Month: 01 juillet 2007

Introduction to A Midsummer Night's Dream photo

Background of A Midsummer Night’s Dream

by · Lecture: 5 minutes

Introduction

The characters are set in a given space and time. Shakespeare draws his material from a large body of social background, historical facts and myth: let us see the Greek background, the May festivities, and the fairies and spirits.

I – Greek background

The play is set in early Greece, in Athens. It is unexpected as so much of the play seems so typically England. Shakespeare was writing at the time where antiquity was the cultural reference, although the English Renaissance was more and more regarded.

But outside inspiration from Italy and Greece, Ovid, Aristofane, Plato, Aristotle were the early writers who set the norms of literature. Many of Shakespeare’s plays are set in these settings (Romeo and Juliet, Merchant of Venice, The Twelfth Night..).

The Greek setting is a serious frame of reference, which the educated audience would immediately recognize. It also provides a warranty of seriousness and sets a distance from 16th century England: it enables Shakespeare to contemplate his society while distancing it in the past, which was important because playwrights were very dependent on sponsors and political power.

This Athenian background represents order and reason, all the more appropriate as it serves to emphasize the fantastic aspect of the forest. The story of Theseus and Hippolyta refers to Plutarch and Ovid.

Theseus was famous for his adventures and exploits. He got lost in the labyrinth and was saved by Ariane. He killed the Minotaur, kidnapped Hippolyta, and tried to marry her before he eventually married Phaedra.

Considering Shakespeare’s views of the myth, the reader is not sure who Hippolyta was. In theory, she represents female power, independence. Amazons were rebels and did not accept male supremacy.

Males were considered as procreation objects and the male child was usually got ridden of. The Amazons have usurped masculine power and authority. Hippolyta is a concrete woman, she looks passive: the contrary of an Amazon. She is an example of a dominated woman (dominated by her future husband).

Although admired for his courage, Theseus was known for his betrayal of women (not an example of fidelity). The play is about fidelity and betrayal (the disorder of love): Theseus could not be faithful to one woman.

Two fathers: Egeus and Neptune. Association between a mortal and a god. It is said that his birth was the result of a female trick: dangers and complexity of love relationship.

It would be possible to interpret the forest as a labyrinth, it is a place where you can easily get lost.

II – May festivities

Feast days: Christmas, Mayday, Midsummer, harvest time. Some ambiguity about “May”: month but also the hawthorn bush (may pole) which blossoms in May.

The golden bough: in May, there was a custom to go out to the wood to cut the maypole and bring the spirits of the tree home.

For Shakespeare, there is a tradition of going to the woods and bring back flowers as a sign of fertility, luck, hope and protection. Sexual dimension in this game: “the green gown“.

Shakespeare was elaborating on a very famous theme: a night out with a ritual about vegetation, return to nature and celebration of luck.The Queen or King of May are covered with flowers.

In the play, Oberon is covered with leaves. The Lord of Misrule, Pluck, upsets the order of the ceremony and plays tricks on participants. His confusion of identity can be seen as a way of upsetting order.

This rite does not necessarily takes place in May: it is also on Midsummer night & day. Shakespeare mixes the rite of May and of Midsummer (although similar). Midsummer eve: 23rd of June. It symbolizes the triumph of light over darkness, the beginning of summer, bonfires. The fire is a protection against witchcraft, cattle diseases, all sort of evil. There are no bonfires in the play.

Notion of turning point: end of spring, beginning of summer, longest day and beginning of shorter days. Midsummer is also associated with magic, spirits would be in the air during that night.

III – Fairies and spirits

The Fairies are part of the Elizabethan folk culture. Most people believed that they did exist (especially lower classes). As for their size, we tend to imagine small spirits; the problem is Titania’s size: she is large enough to be able to hold Bottom in her arms. They have the power of curing most diseases using plants but occasionally they could also do harm.

“They step out of a tradition of infernal connections and dark deeds”. Oberon has been taken out of a Huon de Bordeaux, Titania from Ovid’s Metamorphoses (derived from Diana, connected with the moon).

Robin Goodfellow (Puck): in fact Pouke, meaning devil or demon. Puck belongs to a different background from Oberon and Titania: p.37, we learn that he is half animal and half-human, with hoofs and arms like the devil, pointed ears, and a mischievous look.

Yet, he has a neat beard and a benevolent face (opp. to the devil). Creatures resembling witches are dancing around him. He has got a huge penis: a connection with life. He holds a broom in his left hand: Puck was known to do housework at night.

l.378: “Not a mouse
Shall disturb this hollowed house
I am sent with broom before
To sweep the dust behind the door“.

Puck is half devil, famous for his tricks and pranks. Act II, sc.1: mischievous but at the same time: “they shall have good luck“.

Puck’s ambiguity is remarkable, he has a power of transformation.

Very rich background of myth and folklore that Shakespeare borrowed and re-arranged in the play. It is not gratuitous for it adds up depth in the text. It also adds the fairy dimension, the mystery of a transcendent reality.

Introduction to A Midsummer Night's Dream photo

Introduction to A Midsummer Night’s Dream

by · Lecture: 6 minutes

Place of the play in Shakespeare’s work

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of the most famous and successful nplays by Shakespeare.

The play is part of the early work of Shakespeare (1554-1616), it was written and performed in 1595-1596, just after The Taming of the Shrew and The Two Gentlemen of Verona.

There is a connection between Pyramus & Thisbe and Romeo & Juliet: one character kills himself because he thought his love is dead (the tragedy of misunderstanding). It proves that Shakespeare could write a tragedy and a comedy at the same time.

In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, we have a tragedy within the comedy. The theme of rebelling children against their parents: 2 families at war but united through the love of their children.

Shakespeare could write in different moods at the same time: it goes very quickly from tragedy to comedy. Even in a comedy, there is a substance of truth, of seriousness. A comedy is not empty of meaning.

