently, Jekyll decided to write his "confession". He ended the letter by writing, "I bring the life of that unhappy Henry Jekyll to an end."

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Excerpt from: The strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by R.L. Stevenson

I hesitated long before I put this theory to the test of practice. I knew well that I risked death; for any drug that so potently controlled and shook the very fortress of identity, might, by the least scruple of an overdose or at the least inopportunity in the moment of exhibition, utterly blot out that immaterial tabernacle which I looked to it to change. But the temptation of a discovery so singular and profound at last overcame the suggestions of alarm. I had long since prepared my tincture; I purchased at once, from a firm of wholesale chemists, a large quantity of a particular salt which I knew, from my experiments, to be the last ingredient required; and late one accursed night, I compounded the elements, watched them boil and smoke together in the glass, and when the ebullition had subsided, with a strong glow of courage, drank off the potion.

    The most racking pangs succeeded: a grinding in the bones, deadly nausea, and a horror of the spirit that cannot be exceeded at the hour of birth or death. Then these agonies began swiftly to subside, and I came to myself as if out of a great sickness. There was something strange in my sensations, something indescribably new and, from its very novelty, incredibly sweet. I felt younger, lighter, happier in body; within I was conscious of a heady recklessness, a current of disordered sensual images running like a millrace in my fancy, a solution of the bonds of obligation, an unknown but not an innocent freedom of the soul. I knew myself, at the first breath of this new life, to be more wicked, tenfold more wicked, sold a slave to my original evil; and the thought, in that moment, braced and delighted me like wine. I stretched out my hands, exulting in the freshness of these sensations; and in the act, I was suddenly aware that I had lost in stature.

    There was no mirror, at that date, in my room; that which stands beside me as I write, was brought there later on and for the very purpose of these transformations. The night however, was far gone into the morning--the morning, black as it was, was nearly ripe for the conception of the day--the inmates of my house were locked in the most rigorous hours of slumber; and I determined, flushed as I was with hope and triumph, to venture in my new shape as far as to my bedroom. I crossed the yard, wherein the constellations looked down upon me, I could have thought, with wonder, the first creature of that sort that their unsleeping vigilance had yet disclosed to them; I stole through the corridors, a stranger in my own house; and coming to my room, I saw for the first time the appearance of Edward Hyde.

    I must here speak by theory alone, saying not that which I know, but that which I suppose to be most probable. The evil side of my nature, to which I had now transferred the stamping efficacy, was less robust and less developed than the good which I had just deposed. Again, in the course of my life, which had been, after all, nine tenths a life of effort, virtue and control, it had been much less exercised and much less exhausted. And hence, as I think, it came about that Edward Hyde was so much smaller, slighter and younger than Henry Jekyll. Even as good shone upon the countenance of the one, evil was written broadly and plainly on the face of the other. Evil besides (which I must still believe to be the lethal side of man) had left on that body an imprint of deformity and decay. And yet when I looked upon that ugly idol in the glass, I was conscious of no repugnance, rather of a leap of welcome. This, too, was myself. It seemed natural and human. In my eyes it bore a livelier image of the spirit, it seemed more express and single, than the imperfect and divided countenance I had been hitherto accustomed to call mine.

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And in so far I was doubtless right. I have observed that when I wore the semblance of Edward Hyde, none could come near to me at first without a visible misgiving of the flesh. This, as I take it, was because all human beings, as we meet them, are commingled out of good and evil: and Edward Hyde, alone in the ranks of mankind, was pure evil.

    I lingered but a moment at the mirror: the second and conclusive experiment had yet to be attempted; it yet remained to be seen if I had lost my identity beyond redemption and must flee before daylight from a house that was no longer mine; and hurrying back to my cabinet, I once more prepared and drank the cup, once more suffered the pangs of dissolution, and came to myself once more with the character, the stature and the face of Henry Jekyll.

Questions Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde:

1. Part of the implication of "Dr. Jekyll’s Account" is that Man Cannot Always Be Good. No matter how hard Dr. Jekyll tries to live a good, upstanding, sober life, he can’t resist the temptation of transforming into Mr. Hyde. Is this true of mankind? Can we never build a good society?

Eigen mening.

2. The novel revolves around the contest between good and evil. Why does evil win in the end?

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Jekyll enjoys evil more, and is no longer in control of when he’s good or evil. He has lost control, feels he will become Hyde permanently and decides to end his life.

Transformation scene:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqqZ0yFqY04

The Vietnam War

“Nacked Child Of War Vietnam 1972” by James Tipp

Running down the road naked child of war Back all burnt and blistered You don’t know what for. Picture in the paper5 A thousand miles away The man said on the news Your brother died today. How to face the agony Of a life without a home10 A thousand miles away A poet writes a poem. He tries to tell the people Of a God of love not hate But the people only shake their heads15They’re sorry your too late. In his mind he sees your body Your back is one vast burn

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And he cries into the paper For he knows they’ll never learn

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“War is Never Over” by: Cecil L. Harrison

War is never over (Oorlog is nooit voorbij (figuurlijk).) Though the treaties may be signed The memories of the battles Are forever in our minds

5 War is never over So when you welcome heroes home Remember in their minds they hold Memories known to them alone

War is never over10 Nam veterans know this well Now other wars bring memories back Of their own eternal hell

War is never over For I knew world war two15 And I'll not forget the battles Or the nightmares that ensue

War is never over Those left home to wait know this (Vrouwen, kinderen, blijven voor altijd wachten op hun vader die nooit meer thuis zal komen, die nooit meer hetzelfde zal zijn.) For many still are waiting20 It was their farewell kiss

War is never over Though we win the victory Still in our minds the battles  No, freedom is not free!  (Onze vrijheid is niet gratis. Onze vrijheid is mogelijk door offers.)

