CSEC English

Hi there! Hope you are enjoying Shakespeare’s Tempest; it’s a great play. To help you with English A requirements, we’re taking a look at summarizing. Read on now, and enjoy your CSEC English page!

ENGLISH B—SHAKESPEARE’S Episode 4 The attempted assassination of Prospero—a comic sub-plot.

While the aristocratic passengers of the ship are plotting to assassinate King Alonso, Caliban, along with Trinculo and Stephano, is plotting to kill Prospero and marry Miranda off to Stephano. Before Prospero arrived, Sycorax, Caliban’s mother, had used her magic to confine Ariel, a spirit being, in a split pine, and had left her son, Caliban, to wander freely—king of the island, in effect. Prospero had undone the magic spell, setting Ariel free, but putting Caliban to work, and subjecting him to harsh discipline and punishments.

Caliban is resentful because, to his mind, Prospero is a usurper. He is drawn to the two drunken fellows, Trinculo and Stephano chiefly because they ply him with alcohol, but also because they agree to partner with him in his scheme to kill Prospero and become owners of the island.

Their comic activities run parallel to the more serious actions of Antonio and Sebastian in their bid to kill Alonso and seize the kingdom of Naples.

The three schemers meet

The partnership begins when Caliban, who has been sullenly gathering firewood for Prospero, hears an oncoming storm and fears that Prospero is sending his spirits to punish him. He falls flat on the ground in the hope that he will not be seen. Trinculo, looking for a place to shelter from the rain, hides under Caliban’s garment. He is not sure if Caliban is a man or a fish or if he is alive or dead. Stephano next arrives, drinking from a bottle, singing a bawdy song, and clearly ‘under the influence’.

Caliban, thinking that the two have been sent by Prospero, begs them not to torment him. Stephano, in his drunken state, tries to work out what kind of fourlegged talking monster he has discovered, and wonders if he can take him back to Europe and make a fortune showing him off to people there.

Stephano gives Caliban some of his alcohol, winning him over completely, and causing Caliban to pledge allegiance to the man who brings such ‘celestial liquor’.

Trinculo reveals himself to Stephano, delighted to discover that he is not the only survivor of the shipwreck and to learn that Stephano has a stash of wine to keep them happy for quite a while. Eager for more wine, Caliban offers to show the two all the delights of the island.

Ariel intervenes

For a while the three enjoy their total freedom as the wine flows abundantly. But soon Caliban shows a preference for Stephano, causing a rift between the two Europeans. That antagonism is made much worse when Ariel (invisible to the three) approaches and makes provocative comments, disguising his voice so that he sounds like Trinculo.

Caliban outlines his plan to Stephano, despite interruptions from Ariel pretending to be Trinculo. Caliban will lead them to Prospero’s cell, and they will cut Prospero’s throat and make off with Miranda. They move on, led along by Ariel’s music.

But Prospero has instructed Ariel well, and he leads the drunken companions through prickly gorse and slimy ponds as punishment for their wicked plans. They are distracted from their purpose (much to Caliban’s annoyance) when they discover some fine clothes hung out by Ariel for them to find. At last Prospero brings the foolish plot to an end by setting spirits (in the shape of dogs) on the three, causing them to run for their lives, howling at the tops of their voices.

At last, Ariel rounds them up and brings them in disgrace to Prospero in the presence of King Alonso, his courtiers and the boatswain. Even Caliban can now see what a fool he has been to kneel and pledge allegiance to a drunken butler! How could a man of Stephano’s caliber possibly be ‘king’ of the isle? Is Caliban himself qualified to be king? What kind of rulers would the two of them be?

Dramatic effectiveness.

If you have a chance to see a production of The Tempest, you will notice that some scenes (e.g. the visit of the three goddesses) are very dignified, with solemn music, graceful movements and stately language. In sharp contrast, the scenes with Caliban and his drunken companions are undignified, vulgar, clumsy and rowdy. What is the effect? We may laugh at the clowns for a while, but we surely agree that we’d rather live with order and harmony.

