Tag: extra credit

In the The importance of being Ernest “Jack” Worthing and Algernon are two close best friends who use the Ernest to escape their personal lives. They are attempting to win the hearts of two women who only love the name, Ernest which they told them. Their struggle to keep up with their own lies, disguise and misconception are a key factor in this play. In Act I, Jack known as Ernest has come over Algernon’s house to prepare to propose to his cousin, Gwendolen. Algernon figures out that Jack uses two names. Jack in the country and Ernest when he comes to the city. Gwendolen and her mother visit Algernon and Jack proposes to Gwendolen and her mother disagrees with this idea due to her morals. In Act II, Cecily is in the garden with Miss Prism when Algernon arrives pretending to be Jack’s older brother Ernest and she instantly falls in love with him. Both Jack and Algernon are pretending to be Ernest and both have to keep their lies a secret until, both women say they are engaged to Ernest therefore exposing themselves. In Act III, Algernon and Cecily are engaged and Miss Prism admits to leaving her baby at Victoria Station where Jack was found. The truth comes out that Jack is Algernon’s brother and Gwendolen’s mom accepts the idea of marriage for Jack and her due to find finding his relations. In correlation to the name Ernest, Jack’s dad’s name was Ernest.

The set in the first act took place in Algernon’s parlor where it seemed more sophisticated, high social class, witty, and was wealthy. This was depicted due to how the furniture looked and was placed in correlation to objects as well as the fact that he had a butler implied his wealth. At the same time, it seemed less expensive by the way Algernon would lounge on his furniture. The set had more of a Victorian style to it depicted by the pictures, plants, furniture and kitchen appliances. As well it had less lightening compared to the set in the second act in the garden where it was more vibrant and bright. In the second act, the garden was brightly colored using bright colors to contrast with the upbeat and positive mood. Rather than using objects, the director just used flowers and lighting to display the mood of the characters and foreshadow.

The costume design for the play was the men wore formal clothing such as hats, suits, gloves, and a tie whether they were outdoors or indoors and occasionally carried around a walking cane. The women had big hair typically in an up-do style and usually wore dresses or skirts. The skirts were normally flared out or had an umbrella shape to it. The type of dress could depict their social status and class. Another assets to the women’s costumes were gloves which were wore only for special occasions. The characters each had a British accent to add to their personality due to the time period and the location which it took place in.

The two characters use a name to escape the social obligations and norms of that time period. The goal of the play was to make fun of the standards and norms of marriage and love which were present during this age. A lesson learned throughout the play would be to never lie or deceive someone based off of false assumptions and that if someone really loved you regardless of  the name or title, it  wouldn’t matter as long as you were honest to them and showed them your true colors. Another lesson learned is to live outside of the norms of your culture.

When I attended the Franken Read event, I was only able to stay for the first session but I learned quite a bit. I actually didn’t know the origins of Frankenstein, I always thought that it was a popular folklore made up long ago. I also originally thought that the monster died to flames after being chased out of the village that he terrorized, and that the doctor was chased out as well but lived. Contrary to what I thought the monster lived; in fact he had a family! That was the biggest surprise to me. Another surprise regarding the story’s origin was that a woman was the author and she came up with the idea over a scary story contest with her friends. I found that to be mind boggling. What I also didn’t know was that the story revolved around Romanticism, which isn’t exactly what it sounds like. As I’ve come to find out, Romanticism isn’t exactly about love; rather it’s about inspiration, subjectivity, and the focus on oneself. This is just a little of what I learned while attending the first session, it’s a shame that I couldn’t attend more of them, but I’ll look into the story a bit more on my own time.

From the Franken Read the theater department orchestrated a skit of Frankenstein’s monster and a generous blind man from chapter 7 of the novel Frankenstein. The blind man was the first to show the monster kindness by providing him shelter and voiced that even if he was not blind he still would not judge him. However when the blind man’s daughters walked  in the room one passed out and another ran away. Next students presented what they interpreted from Frankenstein and wrote their own twist. One that I liked in particular was a female who demonstrated that everyone tries so hard to be good when they should embrace their badness. I liked the way she presented and worded her paper to allow the audience to think on the other side rather the right side.

Why has Frankenstein endured for 200 years?

• it has endured for 200 years due to the details and the complexity of the characters, and maybe because it inspired scientists as well as others to pursue this topic and has been apart of culture for a long time

During the event, a presentation was presented to the audience in a interactive way as asking questions and responding as well as in a discussion format where we welcomed all opinions and answers. Personally it was interesting to hear other people’s perspectives on the topic as well see how they are were related to one another. From the presentation I learned creation narratives in relation to who we are, how we got here and our sole purpose in life. I learned background about the author Mary Shelley such as her mother’s role in her life, her miscarriages and marriage, and about how the summer of 1816 would influence the book to become what it is today.We looked at the romantic ideology present in the book as well as the core values of it. What I found most interesting was that she published her 1st edition anonymously signfying that she didn’t know how well the book would sell which she soon would change. I learned how long it took to create the monster, famous quotes from the book, as well as about Robert Walton’s corresponded whose initials were that of the author. We assessed narrative structure, dialogue choices and style choices and why she may have chose them. Prior to coming to this event I have never read the book but this event inspired me to read the book on a fundamental level to more understand certain aspects of it.