Topic 15

I think we should give on the little things everyday problems, like where to eat or how to dress. But if you really feel strongly towards something and actually know why you feel that way, you should fight hard for people to see your point. But sometimes that thought gets taken too seriously and we get wars. Which is a bummer.

Tactical Surrender

In many situation, you shouldn't back down, because perseverance is the best way to survive. But when the odds are entirely against you and you enemy thinks he knows it, back down and then attack him when he least expects it. Muahahaha! There are tactical places in wars where surrender is a good thing. Surrendering can save lives if the tides of the enemy are overwhelming.
In our own countries history, were were out numbered. Colonial America did not give up when faced against the most powerful nation at the time: Britain. As we all know, the colonies won. The truth of this all is; we shouldn't give up against things that are worth fighting for. Things that are for the greater good. Like freedom and protection. Fighting against evil desires is the eternal battle that we all fight. Do you just throw away our morals? NO! of course we don't. Or at least we shouldn't. Some do is the sad thing.
Deciding which out come is better should be the motivation for surrender.

i have issues with giving up. iv no doubt about it. thats part of the reason i am such a determined, motivated and fast distance runner. because distance running is such a difficult sport both physicaly and especial mentaly, only the strong of heart can truely be phenominal. but with such a strong mentality is a very critical weakness. distance runners dont know when to give up. there are few times that it would be smart to give up, but when those situations arise, it can be very dangerous. for example a few weeks ago it was the end of a meet and i was side by side with another guy trying to compete for all the points i could. we both were sprinting the last 200 meters of the 1500 and we were evenly matched. i managed to pull the strength from deep inside, and win. but there was a cost. iv severely injured my back and was not able to optimally preform at the district meet. in fact, i shouldnt have even run. but i did anyway and it was one of the most painful things iv ever experienced. now i have to get an MRI on Friday and hope that i dont need surgury. but thats a physical type of surrender. Mental surrender is a completely different story and trust me when i say i have very major issues with this. Giving up things or people that you know in your heart you never want to let go is the hardest thing iv ever had to do in my life. but there is a point when you realize its for the best. so you try to move on. you try to let go but you never really do. it is true that it is hard to do the right thing sometimes. unfortunately i know this all too well. but i try to move on. i try to be happy. dont work for crap though. especially when you are physically and mentaly breaking down. but the knowledge in my heart that giving things up is the best, would save me.because trust me, its one thing to know what to do with your mind. its a whole other thing to know what to do in your heart. and when those two contradict eachother, it leaves a path of destruction that takes a long time to rebuild.

Raise the white flag?

I don't think students should give up in school. Though I dislike some of my classes, I don't give up and fail the class. Its hard for me to keep trying in tougher situations, especially with people. I have trouble compromising if the person doesn't do their half, and I try to have patience, but I'm not always successful. I really wish I wouldn't give up on things such as eating healthier, or being less negative. I notice I don't give up when I have someone motivating me. I don't think people should surrender themselves to others. What I mean by this is I get irritated seeing people let other people abuse them physically or mentally. I think if a person is doing something that harms them and is ruining their life, then they should give up on the drug or whatever is affecting them. Overall, it depends on the situation in my opinion and who knows... there could be a small victory on letting something go.

Descretion is th Key

I personally have trouble with giving up. Its not that I give up too easily, its that I don't know when to give up. Sometimes it is all too early, other times I am "the captian of a sinking ship." I feel like giving up and cutting your losses can be a good stratagy. I am not really the best on this subject, sorry.

!42! Topic #15: No Retreat, No Surrender

When should you give up?
Is it really true that you should never surrender, never back down, always keep fighting?
Or does it make more sense to let something go, and try to conserve some effort/energy/resources of whatever kind, for the next fight?
What are the gradations, or the categories and criteria?  What sorts of things should you surrender on quickly, if anything, and what are the sorts of things you should never surrender?

Answers (If you haven't given up on this blog entirely, that is) by next Tuesday, June 1.

#14 Shakespeare Research

Is Shakespeare’s’ Macbeth Really Cursed?

Ask anyone in theater what the “Scottish play” is and they will immediately know what you are talking about. It’s the play Macbeth, by Shakespeare. Supposedly the play is cursed, so cursed that you can’t even say the name Macbeth in the theater without bad thing happening to you. Is this true?

To begin, one can look to the actual plot of the play, which is pretty dark. There is murder, deceit, evil and witchcraft all contained in this short play. It was originally performed for King James, who had written a book on how to detect witches. Knowing this, Shakespeare decided to put witchcraft into his play that he was performing for King James. He used actual black magic in one of the scenes of the play. There were witches (actors) dancing around a black cauldron, yelling and throwing things into the cauldron. However, the real witches weren’t very happy that Shakespeare exposed their witchcraft practices so they cast a spell on the play. Supposedly the spell has never been broken and still exists today.

What is the spell? According to Andrew Mann in his analysis The Curse of Macbeth, he states “Supposedly, saying the name "Macbeth" inside a theater will bring bad luck to the play and anyone acting in it. The only exception is when the word is spoken as a line in the play.” So assuming that this is true, what happens if you accidentally slip up and say the dreaded name? You need to act fast to ward off the curse! Again, according to Andrew Mann, he states in his analysis “In order to reverse the bad luck, the person who uttered the word must exit the theater, spin around three times saying a profanity, and then ask for permission to return inside. There are several other variations of this ritual that involve spitting over your shoulders or simply letting out a stream of cuss words. Some say that you must repeat the words "Thrice around the circle bound, Evil sink into the ground," or you can turn to Will himself for assistance and cleanse the air with a quotation from Hamlet.” So according to legend you better do something or you will be doomed to bad luck. Most actors in theater are aware of this and that is why the play Macbeth is referred to as the “Scottish play”.

So is this true? Have there been any instances where bad things have happened to actors that dared to speak the name Macbeth? Surely there would be many incidents documented if the legend were true. Well, as a matter of fact, there are many examples. Supposedly, Shakespeare himself had to perform the role of Lady Macbeth because the actor who was cast in that role suddenly got very ill and died. There are more cases that have been documented. According to Samantha Mann in her article Superstition and Macbeth: Curse of the Scottish Play, she has found the following real cases. “One of these most famous cases of real life tragedy striking a production of Macbeth occurred at New York's Astor Place, in 1849, when 31 people were killed when a full-scale riot broke out in the theatre”. She goes on with other examples from her article, “The curse of the play is said to have struck the legendary Laurence Olivier, when he was nearly hit by a stage weight, in 1937. The director and an actress, of the same production, were involved in a car accident on their way to the theatre. The production was hit with further bad luck when the theatre manager was killed by a heart attack during the dress rehearsal and, if that weren’t enough, Olivier’s sword broke during one of the fight scenes and ended up flying into the audience, hitting a man who later also had a heart attack”.

So what do you think? I think these little ‘incidents’ are pretty convincing! The fact that many actors refuse to say the name Macbeth implies that many in the theater company agree with me. If I were an actress I don’t think I would throw caution to the wind and take my chances. I would try not to repeat the name, and if I did on accident, I would quickly learn the art of spitting over my shoulder! I believe it’s better to be safe than sorry. So indeed, the curse lives on.

Lauren

Works Cited

Markham, Samantha. “Superstition and Macbeth: The Curse of The Scottish Play” Suite 101. 29 October 2009. Web. 24 May 2010. http://shakespeareantheatre.suite101.com/article.cfm/superstition_and_macbeth#i xzz0ouY5iJJ8

Mann, Andrew. “The Curse of Macbeth.” The Lone Conspirators. Web. 24 May 2010.

http://home.flash.net/~manniac/macb.htm