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Electric shock gameshow

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ON6iZhMXmTc

William Golding

Lord of the Flies

Summary:

Lord of the Flies explores the dark side of humanity, the savagery that underlies even the most civilized human beings. William Golding intended this novel as a tragic parody of children's adventure tales, illustrating humankind's intrinsic evil nature. He presents the reader with a chronology of events leading a group of young boys from hope to disaster as they attempt to survive their uncivilized, unsupervised, isolated environment until rescued. In the midst of a nuclear war, a group of British boys find themselves stranded without adult supervision on a tropical island. The group is roughly divided into the "littluns," boys around the age of six, and the "biguns," who are between the ages of ten and twelve. Initially, the boys attempt to form a culture similar to the one they left behind. They elect a leader, Ralph, who, with the advice and support of Piggy (the intellectual of the group), strives to establish rules for housing and sanitation. Ralph also makes a signal fire the group's first priority, hoping that a passing ship will see the smoke signal and rescue them. A major challenge to Ralph's leadership is Jack, who also wants to lead. Jack commands a group of choirboys-turned-hunters who sacrifice the duty of tending the fire so that they can participate in the hunts. Jack draws the other boys slowly away from Ralph's influence because of their natural attraction to and inclination toward the adventurous hunting activities symbolizing violence and evil.

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The conflict between Jack and Ralph — and the forces of savagery and civilization that they represent — is exacerbated by the boys' literal fear of a mythical beast roaming the island. One night, an aerial battle occurs above the island, and a casualty of the battle floats down with his opened parachute, ultimately coming to rest on the mountaintop. Breezes occasionally inflate the parachute, making the body appear to sit up and then sink forward again. This sight panics the boys as they mistake the dead body for the beast they fear. In a reaction to this panic, Jack forms a splinter group that is eventually joined by all but a few of the boys. The boys who join Jack are enticed by the protection Jack's ferocity seems to provide, as well as by the prospect of playing the role of savages: putting on camouflaging face paint, hunting, and performing ritualistic tribal dances. Eventually, Jack's group actually slaughters a sow and, as an offering to the beast, puts the sow's head on a stick.

Of all the boys, only the mystic Simon has the courage to discover the true identity of the beast sighted on the mountain. After witnessing the death of the sow and the gift made of her head to the beast, Simon begins to hallucinate, and the staked sow's head becomes the Lord of the Flies, imparting to Simon what he has already suspected: The beast is not an animal on the loose but is hidden in each boy's psyche. Weakened by his horrific vision, Simon loses consciousness.

Recovering later that evening, he struggles to the mountaintop and finds that the beast is only a dead pilot/soldier. Attempting to bring the news to the other boys, he stumbles into the tribal frenzy of their dance. Perceiving him as the beast, the boys beat him to death.

Soon only three of the older boys, including Piggy, are still in Ralph's camp. Jack's group steals Piggy's glasses to start its cooking fires, leaving Ralph unable to maintain his signal fire. When Ralph and his small group approach Jack's tribe to request the return of the glasses, one of Jack's hunters releases a huge boulder on Piggy, killing him. The tribe captures the other two biguns prisoners, leaving Ralph on his own.

The tribe undertakes a manhunt to track down and kill Ralph, and they start a fire to smoke him out of one of his hiding places, creating an island-wide forest fire. A passing ship sees the smoke from the fire, and a British naval officer arrives on the beach just in time to save Ralph from certain death at the hands of the schoolboys turned savages.

Watch the Video from the Nordic rock band Rage to give you an idea about the theme of Lord of the Flies: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ss5KoCTCQtE

Watch the clip of Piggy’s death: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqrREfjDS-c

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Excerpt from Lord of the Flies

Chapter 11 Castle Rock

In the short chill of dawn the four boys gathered round the black smudgewhere the fire had been, while Ralph knelt and blew. Piggy sat expressionless behindthe luminous wall of his myopia. Ralph continued to blow till his ears were singing with the effort. He squatted back and swore, “No use.”

“ ’Course it’s no use, Ralph. Now we got no fire.”Ralph brought his face within a couple of feet of Piggy’s. “Can you see me?”“A bit.”Ralph allowed the swollen flap of his cheek to close his eye again. “They’ve got our fire.

They stole it!”“That’s them,” said Piggy. “They blinded me. See? That’s Jack Merridew. You call an

assembly, Ralph, we got to decide what to do.”“An assembly for only us?”“It’s all we got. Sam—let me hold on to you.”They went toward the platform.“Blow the conch,” said Piggy. “Blow as loud as you can.”

The forests re-echoed; and birds lifted, crying out of the treetops. Both ways the beach was deserted. Ralph nodded, and Samneric sat down on the right. Ralph pushed the conch into Piggy’s hands.

“Go on, then.”“I just take the conch to say this. I can’t see no more and I got to get my glasses back.

