Preparing for the IOC (15%)
Best Way to Review
The best way to prepare for the IOC is to review all class notes, and online documents on all work –
Wordsworth poems, James Thurber, and William Shakespeare. You will be talking uninterruptedly for 8
minutes (less than that and you will not pass the 15% IOC), and this will be followed by 2 minutes of
questions from me on things upon which I need greater clarification or things that were not covered well.
For the second part of the IOC (10minute discussion), I will then direct you to a discussion on either
James Thurber’s My Life and Hard Times, OR, William Shakespeare’s Macbeth. In order to complete
the second half of the IOC effectively, beforehand, I would prepare a one page summary of all the
analysis items you would wish to discuss. I would review it well and start to remember significant quotes
that pertain to each piece.
Division of Time for the IOC
20 minutes to prepare after selecting a random Wordsworth poem
Recording:
8 minutes of uninterrupted, structured analysis on the poem
2 minutes of questions by the teacher
SHIFT To Second Work (teacher selects either Thurber’s My Life and Hard Times, OR Shakespeare’s
Macbeth
10 minute discussion (mainly student directed on that ONE text).
Structuring the IOC
It is vital to the success of your IOC in both sections to structure your oral effectively. Remember to have
direction with what you are saying in all aspects of the IOC.
1st Half Structure of Analysis of a Poem:
Introduction: greetings, your name, candidate identification number, the genre, name of the poem, author
of the piece you selected, and the time period, why the piece is unique, interesting, typical, worthy of
analysis (show your personal connection to the poem), then the thesis. (Remember the thesis must be
broad enough to allow the scope of a discussion of literary elements employed by the author). This thesis
must be addressed at times during the commentary, not just in the beginning and in the conclusion. The
reason for this is it gives your speech structure and persuasiveness. Remember that your structure to your
commentary might fall into first an analysis of why the form is significant, then why the structural
elements are significant, and then why the variety of language features are relevant; all of which point to
the bigger picture both intrinsically and extrinsically.
Analysis: Form, Structure, and Language features *Remember you can’t discuss a poem without
analyzing poetry technique.
Conclusion: Reiterate upon your rationale as to why the poem is significant. Speak to the author’s
writing style, connect to relevance to today and end on an upbeat note.
2nd Half Structure for IOC Discussion:
Even while it is a discussion lead by you, you need to structure ideas appropriately. This means you need
to sound persuasive. Before moving to a new point refer back to one previously mentioned for continuity
and use transitions more maturely than, first second, last, etc. Still have a holistic idea in mind as to why
Macbeth or My Life and Hard Times are such great pieces of literature. Speak to their universal appeal,
and bring out all the literary elements you think will get you the highest scores.
**Be enthusiastic at all times. Show IB examiners that English analysis is enjoyable and you take away a
lot from your ability to conduct literary exegesis. **
Points to Consider When Preparing for the 2nd part of the IOC
1) Characterize the relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. If the main theme of
Macbeth is ambition, whose ambition is the driving force of the play—Macbeth’s, Lady
Macbeth’s, or both? (discuss hamartia)
Act 3 Scene 1 serves to portray the changing nature of the relationship between Macbeth and Lady
Macbeth. The relationship between Lady Macbeth and Macbeth in Act 1 Scene 7 is distorted as
Macbeth, in Act 3 Scene 1, assumes the more dominating role as he demonstrates alarming acumen
and finesse when successfully persuading the murderers to kill Banquo. Yet, although the scenes
demonstrate an apparent exchange of roles between Lady Macbeth and Macbeth, the similarity
between the scenes is apparent in the way Macbeth’s closing words in Act 1 Scene 7, “I’m settled on
it then” parallel the murderer’s resolve in Act 3 Scene 1, “We’ve made up our minds, my Lord.”
2) Two scenes are persuasion: Macbeth is a play written by Shakespeare. The play has two
significant scenes of persuasion; first one in Act 1 sc vii and the second one in Act 3 sc i. There
are stark similarities and differences that draw attention of the audience.
In Act 1 sc vii, Lady Macbeth persuades Macbeth to kill Duncan when he was invited to the castle
and was fast asleep. And in Act 3 sc i, Macbeth persuades himself and the murderers (and to certain
extent Lady Macbeth) to kill Banquo.
