Watch your tone!

Today's class was packed with information about author's tone. The Do Now served as a reminder about what tone is--an author's attitude about a specific subject. Tone, we learned, is based on word choice. As readers, we can determine an author's tone by the words (positive and negative) that he/she uses. We also learned that stressing certain words in a sentence can greatly change the meaning of a sentence. The example we used in class was the famous theatrical line, "I didn't say he beat his wife." If you were to stress a different word each time, this sentence would take on a new meaning each and every time.

This is important when reading Shakespeare because Shakespeare is the great equalizer. Everyone is a "new" reader when reading Shakespeare. I have read Othello, Hamlet, and Macbeth many, many times and each time I read it, I learn something new or have a new interpretation that I didn't think of before.

Before reading, we went through the 6 basic human emotions to determine tone. The main emotions are anger, fear, hatred, joy, love, and sorrow. After brainstorming some, we came up with so many synonyms for these "tone" words that differed in their level of intensity. As you can see, there IS a reason for NOT using the words good, bad, happy, sad, mad. Yes, these words touch upon the "tone" words that we talked about today. However, look at how much more specific we were able to describe our feelings when we were able to use such rich, vivid words. Use them! Use them always!

In watching the clip from the modernized version of Othello, we got a sense for Iago's character's motivation. We saw the contrast between light and dark--blurring the lines between good vs. evil. We then saw a collection of doves in a spiraling space. Doves, we discussed, are symbols of innocence, peace, and love. We then heard a man's voice say how he wished he were a hawk so he could soar above all he other birds and be free. The next shot is a sharp image of a black hawk. What does that tell us about Iago's character? What motivates his jealousy?

In reading the text, we see Iago and Roderigo outside Brabantio's (Desdemona's father) house. They wake him up in the middle of the night to tell him that Desdemona is out with Othello. He's in shock that she's not in her bed and decides to take action. Your job is to figure out how his plays out.

I know most of you will be struggling with reading the text, but that's okay. If you're struggling with what you're reading, look for clues in tone. Look for words that are either positive or negative and then measure the level of intensity to determine the mood of the scene.

For your paragraphs, be detail-specific! The topic sentence and evidence is already done for you. It goes like this: In Othello by William Shakespeare, Iago shows that he is two-faced/fake/disloyal. He states, "I am not what I am." This shows that...

For your analysis, explain what this quote means. Explain why Iago is this way. Predict what this will do to the drama of the play. Remember, you need at least 2 sentences. And make sure your concluding sentence both summarizes AND adds a new idea.

DEETS:
In-class:
--Do Now in Tone
--Stressed words sentence activity
--Tone activity
--Read Act 1, Scene 1
--Write paragraph

HW:
--Finish writing your paragraph
--Read and annotate Act 1, Scene 2