Awful things has been done on this island. I voted for you for chief. He’s the only one who ever got anything done. So now you speak, Ralph, and tell us what. Or else—”

Piggy broke off, sniveling. Ralph took back the conch.“Just an ordinary fire. You’d think we could do that, wouldn’t you? Just a smoke signal

so we can be rescued. Are we savages or what? Only now there’s no signal going up. Ships may be passing. Do you remember how he went hunting and the fire went out and a ship passed by? And they all think he’s best as chief. Then there was, there was. . . that’s his fault,too. If it hadn’t been for him it would never have happened. Now Piggy can’t see, and they came, stealing—at night, in darkness, and stole our fire. They stole it. We’d have given them fire if they’d asked. But they stole it and the signal’s out and we can’t ever be rescued. Don’t you see what I mean? We’d have given them fire for themselves only they stole it. I—”

Piggy held out his hands for the conch.“What you goin’ to do, Ralph? This is jus’ talk without deciding. I want my glasses.”“I’m trying to think. Supposing we go, looking like we used to, washed and hair brushed

—after all we aren’t savages really and being rescued isn’t a game—”He opened the flap of his cheek and looked at the twins. “We could smarten up a bit and

then go—”“We ought to take spears,” said Sam. “Even Piggy.”“—because we may need them.”“You can take spears if you want but I shan’t. What’s the good? I’ll have to be led like a

dog, anyhow. Yes, laugh. Go on, laugh. There’s them on this island as would laugh at anything.

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And what happened? What’s grown-ups goin’ to think? Young Simon was murdered. And there was that other kid what had a mark on his face. Who’s seen him since we first come here? I got the conch. I’m going to that Jack Merridew an’ tell him, I am.”

“You’ll get hurt.”“What can he do more than he has? I’ll tell him what’s what. You let me carry the conch,

Ralph. I’ll show him the one thing he hasn’t got. I’m going to him with this conch in my hands. I’m going to hold it out. Look, I’m goin’ to say, you’re stronger than I am and you haven’t got asthma. You can see, I’m goin’ to say, and with both eyes. But I don’t ask for my glasses back, not as a favor. I don’t ask you to be a sport, I’ll say, not because you’re strong, but because what’s right’s right. Give me my glasses, I’m going to say—you got to!”

Piggy ended, flushed and trembling. He pushed the conch quickly intoRalph’s hands. Ralph sat up straight and drew back his hair. “All right. I mean—you can try if you like. We’ll go with you.”

“He’ll be painted,” said Sam, timidly. “You know how he’ll be—”“—he won’t think much of us—”“—if he gets waxy we’ve had it—”“Don’t be silly,” he said. And then he added quickly, “Let’s go.” He held out the conch to

Piggy who flushed, this time with pride.“You must carry it.”“I don’t mind. I’ll be glad, Ralph, only I’ll have to be led.”“We’ll be like we were. We’ll wash—”Sam gulped down a mouthful and protested. “But we bathe every day!”Ralph looked at the filthy objects before him and sighed.“We ought to comb our hair. Only it’s too long.”“I’ve got both socks left in the shelter,” said Eric, “so we could pull them

over our heads like caps, sort of.”“We could find some stuff,” said Piggy, “and tie your hair back.”Eric made a detaining gesture. “But they’ll be painted! You know how it is.”

The others nodded. They understood only too well the liberation into savagery that the concealing paint brought.

“Well, we won’t be painted,” said Ralph, “because we aren’t savages.”Samneric looked at each other. “All the same—”Ralph shouted. “No paint!”He tried to remember. “Smoke,” he said, “we want smoke. We’ve got to have smoke.”

There was silence. At last Piggy spoke,  “ ’Course we have. ’Cos the smoke’s a signal and we can’t be rescued if we don’t have smoke.”

They set off along the beach in formation. Ralph went first, his spear carried over one shoulder. He saw things partially, through his own long hair and injuries. Behind him came the twins; they said little but trailed the butts of their wooden spears.  Piggy walked between the trailing butts, the conch held carefully between his two hands. They passed the place where the tribe had danced. They passed this in silence. No one doubted that the tribe would be found at the Castle Rock and when they came in sight of it Ralph went forward.

Sam touched his arm.“Smoke.”There was a tiny smudge of smoke wavering into the air on the other side of the rock.“Some fire—I don’t think.”

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Ralph turned. “What are we hiding for? You two follow behind. I’ll go first, then Piggy a pace behind me. Keep your spears ready.”

“Am I safe?” quavered Piggy. “I feel awful—”High above them from the pinnacles came a sudden shout and then an imitation war-cry

that was answered by a dozen voices from behind the rock.“Give me the conch and stay still.”“Halt! Who goes there?”Ralph bent back his head and glimpsed Roger’s dark face at the top.“You can see who I am!” he shouted. “Stop being silly!”He put the conch to his lips and began to blow. Savages appeared, painted out of

recognition. They carried spears and disposed themselves to defend the entrance. Ralphwent on blowing. At length Ralph took his lips away and paused to get his breath back.His first words were a gasp, “—calling an assembly.”

The savages guarding the neck muttered among themselves but made no motion. Ralph walked forwards a couple of steps. A voice whispered urgently behind him.

“Don’t leave me, Ralph.”“You kneel down,” said Ralph sideways, “and wait till I come back.”He stood half-way along the neck and gazed at the savages intently. Freed by the paint,

they had tied their hair back and were more comfortable than he was. The savages sniggered a bit and one gestured at Ralph with his spear. High above, Roger took his hands off the lever and leaned out to see what was going on.

“I’m calling an assembly.”Silence.Roger took up a small stone and flung it between the twins, aiming to miss. They started

and Sam only just kept his footing. Some source of power began to pulse in Roger’s body.Ralph spoke again, loudly. “I’m calling an assembly. Where’s Jack?”The group of boys stirred and consulted. A painted face spoke with the voice of Robert.“He’s hunting. And he said we weren’t to let you in.”“I’ve come to see about the fire,” said Ralph, “and about Piggy’s specs.”A voice spoke from behind Ralph.“What do you want?”The twins made a bolt past Ralph and got between him and the entry. He turned quickly.

Jack, identifiable by personality and red hair, was advancing from the forest. A hunter crouched on either side. All three were masked in black and green. Behind them on the grass the headless and paunched body of a sow lay where they had dropped it.

