First Draft-Brave New World in The Tempest

“O, wonder! How many goodly creatures are there here!

How beauteous mankind is!

O brave new world,

 That has such people in't!” –Miranda, Act V Scene I, The Tempest, Shakespeare

            The Tempest is Shakespeare’s most original play. This quote is one of the most famous and shows how full of wonder and hope the main female protagonist is as she faces new people and challenges. Why is she so full of hope? Should she be afraid of what is unknown and unfamiliar? Shakespeare shows how people in his time dealt with the “Brave New Worlds” of his day and of the few ways to cope with it: Dominate it or Embrace it. In the end, a combination of both of them seems to be the best way to handle oneself when faced with new lands and new opportunities.

Dominate It.

            While Domination is a sub-theme explored by many in the play, none know it better than Prospero and Caliban. Caliban’s mother ruled a mysterious island until Prospero showed up. Caliban said

“This island's mine, by Sycorax my mother,

Which thou takest from me. When thou camest first,

Thou strokedst me and madest much of me, wouldst give me

Water with berries in't, and teach me how

To name the bigger light, and how the less,

That burn by day and night: and then I loved thee

And show'd thee all the qualities o' the isle,

The fresh springs, brine-pits, barren place and fertile”-Act I, Scene 2.

Prospero had freed Caliban from the tyranny of Sycorax who was a witch. He taught Caliban an education and Caliban returned this education in kind. However, he was not fully enthralled with Prospero’s rule either.

“Cursed be I that did so! All the charms

Of Sycorax, toads, beetles, bats, light on you!

For I am all the subjects that you have”

This disdain for his master leads Caliban to another two men who are ambitious about the island to which they have arrived: Trinculo and Stephano. Now in order to understand this new world to which they have encountered, they frequently refer back to their old one in order to bring understanding to it. Caliban’s encounter with these men was new for him and them.

Old World Vs. New World

“A strange fish! Were I in England now,

as once I was, and had but this fish painted,

not a holiday fool there but would give a piece

of silver: there would this monster make a

man; … this is no fish,

but an islander, that hath lately suffered by a

thunderbolt” .-Trinculo, Act II, Scene II.

In seeking out these new lands there seems to be a give and take about how much of the old world you must bring with you. In Trinculo’s and Stephano’s case, they bring all of the old world with them and share it with Caliban. Clothes, liquor, and titles abound with these three and they go about the island. Prospero brought a small part of the old world with him: his books.

Prospero’s story is about how he lost his dukedom due to his obsession with reading. We see as the audience how he could have avoided his fate had he just left his study and not left sole power to his brother. As Prospero then is banished to this new isle, he brings with him his books and learning and shows how what failed in the old world could be adapted to the new one.

Embrace it

Part of the allure of the island is this new freedom that all experience. All the rules and regulations that existed before can be thrown out the window. Gonzalo in trying to help alleviate Alonso’s pain, imagines the island if he were to be king on it. Instead of a typical kingship Gonzalo imagines a society with “No sovereignty” (Act II, Scene I).

Conclusion

Notes: I am missing a conclusion. I intend to cite The Tempest and the Introduction part of our eBook in its discussion of Shakspeare’s reading of travel journal’s and their influence on Shakespeare’s perception of the new world. I also intend to show how Prospero’s attempt to educate Caliban fails but his attempt to exact vengeance at the end of the play is successful. The point I’m arguing is that Shakspeare shows us that we need to conquer new worlds and try new methods of thinking to grow out of our old world. I’m also missing secondary sources to strengthen my argument. So far this is just representative of my close reading and keeping in mind our past class discussion.

Questions: Would my mentioning of Shakspeare’s travel journal readings be relevant to the argument I’m making?

You can see the structure my chapter is forming here in this rough first draft, is the organization good?

Is my argument sound? Does it highlight the theme adequately?

I intend to include more quotes and give better commentary in arguing the bigger thesis claim.I will include Ferdinand and Miranda’s admiration of eachother among the other quotes and points I brought up in my Notes section. Should I include other quotes to strengthen my argument?

Is the picture good? I have another one with a sunset on an island mountain. These are public domain pictures. Should I cite where I got the photos too?