Shakespeare’s last play is The Tempest (1611) and it is regarded as his testament for prosperity. Ariel is a kind of fairy, like Puck. Both plays have the same background of magic and fairies, and the episodes lead to a moral favol as an explanation of life’s mysteries: the surface of events and the meaning of events (more important).

Sources of the play

A Midsummer’s Night Dream is one of Shakespeare’s most leaned plays. Lots of information he took here and there:

  • Plutarch’s life.
  • Ovid’s Metamorphosis: Shakespeare borrowed Titania, who appeared as Diana.
  • Huon de Bordeaux (medieval French romance): Shakespeare borrowed Oberon.
  • Chaucer, The Knight’s Tale (love story).
  • and mythological references: Apollo…

Shakespeare put together all those apparently defragmented pieces to create an entirely original plot, which looks like a patchwork. His genius resides in the creation of something new in spite of the diversity of the elements.

Reception of the play

The play was not immediately admired.

18th century: the literary world showed skepticism towards it. It was the age of Reason and Enlightenment and the play had too little reason. 19th century: the judgments became more positive. Chesterton called it “the greatest of Shakespeare’s plays”. and Frank Kermade “Shakespeare’s best comedy”.

Why was it so popular ? Because it was most frequently performed and gave a lot of possibilities for stage directions. Shakespeare introduced a lot of singing and music so that it was easier for the audience and the actors to enjoy the play.

It is a comedy in which one past is hilarious but also a play with lots of ambiguities (position of women, position of the State). It is also a play with an usual modern dimension (sexual references).

The opening scene (Act I, scene 1, up to l.57)

It usually defines the setting and the characters and foreshadows what will come next. It can be divided into 2 parts:

     1- the dialogue between Theseus and Hippolyta
     2- Egeus’ complaint about his own daughter Hermia: we do not learn more about her but it is enough to show her determination.

A. Introduction scene

The Duke of Athens: enables Shakespeare to write about a very solemn character, a member of the royalty: he starts from the top characters to the lower characters.

Egeus is a well know name for it belongs to mythology although we may wonder if he is the same as the mythological Egeus. At least it rings with it.

There is no date: the Athens we are presented with is not 16th century but related to antiquity. It is not obvious how much the audience is aware about that: it addresses an educated audience.

We are given one aspect of Theseus (the statesman), far from the mythological killer of beasts. He suggests authority and love and has 2 dimensions: the statesman (public image) and the personal impending marriage (private). The theme of marriage is present in the very first sentence.

Hippolyta is the Queen of the Amazons. She has been vanquished by Theseus in one of his military fights: “I wooed her with my sword“: she was captured by him. We may question this relationship: it has to do with power and not love (the alliteration in “w” is not accidental).

Time: 4 happy days. The scene tells the audience that the wedding is due to take place in 4 days. In fact, the play would last two days and one night.

B. Human relationships

Egeus’ complaint is the story of a rebelling daughter, it is almost a monologue, deeply anchored in the myth of vexation: the rhetorical inversions are a way of giving more strength to vexation.

It is about a father/daughter relationship. And the theme of rivalry between the 2 young men Demetrius and Lysander:

  • “Stand forth Demetrius”
  • “Stand forth Lysander”

Each of them represents one conception:

  • Demetrius: can marry someone even if there is love.
  • Lysander: it should be based upon love.

Love is irrational. Hermia pleads for feelings and her father for reasons. Children should be totally subservient to their father: “As she is mine, I may dispose of her“. The play poses the problem of woman’s condition.

C. The Moon

The moon appears 28 times in the play. It is one of the richest symbols you can think of.

In the beginning, the moon is too slow to appear. It is the moon that gives blessing to their wedding.

“Pale companion is not for our pomp”: coldness, chastity, frigidity: the moon is sad and therefore incompatible with the spirit of mirth (incompatible with the play ?). The play is imbued with the spirit of night (A Midsummer Night‘s Dream), it i a kind of fantasy.

Summary of the plot

Theseus and Hippolyta are about to get married. A group of mechanicals want to prepare a play for their marriage. In parallel to that, Helena loves Demetrius who loves Hermia who loves Lysander. The Queen and King of the fairies, Titania and Oberon, have been quarrelling about a young motherless boy. The couple is split and she is strong will.

Oberon asked his servant Puck to drop some magic juice on Titania’s eyelids so that she would fall in love with the first person she wood meet: that would be Bottom, disguised in donkey by Puck.

Oberon also asked Puck to drop magic juice on Lysander and Demetrius but Puck makes a mistake: Hermia is rejected and Helena is loved by both Demetrius and Lysander. In the end, everything returns and finishes with 3 weddings.

The play: Pyramus and Thisbe. Pyramus finds Thisbe’s piece of cloth blooded as if Thisbe had been eaten by a lion and kill himself. Thisbe comes back and sees Pyramus dead. She kills herself.

Different interpretations

  • theme of interest: lyricism and poetic beauty of the play.
  • becoming aware of the violence and madness of the play.
  • notion of power: political power (Duke of Athens), power relationships between men and women.
  • interpretation of love: romantic presence of love or cynical interpretation of love (all delusion): which type of love is it ?
  • fantastic dimension.
  • very performing play : play action.
Introduction to "Macbeth" photo

The dramatic quality in Macbeth

by · Lecture: 2 minutes

The order of sins are always strategically ordered :

In Act I scene 2, Duncan is told about Macbeth’s valorous qualities and Cawdor’s sins.

In act I scene 3, the witches call Macbeth successively “Thane of Glamis”, “Thane of Cawdor” and “King”.

It creates dramatic irony: we know something about the character that he still ignores. Moreover, the technique of using a prophecy, that is to say a prolepsis tends to add tension and suspense.