Piggy wailed. “Ralph! Don’t leave me!”Jack shouted, “You go away, Ralph. You keep to your end. This is my end and my

tribe. You leave me alone.”“You pinched Piggy’s specs,” said Ralph, breathlessly. “You’ve got to give them back.”“Got to? Who says?”Ralph’s temper blazed out. “I say! You voted for me for chief. Didn’t you hear the

conch? You played a dirty trick—we’d have given you fire if you’d asked for it—You could have had fire whenever you wanted. But you didn’t. You came sneaking up like a thief and stole Piggy’s glasses!”

“Say that again!”“Thief! Thief!”

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Jack made a rush and stabbed at Ralph’s chest with his spear. Ralph sensed the position of the weapon from the glimpse he caught of Jack’s arm and put the thrust aside with his own butt. Then he brought the end round and caught Jack a stinger across the ear. They were chest to chest, breathing fiercely, pushing and glaring.

“Who’s a thief?”“You are!”Jack wrenched free and swung at Ralph with his spear. By common consent they were

using the spears as sabers now, no longer daring them lethal points. The blow struck Ralph’s spear and slid down, to fall agonizingly on his fingers. Both boys were breathing very heavily. Truculently they squared up to each other but kept just out of fighting distance.

“You come on and see what you get!”“You come on—”Piggy clutching the ground was trying to attract Ralph’s attention. Ralph moved, bent

down, kept a wary eye on Jack.“Ralph—remember what we came for. The fire. My specs.”Ralph nodded. He relaxed his fighting muscles, stood easily and grounded the butt of his

spear. Jack watched him through his paint.Ralph glanced up at  the group of savages. “Listen. We’ve come to say this. First you’ve

got to give back Piggy’s specs. If he hasn’t got them he can’t see. You aren’t playing the game—”

The tribe of painted savages giggled and Ralph’s mind faltered. He pushed his hair up and gazed at the green and black mask before him, trying to remember what Jack looked like. Piggy whispered.

“And the fire.”“Oh yes. Then about the fire. I say this again. I’ve been saying it ever since we dropped

in. Your only hope is keeping a signal fire going as long as there’s light to see. Then maybe a ship’ll notice the smoke and come and rescue us and take us home. But without that smoke we’ve got to wait till some ship comes by accident. We might wait years; till we were old— Don’t you understand, you painted fools? Sam, Eric, Piggy and me— we aren’t enough. We tried to keep the fire going, but we couldn’t. And then you, playing at hunting. . . .”

He pointed past them to where the trickle of smoke dispersed in the pearly air.“Look at that! Call that a signal fire? That’s a cooking fire. Now you’ll eat and there’ll be no smoke. Don’t you understand? There may be a ship out there—”

He paused, defeated by the silence and the painted anonymity of the group guarding the entry.

Jack addressed Samneric, who were between him and his tribe. “You two. Get back.”The twins, puzzled, looked at each other; while Piggy stood up carefully. Jack glanced back at Ralph and then at the twins.

“Grab them!”The painted group moved round Samneric nervously and unhandily. Samneric protested

out of the heart of civilization. Their spears were taken from them.“Tie them up!”Ralph cried out hopelessly, “Jack!”“Go on. Tie them.”Now the painted group felt the otherness of Samneric, felt the power in their own hands.

They felled the twins clumsily and excitedly. Jack was inspired. He knew that Ralph would

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attempt a rescue. He struck in a humming circle behind him and Ralph only just parried the blow. Beyond them the tribe and the twins were a loud and writhing heap. Piggy crouched again. Then the twins lay, astonished, and the tribe stood round them. Jack turned to Ralph and spoke between his teeth.

“See? They do what I want.”The twins lay, inexpertly tied up, and the tribe watched Ralph to see what he would do. Ralph screamed at Jack, “You’re a beast and a swine and a bloody, bloody thief!”

He charged. Jack, knowing this was the crisis, charged too. They met with a jolt and bounced apart. Jack swung with his fist at Ralph and caught him on the ear. Ralph hit Jack in the stomach and made him grunt. Then they were facing each other again, panting and furious.

Piggy’s voice penetrated to Ralph. “Let me speak. I got the conch!”Surprisingly, there was silence now; the tribe were curious to hear what amusing thing he

might have to say.Silence and pause; but in the silence a curious air-noise, close by Ralph’s head. He gave

it half his attention—and there it was again! Someone was throwing stones: Roger was dropping them, his one hand still on the lever. Below him, Ralph was a shock of hair and Piggy a bag of fat.

“I got this to say. You’re acting like a crowd of kids.” The booing rose and died again as Piggy lifted the white, magic shell. “Which is better—to be a pack of painted Indians like you are, or to be sensible like Ralph is?”

A great clamor rose among the savages. Piggy shouted again. “Which is better—to have rules and agree, or to hunt and kill?”

Again the clamor. Ralph shouted against the noise. “Which is better, law and rescue, or hunting and breaking things up?”

Now Jack was yelling too and Ralph could no longer make himself heard. Jack had backed right against the tribe and they were a solid mass of menace that bristled with spears. Ralph stood facing them, a little to one side, his spear ready. By him stood Piggy still holding the fragile shell. High overhead, Roger, with a sense of delirious abandonment, leaned all his weight on the lever.

Ralph heard the great rock before he saw it. He was aware of a jolt in the earth that came to him through the soles of his feet, and the breaking sound of stones at the top of the cliff. Then the monstrous red thing bounded across the neck and he flung himself flat while the tribe shrieked.