Thank You Fellow Classmates and Professor For helping me understand this play better and explore the six themes of our eBook. I'm getting more excited about it. 

The Yin & Yang of Human Nature

For years The Tempest was seen as the closing masterpiece of Shakespeare’s career as a playwright, and some critics have looked at it through a postcolonial lens. The problematic relationships Prospero has with Ariel, Caliban, and Miranda have raised questions about the political and social dynamics of colonizers vs. colonized. 

When scholar Robert B. Pierce originally critiqued The Tempest he expressed a sympathetic view toward Miranda and Prospero. Yet the development of academic discourse on Shakespeare’s final play, most specifically the New Historical and anti-colonial readings, forced him to re-evaluate his original sympathetic reading. Pierce’s conflicted understanding of The Tempest lead him to the conclusion that we need to redefine the way we understand the meaning of the play.Rather than rejecting one reading over the other, he accepts both as valuable and necessary to his understanding of the play. Prospero and Miranda’s exile is worthy of sympathy, but at the same time the colonist relationships that permeate the work give rise to a less than friendly view of Prospero and Miranda. 

These two ideas may seem difficult to reconcile, but we don’t have to. Prospero can be both a victim and a perpetrator of the evil that exists in his world. With Prospero as a character that embraces both the virtuous and questionable aspects of human nature I realized that while the "Brave New World" theme is easily identifiable in Shakespeare's The Tempest, our theme of "What a Piece of Work is Man" also emerges as a necessary companion. If Prospero is both a victim and a perpetuator then we are forced to ask ourselves how characters like Caliban or Miranda may likewise be the embodiment of seemingly opposite  characteristics. 

Works Cited: Pierce, Robert B. "Understanding "The Tempest"" New Literary History 30.2, Cultural Inquiries (1999): 373-88. JSTOR. Web. 27 Sept., 2015. 

Exploring the Brave in The Brave New World

There's a persistent theme that cropped up in our texts this week, but particularly in The Tempest and Of Cannibals, and that is the idea of colonialism and the self-perceived superiority of a culture or people. The Brave New World, for all it's enlightenment and rebirth was, as the Norton Anthology describes it, "a profoundly intolerant age. There was very little willingness to accept the legitimacy of structures of belief, patterns of behavior, systems of rules and social organization other than one's own." We see this with the portrayal of Caliban in The Tempest  and the depictions of the Cannibals in Montaigne's essays.

While Prospero and Caliban seem to represent complete opposite sides of society—the civilized vs the primitive (but who's who?)—their similarities are uncanny. Both characters are outcasts whose right to their kingdom was usurped. And although they are similar in their circumstances, and possibly in their nature, neither one ever makes the effort to create a relationship or forge a connection between their maybe-not-so-different worlds.

 Montaigne, Shakespeare, Heriot, and even More tried to explore this theme of otherness by giving us societies full of irony or even perfection and as a result we can recognize that maybe The Brave New World required braveness not so much in the conquering, but rather in acknowledging the strangeness of others and ourselves when measured against each other. Because to find the hypocrisy that Montaigne points out in Of Cannibals ("I am not sorry we note the barbarous horror of such an action, but grieved that, prying so narrowly into their faults, we are so blinded in ours...") requires a cultural self-awareness that may be easier theorized than done.

The proclivity to favor one's own culture and beliefs above those of other's beliefs is known as ethnocentrism, and it is something that we grapple with even today. As we observe the differences between an us vs a them, do we accept the theory that morality is relative and that some practices or beliefs are acceptable under certain cultures and not others? Or do we cling to our vision of ourselves as the true and only source of right and reason in hopes that others will be guided by our "light"?

In truth, I don't have an answer—but neither did the Renaissance greats—and so the question remains demanding that we seek our own answers and perhaps even find a compromise of our own.


Works Cited:

"Of Cannibals, Kings and Culture: The Problem of Ethnocentricity." The Stone. The New York Times, 17 Feb. 2013. Web. 08 Sept. 2015. <http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/17/on-ethnocentrism/?_r=0>.Times, 17 Feb. 2013. Web. 08 Sept. 2015. <http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/17/on-ethnocentrism/?_r=0>.