Violence is present throughout the whole play and is part of Shakespeare’s tradition of gore, like in all his revenge tragedy. It does not bother Shakespeare to show murders, blood or violence on stage, like in Titus Andronicus or Troilus and Cressida.

When a war is shown on stage, it is to embody disorder and a certain amount of chaos. The actors are then entering and exiting, fighting, and falling down. But the more violent scene for the audience remains the child murder. It was the deepest evil for the Elizabethans.

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Political questions in "Macbeth" photo

Political questions in Macbeth

by · Lecture: 3 minutes

Political questions are typical of the Renaissance: it is due to the inheritance of rulers by divine right.

Malcolm, the oldest of Duncan”s sons, is declared heir to the throne and Prince of Cumberland. Like Richard III, Macbeth wants to disrupt the natural order of things.

At the end of Macbeth, just like in Richard III, the natural order is restored (“Hail, King of Scotland”) and the divine right is respected.

The feudal social organization is based on duty, loyalty, and allegiance to the King. All these virtues are violated by Macbeth.

Like disorder, treason is unnatural. A traitor is an unnatural subject. In II, 2 Macduff discovers the dead King and describes the deed as the “most sacrilegious murder” and the murderer as “a new Gorgon“. Killing a rightful monarch is an offense to order.

In II, 4, 5 we see that what happens on earth is closely linked to what happens in the “skies”. The events on earth (“sublunary”) are so horrible that an eclipse occurs, meaning that the sun dares not happen. The murder of a King is unnatural, horrible, and impossible to name.

The whole play is based on the contrast between true royalty and tyranny. Duncan is the good King and Macbeth is the Tyrant. The subjects love the good King but fear the tyrant like in V, 2, 19: “Nothing in love” .

In V, 3, Macbeth boasts himself to have a spy in each of his subjects” house. The tyrant used to have spies. Macbeth is unfair (like Richard III) and Justice is the main quality of a good ruler. The abuse of power is shown in Act V, sc3, v11.

Macbeth is gradually more and more lonely and less and less communicative. He fears himself, perhaps because if he has killed the King, he can be killed too.

What is a good ruler ?

This question is set everywhere in Shakespeare”s works (see The Tempest). A good ruler has to be the natural heir of the throne and needs culture, knowledge, and prudentia.

In Act IV, sc3, Malcolm is precocious and aware that “a good man can turn evil / A bad man can turn good”.

Malcolm is not as naive as his father. He will test Macduff, whom he thinks is one of Macbeth”s spies, by pretending to be totally awful. Malcolm recounts Cawdor”s death in I, 4. He is aware of Man”s nature and tells how Cawdor, a bad man, turned repentant.

Macbeth is compared to Satan because he is so valorous and close to the king that he thinks he can take his place. The central moral debate is how could Satan, so close to perfection, rebel against God.

The answer is plain: because of jealousy. Macbeth was Duncan”s favourite knight just like Satan was God”s favourite angel.

Malcolm has prudentia and has learnt to be aware of traitors. Macbeth is tempted and falls. Malcolm is even aware that fall is part of Human Nature.

It was the post-lapsarian period: everybody can fall and no one is innocent. The link between Macbeth and Satan resides in the name of Macbeth”s servant, Seyton.

Introduction to "Macbeth" photo

Introduction to Macbeth

by · Lecture: 5 minutes

Macbeth was written by Shakespeare between 1603 and 1606, between Caesar and Hamlet. It is the story of a murderer and usurper, like Richard III or Claudius (Hamlet) from crime to crime to achieve security. Macbeth is a villain but a more humanized character compared to Richard.

Macbeth is a noble and gifted man. He chooses treachery and crime, knows them for what they are and is totally aware he is doing evil. Evil is concentrated in Macbeth and Lady Macbeth who are influenced by the Weird Sisters.

The play examines the possibilities of evil and centres on the villain-hero. We find good only in secondary characters like Duncan or Malcolm. Macduff is the righteous character. Macbeth is a tyrant (Cf Richard III) and Malcolm will be the good king (Cf Richmond).

The supernatural powers are represented by the Weird Sisters and Hecate, standing for the side of evil (disorder) and by the King of England, standing for the side of good (order). The symbolism is obvious: it is light versus darkness, angels Vs devils and heaven Vs hell.

The character of Macbeth is interesting because he is fully conscious of the horror of his deeds. Indeed, we learn in the beginning of his soliloquies that he knows very well what is good: in Act I, sc2, l.13, there is an enumeration of all reasons why he should not kill Duncan. Macbeth is tortured between his erected wit and his infected will.

Macbeth is the story of the temptation of a good man by witches. It is comparable to Adam and Eve with the Serpent. Lady Macbeth is the one who is really tempted.

There is also a sort of philosophical issue: Macbeth is a brave soldier but a moral coward too: he is a brutal murderer feeling guilty. It is a moral dimension that does not exist in Richard III.

The play is therefore more subtle since we find the presence of evil in the virtuous and of good in the wicked. It is not a manichean word: “our life is a mingled yarn, good and evil together” (All’s Well that Ends Well).

The Thane of Cawdor is a traitor and he dies in I,4. But we learn that even the wicked can have virtue through repentance. It announces the other side.

The fundamental moral issue is that evil is made possible because of man’s free will. Moral damnation is possible because man has understanding and can make the difference between good and evil.

Awareness and clairvoyance make moral judgements possible. Macbeth is perfectly aware and morally conscious. The tragedy lies all in both being aware and being courageous -it is the fate of the tragic hero.

Macbeth is not a manichean vision of man. Richard III is the villain as hero but Macbeth is the hero who becomes a villain.

The emphasis is on the process of turning evil. Hence, it is fundamental that, from the start, Macbeth should be presented as a hero: “for brave Macbeth” (I, 2, 16).

At first, he is a very brave soldier but he is ambitious and wants to satisfy his wife who is even more ambitious. He will seize the opportunity to get the crown. But he made a misjudgment between temporal good (crown) and eternal good (heaven). Macbeth has awareness but his judgement is weak: he is very much influenced by his wife.