The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist. Piggy, saying nothing, with no time for even a grunt, traveled through the air sideways from the rock, turning over as he went. Piggy fell forty feet and landed on his back across the square red rock in the sea. His head opened and stuffcame out and turned red. Piggy’s arms and legs twitched a bit, like a pig’s after it has been killed. Then the sea breathed again in a long, slow sigh, the water boiled white and pink over the rock; and when it went, sucking back again, the body of Piggy was gone.

This time the silence was complete. Ralph’s lips formed a word but no sound came.Suddenly Jack bounded out from the tribe and began screaming wildly. “See? See? That’s what you’ll get! I meant that! There isn’t a tribe for you any more! The conch is gone— I’m chief!”

Viciously, with full intention, he hurled his spear at Ralph. The point tore the skin and flesh over Ralph’s ribs, then sheared off and fell in the water. Ralph stumbled, feeling not pain but panic, and the tribe, screaming now like the chief, began to advance. Another spear, a bent

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one that would not fly straight, went past his face and one fell from on high where Roger was. The twins lay hidden behind the tribe and the anonymous devils’ faces swarmed across the neck. Ralph turned and ran.

The chief stopped and held up his hands, “Back! Back to the fort!”Presently the tribe returned noisily to the neck where Roger joined them. The chief

looked down at Samneric.“You got to join the tribe.”“You lemme go—”“—and me.”The chief snatched one of the few spears that were left and poked Sam in the ribs.

“What d’you mean by not joining my tribe?”The prodding became rhythmic. Samneric lay looking up in quiet terror.

Questions

1) What is the importance of the shell? Why is it symbolic?

De schelp wordt gebruikt om de groep bij elkaar te brengen en te discussiëren over onderwerpen. Wie de schelp vast heeft mag praten, de rest luistert. Zo heeft iedereen een stem. De schelp staat dus symbool voor democratie/beschaving.

2) Describe Piggy’s speech that he plans to give

Piggy wil de kwaadaardige groep aanspreken op hun gedrag en aangeven dat ze het juiste moeten doen, dat wil zeggen, Piggy zijn bril teruggeven. Hij gaat ze dus vragen om te doen wat moreel en ethisch verantwoord is.

3) What happens to Sam and Eric?

Ze worden gedwongen onderdeel van de kwaadaardige groep.

4) How does Piggy die?

Roger zet een hendel om die een grote steen lanceert die Piggy van de brug afwerpt. Piggy landt op een rots en wordt meegenomen door de zee.

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“Sympathy for the Devil” by the Rolling Stones

Watch the following video . http://vimeo.com/15143831

Please allow me to introduce myself,I’m a man of wealth and taste.I’ve been around for long, long years,stolen many a man’s soul and faith.I was around when Jesus Christhad His moment of doubt in faith.I made damn sure that Pilatewashed his hands and sealed His fate.

Pleased to meet you, hope you guess my name. But what’s puzzling you is the nature of my game.

I stuck around St. Petersburgwhen I saw it was time for a change.I killed the Czar and his ministers;Anastasia screamed in vain.I rode a tank, held a general’s rank, when the Blitzkrieg raged and the bodies stank.

I watched with glee while your kings and queensfought for ten decades for the Gods they made.I shouted out, “Who killed the Kennedys?”When after all, it was you and me.Let me please introduce myself,I’m a man of wealth and taste,And I lay traps for the troubadourswho get killed before they reach Bombay.

Pleased to meet you, hope you guess my name.But what’s puzzling you is the nature of my game.

Just as every cop is a criminal and all the sinners Saints,As heads is tails, just call me Lucifer,‘cause I’m in need of some restraint.So if you meet me have some courtesy (beleefd),have some sympathy (aardig) and some taste (stijl),Use all your well-learned (aangeleerd) politesse (goedaardigheid, beleefdheid)or I’ll lay your soul to waste!

Questions1. Which events in history does the song talk about?

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1 kruisiging van Jezus2 Russische Revolutie3 Blitzkrieg (‘snelle oorlog’; WW2)4 moord op JFK5 Hippie Trail, een route die door hippies werd gevolgd, en waarop hinderlagen/moorden gepleegd warden door mensen die het oneens waren met hun gedachtegoed

2. What are the Rolling Stones telling us in the song?

- kwaadaardigheid komt van de duivel, maar hij doet dat in samenwerking met de mensheid

- gebruik je aangeleerde beleefdheid/goedaardigheid als je me (het kwaad) tegenkomt

The Absolutist by John Boyne

Summary:

It is September 1919: twenty-one-year-old Tristan Sadler takes a train from London to Norwich to deliver a package of letters to the sister of Will Bancroft, the man he fought alongside during the Great War. But the letters are not the real reason for Tristan's visit. He can no longer keep a secret and has finally found the courage to unburden himself of it. As Tristan recounts the horrific details of what to him became a senseless war, he also speaks of his friendship with Will - from their first meeting on the training grounds at Aldershot to their farewell in the trenches of northern France. The intensity of their bond brought Tristan happiness and self-discovery as well as confusion and unbearable pain.

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WAR POETRY

Laurence Binyon

Laurence Binyon (1869-1943), the poet and art critic, was born in Lancaster in 1869.  He worked at the British Museum before going to war, having studied at Trinity College, Oxford where he won the Newdigate poetry prize.  Whilst on the staff of the British Museum he developed an expertise in Chinese and Japanese art.Aside from his best known poem For The Fallen(1914), most notably the fourth stanza which adorns numerous war memorials, Binyon published work on Botticelli and Blake among others.  He returned to the British Museum following the war.  His Collected Poems was published in 1931.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqChmJUhhxk

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“For The Fallen”

With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children, England mourns for her dead across the sea. Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit, Fallen in the cause of the free.