Exploring New World's and making them Old

In the Norton Anthology introduction of Michel de Montaigne in his Of Cannibals we read, “Contrary to popular conceptions, although it was a period of expanding intellectual and geographical horizons, the Renaissance was, on the whole, a profoundly intolerant age.” This notion is a surprising one to me and the more I thought about it the more it made sense. Every empire at the time was searching for Brave New World’s but only in the name of wealth and colonialism. New people and worlds were destroyed rather than explored. In Shakespeare’s Tempest the character of Caliban comes to my mind. We are presented with a monster and we are left with that label. However, I would always find myself pitying Caliban. He was a native of the island and was for all intents and purposes, enslaved by the newcomers to his island. Thinking about our own day and age, I would like to believe that we are more open minded and better off in our own modern day renaissance than those of the old. However there are events happening today that I feel are relevant to this topic.

In our American society we have a large collection of people of different races, beliefs, and creeds. Are we just as intolerant as people before us? On the news the Charlestown Massacre shows us the ugly face of racism still plaguing our society. The only actions I perceived to have been taken after this event were friends and families of those affected were drawn together and the rest of the state moved to remove a flag. Zeba Blay of the Huffington Post wrote, “The people of Charleston rejoiced after South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley called for the removal of the Confederate flag at the state capitol, and rightly so… Yet it's important to remember that this gesture, while significant, does not fix the underlying issue: deep-seated, institutional hatred and inequality.” I don’t claim to have the answers on how to fix racism and hatred in America. I only wish to bring forth the idea that the old renaissance and our modern age renaissance should try to be different in that while one explored new worlds and destroyed them, the other should explore them, embrace them, and seek mutual understanding.

Works Cited

Blay, Zeba. "Taking Down The Confederate Flag Won't 'Solve' Racism." The Huffington    Post. 

      TheHuffingtonPost.com, 23 July 2015. Web. 08 Sept. 2015.

     <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/23/confederate-flag-racism_n_7647194.html>.

Connell, Eileen. "The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The 16th Century: Topic 2: Texts

      and Contexts." The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The 16th Century: Topic 2:

      Texts and Contexts. Norton and Company, n.d. Web. 08 Sept. 2015.

Barbaric (read: brave), Ancient (read: new) Islands (read: worlds)

Shakespeare writes a play set in Cyprus: no magic. Shakespeare writes a play set in Messina: no magic. Shakespeare writes a play set on a Mediterranean island: magic. (?)

At the time that The Tempest was written, the air was thick with tales of the new lands of America, Ireland, and Africa, "brave new worlds" where people did fascinating things like worshiping heathen gods and eating each other. Really, the spectacle of the thing got out of hand. It's no wonder that Shakespeare wanted part of the action. Couldn't help himself.

Hope for Humanity

When I first enrolled in the class, I was expecting new techniques of pedagogy, some digital components of coursework and a project-based structure--but I never expected a non-structured, seemingly non-focused curriculum, the daily panic-attack of a surprise homework load and the inability to plan ahead due to the non-presence of any syllabus at all. "I should drop it," I remember thinking, "I can't handle this in my last semester of school--and my first semester married--and my first semester working--and the semester when I'm in a hardcore capstone class." I stayed, because I've seen the potential for creativity in learning fluidly, with group members, in projects, and in a new medium--and I've seen the results without such encouragement... 

I made this myself. All rights out the window. 
Also, I just noticed this zombie could be in the middle of the Thriller dance. 

My mom just wrote a post for her parenting blog reflecting on her experience with pedagogy in home school with my little brother. She was amazed at the change she's seen as he's been allowed and encouraged to direct his own learning and become invested in that process: "In the past year, our Zombie child morphed into a more self-directed teenager with greater confidence in his own talent and abilities—a transformation nearly as incredible as that in the movie [Warm Bodies]!" She claims that several aspects of public schooling are "Zombie Makers," including low sleep, high stress, inefficient, focused-on-the-squeaky-wheel/overburdened teachers and, especially, a one-size-fits-all curriculum. You can read more of her essay on education-created zombie teens here. 

Albert Einstein quothe: "Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its
ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life thinking it's stupid."

