12/5/19 Huda Jafri Period 5

Sophomores 2020
Huda Jafri
Period 5

Aim: How does the rhetorical device of paralipsis create a sense of irony in Macbeth's dynamic shift of character?

          Today’s lesson started with a Pre Assessment that asked us to select a sentence that demonstrated the use of paralipsis. The sentences to choose from were A, I am what I am, B, Disregard what I’m about to say, C, Forget the past; embrace the future, or D, Eat until you are full. 
          I had never even heard of paralipsis before today’s lesson, and after discussing it with my group, I realized they hadn't either. We decided to break up the word into two different words, “para”, and “lipsis”. We noticed that “para” was the beginning of the word “parallel”, and “lipsis” looked like “ellipses”, which can indicate continuation. From this, we determined the answer to be A, because “I am” repeats in the sentence. 
          As it turns out, our answer ended up being incorrect, and the actual definition of paralipsis is drawing attention to something by saying not to pay attention to it. Mrs Fusaro opened up a slide full of text, and then proceeded to tell us not to read it. However, we were all tempted to read the board, simply because it was there, making it an example of paralipsis. “Don’t look down” is another perfect example, as it makes people more inclined to look down, even though the literal meaning would be not to look down. More examples include “No offense but…”, “Not to be rude but…”, or “Don’t look now”. This makes paralipsis a type of paradox, since it is a self contradictory statement. Some also argue that paralipsis is a type of reverse psychology, since it promotes an action by stating the opposite of that action. My classmate gave an example of this to be when your parents say “Don’t go to bed” as a way for you to go to bed.

          Thus, the answer to the Pre-Assessment was B, “Don’t look now”, because saying “don’t look” makes people more inclined to look. 
          After this, we had a read aloud of Act 3 Scene 2 and 3. We were trying to look for examples of paralipsis in the text. We found an example in scene 2 line 51, where Macbeth says “Be innocent of the knowledge”. In simpler terms, Macbeth is basically saying that Lady Macbeth should disregard everything he said. As we learned from the Do Now, this is an example of paralipsis, because him telling her something and then saying to ignore it is contradictory. 
          Other things our class noticed about Scene 2 was how much Macbeth's tone changed compared to the beginning of the novel. In line 38, Macbeth says to Lady Macbeth “Make our faces vizards to our hearts, Disguising what they are.” This is similar to when Lady Macbeth said “Look like th' innocent flower, But be the serpent under 't.” This shows the influence of Lady Macbeth on Macbeth. To add on, in lines 58 and 59, Macbeth rhymes “drowse” and “rouse”, and “ill” and “still.” This rhythmic speaking creating a chanting feeling, which led to a creepy tone. This reminded me of “Lord of the Flies”, which we read earlier in the year, and how the boys chanted while they were acting as savages. 
          In Act 3 Scene 3 of Macbeth, we see the murderers who are planning to kill Banquo and Fleance act out their plan. I noticed that there were only 2 murderers earlier in the book, but there were now 3. Mrs Fusaro explained that during the first production of Macbeth, someone jumped on stage with the murderers and pretended to be one of them. The actors, wanting to go on with the show, pretended like everything was normal and acted out the scene as planned. This was such a funny encounter that they decided to add it to the play.
          Our next activity was to analyze and find symbols in Macbeth’s speech in Scene 2. My group broke it up into different sections. The first few lines discussed how killing Duncan was just the beginning of the process, and how they still have a long way to go. The next part talks about how they still have to be careful about what they do, since they can still be caught. Although I was a bit confused about the “We will eat our meal in fear” sentence, my group helped me realize that it shows the guilt and trauma Macbeth still feels, but now he is saying he must deal with it. Finally, Macbeth tries justifying their actions at the end by saying Duncan is in a better place now, and he can not be betrayed anymore. He even goes as far as saying Duncan's situation is better than his own, because at least Duncan doesn't have to worry about getting caught.
          Next, we looked at the different symbols present in the scene. The two prominent ones were the snake and sleep. In the first line it states “We have scorched the snake, not killed it”. The snake represents Macbeth’s ambition, and this line means that he has a long way to go before he is out of the woods. Next, he says “We will eat our meal in fear, and sleep in the affliction of these terrible dreams that shake us nightly.” In this case, sleep is the one time you are at peace throughout the day. However, Macbeth can’t even sleep peacefully because of his guilt caused nightmares. 

          Our final activity of the day was to create a buzzfeed like Top 5 List about the best and worst things about being king. My group came up with 4 Pros and 3 Cons. 

Best Things About Being King

1. Macbeth became more confident. 

2. He had a higher status. 

3. He finally gained acceptance from his wife. 

4. He fulfilled his prophecy. 

Worst Things About Being King

1. Constant guilt. 

2. Fear

3. Had to live up to Duncan’s standard. 

          After we discussed as a whole class, Mrs Fusaro pointed out that most of the pros we listed had some type of loophole to make them a con. For instance, someone said that he had more money now that he was king. However, he wasn’t poor before, so it didn’t make much of a difference to him. To add on, my group added that he fulfilled the prophecy, but it was pointed out that he only fulfilled half of it, and he had a long way to go until the rest was finished. Finally, the kingship lives and dies with Macbeth, as he can’t have children, so the fact that his children can become king is not a pro either.

          This shows that there was no point in Macbeth becoming King, as he doesn’t benefit much. He has to kill so many people to avoid being caught, so his job is never truly done, and the drawbacks overall outweigh the benefits. 

Reflection:

          This lesson taught me about paralipsis, and how it can be used to draw attention to a subject while claiming not to. In some situations, it can make the speaker seem egotistical. For instance, in Act 2 Scene 2, Macbeth tells his wife to ignore everything he told her about his plan. By saying this, he is acting like she is too “fragile” to know about murder, which is ironic considering she orchestrated Duncan’s death. This also plays into the gender roles of the time, as he now seems like the more “masculine” one in the relationship, whereas earlier in the book, Lady Macbeth was constantly calling him a coward. Considering this tool is commonly used in passages, we wouldn’t be able to fully analyze text if we did not understand it. To continue, this lesson also helped me understand Shakespearean texts more. I tend to have trouble analyzing and understand what he means, but when we break it down like how we did in this lesson, it became easier. These are definitely important techniques to understand if you want to understand what you read, and it is vital that we learn about it.