Shakespeare decided to show the steps by which a noble man is made to his damnation, to depict a man lured by evil. The more evil Macbeth is, the more isolated he becomes.

Shakespeare could not show a devil at the time of the Renaissance (for it was considered as comical at that time) so he showed witches instead, who were human beings that had given their souls to the Devil).

Witches are not naturally evil. They have to become evil, just like Macbeth. Like Parcae, the three sisters are weaving human destiny. They represent fate and humans who have become evil. They know the past, govern the present and can foresee the future.

They appear at the beginning, announce Macbeth’s rise and finally his fall: mainly at strategic moments. They only tempt Macbeth because he is ambitious and responsible. Ambition and his wife’s influence will lead him to murder Duncan. Everything is motivated by fear.

The ultimate evil is always a child murderer. Banquo is killed because he represented a living reproach for Macbeth: Banquo did not yield to temptation and remained loyal. It is a vicious circle for Macbeth: after murdering Duncan, he has to murder Banquo. Macbeth’s solitude increases with the number of crimes.

The recurrent idea in Macbeth is that the more you fall into evil, the less free you are. Indeed, Macbeth has less and less choice. He has to do evil and he feels less and less guilty by doing so. Guilt was good because it showed him the difference between good and evil. Macbeth’s will is infected.

Lady Macbeth is less aware of this difference between good and evil. At the end, when consciousness comes back to her, she tries to wash her hands during her sleep, just like Pontius Pilate. It is interesting to notice that sleepwalking was a sign of possession by the Devil in Shakespeare’s times.

Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad : "A free and wandering tale" photo

Lord Jim: how is Conrad’s first-hand experience of seamanship perceptible throughout the Patna episode ?

by · Lecture: 5 minutes

Conrad was a sailor and gave us a flavour of seamanship: read ch1-20, there are segments that should not be missed.

In Youth (1828), Conrad wrote a fiction based on his first-hand experience as first mate on board a ship called the “Palestine”. He was directly involved in an incident: the Palestine caught fire and the team, including Conrad, were obliged to abandon the ship.

A trial took place and the team was cleared because they had done everything they could. In Youth, Conrad’s double was a character that he called Marlow: it was the first time Marlow was introduced. In Lord Jim, Conrad is not directly involved.

The Jeddah incident was the model of the Patna (p319-358): Conrad intertwines facts and fiction in osmosis.

“the pilgrims of an exacting faith” (p15): indicate a harsh religion, they are obliged to go to Mecca at least once in a lifetime. The voyage takes place in horrendous conditions: every deck is packed (children, women, men). People are suffering from heat and promiscuous conditions.

The team knows of other conditions: debauchery and absence of morals. There is an opposition between the East (the pilgrims) and the West (Europeans).

The “unconscious crowd”: trust the white man and the ship. Dramatic irony, the ship is everything but safe.

“Unconscious believers” seem to be doomed to die. The irony lays in the fact they are doomed to survive. They will prove to be right in their belief and will be saved in the end.

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Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad : "A free and wandering tale" photo

Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad : “A free and wandering tale”

by · Lecture: 10 minutes

Introduction

“A free and wandering tale” about “the acute consciousness of lost honour”. Lord Jim is not a simple book that could be called novel: this is too reductive.

From a technical point of view, it is an idealistic image, a Jamesonian novel. Conrad tries to innovate by rejecting Victorian methods of writing and patterns.

In an essay called “The New Novel” (1914), Henry James tries to analyze Conrad’s complexity: “Conrad’s first care is explicitly to set up a reciter, a definite responsible first person singular, possessed of infinite sources of reference who immediately precedes to set up another to the end that this other may conform again to the practice”.

Conrad’s mark resides in a series of embedded testimonies. The narrative complexity brings about mystery and elusiveness as if nothing could be pinned down.

E.M. Forster’s try to give a definition of elusiveness: “What is so elusive about him is that he’s always promising to make some general philosophic statement about the universe and then refraining. […]. He is misty in the middle as well as at the edges.”

Conrad was never understood by his contemporaries, for instance Virginia Woolf said:
“Mr Conrad is a Pole, which sets him apart and makes him however admirable not very helpful.” (helpful on the reflection on the English novel).

James coughed at Conrad’s technique and compared his situation of elocution to buckets of water being passed on for the improvised extinction of a fire, before reaching our apprehension. In a nutshell, Conrad creates a sense of suspense but it’s like it’s created for nothing because the end does not live up to the promises.

Thus, Conrad’s fiction writing, consisting of the adding-up of novelties, was ignored by Virginia Woolf. Why rejecting Conrad? Conrad testifies to a complexity of influences which may be what his contemporaries failed. He is a crucible of different influences.

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Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee : chapter analysis photo

Relatives in “Cider With Rosie” by Laurie Lee

by · Lecture: 6 minutes
  1. Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee : chapter analysis
  2. Relatives in “Cider With Rosie” by Laurie Lee

Introduction

Laurie Lee belongs to a large family, due to his father’s two marriages.

The first time, his father got 8 kids but only 5 survived: Marjorie, Dorothy, Phyllis, Reggie and Harold.

The second time, with Laurie’s mother, he got 4 kids and just 3 survived: Laurie, Tony and Jack. There are 8 members in the family and Laurie is one of the youngest.

I. The 3 half-sisters

Marjorie: is the eldest. She’s a blonde Aphrodite. She’s tall, long-haired, and dreamily gentle, and her voice is low and slow.

She’s quite unconscious of the rarity of herself, moving always to measures of oblivious grace and wearing her beauty like a kind of sleep. (p.61-62)

Dorothy: is a wispy imp, pretty and perilous as a firework. She is an active forager who lives on thrills, provokes adventure, and brings home gossip.

