Revised papers:

Felipe

Marlen

Daniel (just Philoctetes paper)

Judy

Brenda

Raquel

MLA FORMAT FOR LONGER QUOTES: When you quote more than three lines of poetry or more than four lines of prose, indent the passage of text and do not use quotation marks to frame it. In the case of poetry or plays, type the passage exactly as it appears in the text. Double-space throughout—do not single-space quoted material.

Give whole quote with closing punctuation and then parenthetical citation following.

Montaigne tells a story about a case of conjoined twins to explain both

how people generally treat extraordinary bodies and to suggest we

should take a different position toward "difference." First, he lets us

"see" the child:

It was, as to all the rest, of a common form, and could stand upon its feet; could go and gabble much like other children of the same age; it had never as yet taken any other nourishment but from the nurse's breasts, and what, in my presence, they tried to put into the mouth of it, it only chewed a little and spat it out again without swallowing; the cry of it seemed indeed a little odd and particular, and it was just fourteen months old. Under the breast it was joined to another child, but without a head, and which had the spine of the back without motion, the rest entire; for though it had one arm shorter than the other, it had been broken by accident at their birth; they were joined breast to breast, and as if a lesser child sought to throw its arms about the neck of one something bigger. (Montaigne 3)

Next, he cautions that while such bodies are often treated as portents of the future, "in things already past there needs no divination" (4)

NOTES:

See the difference between format for long quotes and that for short quotes?

Note that I don’t say Montaigne a second time because it’s obvious that I’m still quoting him?

If you have no page numbers, do it like this: (Montaigne [n.p.])

Please do this correctly with Paper #3! You will be expected to use correct MLA or APA (the prof. will tell you which) throughout college. Getting the format right will keep you from losing needless points on papers and will also keep the prof. from getting cranky. It may seem silly but it gives us conventions to work with so we can focus on the big stuff (ideas).

Well-off merchant family, elite education, became lawyer and M.P. (member of Parliament)

CREATED the form we write all the time: the essay!

"essais" are attempts – explorations—usually of a single focus in a sustained and relatively short written piece.

Multiple-volume collection written during Montaigne’s retirement from public life

Wonderful reading not only on "topics" but more on how we think

Note Montaigne’s stance on 1) imagination 2) "monstrosities"

Note how different M. is from, say, Burton, in that M. gives the imagination its own power ("fancies" are not supernatural or religious in origin)

(class input here)

What does he say the power of the imagination is in "On the Power of the Imagination"?

Addis: influences the mind’s effects/control/influence on/over the body

What examples does M. give on pp. 152-155 to support his claims?

What is M’s big example?

What did you notice re: this description?

What explanations do people tend to offer for such forms of difference, according to M?

Portents of the future; prognostications

What does M. advocate? (Diana and Mayela)

Key points:

Method: as in "Of a Monstrous Child" and his other essays M. uses examples to demonstrate how we create stories about difference both to explain (theorize) things after the fact and also to direct our thinking. Montaigne encourages us not to be in such a hurry to make a solid story about that which we don’t understand.

(Later, in the 1800s, the poet John Keats would call the ability to do this—remain in doubt—"negative capability."

Aristocrat (Baron) by birth; educated at Trinity College,Cambridge (England)

Brilliant career in Parliament and elsewhere in public life ruined by charge of bribery

Huge body of philosophical writings

Believed in knowledge of natural world and that it should supersede superstition (pro-science)

Believed in observation and rational explanation

Bacon offers a very different perspective on bodily difference than Montaigne or Pare. Describe:

(class)

Jesus: deformity is the relationship between the mind and the body

Bacon: looks at psychology of person who is "different"

What is the purpose of having beauty and deformity next to each other in the text, as they are? How do they relate? (key issue)

Beatriz: both examples of how people judge you

Mayela: People don’t look at beauty as being as being all of you (not totally important) but deformity is more used to judge whole person

If you put them together, you can see the differences—what is normal and what’s not (Raquel)

They have nothing in common: they are opposites (Victor)

You can’t differentiate between them without your cultural perspective: it depends on your culture (Zak)

Beauty is like a deformity because both are exceptions (Monica)

Both treated as signs and causes (Beatriz)

What does Bacon say about Beauty?

Class input

These ideas will come up again in the use of Richard’s "deformity in Richard III!

Class input

Remember! Paper #3 due on Monday.

Remember! We will talk about Act I of Richard III on Monday. I will send passage and theme alerts (which ones to pay particular attention to, including Richard’s opening speech and his odd courtship of Anne Neville by her father-in-law’s coffin) over the weekend.