Quasi-similar characteristic between the two scenes is that a character who is exhorting/persuading
the other character is convinced of what should be done before convincing the other character in the
play. Lady Macbeth is firm and obstinate that her husband should be the king of Scotland as soon as
she received the letter from Macbeth in Act 1 sc v –“and shalt be/ What thou art promised”. She
invites the dark forces of nature in the same scene to aid her husband. On the day the king Duncan
comes to dine and sleep in Macbeth’s castle in Inverness, Lady Macbeth firmly believes that it is
perfect time to kill him - “They have made themselves, and that their fitness now/ Does unmake you”.
Since Lady Macbeth believes it was perfect time for deed to be done, she can convince Macbeth.
Likewise, Macbeth is convinced of necessity of killing Banquo before convincing any other character
in the play. It does seem reasonable when he makes a stand through his soliloquy. If he does not kill
Banquo and his son, Macbeth has committed regicide for no one but Banquo’s family- “for Banquo’s
issue have I filed my mind, For them the gracious Duncan have I murdered”. Since Macbeth is certain
that Banquo is going to be a stumbling stone in his way, he can go to an extent of making false
accusation against his friend in front of other people.
3) Persuasive nature of human works in favour of the witches –something witches already seem to
know. Witches can avoid sole condemnation of tragedy and consequences in life of Macbeth and his
wife. They prophesied blessings not curse, and they never mentioned there should be bloodshed.
Witches knew that human beings have persuasion skill to convince themselves and others if they
wanted something desperately. Until the end of the play, audience cannot decide whom to blame.
4) One of the important themes in Macbeth is the idea of political legitimacy, of the moral
authority that some kings possess and others lack. With particular attention to Malcolm’s
questioning of Macduff in Act 4, scene 3, try to define some of the characteristics that grant or
invalidate the moral legitimacy of absolute power. What makes Duncan a good king? What
makes Macbeth a tyrant?
After Duncan’s death, the nobles of Scotland begin to grumble among themselves about what they
perceive as Macbeth’s tyrannical behavior. When Macduff meets Malcolm in England, Malcolm
pretends that he would make an even worse king than Macbeth in order to test Macduff’s loyalty to
Scotland. The bad qualities he claims to possess include lust, greed, and a chaotic and violent
temperament. These qualities all seem characteristic of Macbeth, whereas Duncan’s universally
lauded reign was marked by the king’s kindness, generosity, and stabilizing presence. The king must
be able to keep order and should reward his subjects according to their merits. For example, Duncan
makes Macbeth thane of Cawdor after Macbeth’s victory over the invaders. Perhaps the most
important quality of a true king to emerge in Malcolm’s conversation with Macduff is loyalty to
Scotland and its people above oneself. Macbeth wishes to be king to gratify his own desires, while
Duncan and Malcolm wear the crown out of love for their nation.
5) How does Shakespeare present historical and biblical allegory into the play?
Historically: The Gun Powder Plot of 1605, Devine Right of Kings, and biblically: original sin, and
the crucifixion.
6) An important theme in Macbeth is the relationship between gender and power, particularly
Shakespeare’s exploration of the values that make up the idea of masculinity. What are these
values, and how do various characters embody them? How does Shakespeare subvert his
characters’ perception of gender roles?
Manhood, for most of the characters in Macbeth, is tied to ideals of strength, power, physical courage,
and force of will; it is rarely tied to ideals of intelligence or moral fortitude. At several points in the
play, the characters goad one another into action by questioning each other’s manhood. Most
significantly, Lady Macbeth emasculates her husband repeatedly, knowing that in his desperation to
prove his manhood he will perform the acts she wishes him to perform. Macbeth echoes Lady
Macbeth’s words when he questions the manhood of the murderers he has hired to kill Banquo, and
after Macduff’s wife and children are killed, Malcolm urges Macduff to take the news with manly
reserve and to devote himself to the destruction of Macbeth, his family’s murderer. Ultimately, there
is a strong suggestion that manhood is tied to cruelty and violence: note Lady Macbeth’s speech in
Act 1, scene 5, when she asks to be “unsexed” so that she can help her husband commit murder. Yet,
at the same time, the audience is clearly meant to realize that women provide the push that sets the
bloody action of the play in motion. Macduff, too, suggests that the equation of masculinity with
cruelty is not quite correct. His comments show that he believes emotion and reflection are also
important attributes of the true man.