5 Solemn the drums thrill; Death august and royal Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres, There is music in the midst of desolation And a glory that shines upon our tears.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young, 10Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow. They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted; They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. 15At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them.

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again; They sit no more at familiar tables of home; 20They have no lot in our labour of the day-time; They sleep beyond England's foam.

But where our desires are and our hopes profound, Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight, To the innermost heart of their own land they are known 25As the stars are known to the Night;

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust, Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain; As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness, To the end, to the end, they remain.

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Wilfred Owen

Biography

Few would challenge the claim that Wilfred Owen is the greatest writer of war poetry in the English language. He wrote out of his intense personal experience as a soldier and wrote with unrivalled power of the physical, moral and psychological trauma of the First World War. All of his great war poems on which his reputation rests were written in a mere fifteen months.

From the age of nineteen Wilfred Owen wanted to become a poet and immersed himself in poetry, being especially impressed by Keats and Shelley.

He was working in France, close to the Pyrenees, as a private tutor when the First World War broke out. At this time he was remote from the war and felt completely disconnected from it too. Even when he visited the local hospital with a doctor friend and examined, at close quarters, the nature of the wounds of soldiers who were arriving from the Western

Front, the war still appeared to him as someone else's story.

Eventually he began to feel guilty of his inactivity as he read copies of The Daily Mail which his mother sent him from England. He returned to England, and volunteered to fight on 21 October 1915. He trained in England for over a year and enjoyed the impression he made on people as he walked about in public wearing his soldier's uniform.

He was sent to France on the last day of 1916, and within days was enduring the horrors of the front line.

Word explanations

1. DULCE ET DECORUM EST - the first words of a Latin saying (taken from an ode by Horace). The words were widely understood and often quoted at the start of the First World War. They mean "It is sweet and right." The full saying ends the poem: Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori - it is sweet and right to die for your country. In other words, it is a wonderful and great honour to fight and die for your country.

2. Flares - rockets which were sent up to burn with a brilliant glare to light up men and other targets in the area between the front lines.

3.   Distant rest - a camp away from the front line where exhausted soldiers might rest for a few days, or longer 

4.   Hoots - the noise made by the shells rushing through the air 5. Outstripped - outpaced, the soldiers have struggled beyond the reach of these shells

which are now falling behind them as they struggle away from the scene of battle  6.    Five-Nines - 5.9 calibre explosive shells 

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7.   Gas! -  poison gas. From the symptoms it would appear to be chlorine or phosgene gas. The filling of the lungs with fluid had the same effects as when a person drowned

8.   Helmets -  the early name for gas masks 9. Lime - a white chalky substance which can burn live tissue 10. Panes - the glass in the eyepieces of the gas masks 11.   Guttering - Owen probably meant flickering out like a candle or gurgling like water

draining down a gutter, referring to the sounds in the throat of the choking man, or it might be a sound partly like stuttering and partly like gurgling 

12. Cud - normally the regurgitated grass that cows chew usually green and bubbling. Here a similar looking material was issuing from the soldier's mouth 

13. High zest - idealistic enthusiasm, keenly believing in the rightness of the idea 14. ardent - keen 15.   Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori - see note 1 above.

“DULCE ET DECORUM EST “ (1) Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,  Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,  Till on the haunting flares(2) we turned our backs  And towards our distant rest(3) began to trudge. 5 Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots  But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;  Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots(4)   Of tired, outstripped(5) Five-Nines(6) that dropped behind. Gas!(7) Gas! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling, 10 Fitting the clumsy helmets(8) just in time;  But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,  And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime(9) . . .  Dim, through the misty panes(10) and thick green light,  As under a green sea, I saw him drowning. 15 In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,  He plunges at me, guttering,(11) choking, drowning.  If in some smothering dreams you too could pace  Behind the wagon that we flung him in,  And watch the white eyes writhing in his face, 20 His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;  If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood  Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,  Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud(12)   Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues, 25 My friend, you would not tell with such high zest(13)   To children ardent(14) for some desperate glory,  The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est  Pro patria mori.(15)

Wilfred Owen8 October 1917 - March, 1918

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4Lzo_EXXOQMacbeth by William Shakespeare

Summary:

The play begins with the brief appearance of a trio of witches and then moves to a military camp, where the Scottish King Duncan hears the news that his generals, Macbeth and Banquo, have defeated two separate invading armies—one from Ireland, led by the rebel Macdonwald, and one from Norway. Following their pitched battle with these enemy forces, Macbeth and Banquo encounter the witches as they cross a moor. The witches prophesy that Macbeth will be made thane (a rank of Scottish nobility) of Cawdor and eventually King of Scotland. They also prophesy that Macbeth’s companion, Banquo, will beget a line of Scottish kings, although Banquo will never be king himself. The witches vanish, and Macbeth and Banquo treat their prophecies skeptically until some of King Duncan’s men come to thank the two generals for their victories in battle and to tell Macbeth that he has indeed been named thane of Cawdor. The previous thane betrayed Scotland by fighting for the Norwegians and Duncan has condemned him to death. Macbeth is intrigued by the possibility that the remainder of the witches’ prophecy—that he will be crowned king—might be true, but he is uncertain what to expect. He visits with King Duncan, and they plan to dine together at Inverness, Macbeth’s castle, that night. Macbeth writes ahead to his wife, Lady Macbeth, telling her all that has happened.

