Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Class Summary 2/16/15

Welcome to Class!

Greetings fair ladies and gentlemen!  So good to see you all at long last!

We began with a brief overview of the structure and content of the class. What exactly will we be doing over the next 14 weeks?  Students will be engaged in learning across three integrated areas:

• Historical analysis of the Middle Ages (the setting for our book of monologues)
• Literary analysis (reading and class discussion of the monologues)
• Dramatic interpretation and performance (our semester will culminate in a student production of the monologues).

And, we will be engaged in a fair amount of hands-on learning. Students will work individually to develop "character museums" representing their chosen monologues and together to design and build a theatrical set for the final performance.

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The Feudal Life 

Students learned that feudalism became the primary structure of society during the Middle Ages.  It was a system that tended to give power to a few in command and limited those beneath them severely.  

Feudal Pyramid of Power

A basic pyramid type structure illustrates the king at the top, with nobles/lords, knights, and peasants/serfs beneath.  

We discussed the term vassal (a person in a subservient position to another, granted land or the use of land in return for loyalty and protection) and fief (an estate of land, given on condition of feudal service and loyalty).

To illustrate the realities of life in feudal society, we played a simple game. Students were randomly assigned role cards (king, noble, knight, or peasant) and 10 candies each (representing crops from their harvest).  We then imagined a typical scenario where each vassal would be required to give a certain portion of their crops to the individual above them - peasant to knight, knight to noble, and noble to king. The distribution of candies at the end of the simulation helped illustrate the inequities of the feudal system.

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Barbary the Mudslinger

Peasant girl

We read our first monologue together from Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! (Barbary the Mudslinger) and discussed the theme of the piece (adversity and regret). Students worked in pairs to answer questions about the author's use of language to convey the theme. We did not have time to fully discuss, so please continue to think about these questions at home - and re-read the monologue.  Does this seem like a character you'd like to perform?

Students should keep in mind that although Good Master! Sweet Ladies! is not a lengthy book, the material it contains is very rich. This is not a book that is meant to be read quickly and put down, but rather read and re-read for deeper meaning and nuance.  We will be spending time searching for the themes of each monologue, understanding the authors use of figurative language, and discovering for ourselves the emotion underlying each character - all of which will be necessary to truly bring these medieval personalities alive in our dramatic performances.

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Homework

To prepare for class next week, students should:

• Complete the theme worksheet for the monologue "Barbary the Mudslinger" (you worked on this in pairs in class).
  
• Write definitions for the vocabulary words on the worksheet - look up the ones we did not discuss in class.
• Read the monologue "Hugo, The Lord's Nephew" several times and complete this worksheet - bring to class for discussion!
  
• Read the first two chapters of Catherine Called Birdy (September and October journal entries). This is the first of the (optional) historical fiction novels that students will be reading together this semester.