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Group D:
Lit Circle Meeting#4

Lit Circle Meeting #3
(Feb. 3, 2009)

Here are the assignments from Group D for the CFT Lit Circles:

**Literary circle** **Who is Shakespeare and when did he live? **
 * VH**
 * Fact finder/historian **

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) is considered to be one of the finest playwrights in history. He was born in Stratford. His work consists of 38 plays, 154 sonnets, 2 long narrative poems and several other ones. He wrote many classics such as Romeo and Juliet, A Winter’s tale and many more. He is regarded as the greatest writer in the English language. ** Stratford is the town that made Shakespeare his own. The main attraction in Stratford is Shakespeare’s birthplace. He was born in a small cottage.
 * Where is Stratford?

Bishopsgate is a road and ward in the east part of the city in London. It is named after one of the original seven gates in London wall. Bishopsgate was once divided into many parish’s each within it’s own parish church. One of the churches was the Saint-Helens church. It is a very historic medieval church and former monastic establishment with many ancient funerary monuments and a stained glass window depicting Shakespeare, a very famous former parishioner. 
 * Where is Bishopsgate? **

Robert Devereux is the best known of the many holders of the title Earl of Essex. He was a military hero and a royal favorite, but following a poor campaign against Irish rebels during the Nine years war in 1599, he defies the Queen and was executed for treason.
 * Who is Lord Essex? **


 * MKM **
 * Passage Picker **

1st passage, page 99:

He was in his thirties then, with all his glory still ahead of him; but to us, so much younger, he seemed to have a lifetime of experience. Like me, he had come o London to make his fortune-though it is a lie, I am sure, that he had run away from Stratford, as I from Cumberland, in fear of the law. But he was a countryman, and knew what it was to shear sheep and cart hay. He would catch my eye sometimes when I was homesick mood, and give me a glance as much as to say: I know what it is.

I have chosen this passage, because I find it interesting that fugitives from the law would choose to hide themselves in the world of theatre with its costumes, its masks, its make-up and its nomadic ways. In many ways this is similar to today's fugitive, who hides underground and creates a life under the radar.

2nd passage, page 100: //<span style="color: rgb(39, 78, 19);">He listened to all our tales of Desmond's company, and laughed when he heard of our poor reception at Stratford-upon-Avon. He laughed again, more ruefully, when he heard that our most popular play was his own Two Gentlemen of Verona. // //<span style="color: rgb(39, 78, 19);">

Response: I picked this passage because it demonstrates what kind of a person Shakespeare is. He is an open-minded person with a sense of humor. I admire these qualities and think that Shakespeare is a good role model for everybody. //

<span style="color: rgb(39, 78, 19);">He was in his thirties then, with all his glory still ahead of him; but to us, so much younger, he seemed to have a lifetime of experience. Like me, he had come o London to make his fortune-though it is a lie, I am sure, that he had run away from Stratford, as I from Cumberland, in fear of the law. But he was a countryman, and knew what it was to shear sheep and cart hay. He would catch my eye sometimes when I was homesick mood, and give me a glance as much as to say: I know what it is.

Response: I have chosen this passage, because I find it interesting that fugitives from the law would choose to hide themselves in the world of theatre with its costumes, its masks, its make-up and its nomadic ways. In many ways this is similar to today's fugitive, who hides underground and creates a life under the radar.

3rd passage, page 100: //<span style="color: rgb(39, 78, 19);">He listened to all our tales of Desmond's company, and laughed when he heard of our poor reception at Stratford-upon-Avon. He laughed again, more ruefully, when he heard that our most popular play was his own Two Gentlemen of Verona. //<span style="color: rgb(39, 78, 19);">

Response: I picked this passage because it demonstrates what kind of a person Shakespeare is. He is an open-minded person with a sense of humor. I admire these qualities and think that Shakespeare is a good role model for everybody.

<span style="color: rgb(127, 96, 0);">
 * <span style="color: rgb(127, 96, 0);">OD **
 * <span style="color: rgb(127, 96, 0);">Summarizer **

Kit and Peter were acting in Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet. Kit was supposed to be Juliet. When she saw the Sir Philip Morton was in the audience she ran off. Peter had to act as Juliet. After the play Kit came back and Burbage was going to hit her. Then Shakespeare told him not to that he would talk to Kit. Kit told Peter and Shakespeare that she was supposed to marry Sir Philip Morton and so she ran off. If sir Philip saw her dressed as a girl he would surely recognize her. Shakespeare was writing another play and he gave the script to Peter. Peter and Kit were walking and a man dressed in yellow came and asked to read the script because he wouldn’t be there for the first production. Peter sold him the script and the yellow man never gave it back. Kit found out where he lived and Peter bought daggers and scaled the wall of his house while Kit pretended to be a damsel in distress. She attracted all of the guards. Peter found the script and on it there was something he hadn’t underlined. He also found a sonnet.

<span style="color: rgb(11, 83, 148);"> <span style="color: rgb(11, 83, 148);"> <span style="color: rgb(12, 52, 61);">**SSL** <span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(12, 52, 61);">Response: I think that Kit and Peter will try to runaway from Sir Phillip together and grow a long lasting friendship. Lets hope they don't die!!! <span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(12, 52, 61);">Response: Personally, I would be just as loyal as Kit and Peter were to Shakespeare. I would not let anything bad happen to his script. Though I would not scale a building, I would wear a dress and pretend to be a damsel in distress. <span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(12, 52, 61);">Response: This sentence is of no more importance than the other phrases in the script so it must mean more to the person who underlined it than to others. I think that the yellow gentleman underlined it because he is planning to either copy that sentence to use in another script or he wants to plan something that has to do with devilish cannons or people who die from them.
 * Discussion Director**
 * <span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(12, 52, 61);">1. Now we know how Kit Kirkstone and Sir Phillip Morton are connected, how do you think the relationship between Peter and Kit will change? **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(12, 52, 61);">2. ** <span style="color: rgb(12, 52, 61);"> **<span style="color: rgb(11, 83, 148);">(I am referring to when Kit wore a dress and pretended to be damsel in distress while Peter snuck up to a room and started rummaging through the yellow gentleman’s things) <span style="color: rgb(12, 52, 61);"> **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(12, 52, 61);">Though they needed to get the script back, what Kit and Peter did was extremely dangerous. Do you think that with dangerous men lurking about just like in the story, would you do the same thing with a partner just as Kit and Peter did? **
 * //__<span style="font-family: Calibri; color: rgb(12, 52, 61);">3. __//**//__ <span style="color: rgb(12, 52, 61);"> <span style="color: rgb(11, 83, 148);">The nimble gunner. With linstock now the devilish cannon touches, And down goes all before them! __//
 * <span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(12, 52, 61);">What do you think that sentence means and who do you think underlined it and why? **