Humanism in the English Renaissance was intensely concerned with returning to classic education techniques, which, if followed together, would enable humanity like never before in history (except of course ancient Greece, haha), and create the perfect "Renaissance Man," able to speak, write, reason and make clever conversation. Erasmus of Rotterdam said famously, "It is the chiefest point of happiness that a man is willing to be what he is," but the next happiness, of course, was extending the mental and logical facilities of man to make him, as Hamlet says in Shakespeare's play, a "piece of work:"
What a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how
infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and
admirable, in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like
a god! the beauty of the world, the paragon of animals...

Hamlet ends his speech, as usual, vacillating between opinions, "—and yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust?" but the vantage point of humanism is already established. The potentiality of man, enabled through education and speech/writing training, was almost limitless. In Erasmus's treatise on rhetorical strategies entitled de Copia, he comes up with 100+ variations on just one, boring sentence: "Your letter pleased me greatly."  To see some, click here.

What does this have to do with zombies? The emphasis of humanism was on the potential of human creativity, and through its course, our class has taken a necessary pulse in that vein of thought in order to arrive where we are now: not passified, individually grade-grubbing zombies, but an enlightened (if still amateur) team of Renaissance men and women (Sprezzatura), seeking out (Brave New Worlds) sources and ideas from previous centuries (ad fontes) and repackaging, refreshing and revitalizing (Humanism) them through our new media (Typographia), relying on our faith in God (Ploughboys and Bibles) and in each other (Humanism again!) as we go.


I found myself praying for unity and a sense of purpose, along with the strength to just carry on. 

It was partially a primary text and partially an assignment that answered my prayer, I feel, and changed my experience of the course--a video introduction of Michel Montaigne's Of Cannibals. In re-vamping the situation but retaining the original themes of the piece, I found new inspiration in the Renaissance artist and writer's take on previous centuries. It was exhilarating to find that with a webcam, , dark eye shadow, creativity and a little ketchup, I could do it, too--I could excite and inspire and amuse with the rest of youtube (the modern printing press, making public and simple what had previously been elite and closed to amateurs). The results of the class's video debuts launched us into a whole new aspect of pedagogy: getting the information to the masses in formats they were comfortable with (as in Plough Boys and Bibles) and working fluidly, in teams and as a class, as we did so (just like courtiers).


Though at the beginning of the semester I was ignorant about Erasmus or humanism's claims, I did recognize the stagnant signs of zombi-fied learning in myself. I don't think such drastic measures as we took are necessary to avoid the zombie'd student--and indeed, at the beginning, I found myself slipping into a stupified, anxious sphere from the inability to plan homework assignments ahead of time--but when I started really getting to know my teammates and trusting their creativity, I felt a change in the spirit of learning that enabled real scholarship ...in the form of puppet shows. Go figure, huh?

Blazing World Quiz with Answer Key

1. The book A Description of the New World, called the Blazing-World is usually referred to by which nickname?

a. The Blazing World  (That is correct! Link 2.)
b. The Description  (I'm sorry, that is incorrect--it is usually referred to by the shorthand The Blazing World.)
c. The New World  (I'm sorry, that is incorrect--it is usually referred to by the shorthand The Blazing World.)

2. Who wrote A Description of the New World, called The Blazing-World?

a. Margaret Thatcher  (I'm sorry, that is incorrect--Margaret Cavendish wrote The Blazing World.)
b. John Winthrop  (I'm sorry, that is incorrect--Margaret Cavendish wrote The Blazing World.)
c. Queen Elizabeth  (I'm sorry, that is incorrect--Margaret Cavendish wrote The Blazing World.)
d. Margaret Cavendish  (That is correct! Link 3.)

3. Where is the Blazing World in relation to Earth?

a. underneath Earth  (I'm sorry, that is incorrect--the Blazing World is on top of Earth.)
b. on top of Earth  (That is correct! Link 4.)
c. at the center of the Earth  (I'm sorry, that is incorrect--the Blazing World is on top of Earth.)

4. What does the Emperor do when he first sees the Lady?

a. worship her  (That is correct! Link 5.)
b. ask her to marry him  (I'm sorry, that is incorrect--the Emperor first tries to worship the Lady as a deity.)
c. order her execution  (I'm sorry, that is incorrect--the Emperor first tries to worship the Lady as a deity.)

