Tag: Invention

27 Sept. Hamlet Act 2 & Student Teaching Activity Prep

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Featured Image: Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man, 1490

Hamlet, Act 2: Overview & Pathological Collectables/Collectors

Remember that in the conclusion to his chapter,”Pathological Collectables,” Scott Herring tells us that he hopes to make “good on museum studies scholar Susan M. Pearce’s claim that ‘unacceptable collectors, among other things, are making important assertions about the ‘ordinary’ material world and out relationship to it, [a relationship] which we ignore to our detriment'” (84). By this Herring means that while people who have trouble letting do suffer pathological attachment to things, and should certainly be diagnosed and treated, they are also responding to and embodying ways larger social forces fail around grief, loss, and anxiety.

Freewrite

Take 5-7 minutes and respond to the following:
The characters spend the bulk of act two trying to diagnose Hamlet. Make a list of the diagnoses that are proposed. Are the proposed causes of Hamlet’s madness psychological or social?

Reaction Activity

  1. Get into your Student Teaching Groups, read through your assigned questions and the text the question asks about.
  2. Next, respond to your assigned question in 2-3 sentences at the number that corresponds to your group number on the board.
  3. Finally, once you have finished writing down your response, move to another group’s response and then read through it, and in 1-2 sentences explain why you agree or disagree with the other group’s responses on the board.

Group/Number Questions
G1, G7, G13 Polonius responds to Hamlet’s seeming craziness with “That he is mad, ’tis true. ‘Tis true ’tis pity,/And pity ’tis ’tis true–a foolish figure” (2.2.1125-1126). What’s Polonius even saying here? Do you agree with Polonius’s assessment, why/why not?
G2, G8, G14 What plan(s) do Polonius, Claudius, and Gertrude hatch to discovery the cause of Hamlet’s madness (2.2.1197-1201)? Do you think their will be plan(s) successful, why/why not?
G3, G9, G15 What does Hamlet mean when he says, “I am mad but north-north-west. When the wind is southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw” (2.2.1426-11427)?
G4, G10, G16 What is the topic of the speech that Hamlet begins, and the First Player completes (2.2.1510-1559). Why does Hamlet like the speech so much?
G5, G11, G17 What’s Hamlet’s assessment of the Player’s speech (2.2.1589-1611)? Do you think that his analysis of the speech is accurate, why/why not?
G6, G12, G18 What does Hamlet plan to do to “catch the conscience of the King” (2.2.1645)? Do you think does Hamlet’s attempt to discover Claudius’s secrets will be more or less successful than the ways the other characters have tried to discover his?

Back to the Paper Claims…

Take a few minutes and respond to the following. Please bring this response with you to class next Tuesday:

  • What is the relationship between Hamlet (or Hamlet) and one of the following key terms: hoarding, collectables, vibrant matter, preservation, waste, recycling, or accumulation?

4 September. Metaphorism & Arguments

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Housekeeping

  • 1. Typo in the Poster assignment fixed
  • 2. So that I can assign groups for the Student Teaching Assignment, please complete the Group Preference Form below

Discussion, Bogost, “Metaphorism”

Take a minute to look over the questions. Be prepared to cite text from the article as we work through them.
  • 1. Before turning to Bogost, let’s briefly define our first terms: what does it mean for something to be “bad”? OR, what are all of the ways that the adjective in our course title signifies?Also, what’s a “collection”?
  • 2. How does human perception account for the interaction between objects? What are the limits of human perception when it comes to understanding the relations between objects?
  • 3. What is a Foveon sensor? How is the Foveon sensor a “concrete example of metaphorism in practice” (71)?
  • 4. What challenge does metaphorism (i.e., showing how to perceive as a human can be like how it is to perceive as a thing) raise questions of ethics (i.e principles that guide virtuous behavior)?

Poster Invention Exercise

In order to generate a topic and claim for the Poster project, let’s work through the following:
  • 1. Take 5 minutes and make a short list of “Bad Collections” you are interested in using for this project
  • 2. Take 5-10 minutes and choose one bad collection from the list you generated and then write a short paragraph in which you argue how the collection you chose illustrates a key concept from Benjamin, Herring, Bennett, OR Bogost
  • 3. Be prepared to share your findings with the class. While you are not required to submit this exercise, but keep it to include in your Final Portfolio as a process document.

Introduction Form

Group Preference Form