She is agile as a jungle cat, quick-limbed, entrancing, and noisy. In repose, she is also something else: a fairy-tale girl, blue as a plum, tender and sentimental. (p.62)

Phyllis: is the youngest of the three. She’s a cool, quiet, tobacco-haired, fragile girl, who carries her good looks with an air of apology. She is an odd girl, an unclassified solitary, compelled to her own devices, quick to admire and slow to complain. (p.62-63)

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The Short-Story and the Novel photo

The Short Story and the Novel

by · Lecture: 2 minutes

Introduction

The Short Story appeared in the 19th century, inherited from tales and narratives. As Edgar Allan Poe stated, a Short Story must have a “unity of impression, of totality and of single effect”.

It could be compared to poetry: consciousness, inner life, and the end of the story subjected to many interpretations lead to a sudden illumination from the part of the reader: at a certain point, this latter understands everything.

The Novel is based on a principle of disgression whereas the short story is based on compression. In the short story, there are no useless details and everything is important: one single detail can deeply affect a character and have many consequences on the plot.

The short story is short (!) but tends to go thoroughly into the characters’ minds. The spiritual and inner quest, as well as the closed spaces, are necessary to the achievement of the plot: there is often a scheme of circularity, ie we always go back to the beginning, even if it has changed.

The final situation is the sum of the initial situation mixed up with transformations, either affecting the character himself or his surrounding.

The Short Story and the Novel

Length : A short story is short and a novel is relatively long.

The term ” short story ” is normally applied to works of fiction from one thousand to fifteen thousand words.

Novels are generally thought of containing about forty-five thousand words or more. The short story is neither a truncated novel nor a part of an unwritten novel.

Edgar Allan Poe settled the matter of a short story’s length when he said it should be short enough to be read in one sitting.

Poe also said the story should be long enough to produce the desired effect on the reader.

Intensity

The plot of the short story will often turn on a single incident that takes on great significance for the characters.

The art of Poe depends for success on intensity and purity of emotional effect based on rigorous selection and arrangement of materials and on intensity and purity of emotional effect. Poe aimed at a sublimation of terror.

Development implies time, and the writer of a short story has little time at his disposal.

Therefore, characters seldom develop in the short story. Rather, they are revealed to us.

Glossary of film terms

by · Lecture: 2 minutes

Angle
The position of the camera in order to show a certain scene. A camera may be placed
straight on to a scene, at a side angle, high angle or low angle.

Camera movement
– a dolly shot: the camera and the base to which it is affixed move toward or away from a stationary object.
– a tracking shot: the camera moves behind or ahead of a moving person or object.
– a crane shot: the camera moves up or down on an automatic crane.
– a pan: the camera moves left or right on a fixed base.
– a tilt: the camera moves up or down.

Close-up
A shot which shows a limited and magnified view of a character or an object. It usually has a psychological, dramatic or symbolic value.

Deep-focus
The immediate foreground and the deepest parts of the background are in clear focus.

Dissolve
Gradual transition from one scene to another.

High-angle shot
A shot which looks down upon a scene or a character.

Long shot
A shot which provides a wide-angle view of a scene.

Low-angle shot
A shot which looks up at a character (object or scene).

Medium shot
Shows the object from waist up.

Voice over
Film narration/commentary in which the speaker remains unseen.

French equivalences

Dolly shotplan ou prises de vues en travelling.
Tracking shottravelling (objet ou personne filmé en mouvement).
Crane shotprise de vues sur grue.
Panpanoramique horizontal.
Tiltpanoramique vertical.
Deep focusprofondeur de champ.
Dissolvefondu enchaîné.
High-angle shotplongée.
Low-angle shotcontre-plongée.
Close-upgros plan.
Close shotplan rapproché
Medium close shotplan Américain.
Medium shotplan moyen.
Medium long shotplan de demi ensemble.
Long shotplan d’ensemble.
Organisation d'une séance d'Anglais dans une classe polyhandicapée photo, Union Jack

Organisation d’une séance d’Anglais dans une classe polyhandicapée

by · Lecture: 13 minutes

Introduction

Me destinant au métier d’enseignant, c’est en toute confiance que j’ai choisi ce module de préprofessionnalisation.

Le Collège de la Durantière, pour son unicité dans le système éducatif français m’a attiré et c’est ainsi que j’ai pu découvrir en cette quinzaine d’heures de cours sa spécificité et que j’ai pu vivre le quotidien pédagogique des professeurs enseignant l’Anglais à des élèves polyhandicapés.

En pédagogie comme ailleurs, toute spécificité requiert des moyens spécifiques, même si en apparence les moyens et les techniques divergent, un cours d’Anglais dans ces classes spécialisées reste dans ses fondements quasiment le même que dans une classe ordinaire : seules les aides techniques varient.

C’est pourquoi le déroulement d’une leçon, si on le compare à celui d’une classe dite “ordinaire”, reste peu ou prou le même. C’est ce que je vais tâcher d’exprimer dans les lignes qui suivent.

I. Présentation générale : La Durantière, un collège atypique

A. L’établissement

Le Collège de la Durantière accueille 400 élèves dont 100 handicapés qui peuvent mener une vie de collégiens tout en recevant des soins et une éducation adaptée.

Ces élèves handicapés moteurs, déficients visuels, sourds, avec ou sans troubles associés ont entre 11 et 20 ans et sont répartis dans des 6èmes, 5èmes, 4èmes d’Aide et de Soutien, des 3èmes ainsi que des 3èmes d’insertion.

Les élèves qui habitent dans l’agglomération nantaise sont transportés du Collège à leur domicile et vice versa dans un rayon de 30 km.

Appartenant à l’A.P.A.J.H. (l’Association Pour Adultes Jeunes Handicapés), plusieurs estafettes aménagées avec rampes d’accès et intérieur modulable sont prévues pour les sorties éducatives des élèves en fauteuil.

