Themes in Beowulf Notes Whats a theme Theme
Themes in Beowulf Notes
What’s a theme? § Theme: a central, underlying and controlling idea of a literary work. § As an abstract § Character § Actions § Images concept it may be represented by: § It’s generalization about human conduct may be serious or comic, profound or unsurprising. § The theme is implied (the story will not say “And theme is…”)
Huh? • A theme is a phrase that summarizes the underlying meaning of the story AND a lot of other stories (including books, plays, movies etc).
An example thematic statement: • Perseverance leads to the accomplishment of a goal. • Here at least 3 stories this thematic statement applies to…
Perseverance leads to the accomplishment of a goal. Finding Nemo • Goal: Marlin & Dory’s goal was to find Nemo • Perseverance: Despite all of the dangerous encounters and moments of despair, they kept looking • Accomplishment: (spoiler alert) They find Nemo
Perseverance leads to the accomplishment of a goal. The Hunger Games • Goal: Katniss needs to survive in the arena in order to live • Perseverance: Katniss must fight others and elements (weather, hunger etc) • Accomplishment: She survives and is taken back to the real world
Perseverance leads to the accomplishment of a goal. Frozen • Goal: Find Elsa and bring her home so it is not winter forever • Perseverance: Anna, Olaf and friends battle bad weather and becoming frozen to save Elsa so she can unfreeze their home • Accomplishment: Anna helps Elsa realize love will unfreeze the town
Perseverance leads to the accomplishment of a goal. • This is a theme because it is phrase that summarizes the underlying meaning of Finding Nemo, The Hunger Games, Frozen…AND a lot of other stories!
IMPORTANT: • A thematic statement is an entire sentence! • A thematic statement is NOT 1 word A fragment • Do not include details from a story Character names, setting, specific quotes etc.
But…Sparknotes? Shmoop? • One word/short phrases a thematic topic Topic=1 word. Theme=full sentence • These topics can help you determine the FULL SENTENCE theme • Example themes for the topic of: RACE Racism is learned so it can also be unlearned. Children are able to see the personality of someone, not just their race.
Practice: Why are the following NOT themes in To Kill a Mockingbird? • Jem and Scout realize racism is bad. • Race.
Answers: • Why are the following NOT themes in To Kill a Mockingbird? • Jem and Scout realize racism is Do not include details from a story bad. Jem and Scout are names that are specific to To Kill a Mockingbird • Race. This is a topic. A theme must be an entire sentence.
What could be a thematic topic in To Kill a Mockingbird? How about a thematic statement? • Thematic Topic: Stereotyping/Judging • Thematic Statement: The author believes that… Judging someone based upon appearances can lead to false assumptions (and should be avoided).
Thematic Topics in Beowulf • We will be reading excerpts from Beowulf and recording thematic topics we notice as we read • Record quotes that represent thematic topics you are noticing (and please CITE these quotes) ESSENTIAL BACKROUND INFORMATION BEFORE READING: http: //www. 60 secondrecap. com/study-guide/beowulfthe-summary/
Thematic Topic Chart • Get a purple textbook and open to page 38 • Have your thematic chart ready to go for notes as we read (we will address the BACK side of the handout when we are finished reading) • Make connections with how themes/depiction of a hero in Beowulf may have influenced our world/literary depictions of heroes today.
- Slides: 15