SPELLING

Here are 15 words that are frequently misspelt. Ask someone to test you and see if you can spell all of them correctly. Check any new words in your dictionary. Write out any words that you couldn’t spell, and make sure they will never catch you again!

Opportunity, strenuous, strictly, tragedy, vehemently, vengeance, weird, wholly, width, willful, withhold, yield, zealous.

vicinity, villain,

HOW TO DO A SUMMARY

Last week we looked at how to write a summary. We saw that the key ideas are always found in the topic sentences, so those are what you must look for.

Read the following passage slowly and carefully. Our job is to extract from it the writer’s views on how fashion designers have affected women. As you get to the end of each paragraph, ask yourself if it contains any information on this topic. Then look at our summary of that paragraph, and see if you can understand how we have extracted the key idea and have omitted all extra material

It is rather nice not to be a woman. I do not say this because I wish to be free from the boredom of housekeeping, or the dubious joys of giving comfort to a small band of uncivilized infants. No, my joy comes from being free from the whims and fancies of those people who call themselves fashion designers. (Nothing here about the writer’s views on how fashion designers have affected women..)

Have you, for instance, ever looked at the shape of women’s shoes and, in turn, the shape of women’s feet? No wonder a woman takes off her shoes at the slightest opportunity. My wife once bought a pair that she knew would cause her intolerable pain. But, she said, they were too beautiful to resist. And, I assure you, shoes are not the only culprits. So when you see a well-dressed woman walking down the street, remember that, more often than not, you are watching a living monument to pain and torture. (Women endure torture to be fashionably dressed.)

There must have been a time in our history when women wore clothing as protection, not only from the elements but from prying eyes. That time has long since gone, and from the look of things will not return in the near future. The eyes do not have to pry, they just have to be open, that’s all. I swear if designers could make money out of not clothing women at all, they would do so. (Clothing should protect from the elements and from prying eyes, but fashionable clothes do neither.)

Indeed fashion designers continue to dupe women into squandering money which they cannot afford. They influence women into believing they have to discard as ‘old’ a skirt bought a month ago and buy the ‘fashionable’ slinky pair of tight-fitting blue jeans by Pierre Conman. If they do not have the latest, the designers say, they will not only look odd but be undesirable as women. (Designers trick women into discarding almost new clothes, suggesting they will look odd and undesirable in anything but the latest style.)

This leads women to consider no longer their own particular shapes before buying clothes. Short fat women don mini mini-skirts and tall skinny ones have a wardrobe of dresses with vertical lines. They have been led to believe that once a style is in fashion they will look good in it. (Instead of buying to suit her own body- shape, a woman believes that if something is in style, it will look good.)

I cannot say however that all fashions are unappealing. The truth is there are some that enhance beauty of the female form, and I am fascinated by bolero jackets, culottes and dresses that I have been told have been cut on the ‘A’ line, which must not be confused with the Princess, or other lines. Cold shoulders too, in spite of their name, are quite attractive without being revealing. Certainly some styles enhance female beauty)

Perhaps I should say that I used to like these styles because I no longer see them. In the fashion world, the rule appears to be ‘here today, gone tomorrow’. A woman may leave home in the morning in the height of fashion and return in the afternoon in a style that is old and outmoded, without changing her dress. (B ut fashions have short life spans so it is challenging to keep in style.)

(Modified from

Writing Summaries and Statistical Reports

CAUGHT IN THE SLIPS

We have two common slips for you to think about today. Look at this sentence

The change in his behaviour birds.

Avoid

“is as a result of”. is as a result of his newly found interest in song

Look at these more stylish sentences:

• The change in his behaviour birds. • His changed behaviour birds. results from his newly found interest in song is the consequence of

And here’s another slip that people make: (Incorrect)

by Paul King) his newly found interest in song I am living here since I was thirteen.

The speaker is using the wrong tense. The present perfect tense is needed: I have been living here since I was thirteen. (Correct)