Les élèves qui habitent dans les départements limitrophes sont hébergés en semaine, soit en familles d’accueil spécialisées, soit en foyer d’hébergement, soit en internat scolaire accessible.

Gérés par l’A.P.A.J.H., tout un panel de thérapeutes entourent les élèves et assurent le suivi médical, les soins et les rééducations : orthophonie (en français et en anglais), orthoptie, enseignement du braille et de la langue des signes, kinésithérapie, balnéothérapie, suivi psychologique, ergothérapie, psychomotricité.

Des classes spécialisées mettent en oeuvre une pédagogie adaptée :

12 classes à petit effectif, de la 6ème à la 3ème, implantés au rez-de-chaussée de l’établissement avec des effectifs inférieurs à 12.

Rythmes scolaires adaptés (renforcement des horaires en Mathématiques, Anglais, Français, et possibilité de faire en 3 ans un cycle de 6ème-5ème ou de 4ème-3ème).

Aides spécifiques (agent de service pour les toilettes, les repas, les déplacements, aides techniques pour les élèves atteints dans leur autonomie, appareillages individuels, ordinateurs pour chaque élève ayant des difficultés graphiques.

Activités sportives adaptées (cheval, piscine, tennis de table, tir à l’arc…)

La coordination entre toutes les actions est assurée par le directeur de l’A.P.A.J.H., également principal adjoint du collège : M. Gillot.

Les actions thérapeutiques sont organisées par quatre médecins (rééducation fonctionnelle, pédiatre, ORL, ophtalmologiste) en liaison avec les familles et les intervenants extérieurs (généralistes, spécialistes, orthopédistes, prothésistes, chirurgiens…)

Le projet scolaire, étroitement associé au projet rééducatif, est coordonné par les professeurs principaux et l’ensemble de l’équipe éducative, c’est à dire l’administration, les professeurs et les thérapeutes.

Les rééducations individuelles ont lieu en dehors des heures de cours, tout au long de la journée.

B. L’intégration Au Collège

Etre intégré dans un groupe, c’est vivre dans ce groupe, adhérer à ses objectifs et en profiter, y être reconnu, participer à ses activités, à ses évolutions. C’est en être membre.

Selon le degré d’appartenance au groupe, l’intégration pourra être :

  • individuelle : le jeune handicapé est seul à être handicapé dans le groupe. C’est le cas des jeunes soutenus par un service : le Service de Soins et d’Education Spécialisée A Domicile (SESSAD), le Service De Soutien à l’Education Familiale et à l’Intégration Scolaire (SSEFIS) ou le Service d’Aide à l’Acquisition de l’Autonomie et à l’Intégration Scolaire (SAAAIS).
  • semi-collective : plusieurs handicapés vivent au rythme d’un groupe. (Lycée des Bourdonnières)
  • collective : les jeunes handicapés sont regroupés en groupe de besoins en CLIS (Classes d’Intégration Scolaire), UPI (Unités Pédagogiques d’Intégration) ou classes spécialisées.

Ces groupes pédagogiques sont installés dans des collectivités scolaires ordinaires. C’est le cas au Collège de la Durantière, au lycée Professionnel Leloup-Bouhier et dans plusieurs écoles primaires à Nantes (les Agenets – Carcouet – Emile Pehaut), Rezé (Y. et A. Plancher) et St Nazaire (Ernest Renan – Jean Jaurès).

C. Fonctionnement des classes

Les apprenants sont regroupés en classes d’un maximum de 12 élèves.Le Collège de La Durantière doit répondre aux besoins des pré-adolescents dans leur globalité, il est donc nécessaire de concilier les besoins éducatifs et rééducatifs de chacun.

Pour cela, les différents thérapeutes s’intègrent à l’équipe pluridisciplinaire enseignante qui gravite autour de l’apprenant et participent au projet individuel élaboré par l’équipe éducative.

Parfois même certains enseignants cèdent une heure de leur contingent heures-élèves par semaine pour que certains élèves en difficultés, que ce soit d’ordre logique ou praxique (le fait d’utiliser correctement la main ou le bras, dans le cas de la manipulation d’un clavier par exemple), puissent bénéficier ou d’un atelier de raisonnement logique (A.R.L.) ou d’une rééducation psychomotrice, ou de la technicité de l’ergothérapeute, etc.

Dans ce cas, l’enseignant doit s’adapter à ces paramètres en utilisant une pédagogie différenciée au sein de la classe pendant cette heure banalisée.

Ces décisions sont prises en réunions préparatoires au Conseil des Professeurs, en accord avec les parents, à qui le projet est soumis.

Par ailleurs, tout le panel de soins prescrits par les thérapeutes A.P.A.J.H. attachés à l’établissement se fait à raison de séances d’une demi-heure dans les heures d’étude inscrites à l’emploi du temps individuel de l’élève.

Les apprenants reçoivent les aides suivantes afin de faciliter leur apprentissage :

  • des ordinateurs, claviers et écrans adaptés, agendas électroniques, chaises rehaussées, matériels et logiciels de synthèse vocale, lutrins, etc.
  • des livres en gros caractères et des polycopiés agrandis,
  • un éclairage adapté selon le cas (direction de la source lumineuse réglable)…

D. Description de la classe

La classe de 3ème B, que j’ai choisi ici d’analyser, comporte 7 élèves. Elle compte un déficient auditif, une déficiente visuelle, et cinq apprenants polyhandicapés (hémiplégie, paraplégie pour la plupart).

Le livre utilisé dans cette classe est le manuel Grapevine 2 et la leçon que j’ai choisi de rendre compte est plutôt axée sur la production orale (cf. Annexe).

Il me semble donc intéressant d’étudier le déroulement d’une leçon d’Anglais avec ces élèves, en mettant un accent particulier sur l’autonomie.

