Task 3

KNOWLEDGE: 1 point each [3pts]
1. Where did the story take place?
The story took place in Venice, a bustling city of trade
2. List the places mentioned in the book.
Venice, Belmont, Morocco, Arragon
3. What other books has this author written?
These are some of the books and the phrases from the book
A fool's paradise—Romeo and Juliet
A foregone conclusion—Othello
A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse! —Richard III
A little pot and soon hot—The Taming of the Shrew
A tower of strength—Richard III
Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him—Hamlet
All the world's a stage—As You Like It
An eye-sore—The Taming of the Shrew
As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods—King Lear
As white as driven snow—The Winter's Tale
Ay, there’s the rub—Hamlet
Bag and baggage—As You Like It
Bated breath—The Merchant of Venice
Beware the Ides of March—Julius Caesar
Blow, blow, thou winter wind—As You Like It
Breathe one’s last—Henry VI, part 3
Brevity is the soul of wit—Hamlet
Budge an inch—The Taming of the Shrew
Cold comfort—King John
Come full circle—King Lear
Come what may—Macbeth
Conscience does make cowards of us all—Hamlet
Cowards die many times before their deaths—Julius Caesar
Crack of doom—Macbeth
Dead as a doornail—Henry VI, part 2
Death by inches—Coriolanus
Devil incarnate—Henry V
Dish fit for the gods—Julius Caesar
Dog will have its day—Hamlet
Done to death—Much Ado About Nothing
Double, double, toil and trouble; fire burn, and cauldron bubble—Macbeth
Eaten me out of house and home—Henry IV, part 2
Elbow room— King John
Et tu, Brute! –Julius Caesar
Every inch a king—King Lear
Fair is foul, and foul is fair—Macbeth
Fatal vision—Macbeth
Flaming youth—Hamlet
For goodness sake—Henry VIII
Foregone conclusion—Othello
Frailty, thy name is woman—Hamlet
It smells to heaven—Hamlet

COMPREHENSION: 2 points each [6pts]

4. What was the problem in the book, and how was it solved?
The problem in the book was that Bassanio a young man of Venice wanted to marry to a beautiful lady named Portia in Belmont. However, he needed money before he could go to Belmont, therefore, he used the good name of his friend, Antonio to borrow three thousand ducats from the Jew, Shylock. Shylock thus wanted a pound of flesh from Antonio, which he hates to the core, if the money was not returned. However, it was rumoured that Antonio’s goods ship was destroyed while travelling on the sea, thus, this prompted Shylock to demand that pound of flesh from Antonio as he would not be able to return the money on time for Bassanio. The problem is solved by Portia disguising herself as the lawyer for Antonio and stating out the law that not a blood must be spilled in the process of taking a pound of flesh from Antonio. This made Shylock panic and decided to let the matter rest by just taking the sum of money back.
5. If you could continue the story, what events would you include? Why
If I could continue the story, I would include how the lovers, Bassanio and Portia lived after they saved Antonio. This is to ensure that there is a well ending and also that was what I wantd to know most after reading the book. Also, including the event of Antonio’s ships and trade getting better each day is a good way of ending the book in a happy manner. As the audience would love to see the people who were portrayed as good in the story to live happily ever after, this will ensure that the play ends well.
6. What did the title have to do with the book?
The title is “The Merchant of Venice”, which relates to the place that the problem started and ended, Venice. This merchant in this case should be Antonio, the person who is in trouble. However, this merchant can also be referring to Shylock, which is the main antagonist of the story and always being portrayed as a cruel and sadistic Jew. Shylock thus is the root of the problem and wants a pound of flesh from Antonio when he could not return him the money.


