|
Titel
8
|
Love and Marriage (exam topic)
A look at love and marriage in life and literature. This topic examines texts from a number of literary periods (for example post-modernism), where our focus has been on literary analysis. We have also practiced examining an author's background to learn about how that person writes and how these traits are present in their stories (Shakespeare, and reference to Hemingway in our other course on "American Literary Minimalism").
We've also elucidated different types of love, and how they are relevant in the texts we've read. This topic also included Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. The students read three scenes from Acts 1 + 2. When we've seen a scene, we have usually also seen a theater production of the scene, in order to better visualize the plot and performance. In addition we have watched clips from different versions of Romeo and Juliet, for instance Gnomeo and Juliet and Romeo + Juliet. In a more modern context, we also saw and analyzed a modern example of love in Damien Chazelle's "La La Land".
We have focused on why Shakespeare is still popular today, why we continue to study Shakespeare in school, and why actors and film-makers continue to produce new versions of Shakespeare's plays. In Romeo and Juliet, we read the prologue, Act 1 scene 3, Act 1 scene 5 and Act 2 scene 2. We've also on occasion attempted to rewrite Shakespeare to a more modern setting, where the students have used their analytical toolbox, imagination, and textual knowledge to do so.
The topic included a look at arranged marriage (India) and forced marriage (Lingua Franca/global issue). In this connection we examined the work of the United Nations to stop child marriages.
Texts:
- "Happy Endings", M. Atwood, 1983.
- "The English Handbook", T. Østergaard, 2017. (Lingua Franca)
- "Is arranged marriage really any worse than Craigslist?", A. Jain, 2005.
- Sonnet 130 "My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun"
- Sonnet 138 "When my love swears that she is made of truth"
- "I married a total stranger", A. Mansukhani, 2007.
- "Want to know how much Indian matchmaker Sima Taparia charges to find your 'perfect match", Economic Times, 2022.
- "In the words of Jaha Dukureh: “As long as I am alive, I will wake up every single day and scream to the world that FGM is wrong and child marriage is not different from rape", UN Women, 2022.
- "The Gift of the Magi" O. Henry (1905)
- "The Story of an Hour" K. Chopin (1894)
- "The Chaser" John Collier (1940)
Films/videos:
- "There is no escaping Shakespeare", New York Times, youtube.com.
- "Romeo and Juliet - Act 1 Scene 3 - "Nurse, where’s my daughter?" (Subtitles in modern English)", CorkShakespeare, youtube.com
- "Romeo and Juliet - Act 1 Scene 5 - "Where’s Potpan?" (Subtitles in modern English)", CorkShakespeare, youtube.com.
- "Breaking the Cycle of Child Marriages" (TED Talk), Zarif Sahin, 2013.
- "La La Land", Damien Chazelle, 2016.
Extracts of films:
- "Gnomeo and Juliet", Kelly Asbury, 2011.
- "Family Guy" season 18 episode 7, "Heart Burn", Seth MacFarlane, 2019.
- "Romeo + Juliet", Baz Luhrmann, 1996.
- "Indian Matchmaking" (Episode 1), S. Mundhra, 2020.
Approximately 70 pages
Grammar:
- Verbs (phrasal verbs and more)
- Pronouns
- Exam training
|