II. Organisation d’une séance d’Anglais dans une classe de polyhandicapés

A. Préambule

Dans le cadre de mon étude, j’ai été amené à utiliser et à moduler mes grilles d’observation afin de coller le plus près possible aux situations observées (Cf. Annexe 1, 2, 3, 4).

B. Observations

Voir grilles en Annexe.

C. Analyse de l’observation :

La séance commence par une phase de socialisation active entre les élèves et le professeur puis entre les élèves entre eux :

“Good morning everybody ! How are you today ?”

Les élèves commencent alors un tour de classe : chacun pose la question “How are you today ?” à son voisin et y répond lui-même. Celui qui ferme la ronde pose la question au professeur : “And how are you today Mrs B. ?”.

Ce dialogue aux règles préétablies est basé sur une création d’habitudes, rappelant les théories behavioristes et le schéma stimulus-réponse de l’apprentissage par conditionnement pavlovien.

Le pair-work étendu au tour de classe permet la participation de tous les apprenants. Ce qui ressemble à un enseignement de type mécanique n’en est pas moins cognitiviste.

En effet, une étude approfondie des réponses des élèves (grâce notamment aux grilles d’observation, cf. Annexe) révèle que cette entrée en matière se rapproche de la vision communicative et constructiviste : l’amorce de l’enseignant permet aux élèves de communiquer un message avec l’interlangue qu’ils se sont construit au cours de leur apprentissage.

Ces rituels donnent des repères et servent à fixer les connaissances de ces élèves qui souffrent de difficultés de mémorisation pour la majorité, en faisant appel à la connaissance procédurale. Il est important de noter que la quasi-totalité des échanges se fait en Anglais, immergeant ainsi les élèves dans la langue et la culture étrangère.

Puis, l’enseignant écrit au tableau les objectifs de la leçon : c’est le “Today’s Special”. La présentation est ludique et donne l’impression d’apprendre en jouant. A mon sens, le fait de marquer au tableau ce que l’on va apprendre aux élèves les responsabilise et les amène à réfléchir sur leur apprentissage : ils accèdent ainsi aux concepts abstraits des faits de langue.

Vient ensuite une phase de réappropriation, où le professeur fait un rappel du cours précédent. Ces “drills” font partie intégrante de l’approche constructiviste : le savoir est ici construit et non transmis. C’est au moyen de la communication, et après plusieurs essais, que les élèves arrivent à retrouver la structure.

L’enseignant guide les élèves, tout en les impliquant dans l’histoire du “Hot air balloon”. Chaque élève participe et contribue à trouver le vocabulaire inconnu. Une répétition collective puis individuelle avec un tour de classe permet aux élèves de construire leur interlangue progressivement, en apprenant du vocabulaire à chaque séance.

L’enseignant utilise des “flashcards” et la gestuelle afin de faciliter la compréhension. L’enseignant part de ce que les élèves savent déjà grâce à un jeu de questions-réponses, à l’approche contrastive avec le “present continuous” ainsi qu’à la consigne “analyse, observe, deduce”, les élèves sont capables par eux-mêmes de trouver la structure du “past continuous”.

Cette consigne donne la liberté aux élèves de s’exprimer, de tâtonner, de chercher des explications et de trouver la structure grammaticale.

Nous ne sommes donc pas dans une vision transmissive du savoir mais bien dans l’approche cognitive : les élèves bénéficient d’une autonomie suffisante pour acquérir de nouveaux savoirs, tout en faisant appel aux processus de conceptualisation propres à la perspective constructiviste de l’apprentissage.

Ils réutilisent ce qu’ils ont appris les semaines précédentes en situation de communication : le vocabulaire utilisé est concret, directement réutilisable dans un pays anglophone. Nous pouvons donc le différencier d’un lexique acquis par conditionnement opérant.

Cela est primordial pour éviter les risque de nativisation ou de fossilisation de l’interlangue. Tout est prétexte à la communication.

L’Output, c’est à dire la production de l’apprenant, est ensuite vérifiée par le professeur au moyen de répétitions collectives et individuelles ainsi que par un travail de production écrite : le complètement d’un texte à trous.

Cela permet à l’enseignant de mesurer à quel point l’Intake (perception, compréhension, traitement et mémorisation des données de la part de l’apprenant) a été efficace.

A la fin du cours, les élèves sont invités à noter leurs devoirs, dont la correction servira de base pour l’enseignant comme pour les apprenants pour le prochain cours.

L’enseignant répond donc aux exigences des Instructions Officielles qui, depuis 1987, cherchent à développer la compétence communicative en partant des besoins de élèves et en créant des situations d’échanges motivantes, ainsi qu’à développer l’autonomie des élèves dans la gestion des échanges communicatifs et de leur propre apprentissage.

La Pratique Raisonnée de la Langue (PRL) ainsi que la dynamique de conceptualisation sont à la base de la construction du savoir de l’apprenant, qui sera mieux à même de prédire l’organisation d’une structure semblable et donc d’accéder à l’autonomie.

III. Réflexion sur l’importance de l’autonomie

D’après ce que j’ai pu observer, il est fondamental pour l’enseignant d’inscrire l’enfant polyhandicapé dans le registre de la communication : il faut lui construire le chemin qui va lui permettre de mettre en place la communication non verbale.

Un des moyens utilisés ici par l’enseignant est l’approche cognitive, qui considère la personne handicapée comme “modifiable”, éducable.

Les objectifs de cette prise en charge sont :

  • diminuer des retards structuraux en développant des capacité cognitives de base sur lesquelles vont pouvoir se construire des stratégies.
  • améliorer le fonctionnement, c’est-à-dire la façon de mobiliser ses capacités et de traiter les problèmes cognitifs.

Les situations de communications ainsi mises en place varient à l’infini. Avec l’évolution de l’élève et de ses capacités, le regard peut être privilégié comme moyen de désignation, des objets ou des images peuvent constituer un intermédiaire de choix, et des écrans d’ordinateurs équipés de contacteurs avec le défilement d’images constituent un outil privilégié dans la communication.