7) Discuss the role that blood plays in Macbeth, particularly immediately following Duncan’s
murder and late in the play. What does it symbolize for Macbeth and his wife?
8) Discuss Macbeth’s visions and hallucinations. What role do they play in the development of his
character?
9) Discuss the play Macbeth as it functions as a history and a moral play? Is justice served at the
end of the play?
10) Discuss Shakespeare’s use of the technique of elision, in which certain key events take place
offstage. Why do you think he uses this technique? King Duncan’s murder in Act 2 and Lady
Macbeth’s Murder in Act 5.
11) Characterize Shakespeare’s writing style in relation to: poetic and prosaic technique, imagery,
symbolism, etc
12) For Aristotle, Macbeth would not "count" as a tragedy, since Macbeth appears too evil to be a
proper tragic hero. But he does not begin the play as an evil character. Note statements
concerning Macbeth's past, i.e. his role and reputation prior to the beginning of the play. What
has he accomplished, and how is he rewarded? What is King Duncan's opinion of him? Is it
justified? How fundamentally does Macbeth change in the course of the play?
13) Discuss the 5 stages of a tragedy. How does the play incorporate these aspects?
1) Encroachment. Protagonist takes on too much, makes a mistake that causes his/her "fall."
This mistake is often unconscious (an act blindly done, through over-confidence in one's ability to
regulate the world or through insensitivity to others) but still violates the norms of human
conduct. 2) Complication. The building up of events aligning opposing forces that will lead
inexorably to the tragic conclusion. "Just as comedy often sets up an arbitrary law and then
organizes the action to break or evade it, so tragedy presents the reverse theme of narrowing a
comparatively free life into a process of causation." 3) Reversal. The point at which it becomes
clear that the hero's expectations are mistaken, that his fate will be the reverse of what he had
hoped. At this moment, the vision of the dramatist and the audience are the same. The classic
example is Oedipus, who seeks the knowledge that proves him guilty of murdering his father and
marrying his mother; when he accomplishes his objective, he realizes he has destroyed himself in
the process. 4) Catastrophe. The catastrophe exposes the limits of the hero's power and
dramatizes the waste of his life. Piles of dead bodies remind us that the forces unleashed are not
easily contained; there are also elaborate subplots (e.g. Gloucester in King Lear) which reinforce
the impression of a world inundated with evil. 5) Recognition. The audience (sometimes the
hero as well) recognizes the larger pattern. If the hero does experience recognition, he assumes
the vision of his life held by the dramatist and the audience. From this new perspective he can
see the irony of his actions, adding to the poignancy of the tragic events.
14) What would you consider to be typical of Shakespeare’s writing style? Poetic/prosaic – Blank
verse (unrhymed iambic pentameter), rhyming couplets, heroic couplets, capping couplets, figurative
language (metaphors, etc.), sensory language (visual, auditory, gustatory), nature imagery, :
Chiaroscuro – (contrast of light and dark), heaven and hell, day and night, good and evil), biblical
allusions, etc
15) Shakespeare is considered to be a master of language. Discuss the poetic/prosaic aspects of the
play? What is the effect of such devices used in this play?
16) How would you incorporate a Freudian analysis of the play that enhances the overall
understanding for an audience? Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory and the Oedipus complex.
17) It’s often been said that LMB can be understood as a character that on stage reflects Macbeth’s
id. Discuss.
18) Discuss Shakespeare’s vivid use of imagery within the tragedy Macbeth?
19) What significance is there to the placement of the character of Banquo immediately prior to the
killing of Duncan? Righteousness, showing Macbeth falls from grace. It illustrates the first stage in
a tragedy- encroachment phase where Macbeth still violates the norms of human conduct.
