{"id":221,"date":"2016-02-23T17:29:54","date_gmt":"2016-02-23T17:29:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/?p=221"},"modified":"2016-02-24T19:39:09","modified_gmt":"2016-02-24T19:39:09","slug":"221","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/2016\/02\/221\/","title":{"rendered":"MS Students Delve Deeper Into Post-Elizabethan England & Motherhood With Guest Lecturer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Contributed by Julia Rubin,\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>6th & 8th Grade English Teacher<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

\"CbBzmoQUkAE6aF4\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Before departing for February break,\u00a0eighth graders welcomed visiting scholar and Hillbrook parent, Dr. Strohman to English class to guest lecture and lead Q&A in support of their study of Shakespeare\u2019s tragedy, <\/span>Macbeth<\/span><\/i>. <\/span><\/p>\n

During her visit, Dr. Strohman shared her scholarship on notions of queenship, motherhood, and the question of succession, particularly during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, who called herself the \u201cMother of England,\u201d pushing back against the dominant patriarchalism of the period. Beginning her lecture by addressing the transition from Queen Elizabeth to King James (to whom <\/span>Macbeth<\/span><\/i> was dedicated), conversation then turned toward larger questions eighth graders had about witchcraft, social norms, and expectations for women of the period, and, looking outside of Shakespeare\u2019s play, Dr. Strohman\u2019s experience as a scholar of literature, especially given that she herself is a mother and studies motherhood. <\/span><\/p>\n

The product of students\u2019 curiosity was a much deeper understanding of the topics which sparked their interest in the play. For example, students learned that during the period in which <\/span>Macbeth<\/span><\/i> was written, there were different views\u00a0of witchcraft: one, popular in rural areas,\u00a0tended toward\u00a0magical and folkloric influences, and the other, centered in urban areas, named witches as demons. King James\u2019s work <\/span>The Demonology<\/span><\/i> addresses this idea directly, and given the emphasis on witches in <\/span>Macbeth<\/span><\/i>, King James\u2019 obsession with witchcraft was explicitly addressed by Shakespeare in his writing of the play.
\n<\/span>
\nAs discussion unfolded, it became clear that the interplay between notions of witches versus mothers presents itself most clearly in the play through the two significant female characters in <\/span>Macbeth<\/span><\/i>, Lady Macbeth and Lady Macduff. While Lady Macduff upholds all expectations of women at the time, namely that she is obedient, chaste, and silent, Lady Macbeth represents all that is opposite. She is moreover neither maternal nor nurturing, and would have been considered \u201cunnatural\u201d and \u201cunruly\u201d as her will to power leads her to contribute to more and more extreme acts of violence over the course of the play. As Dr. Strohman noted in her lecture, Lady Macbeth might have even been called \u201cmonstrous,\u201d an important descriptor for witches at the time.<\/span><\/p>\n

We will soon follow up this immersive learning experience with an opportunity to attend\u00a0a live production of Macbeth<\/i>.\u00a0Having learned so much in anticipation of seeing the play, the live production is sure to be a treat!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Contributed by Julia Rubin,\u00a06th & 8th Grade English Teacher Before departing for February break,\u00a0eighth graders welcomed visiting scholar and Hillbrook parent, Dr. Strohman to English …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","content-type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[134,62],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english","category-hands-on-learning"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":226,"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221\/revisions\/226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}