Beowulf as a Hero Lesson Journal

• Length: 19 pages
• Subject: Literature
• Type: Journal
• Paper: #81934961
• Related Topic: To His Coy Mistress, Beowulf Grendel, Beowulf

Excerpt from Journal :

Your answer should be at least five sentences long.

The Legend of Arthur

Lesson 1 Journal Entry # 9 of 16

Journal Exercise 1.7A: Honor and Loyalty

1. Consider how Arthur's actions and personality agree with or challenge your definition of honor. Write a few sentences comparing your definition (from Journal 1.6A) with Arthur's actions and personality.

2. Write a brief paragraph explaining the importance or unimportance of loyalty in being honorable.

Lesson 1 Journal Entry # 10 of 16

Journal Exercise 1.7B: Combining Sentences

Complete the Practice Activity on page 202 of your text. After completing this activity, read over your Essay Assessment or another journal activity you've completed.

* Identify three passages that could be improved by combining two or more sentences with coordinating or subordinating conjunctions. Below the practice activity in your journal, write the original passages and the revised sentences you've created.

* Be sure to indicate which journal or writing assignment they came from.

The Canterbury Tales

Lesson 1 Journal Entry # 11 of 16

Journal Exercise 1.9A: Irony in the Canterbury Tales

1) the Monk: The Monk is described as a sort of hunter, yet the monastic world doesn't allow this. He doesn't care, however, which is very "un-monk" like, but this was Chaucer's irony. The monk is also described as being quite well-dressed, while normally monks are in garbs of brown with ropes tied around their waists -- quite the opposite depiction.

2) the Friar: The Friar is a beggar, which is already ironic. He is depicted as happy-go-lucky and always in a good mood. He listens to people confess their sins and he gives penance to those who give him money. Contrarily, though he is a beggar, he hates beggars because they can't help him out.

3) the Prioress: Chaucer describes her in quite a lofty way. She is not royalty, but she tries to act like she is. In his description, Chaucer talks about how she daintily wipes the grease from her upper lip no grease appears in her cup. The whole thing is ironic, because her description makes her sound royal, but she is not.

Lesson 1 Journal Entry # 12 of 16

Journal Exercise 1.9B: What Women Want

1) Women want several things and they usually want them all at once. They want security, they want romance, they want tenderness, and they want a take-charge kind of man. They want a man with passion (but not too much as it may lead to affairs!). Women want a loyal and honest man and one who is a good father and husband. Women want men to want to be with their family, but they also want them to go away when they are being annoying. Women want their men to see them as equals, but still act with chivalry.

2) the Wife of Bath liked three of her five husbands because they were wealthy, old (they would die soon), and they were mild-mannered. She wants a man in which she can use her sexuality to get what she wants (which is usually money). She wants a man who gets drunk so she can fill his head with lies and then he fills guilty and gives her things.

This is much different than what most women want, I think, but I could be wrong.

Lesson 1 Journal Entry # 13 of 16

Journal Exercise1.9C: The Wife of Bath

1. One of the views that the Wife of Bath seems to express is that marriage is worthless. She also seems to depict women as being whores for their husbands. She seems to think that all women just want money and the sooner their husbands die the better. Well, this was a time when men dominated women on every level, so really, the Wife of Bath is sort of progressive, a kind of feminist. She just does what men had been doing for a long time. She seems quite proud of herself and I think that though people may label her as awful, she doesn't care because she wants her place in life too and doesn't want to succumb to her husbands' whims.

2. I think that was absolutely what he was doing.

3. I think that men think that women want security and I think that women think men want a beautiful woman the most out of life. Out of a relationship, I think that men think women, again, want security and honesty, and I think that women think that men want someone who can make him feel like a man. Attitudes haven't changed that much since Chaucer's time, although there may be men who want women to work to and be their equals, I think this is mostly because it is what women want. Women have always wanted love, honesty and security and I think a beautiful woman has always dazzled men.

Lesson 1 Journal Entry # 14 of 16

Journal Exercise 1.9D: Vocabulary Development

Part 1: Antonym Map

1) agility/inflexible (Squire/); 2) eminent/lowly (King/Yeoman); 3) accrue/lose (Physician/); 4) arbitrate/hedge; 5) benign/dangerous ( Parson/Miller); 6) guile/deviousness (Narrator/Pardoner); 7) obstinate/flexible (Monk/); 8) frugal/wasteful ( / the Franklin); 9) duress/permission (Wife of Bath/Prioress).

Part 2: Etymology

1) ground: Middle English grownd, grund, Old English grund: to set on a foundation, establish, derivative of the noun

- When the plane was grounded, everyone was ecstatic they didn't have to go out through the emergency slide. / This law is grounded in the principles set up by our forefathers.

2) shade -- Middle English hade, old English sceadu (shadow?): a place of darkness caused by the interception of light from an object, place, area; protection from light

- the moon cast a shade on the land as it interrupted the sunlight . / the umbrella on our deck offers a decent amount of shade.

3) account: Middle English a (c) ount (3), ac (c) ompte: an oral or written description or particular events; a statement of reasons; basis:

- I do not believe that the old woman's account of the burglary is correct; she seems quite unnerved. / on account of the things I have told you, I am not going to the party.

4) draw: Middle English drawen, Old English dragan: to cause to move in a certain direction as if by a pulling force; to pull out from something.

- the spider in the corner made the young women draw away from the room to safety. / if you are in danger, just draw your sword out and kill the dragon.

5) vain: Middle English. Excessively proud of one's self -- appearance, qualities, etc.; ineffectual or unsuccessful.

- You're so vain. I bet you think this song is about you. / You can try to leave me if you want, but your attempt will be in vain. You love me too much.

Tales From World Literature

Lesson 1 Journal Entry # 15 of 16

Journal Exercise 1.10A: Revisiting the Monster Archetype

1) the monsters of today might look like aliens. Perhaps they are big, slimy insect-looking aliens with large tentacles and gaping mouths. He is not afraid of anything and wants to kill mankind so he and his friends can take over the world. Another monster of today would be something that was created in a lab by people trying to create the perfect human -- much like Frankenstein tried. But of course their attempts are futile and they create a person out of spare parts. This person has no emotion and thus goes on a killing spree.

10 characteristics that most villains or modern monsters seem to have in common:

1) devoid of feelings/emotions

2) usually unattractive

3) traumatic event happened in their past

4) ruthless

5) cunning/devious

6) devalues human life

7) evil ambition

8) failure at life, thus his ruthlessness

9) manipulative

10) doesn't have a family (mother/father figure)

The Giant in "The Third Voyage of Sinbad the Sailor," is enormous and black with one eye that burns like coal in his massive head. His teeth are like fangs and his lower lip hangs low to his chest. His ears are also gigantic and they hang to his shoulder. His nails are like claws. This Giant is similar to the older depictions of monsters -- perhaps in old cartoons or black and white movies. Today, pop culture has allowed monsters to be anything; they can be children or they can be women.

Lesson 1 Journal Entry # 16 of 16

Journal Exercise 1.11A: Late Breaking News

Take one of the basic situations from the ballads and retell it as a cotemporary news story. Like a reporter, be sure to tell what happened, where and when it happened, to whom it happened, why it happened and how it happened. Your response should be at least two paragraphs long.…