5. Which of the following creatures is NOT mentioned in the text?

a. Fish-men  (I'm sorry, that is incorrect--Goat-men are never mentioned in the text.)
b. Bear-men  (I'm sorry, that is incorrect--Goat-men are never mentioned in the text.)
c. Goat-men  (That is correct! Link 6.)
d. Ape-men  (I'm sorry, that is incorrect--Goat-men are never mentioned in the text.)

6. Why does the Empress eventually return to our world?

a. She misses her family.  (I'm sorry, that is incorrect--the Empress returns to defend her homeland from attack.)
b. The Blazing World is drifting away from Earth and she does not wish to be trapped there.  (I'm sorry, that is incorrect--the Empress returns to defend her homeland from attack.)
c. Her homeland is under attack.  (That is correct! Link 7.)

7. What was the occupation of the Bird-men?

a. They were Philosophers.  (I'm sorry, that is incorrect--the Bird-Men were Astronomers.)
b. They were Mathematicians.  (I'm sorry, that is incorrect--the Bird-Men were Astronomers.)
c. They were Astronomers.  (That is correct! Link 8.)

8. The Blazing World is an early example of what genre of fiction?

a. science fiction  (That is correct!  However, we would have also accepted the answers "b. travel fiction" and "c. utopian fiction", as The Blazing World contains elements of those genres, as well. Link 9.)
b. travel fiction  (That is correct!  However, we would have also accepted the answers "a. science fiction" and "c. utopian fiction", as The Blazing World contains elements of those genres, as well. Link 9.)
c. utopian fiction  (That is correct!  However, we would have also accepted the answers "a. science fiction" and "b. travel fiction", as The Blazing World contains elements of those genres, as well. Link 9.)


9. Write two paragraphs or record a short video describing why The Blazing World relates to the theme of the Brave New world.  Include an explanation of why we should study The Blazing World today.  Post your paragraphs or video HERE (imbed).

Blazing World Overview Video

Overview of A Description of a New World, Called the Blazing-World

Quick Prototype of a Text Intro Video

I didn't finish it, but I learned what I need to do to make the process faster. The music (creative commons from freesound.org, I had to register to download anything) helps, but it's still pretty dull.

Brave New Worlds (Almost) Finished Videos

So, our group met, had some fun, and became puppeteers (if only for about an hour).  The first is the Introduction video & when it's up online the viewer/student will have the option to choose which of the next three will be their destination.  Enjoy!

I've been trying to upload all of our videos since Friday, but Blogger is being a little goofy.  I was lucky enough to get the intro video up, but haven't been able to get the other three up yet.  Darn.

Script for Cannibals

Scene: cannibal hut/desert island, complete with human body parts on a spit]
[enter Sailors]

Sailor 1: Arrrr, a real cannibal island! Now, I remember reading an essay by some French guy...
Sailor 2 Marner: Michel Montaigne. You didn't read it, you just used Spiff Notes.
Sailor 1 Jonas: Bark Notes, actually, and it's all the same anyway. OK, I'm trying to remember if he gave us any clues about how not to get eaten.
Sailor 2: Just stay cool, man. I read the whole essay, and we just have to remember that just because people are different doesn't make them wrong. Steady, [other sailor is deep breathing] steady as she---
[enter Cannibal]
Cannibal: Boooooo!
[Sailors screech like girls and start shaking]
Cannibal: Haaa, teeny sailor girls screech like stuck pig! Welcome to our island, sailor sandwiches!
Sailor 2 Marner: Look at me, I'm shaking like we're still in that tempest!
Sailor 1 Jonas pirate: Um... I don't think it's sea legs anymore.
Cannibal: No need be frightened!  [switch to normal side] See, we offer you welcome! Rest, help, food! Anyone care for some delicious... Lady Fingers?
Sailor 1 Marner: Sailor 2!!! I mean, Jonas!!!
Sailor 2, nervously, Jonas: Ha! ...I bet they're ...finger-lickin' good! Arg.
Cannibal: HA! No worries, sailor sandwich man, I no eat you, you a comedian!
Sailor 2 Jonas: Well, why not?
Cannibal: Comedian taste funny!
Sailor 2 Jonas: HAA! See, [Marner], they're not so bad! Oh, oh, I got another one: what do you and a HR rep have in common?
Cannibal: What HR rep mean?
Sailor 2: You're both... fed up with people! (snare drum snap)
[Both laugh until Cannibal abruptly stops.] [switch to scary side]
Cannibal: ...all this laughing make me hungry.
Sailor 1: DON'T EAT ME!
Cannibal: Well, we humanists so we like (to eat) humans. I give you TEST. You can answer few question right, we no eat you. You answer wrong... and we helps you find out where you funny bone be.
Sailor 1 and 2: HELP US!