APPLICATION: 3 points each [9 pts]

7. Did this book give you any new ideas about yourself? Why?

This book did give me new ideas about myself. Shylock lent money to Bassanio because he was hoping that Antonio, his guarantor would not have enough money to pay him back, so that he can have his pound of flesh. In my life, sometimes I do lend things to a person hoping that he lose it and to punish him. Shylock seemed really cruel in the story and if did exactly what he did, wouldn’t that make me no different from him? Also, it made me think whether I will be like Bassanio, not judging a book by its cover but instead looks at different aspects and finally making a choice. I realised that I often stepped in the tracks of the prince of Morocco and the price of Arragon, judging a thing by its cover or think that I definitely deserves the thing which is not true, One example would be the discrimination against obese people. Although I do not ridicule the person, I do not try to engage him like how I did with the other classmates sometimes. I did that with no reason and it struck me that I was also in fact discriminating him because of his appearance. Therefore, the book made me think about what kind of person I really am and I shall try to make myself better.
8. If you were in a problem situation like the one in the book, how would you have acted? Be sure to tell what the situation is.
If I was in a problem situation like the one Bassanio went through the choosing of the casket. I would have chosen the lead casket too. This is because there is a Chinese saying “ The most impossible choice is the most possible one instead”. Also, it is in our virtues that we should not look at a thing based on appearance.
9. What lesson did you learn from the story?
I learnt that we should be merciful to people at all times as Shylock brought himself misfortune by not showing mercy to Antonio. As said by Portia, “ the quality of mercy is not strained; It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath”. This showed that mercy is indeed a good attribute to have in your life. Also, I learnt to not look at the nice appearance of others and judge a book according to its cover from the event of Bassanio and the two princes choosing the casket.

ANALYSIS: 4 points each [12pts]
10. If your story happened in a foreign land, compare that country to Singapore.
This story took place in Venice. That country as described in the book, is a bustling city with a good trading industry. This aspect is very alike Singapore as Singapore also depended on trade and industry for its economic survival. However, they are also different in their culture, as the story states that people who lived there comprises of mainly Jews and Christians, however Singapore’s population comprises of Chinese.
11. If your story occurred long ago, compare that time with today in a good paragraph. If it was a modern story, compare it with a long time ago and tell what would be different
The story took place about 350 years ago and there was a major difference in the way people lived. The society then had many distinct social classes and they were given different treatment. The “low-class” people had no status in the society at all and they would always remain as a “low-class” citizen. However, nowadays people can rise to a higher status if they put in enough effort and everyone is given a say in the society whether you are rich or poor.
12. Find one word that describes a character in your book very well. Give five reasons for your choice of words.
The word is intelligent (Portia)
1. She managed to think of them disguising as men to enter the court
2. She also managed to think of alternative ways to prevent Shylock from killing Antonio
3. She knew the law really well
4. She used her knowledge to tricked Shylock into losing both his money and the pound of flesh he wanted
5. She knew how to look into the feelings of others and use it to her advantage

SYNTHESIS: 5 points each [15pts]

13. What part would you change in the story, and why?
I would change the part about Bassanio getting Portia so easily. The story made it seemed that Bassanio got Portia too easily and showed no sense of tension. By letting Bassanio go through more in order to get to Portia not only showed their “hard-earned” relationship but also tension as Portia’s wealth is needed to save Antonio’s live.
14. Organize this book into three or more sections and give your own subtitle for each section.
Page 23 – 67: The spark that creates the flame
Page 77 – 137: The venture for love
Page 138 – 155: The unlucky
Page 165 – 217: The rescue mission
Page 227 – 260: The judgement
Page 271 – the end: The merchant of Venice
15. Pretend you are a librarian recommending this book to someone. Write a paragraph telling what you would say.
This is a very suitable book for students in their secondary school period as the plot is easy to understand. Thus, this will make a very good introduction of Shakespeare to young adolescents. Their exposure to English literature will therefore be expanded greatly due the exposure to Shakespeare’s great works. It will also provoke them to think about the deeper meaning of his works and why he wrote them at that point of time. There are also many mature themes in the book and can make their mindset more mature. One of which would be racism. Though adolescents know of such a “event” happening, they do not know the deep consequences and how it affected the victims. Thus, this book will make them not only a better thinker, but a better person overall.

