What are your impressions so far?

Now that you've read the first scene, give me your first impressions of the setting, mood, and principal characters. What sort of exposition does Scene 1 provide?

Ambitious women

How do women who desire power, but live in worlds that deprive women of it systematically, express their ambition?  How can they find ways to realize that desire?  Think about the books we've read so far, in première and terminale, and comment on the ways female characters assert and advance themselves. What price do they pay?

What is the role of the chorus?

What kinds of interactions do you see taking place between the chorus and the principal characters throughout the play?  What is the relationship between the chorus and the audience?

Not a woman you want to cross...

Why does Euripides seem to want us to feel pity for Medea at the start of the play?  When does that pity begin to fluctuate, and perhaps change to fear and horror?  What kind of tragic hero(ine) is Medea?  (Hint:  look at the Medea page and follow the link to Aristotle's definition of tragic hero...)

A Room of One's Own

First of all, check out Robin's thorough and thought-provoking notes from last week in the Recaps  page.  Thanks, Robin!  Looking ahead:  over your break, which I hope is wonderful, you will be reading a portion of Medea as well as Chapters 1 and 2 of A Room of One's Own.  We'll be thinking about unconventional, powerful and (ultimately) tragic women over the next few weeks.  How do women assert themselves when they live within a system that dispossesses them and deprives them of a tradition?  How do you make yourself heard and respected if you have been denied access to the institutions that convey power?  The character of Medea and the persona of Woolf are very different, of course, but they both raise pressing questions about female power.  To be continued, with your help...

The power of rhetoric

Our main theme this week and in the weeks to come:  the power of rhetoric (ways of using language, really) to move and convince an audience.  Take a look at the Sheet of the Week to see what's coming up, and review Emmanuelle's recap notes in the Recap page...

How scary is this?

Here is Shirley Temple singing her famous number, "Animal Crackers," as well as a clip in which she dances with Mr. Bojangles...  What do you think?