An Uneasy Task

This week is the third or fourth week that we are going through our simulated teaching. I find that it is really a challenging work to do. Firstly, the most important thing is the suitability of the activities that one is going to carry out. There are many factors that a teacher needs to consider to do an activity in the classroom. Students’ language proficiency is one of the factors that influence a lot. Besides that, one has to ensure that the activity provokes students to think about the issues that are involved in the literary test.
Secondly, the language used is very important. As a teacher, not only one has to speak without any grammatical mistakes, but also give instructions and utterances that are clear and prompting. This is really not an easy thing to do and one needs time to improve on the language used in order to speak like a teacher.
Lastly, confidence and active interaction with students are what one needs in the teaching lesson. Standing in front of the class, one needs enough confidence and courage to carry out the planned activities. Without these, even the best lesson plan will lead to failure. Besides that, students will only be attracted to an interactive teacher because no one will like someone who talks to the wall.
evelyn
28.2.2006

Edgar Tom

King Lear, Act 3, scene 3:Edgar
"Through the sharp hawthorn blows the cold wind"


I like the characteristics of Edgar in the play especially when he disguises himself as Poor Tom. It is very funny when he keeps saying nonsense like “Do de, de, de. Sessa! Come, march to wakes and fairs and market-towns. Poor Tom, thy horn is dry” (act II, scene VI).
Edgar is really a good and filial son where he becomes serious again when he finds that his father, Gloucester, attempts suicide. He does not want his father to die though he disowns him before this. He refuses to see him in despair and wants him to live. Edgar awakes his father when he says “Thy life’s a miracle. . . . /. . ./The clearest gods . . ./. . .have preserved thee” (IV.vi.55, 73–74).
Edgar is a very encouraging son who not only stops Gloucester from thinking about death, but also shocks him into a rebirth.

the tragic ending

King Lear mourns Cordelia's death, James Barry, 1786-1788

King Lear is very much a tragic play, and it is more tragic than Sophocles’ Antigone. In this play, both Lear and Gloucester die due to the misbehaviour and betrayal of their children, signifying how painful the heart will be to have ingratitude children that it causes death. Comparing Lear with Gloucester, I feel that what has happened to Gloucester is more tragic than Lear, because Gloucester is blinded before he dies, a double punishment for him. The part where his eye is plucked out has been regarded as the most terrifying scene where it was avoided to be acted on stage during the Shakespearean time so that the audience is not shocked.
Towards the end of the play, Shakespeare shocks his audience by bringing the worn and haggard Lear onto the stage, carrying his dead youngest daughter. He taunts them with the possibility that she may live yet with Lear saying, "This feather stirs; she lives!" But Cordelia is dead. Not long after that, Lear dies due to his grief and sorrows. On the other hand, Gloucester dies of heart attack, because of “joy and grief”. Joy is due to his reconciliation with Edgar, while grief is towards his illegitimate son, Edmund’s betrayal on him.