Help the sailors and work toward your own Exploring Brave New Worlds Badge:

option 1: I've already read Michel Montaigne's Of Cannibals. I'm ready for the challenge!
option 2: I need a refresher first! Take me to some texts!

Quiz:
1. Michel Montaigne's writing looks like...
            a. a personal essay
            b. a chapter from a book
            c. a speech to Parliament
            d. both a and b
            e. all of the above

*** 2. Michel Montaigne likes to get his information from...
            a. a famous explorer of the period, Thomas Heriot
            b. the wisest, most experienced explorers on the ocean
            c. Long John Silver, the ship's cook.
            d. a simple, ignorant crew member

3. According to Montaigne, cannibals are savages in the same way...
           a. fire is hot: they will always be that way
           b. a mean dog is ornery: it's been taught to bite back
           c. fruit is wild: it's still in its natural state
           d. heaven is cloudy: it's actually better that way

***4. Montaigne believes cannibals are no more savage than...
           a. Wild apples (since they actually taste better out of the orchard)
           b. Europeans (since they torture their prisoners alive)
           c. Zombies (since they really don't have a choice in what they eat)
          d. Pocahontas (since she ...wasn't around yet)

***5. What are the two chief values of the cannibals?
           a. valor to their enemies and love to their wives
           b. peace and plenty
           c. careful seasoning and perfect barbeque techniques
           d. drinking and dancing

6. Why does M. use so many allusions to older myths and civiliations in history? Name one such nation and do some background research on what the inclusion would have meant to his day. (ad fontes)

7. Humanism

A Description of a New World, or, The Blazing Script

Video Intro to Margaret Cavendish's A Description of a New World, Called the Blazing-World 

[scene: otherworldly-looking beach, with several strange creatures in the background--Fish-men, Bear-men, Fox-men, Bird-men, maybe even Steve Tyler.  There are several stars visible in the sky even though the sun is up.  Our two heroes have washed ashore and are looking about.] 

Sailor 1:  Arrgh!  Where be we? 

Sailor 2:  So we're talking like pirates now?


Sailor 1:  What else be we talking like, matey?  We be sailors!


Sailor 2:  Uh huh.


[enter a Bird-man, which I'm sorry to say is the gender-neutral term]


Bird-man:  Well, hello, strangers!


Sailor 1:  What be ye, strange creature?  Arrgh!


Sailor 2:  And where are we?


Bird-man:  I am a Bird-man, and.... 


Sailor 1:  [interrupting] A bird!  By Poseidon's beard, I'll gut ya and fry yer innards!


Sailor 2:  He actually won't.  Not only are we unarmed, but he hates fried food.


Bird-man:  No, I understand.  Anyway, you are on the Blazing World!  A human woman from your world named Margaret Cavendish once wrote about it.


Sailor 1:  Women-folk writin' stuff!  Preposterous!


Sailor 2:  And how did we get here?


Bird-man:  Well, according to Margaret Cavendish, our Blazing-World rests atop your North Pole.  As she says, "[I]t is impossible to round this World's globe from Pole to Pole, so as we do from East to West, because the Poles of the other World...."


Sailor 2:  [interrupting] Whoa, whoa, whoa.  We've only got ninety seconds, buddy.  Save your quotations for the next section.

Bird-man:  Sorry.

[Text pops up asking the viewer how to proceed:  "How does the sailor respond?  Option 1:  "It's okay, I'd love to hear more about Margaret Cavendish and The Blazing World."  Option 2:  "I'm pretty sure our viewers are familiar with The Blazing World.  Let's just go to the quiz."]