L’exigence de mutualisation des savoirs, des compétences, des interrogations, des recherches et des expérimentations apparaît ici évidente : les apports du neuropsychologue, du pédagogue, du spécialiste de l’informatique pédagogique, de l’éducateur, du rééducateur sont effectivement indissociables.

La collaboration entre les pédagogues et les personnels médicaux et paramédicaux, dans une perspective véritablement interactive, illustre cette exigence.

L’approche communicative a pour objectif d’amener la personne polyhandicapée dans une situation véritablement relationnelle. Elle va tendre à être actrice et à développer de la curiosité vis à vis du monde extérieur.

C’est grâce à la mise en place d’un système de communication que l’on peut constater que la personne polyhandicapée est capable de motivation et de volonté d’être reconnue en tant que personne.

Conclusion

Ce stage m’a beaucoup apporté, tant sur le plan didactique et pédagogique que sur le plan humain.

Passer de l’autre côté du miroir, étudier la manière dont un cours est enseigné, prendre la mesure de la souffrance et du courage de ces enfants qui en plus d’un cursus scolaire normal doit subir plusieurs heures de rééducation par semaine, constater la joie qu’ils ont à assister au cours d’Anglais et leur fierté à me montrer leurs productions via Internet me réjouissent et m’encouragent dans la voie professorale.

Bibliographie

  • BOUSCAREN, MOULIN, ODIN – Pratique Raisonnée de la Langue – Ophrys – 1996.
  • Le site Scolarité et Partenariat pour les informations relatives aux Instructions Officielles dans le cadre des classes spécialisées et notamment:
    • Circulaire n°89-17 du 30 Octobre 1989 – B.O. n°45 du 14 Décembre 1989.
    • Circulaire n°2001-035 du 21 Février 2001 – B.O. n°9 du 1er Mars 2001.
  • Le rapport trimestriel Le Courrier de Suresnes :
    • Numéro 64 – 1995/2.
    • Numéro 69 – 1997/1.
  • La revue spécialisée Réadaptation, Numéros 478 et 479 – Mars et Avril 2001.
Etude d'une comptine : "Here we go round the Mulberry Bush" photo

Étude d’une comptine anglaise à l’école primaire : “Here we go round the Mulberry Bush”

by · Lecture: 17 minutes

Introduction

Avec la nécessité d’une part de développer en primaire dès le C.P. l’apprentissage d’une langue vivante étrangère en vue d’améliorer la réussite des élèves dans leur cursus scolaire en collège et en lycée, de les entraîner dans la spirale vitale de la communication dans un monde multiculturel, de susciter le plaisir de communiquer en langue 2 et d’autre part de la récente introduction des missions Innovalo pour favoriser l’innovation pédagogique des enseignants, l’enseignant doit s’adapter à de nouvelles stratégies pédagogiques faisant appel de plus en plus au multimédia.

L’enseignement des comptines répond correctement aux objectifs et exigences cités ci-dessus.

I. Description de la Nursery Rhyme

Cette Nursery Rhyme – connue sous le nom “Here we go round the Mulberry Bush ” – est une ronde composée d’un refrain et de quatre couplets de quatre vers.

A chaque nouveau couplet s’ajoute un nouvel élément (hands – hair – school) : il s’agit d’une structure incrémentale et répétitive qui, à l’aide d’une mélodie lancinante, fait appel à la gestuelle et au schéma corporel des jeunes apprenants.

Cette ronde est d’autant plus appréciée des apprenants qu’elle évoque une routine matinale quotidienne familière, vécue sous forme de gestes rituels: se laver les mains, se coiffer, partir à l’école et dire au revoir.

Voici la comptine:

Here we go round the mulberry bush,
The mulberry bush, the mulberry bush,
Here we go round the mulberry bush,
On a cold and frosty morning.

This is the way we wash our hands,
Wash our hands, wash our hands,
This is the way we wash our hands,
On a cold and frosty morning.

This is the way we brush our hair,
brush our hair, brush our hair,
This is the way we brush our hair,
On a cold and frosty morning.

This is the way we go to school,
Go to school, go to school,
This is the way we go to school,
On a cold and frosty morning.

This is the way we wave bye-bye,
Wave bye-bye, wave bye-bye,
This is the way we wave bye-bye,
On a cold and frosty morning.
Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush

II. Objectifs visés

“Here we go round the Mulberry Bush” s’adresse à des apprenants de C.P. ou de C.E.1.

Cette comptine pourrait très bien être proposée comme entrée en matière avant d’entamer la matinée, pour se réchauffer après la récréation lorsqu’il fait froid ou encore en guise de transition entre deux activités de type différent.

L’objectif des Nursery Rhymes est de familiariser l’élève aux rythmes et mélodies de l’Anglais par l’intermédiaire d’un matériel sonore spécifique. Ces comptines sont bien adaptées à la mentalité des jeunes enfants de C.P. car elles ont la particularité d’insister sur le côté ludique des apprentissages dans ce lieu pas toujours perçu comme sécurisant qu’est l’école.

Le plaisir de chanter, de danser, d’utiliser son corps, de bouger harmonieusement va de pair avec la découverte parallèle du schéma corporel, mettant en jeu les notions importantes de latéralisation , de respect du rythme et d’intégration sociale au sein du groupe.

Par ailleurs, la découverte sémique de la langue cible faite par le biais du jeu s’imprègne plus facilement dans le subconscient enfantin.

Cette initiation préalable à l’apprentissage par ces rythmes et mélodies permet une mémorisation de bonne qualité aboutissant ensuite à une compréhension finale de la langue.

L’important est d’immerger l’enfant dans le bain sonore, fréquentiel et acoustique de l’Anglais.

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