Then he is dead?

When Macbeth dies at the end of the play, I do not believe that it was at all worth it. He went through so much to get to the top, but once there he is miserable and haunted by all of the crimes he has committed. Although he gained power from these crimes, by the end of it all he was barely a functioning member of society due to all of his hallucinations and the fact that he was driving himself insane with subconscious guilt. I do believe he did this to himself though. He was already in a slight position of power, but wanted more, and got greedy to the point that he would do anything to get to the top. (With, of course, a large push in the 'right direction' from Lady McB.) His struggle to prove to his wife that he is just as strong as her only led to him committing very evil crimes and having way too much to cover up, leaving his stressful life in shambles. I also think that since he was already so well respected in the beginning, if he had just waited a little longer and played fairly (to say the least), he would've eventually made it to the top, but would've been able to gain a lot more from it because he would've been a lot happier and been able to make good decisions that affected him and his people positively.

Thankful

Hey, this may be a little late, but it's never too late to be appreciative of those who are essential in making your day to day life a little less awful.

To start,  I am thankful for the fact that I was placed in the Brit Lit class that I'm in. It is one of the only classes at Whitney that I can tolerate anymore, and I am obviously very grateful for that. I enjoy the fact that Mr. McCarthy actually allows us to give our opinions and (seems to) respect them and take each one into consideration. This class is, I believe, the only one I have raised my hand in all year. I also like the way we approach the topics that we do, and that Mr. McCarthy uses other resources to further explain the main idea behind something which allows us to think much more than we would if we were just constantly answering questions out of a textbook.

Although there are a lot of people in my class who's company I enjoy, I have to give major props to Shiri and Carolyn. They're always there for me even when I don't deserve it, and without them I probably wouldn't have made it this far into the year. If either of you end up reading this post somehow, you have both helped me through a lot of very difficult things in such condensed period of time, and for that I am extremely grateful.

I am also grateful for the fact that this class is my first period of the day. In the past I have had gym and geometry as my first periods, which always made me dread the start of the day even more. I can honestly say I have never woken up and thought anything negative about going to English, and when you have a class you actually enjoy as your first period, it definitely sets a slightly more positive vibe for the rest of the day, as opposed to having to wake up early and make a long, terrible commute to a class that you can't stand.

"Unsex me here, from the crown to the toe, top-full of direst cruelty"

"Unsex me here, from the crown to the toe, top-full of direst cruelty".
Lady MacBeth is intense. In saying this quote, "Unsex me here, from the crown to the toe, top-full of direst cruelty", she is asking for every remorseful, ladylike, guilty bone in her body to be removed and be replaced with cruelty, from her 'crown to her toes'. She is trying to prove she is masculine enough to kill Duncan, and is asking to be "unsexed", to be removed of all her feminine qualities, because stereotypically, girls cannot be cunning or strong, girls cannot be cruel, no, the only thing girls can do is sit pretty and make their men look good, especially in that time. Lady MacBeth knows that she is more than this, and all though she is a little bit of a nutjob sadist (for lack of better words), she is kind of awesome. Her character is one of the closest things we could find to a feminist in British literature. This woman knows what she wants and how she is going to do it, and is not going to let anyone tell her she cannot do it because of her gender and how her gender is supposed to go about in society. That is why this quote, this little speech she gives actually, is so powerful. She is basically saying if you are not man enough to do it, I am. I believe in this enough to allow myself to overpower the guilt and remorse with cruelty, the "masculine" overtaking the "feminine", Allowing myself to become so cruel and ruthless that it no longer affects me, qualities that a woman cannot possess, "unsex me here". Allow me to do this. She believes in it so much, and I think instead of looking at her like this evil bitch of a character, we should be looking at her like this amazing, mentally strong character. I feel like she feels as though she is taking on the responsibility of both her and her husband at times, she thinks for him, and she wants to be able to act for him when his actions are not correct. 
I am definitely a Lady McB supporter.

No New Tale To Tell

            The Canterbury Tales aren't really my thing. I read them, I listened to everyone present them, I really did try, but honestly, I cannot stand the whole old english thing. (Should I be posting that in a blog for a brit lit class?) It's terrible, it makes me want to cry. I did enjoy analyzing the tale that Shiri, Kristy and I were given to present, however. At first glance it seemed just like another strange piece of old British literature that will make me want to tear my hair out, but upon deeper analysis, and an english translation on sparknotes, we found that the story is really about chickens doing some pretty funky things. (And, you know, some underlying themes about never being too cocky for your own good and the secret meaning behind dreams, but the chicken thing was what actually got me interested. If it was humans I would've slept through the whole thing.) Most of them, upon hearing my classmates presentations, were actually pretty weird. This doesn't mean that I would ever read them again, however. I am so very glad that's over.

Truth

          The idea of truth is one of the most important ideas that is interwoven throughout Grendel, and is shown quite a few different ways. Grendel's mothers struggle to try and keep the truth hidden from Grendel throughout the early years of his life, and whether it affected him positively or negatively, parallels a question we face quite often in everyday life, is it better to allow someone to live in a happy ignorance or is it better to force everyone to face reality? Both, as shown in the novel, can have their share of good and bad outcomes, and although society as a whole may never be able to answer this question, I am definitely all for telling things as they are from the start. I think much of what Grendel feels, alongside the anger that comes from the ideas that " what these people are doing is so wrong, is utter disappointment and a huge let down that hit him a little too hard. Although he felt loneliness all throughout childhood, and began to feel that his mother may not love him the way she should, he still had this positive expectations of the way things really were, and wasn't going to let himself think that things were actually as bad, or worse, than they actually were, and his mother allowed him to think that.
The same goes for the shaper. The shaper tells stories that paint Hrothgar’s people and all the negative they're putting into the world in this great light, telling them that everything they are doing is right and to keep doing it, but more so. Since the shaper is viewed as such an important, trusted person, there's no  reason that Hrothgar's people would try to fix themselves and their actions. They are being told that everything they are doing is good, being continuously lied to.

Me

Hey, not totally sure what to put here, kinda feeling uncomfortable about the fact that everyone can read everything that I write. I'm Maddy, I'm a junior, I dance classical ballet, I play guitar, drums & piano, and I'm terrible at school. A good thing for Mr. McCarthy to know is that English and History are definitely my strong points, if this was an honors science or math class I'd already have an F. 

Look, here's my dog. She's super cute and small.