Lady Macbeth suffers none of her husband’s uncertainty. She desires the kingship for him and wants him to murder Duncan in order to obtain it. When Macbeth arrives at Inverness, she overrides all of her husband’s objections and persuades him to kill the king that very night. He and Lady Macbeth plan to get Duncan’s two chamberlains drunk so they will black out; the next morning they will blame the murder on the chamberlains, who will be defenseless, as they will remember nothing. While Duncan is asleep, Macbeth stabs him, despite his doubts and a number of supernatural portents, including a vision of a bloody dagger. When Duncan’s death is discovered the next morning, Macbeth kills the chamberlains—ostensibly out of rage at their crime—and easily assumes the kingship. Duncan’s sons Malcolm and Donalbain flee to England and Ireland, respectively, fearing that whoever killed Duncan desires their demise as well.

Fearful of the witches’ prophecy that Banquo’s heirs will seize the throne, Macbeth hires a group of murderers to kill Banquo and his son Fleance. They ambush Banquo on his way to a royal feast, but they fail to kill Fleance, who escapes into the night. Macbeth becomes furious: as long as Fleance is alive, he fears that his power remains insecure. At the feast that night, Banquo’s ghost visits Macbeth. When he sees the ghost, Macbeth raves fearfully, startling his guests, who include most of the great Scottish nobility. Lady Macbeth tries to neutralize the damage, but Macbeth’s kingship incites increasing resistance from his nobles and subjects. Frightened, Macbeth goes to visit the witches in their cavern. There, they show him a sequence of demons and spirits who present him with further prophecies: he must beware of Macduff, a Scottish

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nobleman who opposed Macbeth’s accession to the throne; he is incapable of being harmed by any man born of woman; and he will be safe until Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane Castle. Macbeth is relieved and feels secure, because he knows that all men are born of women and that forests cannot move. When he learns that Macduff has fled to England to join Malcolm, Macbeth orders that Macduff’s castle be seized and, most cruelly, that Lady Macduff and her children be murdered.

When news of his family’s execution reaches Macduff in England, he is stricken with grief and vows revenge. Prince Malcolm, Duncan’s son, has succeeded in raising an army in England, and Macduff joins him as he rides to Scotland to challenge Macbeth’s forces. The invasion has the support of the Scottish nobles, who are appalled and frightened by Macbeth’s tyrannical and murderous behavior. Lady Macbeth, meanwhile, becomes plagued with fits of sleepwalking in which she bemoans what she believes to be bloodstains on her hands. Before Macbeth’s opponents arrive, Macbeth receives news that she has killed herself, causing him to sink into a deep and pessimistic despair. Nevertheless, he awaits the English and fortifies Dunsinane, to which he seems to have withdrawn in order to defend himself, certain that the witches’ prophecies guarantee his invincibility. He is struck numb with fear, however, when he learns that the English army is advancing on Dunsinane shielded with boughs cut from Birnam Wood. Birnam Wood is indeed coming to Dunsinane, fulfilling half of the witches’ prophecy.

In the battle, Macbeth hews violently, but the English forces gradually overwhelm his army and castle. On the battlefield, Macbeth encounters the vengeful Macduff, who declares that he was not “of woman born” but was instead “untimely ripped” from his mother’s womb (what we now call birth by cesarean section). Though he realizes that he is doomed, Macbeth continues to fight until Macduff kills and beheads him. Malcolm, now the King of Scotland, declares his benevolent intentions for the country and invites all to see him crowned at Scone.

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(none) | Print-friendly version MacDuff ends tyrant Thane's ruthless rule

Is this a dagger which I see before me,The handle toward my hand?

Macbeth (above), Act II, Scene I

Scotland is once again "the free" this morning, after brave soldier MacDuff cut downbutchering bigwigMacbeth. 

Murderer Macbeth's relentless rise to power began when he ran into three creepy croneswho predicted he'd one day be king. Driven by ambition, he plunged Scotland into a reign of terror, killing anyone who stood in his way. 

Wicked WifeEgged on by his bitter, unstable wife, Lady Macbeth, Macbeth's first horrific crime was to stab rightful King 

Duncan to death in a frenzied attack - leaving the throneopen for himself.

Then, scared that best mate Banquo suspected him, he arranged for a hit squad to slaughter his old friend. Only by chance did Banquo's young son Fleance escape the threebrutal killers who ended his dad's life. 

From then on, no-one in Scotland was safe. Men, women and children, including MacDuff's own family, were massacred in their own homes. But the

<="" td=""> Continued below...

MacbethMacbeth was originally one of King Duncan's top soldiers. Told he would be King one day by

Lady MacbethA strong, ambitious woman, Lady Macbeth encouraged her husband in his reckless climb to the

BanquoA strong soldier, Banquo fought side to side with Macbeth. But when witches said his sons would

MacduffGreat warrior MacDuff always suspected Macbeth. Eventually he fled to England to help lead

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witches, his lust for power made him dangerously unstable, vicious and lonely.

top. Eventually, though, she cracked under the pressure.

be Scotland's future kings, Macbeth turned against him.

an uprising from there. His wife and children were put to death as revenge.

bloodbath they had caused took its toll even on the vicious Macbeth couple. Haunted by her guilt, Lady Macbeth began sleep- walking and eventuallykilled herself. Her husband, meanwhile, couldn't sleep and claimed to see Banquo's ghost. 

Finally, brave MacDuff teamed up with Duncan's son Malcolm, the rightful

heir, and led an English-Scottish army to victory. Camoflagued with branches from nearby Birnam Wood, they crept up on Macbeth's grim stronghold of Dunsinane, forcing the depraved despot out onto the battlefield.

There, MacDuff faced him, beat him down - and made a present of his head to new Scottish King Malcolm.

What they said:"To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day."

Macbeth, Act V, Scene V

"Out, damned spot! out, I say!Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?"