My Life and Hard Times by James Thurber
1) What is typical about Thurber’s writing style?
i. Calm tone and precise phrasing marked by sharp wit – comedy is
heightened by contrast between unexcitable delivery and frenetic
events.
ii. Fluid, conversational style (informal) – focuses on an area or experience
and ranges freely over the subject – introducing ideas and experiences
not always related to the subject he began with (digressions).
iii. Writes about human foibles and comic oddities
iv. Use of understatement and hyperbole to achieve comic effect
(snowballing of events)
v. Use of irony and slapstick humor
vi. Use of metaphor and simile
vii. Writing is generally confined to his experiences (based on truth but
mixed with the absurd and fantastic.
2) What would you consider to be Thurber’s more effective humor devices? Slapstick, irony
(which type?), malapropism, exaggeration, hyperbole, understatement, litotes, farce, etc.
3) The role of the ‘anti-hero’ is something that Thurber employs in many works. Why is this
an effective character to enact humor? What are some of the frustrations facing the anti
hero and how do these further the external conflict? Frustrations facing the anti-hero
i) women
iv) middle aged
vii) dreamerii) machinery
v) befuddled
trapped by
iii) physical discomfort
vi) neurotic
life
4) What is the function of the anti hero character in MLHT?
iii) help us cope through laughter with the absurd modern world and our own fallibility.
5) How is this autobiography ironic? Mocking of traditional works (some facts, but presented
at times in a fictional way) Does it offer insight into the hardships of Thurber’s time?
6) What role does chaos have in Thurber’s work?
“Night the Bed Fell” – chaos in family
“Day the Dam Broke” – chaos in the community.
“Night the Ghost Got In” – chaos in family/community
“More Alarms at Night” – chaos in family
7) What are some of the major themes present in the autobiography.
A. Conflict between the individual (free, spontaneous, eccentric) vs the
system (ordered, repressive, conventional)
- Thurber’s view of life is romantic, liberal, optimistic
E.g. “University Days” theme - revolves around regulations and
institutionalized systems – challenges basic assumptions of
science and mass education.
A. Comic disorder vs. contemporary order of society
-Principles of confusion/fantasy – nearly every story shows the disruption of
the orderly pattern of everyday life (idiosyncratic, bizarre, irrational).
- Grandfather – prime example of fantasy principle
He is remade by Thurber to be apparently incapable of dealing with the world when in fact he is
superior to it; he transcends the real world in his dream life and returns when he wants to.
A.Breakdown of bureaucratic machinery
E.g. military in “University Days”
“Draft Board Nights”
B.Unconventional People (Thurber saw as a life enhancing value;
symbolized freedom and independence from conventions)
E.g.
- grandfather’s disregard for the real world: well established business man, not in military, civil
war buff, trouble learning to drive a car, like to walk down road with rose between teeth.
- Sarah/Grace Shoaf
- grandmother (electricity leaked out of empty light sockets)
- Muggs (man’s best friend?)
- Thurber himself (nervous eccentric and comic victim often
humiliated)
- “Ghost” and “University”
8) Discuss the use of the 3 theories of humor within Thurber’s work?
The superiority theory, incongruity theory, relief theory.
9) One major theme in Thurber’s work is the criticism of bureaucracy. Elaborate on this
important theme within the autobiography.
10) What role does sarcasm and satire have within this parody?
11) Thurber might be considered a humanist and misanthrope. How much of these can be seen in
his autobiography?
12) How does Thurber structure many of his individual vignettes within his autobiography? The
building of false premise, chaos ensues, digressions/use of a series of anecdotes, return to understanding
of sorts.
13) Discuss Thurber’s portrayal of men and women in MLHT? Is this typical of the way Thurber
creates male and female characters in other works? A Unicorn in the Garden, Courtship through the
Ages.
14) Some have said there are two worlds—the world of ordinary men and the world of James
Thurber. To what degree to you support this notion?
15) How significant is it that in the autobiography, Thurber only deals with 15 years of his life in a
span of 9 stories?
16) How is the story of Muggs in the chapter The Dog that Bit People an important commentary on
the family, and on the presentations of foibles in the text?
17) How does Thurber characterize himself during the autobiography? Discuss the ‘little man’