Option 1: Tell Me About Margaret Cavendish's The Blazing World

This would be another short video, perhaps five minutes long, of narrated scrolling texts.  It would give a brief (20-second) overview of Cavendish, then outline The Blazing World and including some quotes and passages.  It will, of course, provide a link to the full text.  It would end with a link to the quiz.

Option 2: The Blazing World Quiz

1. The book A Description of the New World, called the Blazing-World is usually referred to by which nickname?

a. The Blazing World
b. The Description
c. The New World

2. Who wrote A Description of the New World, called The Blazing-World?

a. Margaret Thatcher
b. John Winthrop
c. Queen Elizabeth
d. Margaret Cavendish

3. Where is the Blazing World in relation to Earth?

a. underneath Earth
b. on top of Earth
c. at the center of the Earth

4. What does the Emperor do when he first sees the Lady?

a. worship her
b. ask her to marry him
c. order her execution

5. Which of the following creatures is NOT mentioned in the text?

a. Fish-men
b. Bear-men
c. Goat-men
d. Ape-men

5. Why does the Empress eventually return to our world?

a. She misses her family.
b. The Blazing World is drifting away from Earth and she does not wish to be trapped there.
c. Her homeland is under attack.

6. What was the occupation of the Bird-men?

a. They were Philosophers.
b. They were Mathematicians.
c. They were Astronomers.

7. The Blazing World is an early example of what genre of fiction?

a. science fiction
b. travel fiction
c. utopian fiction

(Trick question--all answers are acceptable, even if some are better than others.)

8. Write two paragraphs or record a short video describing why The Blazing World relates to the theme of the Brave New world.  Include an explanation of why we should study The Blazing World today.  Post your paragraphs or video HERE (imbed link to our website).

A Model of Christian Charity Intro - Script

So, I'm going to attempt to make a creative script for the middle option to introduce Winthrop's "A Model of Christian Charity."

[Enters One of the Sailors]

Sailor: Where are we?  What strange land is this?  [Looking at the camera] Do you know?  [Camera nods]

[Enters John Winthrop]

Winthrop: Well hello there weary travelers!  Welcome to the Massachusetts Bay Colony! I'm John Winthrop, the governor here.  Where have you anchored your ship?

Sailor: Well, actually good sir, we've crash landed on this island and would be eternally grateful for your help in helping us return to sea.

Winthrop: Well, first of all, this is no island.  This is the American continent.  Could you not recognize our 'City upon that yonder hill'?

Sailor (looks at Winthrop, looks at the camera, looks back at Winthrop, looks back at the camera):  You mean that tiny village over there?

Winthrop: Now, now.  There's no point in being rude.  Are you sure you won't stay for a while?

Sailor: (directed at the camera) What do you think, shall we stay with this man who has founded the great "City upon a hill"?

[Camera shakes "no"]

Winthrop: So be it.  I think I will help you set sail again.  Besides, we like our community to be free from sin as well as negative minds.

Sailor: Pbbtt!

Winthrop: Well, I'm assuming that you have already heard of the speech I gave those on board the ship we sailed on to come to this land?

Sailor: Heard of it.

Winthrop: Since you are missing a member of your crew, I'll quiz you on my speech, commonly referred to as "A Model of Christian Charity".  If you succeed, I'll help you find your lost crewman and help you rebuild your ship.

Sailor: Fine. Deal.

Winthrop: Well then, let's begin.

QUIZ (I'm hoping for some help on this one.  What can we even quiz the viewers on)?)

Brave New World ideas

See https://sites.google.com/site/openrenaissancewiki/ebook/brave-new-worlds/brave-minicurriculum

for our project ideas, possible flow of video chain, characters, background, script... 

This Is Spinal Outline

I had a slightly more detailed and interesting course map for this theme, but my wife accidentally took my notebook to her class this morning, so I had to reconstruct everything from memory.

Oh, and I appear to have missed a couple of arrows.  How embarrassing.