EVALUATION: 6 points each [18 pts]
16. Is the title a good one or a poor one and why?
The title in my opinion is a good one, however, there are some other facts that makes it pretty impossible to relate to the title. One of such would be romance. Romance is almost impossible to relate to the Merchant of Venice and the actual fact is that it wasn’t even the merchant that was in love. Thus, the title is a poor one in this context. However, the whole story started or is able to be started because of the merchant, which is Antonio, who is the cause of the problem and the problem itself. Therefore, the title is a good one to a certain extent.
17. Which character in the book would you choose for a friend? Why?
I would choose Bassanio as a friend. This is because on hearing that his friend Antonio is in trouble, he dropped everything on hand and went back to save him, where he just married his wife. This showed his loyalty to his friends and you may count on him as a friend. Loyalty is one of the most important aspects of friendship, without it, the friendship bond would be too fragile to withstand challenges.
18. Tell about the most exciting part of the book. Be sure to give at least three reasons
The most exciting part of the book is the part on the trial.
1. I wanted to know whether Antonio was being held to his promise of giving a pound of his flesh to Shylock. What will happen to Antonio? Would he die because of the injuries? What would Bassanio do to help except for pleading?
2. Also, I was eager to know how Portia can and will save Antonio as previously they said they were disguising as lawyers and going to court. Also, what is that letter from the famous doctor, how will it help in the case? Also, the talk on mercy between Portia and Shylock made me realise the true meaning of mercy. I do pity Shylock during the case as he is actually men like anyone of the characters in his story as shown from the quote “ If you prick us do we not bleed? If you tickle us do we not laugh? If you poison us do we not die? And if you wrong us, do we not take revenge?” Shylock’s heart is locked up due to the racism then. Thus, the conversation on mercy is an interesting one as it shows how deeply Shylock is affected by the racism and his hatred for the Christians.
3. Portia also demand for the ring she gave Bassanio after the case when she told him to never give it away to anyone. That scene was both hilarious and exciting and it made me want to now how is Portia going to deal with Bassanio later on.

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Shakespeare

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Task 4 : Global warming

1. The solutions to the problems of global warming are to replace the furnace and the filters in the air-conditioner so as to save the amount of carbon dioxide emissions. Also, we can buy electrical appliances that have the energy efficiency label. This will greatly help to reduce energy used. Leaving appliances on standby is also very energy consuming, thus, we switch off any appliances like the television when we are not watching them. You may also replace the normal light bulbs that we use at home with the compact-fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs). These CFLs use only about 60% of the normal light bulb, thus , saving about 300 pounds of carbon dioxide emission per year.

2. Singaporeans can help by keeping their air-condition temperature to 25 degrees as that will help to slow down global warming. This can be shown from the fact that the lower the temperature of the air-condition, the more energy it will take, and thus emitting more carbon dioxide. Singaporeans can also take the public transport instead of cars as cars emits lots of carbon dioxide and speed up global warming. This can be shown from “. Most come from the combustion of fossil fuels in cars, factories and electricity production.” This explained that by taking public transport, Singaporeans are slowing down global warming and saving the earth.

3. HCI can use solar energy instead of normal energy. Solar energy obtain its energy from the sun. Thus, it emits much less carbon dioxide than the normal way of producing energy. This will ensure that the students know that their school runs on environmental friendly energy. The students can also view the making of solar panels so that they know what is powering their school and learn to protect our planet. This concept of protecting the planet will then be rooted to their mind.

