Journals: Marking Period 2
40 Points
Directions:
1. Make sure your Journals are complete, clearly labeled, and in the bin by 1/28 to receive credit!
2. Please indicate 2 journal entries you would like me to read using ***.
*****Your journals will be graded on completion (Each should be 200-300 words in length) as well as
the development of your responses with respect to depth, thoroughness, and insight.
Journal # 1 Beowulf
Beowulf is considered an EPIC hero of the Anglo-Saxon culture.
From your reading, what traits does Beowulf exhibit that reflect what we’ve learned about Anglo-Saxon
culture? Try to cite specific examples.
Take a moment to reflect on characters (both fictional and real) who are considered heroes in our
culture.
What traits do they reflect that are valued in our society?
Journal # 2 Grendel
Respond to the excerpt from Grendel…You can focus on…
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Comparisons to Beowulf
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Use of Language
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Beowulf’s whisperings: What is he saying? Italicized parts on page 170
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How it reflects Existentialism:
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People live on the hope of tomorrow, though tomorrow brings us one day closer to
death…People live as if they’ didn’t know the certainty of death.
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The world is strange, inhuman, foreign place
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The world is absurd and meaningless…
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The individual is responsible for giving meaning to life…
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The crisis of rational humans trying to make sense of an irrational world.
Journal #3 Canterbury Tales
The Pardoner delivers a tale which he says “preach[es] against the very vice / [he] make[s his] living
out of --- avarice” (Avarice is Greed)
Write a response to the tale
What were the attitudes toward Death portrayed in the story?
What was the moral of the Pardoner’s Story?
Does the Pardoner’s hypocrisy make you feel different about this message?
Can you think of people today who preach a message that they don’t practice?
and positive reputation?
How important is your reputation to you?
or....
“The Wife of Bath’s Tale” explores the differences between men and women as well as the nature of
marriage.
Write a response to this story. Use the following questions as guidelines:
What questions did this tale bring up for you?
Do you agree with the old woman, is women’s first desire power over men?
What are the fundamental (biological, mental, emotional, spiritual) differences between men and
women? How do they affect their interactions with each other?
Is equality in a marriage ideal? Or should one person be dominant?
Will marriage last in our society?
Journal # 4: Macbeth and Buddhist Philosophy
In Act 1, we see Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s craving for the crown lead them into a pact with darkness
to obtain their goal.
Can you identify with the couple’s craving for power? With the feelings of desire, greed, and ambition
generally? Explain.

David Loy outlines the Buddhist concepts of “dukkha” (suffering) and “annata” (not-self),
explaining that “it is the very nature of an unawakened sense-of-self to be bothered about
something” and to seek to alleviate that feeling of emptiness with something outside ourselves.

Respond to the concepts that the reading brought up.
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Could you grasp what Loy was saying?
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Does any of it resonate with you?
Journal #5 Mirror Neurons and Empathy
In Act 2, we see Macbeth after he has murdered Duncan.
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How would you characterize his state?
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What actions and language support this?
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Reflect on the “Mirror Touch” segment of Invisibilia: “Entanglement.”
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What did you learn?
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How do these ideas connect to or support Macbeth’s state of being after the Murder of
Duncan?
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ADDRESS PROMPT COMPLETELY
Journal Entry #6 Phillip Zimbardo "The Psychology of Evil"
In Act 4, we see Macbeth send men to kill Lady Macduff and her children
How would Phillip Zimbardo’s TED Talk explain these men’s actions?
Reflect on the Ted Talk: What did you learn? What did you think?
Milgram Experiment
Stanford Prison Experiment
“If you want to change a person, change the situation. And to change it, you've got to know
where the power is, in the system. ”
Being a hero.
“So what are the seven social processes that grease the slippery slope of evil?
Mindlessly taking the first small step.
Dehumanization of others.
De-individuation of self.
Diffusion of personal responsibility.
Blind obedience to authority.
Uncritical conformity to group norms.
Passive tolerance of evil through inaction, or indifference.”