The Triangular Conversation

So, in terms of story-telling, it's often best to have a three-prong angle of attack on an issue.  There's the villain trying to do something, the hero trying to stop the villain, and a third person--the hero's boss, the hero's love interest, the hero's servant, the villain's servant, the hero's friend, whatever--that has a different perspective on things.

I subsequently wanted to create a group of three interesting and amusing characters who would have different stances, opinions, and knowledge of my two themes:  Brave New World and Sprezzatura.

And here they are:

It took me maybe twenty minutes to draw these figures, and manipulating them to give different expressions or movement isn't tremendously difficult. 

What I was thinking was that we could write up some short scripts and record them, and then layer the audio over a series of images of these characters.  That's REALLY easy to do in programs such as iMovie. 

Princess Leia is an aristocrat, technically, but she is rather indifferent to her position and upbringing.  However, she very strongly believes in girl-power, and she's good at practically every skill she picks up--shooting, speeder driving, rhetoric, espionage, and so forth. 

Aang is a kid who is supposed to save the world.  Plus, avatar joke.  He doesn't know very much about very much, so he gets to ask a lot of questions for the audience's benefit. 

Smiley McGee is a hardcore nobleman who embodies sprezzatura, but has some retrogressive views that clash with Leia's feminist stance.

Brave New World Avatar

Well, I was thinking about this avatar assignment for a while, and the two characters that I would like to see represent Brave New Worlds are Miranda and Raphael (from Utopia).  I have made a prototype of Miranda's avatar (I hope you enjoy it):

Figurative & Literal: Pushing Boundaries

The Renaissance was known for pushing boundaries - both in the literal and figurative sense.  Along with the obvious theme of the literal new world in the setting of The Tempest, how is a figurative Brave New World represented in the play?

In this clip with Ferdinand, how is Miranda living in a Brave New World?

Well, she is proclaiming her love for him, and she ends up proposing to him.

Man and HIS Magic in the Tempest

In the Renaissance, humanists championed the power and intricacies of mankind. In the Tempest, Shakespeare explores what makes a human, what makes education worthwhile and why language and learning is so powerful.

This extract from BBC's The Tempest shows the characters Prospero (sorcerer and Miranda's father, now ruler of the island), Miranda (Prospero's daughter, shipwrecked with him as a baby), Ariel (air/water spirit, good, native of the island) and Caliban (earth/fire spirit, evil, child of a sea witch, Sycorax who was left on the island by sailors and whose evil rule was later overturned by Prospero). Watch the clip with these ideas in mind:

Level One (Adventurer):
How do Prospero and Miranda deal with Caliban? 
What does he say "his only profit" of learning to speak is (at 5:57)?
Do you see any other good things about learning about other people or other languages?

Level Two (Explorer): answer the previous questions, plus...
How is Prospero able to control Caliban? 
How do knowledge and language indicate power and station? 
Thus, how does learning make a man?

Level Three (Courier?): answer the previous questions, plus...
Was Prospero right to enslave Caliban, and how does the answer depend on different interpretations of the actors' lines?
Just from these short minutes, what might be some contrasting views of mankind, learning, colonialism and slavery in the Renaissance?

START AT 4:01

START AT 4:01

The Brave (re)New(ed) Project

Some people write until they stumble across a good idea. Our Renaissance literature class just talks until we "stumble" upon a fantastic idea. 

All semester we've been talking about how we can avoid falling into the remake-the-Norton-Anthology-in-digital-form rut. The reason for making an eBook was to help us venture into the brave new world of technology, eBooks specifically. And up until our last class meeting, I was a little worried about where our project was going (or not going, if you know what I mean). 

But I think we've got things sorted out. It looks like we've decided to create a tiered curriculum that we can share. And let me tell you, I'm excited. I was concerned before that our eBook would get lost in the bottomless hole of literary criticism. I didn't want it to be another one of those books.

We're going to be incorporating video into our curriculum in an attempt to interest various audiences. I'm excited about the things we can do with video in both my groups. In my Ad Fontes group I was thinking maybe some interviews with authors, or for the Sprezzatura group we could have some friendly court discussions.

Whatever ensues, I'm excited. I feel like I'm finally excited about our project. I'm ready to enter this brave new world. 

Hopefully I'll learn something. Hopefully. :)