Game of Books: is there a good alternative to Macbeth?

I kind of touched on this idea in one of my earlier posts but after thinking about it more ive managed to come up with an example of every them from Macbeth in the TV show Game of Thrones. For the purposes of this blog post I will be focusing on season 1 of the show.

Apearence vs Reality
This is difficult almost from the shear amount of good examples from the show. The show itself is basically one big play on this theme. Everyone from Ned Stark to the brothel owner seems to have a hidden agenda and takes steps to hide it while they work towards it, somtimes with better results than others.

Good vs Evil
Prince Joffery is a word that I cant say here on a class blog, in fact, he is every word that I cant say here, yes, even that one, but most importantly he is the living embodiment of evil. Thats not me being harsh, he just is. Almost everyone else in the show is some shade of grey at this point, but he is evil. On the good side we have Ned Stark, who spends most of his time on the show trying to help people and his family, often working against the prince himself.

Role of Women
For this, we have a contrast. The loving mother Catlyn Stark and her daughter Arya Stark. Catlyn Stark is a women with 5 children and has developed quite the motherly instinct. She will do anything to protect he children right up unt... wait, season 1,right. Arya on the other hand has no interest in being at all lady like.

Fate and Free will
This doesnt really come in till the second season but once you are introduced to the idea of the lord of light you start to see how this world might completely deterministic. This works pretty much the same way it works in Macbeth, with a witch and lord who wants to become King.

if there are any themes I missed or you want me to expand more leave something in the comments below

Shakespeare should not be allowed in class.

There has been some debate recently about whether or not to continue to teach Shakespeare in English class. The majority of students don't' like Shakespeare (that is a assumption but if you want I can do a survey) and automatically recoil at the mention of his name. This automatic response makes the entire unit feel more like a chore than any other unit we do, and what do we really learn from him that we couldnt get from other playwrights? we can right essays and quote lines from any play, so teaching us those skills arent dependent on Shakespeare. Is it because Shakespeare's plays are still relevant today? There are probably hundreds of plays written in the past 397 years since he died that would also meet this requirement(full disclosure  I don't watch or read plays outside of class). Shakespeare was a great writer, but do we still need to be talking about him all these centuries later? I think it is time we move on to somebody more modern, possibly written in the last century, possibly even a different medium. All the themes present in Macbeth are also fully present (probably more so) in the TV show Game of Thrones. Just an Idea

The End

Here we sit at the end of 3U english, and I think I've learned more this year than in any other year I've done language studies. I think the blogs are an excellent addition to the course, and the ugcloud helps teachers connect with students much easier than before. In this year alone, I feel like I can now write and essay with confidence, analyse and respond to an image with clarity, and write an analytical paragraph on almost any prompt. Mrs. Le has been fantastically helpful. When an assignment is submitted, her comments directly on the page give insight on how to improve for next time. Without her help on the cloud and in class, I wouldn't have made it through the semester. So from all of us who haven't already, thank you for all your help and assistance throughout the year, Mrs. Le. We couldn't have done it without you!

And so with the end of this class we move onto 4U or 4M english. I hope that all the skills I've learned this year will help me throughout next year, and into post-secondary. Thank you!

Survey

Do this survey, please!

Grade 11 English

So today is the last day of Grade 11 English for me. This English class has been so amazing. Ive never been one to do well in English, but this year I did really well, and I am so proud of myself for it. But of course I think the fact that Mrs. LE taught us in a way that wasnt the "normal" english class, really helped in alot of students succeeding. This unconventional style of teaching was more fun and engaging than writing essays all the time. Instead we were tuned into Social media like Twitter and Blogging, which is WAY more fun that writing essays! So I'd like to thank Mrs Le for all shes done for me. You are truly an amazing teacher! And also everyone else in the class, thank you for making such an enjoyable class aswell! have a great summer everyone, and as chessey as it sounds Be SAFE everyone!

Farewell

I just want to say, it's been a blast being in this class. I'm normally not a huge fan of English, but I enjoyed coming to this class every day, and learning all of our books (except Shakespeare, but that's an argument for another day. I'll make this short, but I'm gonna miss this class. My only complaint was us doing the 2 plays back-to-back. I was SO burnt out before we even started Shakespeare, I much rather would have read Kite Runner first. Anyways, good luck everyone!

Blogger troubles

You know that awkward moment when you've made like 5 blog posts but only 2 have been recorded because you forgot to put the your name label on them? Yeah that. It's like 2 in the morning and the exam is tomorrow/today for this class and I came on here to check and see if all my blogs were up and to respond to more of them, and discover that I have only labeled TWO. I mean, I know I've done more than that. Life is hard. Also, I have a headache. To be honest I think the stress is a bit too much. I'd like some government compensation for my troubles. Anyway, I like the IDEA of this whole blogger thing, but it really doesn't mix well with inattentive people like-dude there's a guy outside my apartment and I think he's selling drugs!