Extension activity

I feel that environmental studies should be made a mandatory part of the science curriculum. Global warming is happening all around the world and is in fact speeding up due to the great emission of carbon dioxide by mankind. Thus, it is definitely important that students should learn to protect the environment. This can be done easily through the curriculum as students spend most of their time in school. Other than in their homes, school is the next thing that shapes their character and mindset. Therefore, whatever that is ingrained in their minds in school can never be erased off easily. Thus, by making environmental studies a mandatory part of the science curriculum, the concept of protecting the environment will be easily ingrained in their minds. The students will know that they have to play a part in protecting the environment and this mindset will stay in their minds forever. Also, there will be an element of grades when it is made a mandatory part of the science curriculum. Thus, the “practical” students and parents will be really eager to learn about environmental studies. They will start to remember all the ways to protect the environment to get good grades. Although this method will not ensure that there will be long–term benefits, some methods of protecting the environment will get into the students or even, the parents’ mind permanently. Thus, some of the students will apply it when they grow up and set as good examples to their children or the next generation. This would greatly help to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions from Singapore and slow down global warming. Also, by letting Singapore students learn about the environment, it enables them to be more all-rounded and not just memorizing and studying the mandatory subjects like science, math and languages. This will open up their mindset to a more all rounded learning, which will benefit them when they go out to the workforce, which requires a much more flexible mindset than that in the past. The points above have shown that by making environmental studies a mandatory part of the science curriculum, it not only helps to protect our environment, it also helps Singaporean students when they enter the workforce.

Task 4 : Women rights

1. I feel that the women were given very little to no human rights in Saudi. This can be shown from “women are also not allowed to vote, or even work without their husbands’, or fathers’, permission.” This explained that women are at the control of men in Saudi, and they have no say in their homes, not to say in the country. Also, they are actually condemned for trying to earn simple rights like allowing women to drive. This can be shown from “Dammam for up to five days on charges of disturbing public order and inciting public opinion by twice driving in a bid to press her cause.” This showed that the people the Saudi treated women as they were not allowed to have rights and should be charged for trying to earn them.
2. I feel that the use of social media has been an advantage to the women in Saudi. Through the social media like facebook, this case about not giving the women in Saudi the right to drive had been made known to the world. Thus, the world is doing lots of things to help them gain their rights. This can be shown from “asking him to free Ms. Sharif and grant women the right to drive, gathered signatures from more than 600 men and women”. This explained that people all around the world are helping them and it is trough social media that they knew these things. Therefore, with social media, Saudi women can gather more support from the rest of the world and gain their rights.
3. I think that the people of Saudi should learn to realize that by giving rights to women, they are not bowing down to the western onslaught for Saudi tradition. This can be shown from “the government remains steadfast in the face of a Western onslaught on Saudi traditions” Also, they must realize that women also have the ability to do things as well as men do, and by exposing them to the outside world, it may even help boost the country’s economy as a whole due to more people being able to enter the work force.

Extension Activity
I agree to a large extent that women make good leaders. This is because women have proved themselves to be worthy of being leaders for the past few decades or millenniums. Queen Elizabeth I, Mother Teresa and many more. They have not only proved to be great leaders, but they also inspire the future generations like us. This example has shown that women do make good leaders. If women’s leadership is not recognized, leaders like Hillary Clinton would not be able to compete with Obama for the presidency seat during the election. Also, women have proved themselves to be more meticulous when planning and doing things, this can be shown from the distinct difference in a boy’s room and a girl’s room. One last vital point would be that if men can be good leaders, why not women? Women can do what man is capable of. They can drive, score in their studies, and lead the company and more. Thus, women definitely make good leaders. However, even until now, there is still a slight debate about whether women make good leaders. There has not been a single women president in the United States history, despite it being such a free human rights state. Also, Singapore only just had her first women minister a few years back.

I disagree that women makes good leaders to a certain extent. This is because women have to look and dress better in front of everyone. While walking on the streets, it is not a rare sight to see a man in his singlet or sports attire. However, you rarely see women wearing her sports attire walking on the street, what’s more a leader. Therefore, a women have to spend that extra time to doll herself up and face the public, which a man need not do and can spend more time to think about how to lead the country or the company. Thus, women have to spend extra time to do other things and are more unsuitable to be a leader. Women also tend to be more emotional and be easily moved by little things that happen. However, a leader should not be too easily moved by little things.A leader should be decisive in their actions and not be easily wavered.