Lady Macbeth, Act V, Scene I

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Excerpt from Macbeth- Act 2 scene 1

Enter MACBETH and a SERVANT with a torch

MACBETH enters with a SERVANT, who carries a torch.

 Give me my sword. Who’s there? Give me my sword. Who’s there?

MACBETH

A friend.

MACBETH

A friend.

BANQUO

What, sir, not yet at rest? The king’s a-bed.

He hath been in unusual pleasure, and

Sent forth great largess to your offices.

This diamond he greets your wife withal,

By the name of most kind hostess, and shut up

In measureless content.

BANQUO

You’re not asleep yet, sir? The king’s in bed. He’s been in an unusually good mood and has granted many gifts to your household and servants. This diamond is a present from him to your wife for her boundless hospitality.  (he hands MACBETH a diamond)

MACBETH

     Being unprepared,

Our will became the servant to defect,

Which else should free have wrought.

MACBETH

Because we were unprepared for the king’s visit, we weren’t able to entertain him as well as we would have wanted to.

BANQUO

     All’s well.

BANQUO

Everything’s OK. I had a dream

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I dreamt last night of the three weird sisters:

To you they have showed some truth.

last night about the three witches. At least part of what they said about you was true.

MACBETH     I think not of them.Yet, when we can entreat an hour to serve,We would spend it in some words upon that business,If you would grant the time.

MACBETHI don’t think about them now. But when we have an hour to spare we can talk more about it, if you’re willing.

BANQUO     At your kind’st leisure.

BANQUOWhenever you like

MACBETHIf you shall cleave to my consent, when ’tis,It shall make honor for you.

MACBETHIf you stick with me, when the time comes, there will be something in it for you.

BANQUO     So I lose noneIn seeking to augment it, but still keepMy bosom franchised and allegiance clear,I shall be counselled.

BANQUOI’ll do whatever you say, as long as I can do it with a clear conscience

MACBETHGood repose the while!

MACBETHRest easy in the meantime.

BANQUOThanks, sir: the like to you!

BANQUOThank you, sir. You do the same.

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Exeunt BANQUO and FLEANCE BANQUO and FLEANCE exit.

MACBETH(to the SERVANT) Go bid thy mistress, when my drink is ready,She strike upon the bell. Get thee to bed.

MACBETH(to the SERVANT) Go and tell your mistress to strike the bell when my drink is ready. Get yourself to bed.

Is this a dagger which I see before me,The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee.I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.Art thou not, fatal vision, sensibleTo feeling as to sight? Or art thou butA dagger of the mind, a false creation,Proceeding from the heat-oppressèd brain?I see thee yet, in form as palpableAs this which now I draw.Thou marshall’st me the way that I was going,And such an instrument I was to use.Mine eyes are made the fools o' th' other senses,Or else worth all the rest. I see thee still,And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood,Which was not so before. There’s no such thing.It is the bloody business which informsThus to mine eyes. Now o'er the one half-worldNature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuseThe curtained sleep. Witchcraft celebratesPale Hecate’s offerings, and withered murder,Alarumed by his sentinel, the wolf,

Is this a dagger I see in front of me, with its handle pointing toward my hand? (to the dagger) Come, let me hold you. (he grabs at the air in front of him without touching anything) I don’t have you but I can still see you. Fateful apparition, isn’t it possible to touch you as well as see you? Or are you nothing more than a dagger created by the mind, a hallucination from my fevered brain? I can still see you, and you look as real as this other dagger that I’m pulling out now. (he draws a dagger) You’re leading me toward the place I was going already, and I was planning to use a weapon just like you. My eyesight must either be the one sense that’s not working, or else it’s the only one that’s working right. I can still see you, and I see blood splotches on your blade and handle that weren’t there before. (to himself) There’s no dagger here. It’s the murder I’m about to do that’s making me think I see one. Now half the world is asleep and being deceived by evil nightmares. Witches are offering sacrifices to their goddess Hecate. Old man murder, having been roused by the howls of his wolf, walks silently to his destination, moving like Tarquin, as quiet as a ghost. (speaking to the ground) Hard ground, don’t listen to the direction of my steps. I don’t want you to echo back where I am and break the terrible stillness of this moment, a silence that is so appropriate for what I’m about to do. While I stay here talking, Duncan lives. The more I talk, the more my

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Whose howl’s his watch, thus with his stealthy pace,With Tarquin’s ravishing strides, towards his designMoves like a ghost. Thou sure and firm-set earth,Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fearThy very stones prate of my whereabout,And take the present horror from the time,Which now suits with it. Whiles I threat, he lives.Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives.

courage cools.

A bell rings A bell rings.

I go, and it is done. The bell invites me.Hear it not, Duncan, for it is a knellThat summons thee to heaven or to hell.

I’m going now. The murder is as good as done. The bell is telling me to do it. Don’t listen to the bell, Duncan, because it summons you either to heaven or to hell.

Exit MACBETH exits.

Clip of the dagger scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_GD4jXutJo

Questions

1. Why is Banquo up so late?

Hij maakt zich zorgen dat zijn vriend Macbeth in de verleiding is gebracht door de voorspellingen van de drie heksen. Hij wil Macbeth overtuigen niets kwaadaardigs te doen.

2. What vision does Macbeth see before he kills Duncan?

Macbeth hallucineert; hij beeldt zich in dat hij een bebloede dolk ziet. Hij ziet de consequenties van het plan van Lady Macbeth al voor zich en twijfelt.

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3. What is the signal Lady Macbeth is to give Macbeth to let him know that she has taken care of the guards?

Een bel.

4. Where is Macbeth going at the end of his soliloquy ?

Hij gaat naar de kamer van de koning.

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