Reflection on Research

My impression of Shakespeare and his work are always very unclear as I have never went to read one of his books or watch his plays. However, I have heard that his book were almost not understandable in the normal English context, and required word by word deciphering to understand it. Thus, I was also afraid to read his books due to my poor English standard. Shakespeare live in the Elizabethan era and there are many differences in the world we are living in now. Firstly, the most obvious difference would be the difference in social classes. There is of course, unarguably social class difference in our society now; however it was still much better than that then. The people of the low social classes can never get to the top no matter how much effort they put in. This is unlike the society now, where anyone can rise to the top if given good education and effort is put in.
Also, the hygiene knowledge then was not good. People did not know that dirt carry germs and the black plague caught the people in that era off-handed as they had no knowledge of how to prevent it from spreading, which was one of the main reasons why it caused that many deaths in the Europe region. Shakespeare lived in a society that is evidently different from us. However, some of his works can be applied to the modern day context. One of the examples would be the Merchant of Venice, where racism between the Jews and Christians were mentioned not only once. This can be related to the skin colour racialism in our society now. Also, phrases such as “love is blind and lovers cannot see” is one of the most common phrases authors and people like us use in our writing and daily conversation.

Flying the flag in Bosnia

1)The tone of this poem is sad and grieves. The poet uses phrases such as “Her face is hidden by her hands, but her hands are enough” This showed that the women is really sad that her son had left her, but to see the sadness of the women, one need not see her face, even the hands were enough to show her greive. After seeing her pitiful state, even the grave digger felt sorry for the women. This can be shown from “ A full cup of coffee, Left by the grave digger”, which shows the woman’s helplessness and how pitiful she is. The old woman is also ravaged by the fact that her son died. The poet describes her as “an old woman, whose hair is parted, straight down the middle”. This showed that the woman is so affected and sad from the incident that she even lost her original look.

2) The poet uses the shirt from the woman’s dead son to signify as a flag. The writer then go on to say that “ In a country that already has too many” this showed that many people in the country had already died due to the war that was going on at the point of time. The purpose of the poet is to show that many innocent lifes were taken as this caused great sadness among the family members. This explained why war should be avoided as it would do both countries no good.

Dulce et Decorum Est

1)The literal meaning of this imagery is that the soldier was hunch backing while walking like an old man because of the heavy bags that they have to bring to war. These can be shown from “Bent double” and “like old beggars”, which explained that the solider was bending his back while walking and was like an old man. However, the implied meaning is actually the fact that the soldiers were tired and do not want to move on anymore. By analyzing the first stanza of the poem, my impression of the soldier is that the soldier is weak and not prepared for the war. This can be shown from “Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots” and “Men marched asleep”. This showed that the soldiers were actually very weak and not prepared for the war.

2)The sound devices and imagery in the poem such as “GAS! Gas! Quick, boys!-- An ecstasy of fumbling,” helps to build up the tension in the poem as it vividly describes the war scene of releasing poison gas to knock out the enemies. Also, imagery such as “Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light” shows the chaotic scene of the war fight. Also, “clumsy helmets” is an imagery that shows the feelings of the soldiers at that point of times as they were so scared that even putting up a helmet is a difficult thing to do.

3)I think the poet wants to convey the message that war is bad, cruel and children should not be taught that it is right to die for your country. This can be shown from “The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori.” Which means it is sweet and right to die for your country. However, the word lie in the poem showed that the writer thinks that this was not the truth. Also, the phrase “Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,” showed that war was actually very cruel. I agree with the author’s point of view as war indeed took away the lifes of the innocents and most of the time, it is started off because countries could not talk things out amicably. War would cause both countries to suffer and the impact on the people emotionally would last forever. Thus, this trauma should be prevented at all cost