Things aren’t always as they seem…or are they???? -Ms. Croney Perception vs. Reality On Monday, we talked about ambiguity, and I was trying to think of a way that I could SHOW you ambiguity and how it happens in real life to real people. I wanted to show you how your eyes could play tricks on you when it comes to people and even situations. So, it finally hit me… Things aren’t always as they seem…or are they???? -Ms. Croney

Optical Illusions Optical illusions happen when your brain gets a message that your eyes aren’t necessarily sending. Your eyes take in the information, but your brain does something new to it. visually perceived images that differ from objective reality

Do these black and white lines appear to wave or vibrate? For example… Because these lines are black and white and occur in this pattern, they appear to dance even though they are still. Zebras have a similar pattern. When they are together in a herd, it is hard to see where one zebra begins and another end…it makes them hard to attack. That’s why you never see a lion jump in the middle of a herd of zebra. They always get the zebras who stray away from the pattern or fall behind. Do these black and white lines appear to wave or vibrate? http://www.opticaliillusions.com/

Try this one on for size. I am extremely left brained so I can say the words with no problem at all, but if I tried to say the color…it’s a mess. Can I get a volunteer to try? Your brain is seeing two things at one time and doesn’t necessarily like it. Just like you don’t like people who are too ambiguous. A study said that we like people who hate us more than people who love us one day and hate us the next. Why is this? (At least we know where we stand with the person who hates us. We don’t have to try and figure them out. It’s too confusing.)

So what does this have to do with Macbeth and ambiguity So what does this have to do with Macbeth and ambiguity? What did we say that it meant to be ambiguous? a condition where information can be understood or interpreted in more than one way

How are these pictures ambiguous? Who can tell me what it means when a character has duality? We talked about it yesterday…dual. “All is Vanity” – C.A. Gilbert “Gossip” – G.A. Wotherspoon How are these pictures ambiguous?

They only move when you’re not looking! Macbeth is such a character. We cannot say that he is purely evil. We cannot say that he is holy either. He is like this optical illusion. When you look straight at him he’s still just like the circles, but it’s when you aren’t looking that he moves about and thinks murderous thoughts. They only move when you’re not looking!

Macbeth is a character in whom good and evil exist simultaneously Macbeth is a character in whom good and evil exist simultaneously. “A double minded person is unstable in all his ways.” Shakespeare paints characters that are not only ambiguous in deed, but ambiguous in word.

Lexical Ambiguity Check (bank, verify, or chess) a word or phrase contains more than one meaning ……………………..... Polysemy (poly = many) (sema = signs) Check (bank, verify, or chess) “The peasants are revolting” said the king. The Porter in Macbeth “No man born of woman can harm Macbeth.” Lexical/Lexile/ words/reading…Lexical ambiguity is when you have a word that can mean more than one thing. For example, the word check has lexical ambiguity. What kind of check? You will meat the porter in Macbeth. He will say some things that will make you chuckle a bit because you can take them so many different ways. Then you have the line, “No man born of woman can harm Macbeth.” This line seems pretty straight forward, but holds a double meaning. This phenomenon in language is called polysemy. Poly means many. Sema means signs. Poly-sema; many signs. Keep that in your mind as we discuss Macbeth because Macbeth sees many signs, but he interprets them differently. The way you interpret signs tells a lot about you and the baggage you bring to the table. Lexical Ambiguity

Is perception reality? Let me ask you a question about Macbeth though. Let’s talk briefly about his encounter with the witches. What do they tell him? How does he interpret their fortune telling? Did they tell him that he would have to kill Duncan in order to be king? Where do you believe that most of his misconceptions stem from? Do his misconceptions come from what is really going on? How does Macbeth interpret signs (what he sees)? What does it say about him?

How is Macbeth ambiguous? Let’s look at Macbeth again. You should have in your writer’s notebook something about the ambiguity of Macbeth. Get together and discuss some other ways in which Macbeth is ambiguous. Then… How is Macbeth ambiguous?

How is Lady Macbeth ambiguous? Discuss some ways in which Lady Macbeth is ambiguous. Write your new discoveries as well as the Lady Macbeth addition into your writer’s notebook. How is Lady Macbeth ambiguous?

Is reality based on what you feel or what you see? Swirling "Pink" Dots Disappearing Yellow How does perception become reality in real life? How do we see the world based on our baggage or past or what we’ve been told. Let’s imagine that I pass back an essay to all of you. Every single last one of you has a paper with an F on it. If you get called stupid everyday from the time you are 2-17, how would you look at an F on your paper differently from a person who was told that they were brilliant from 2-17? Is reality based on what you feel or what you see?

Sometimes perception becomes reality. You THOUGHT it would happen; so, it did. There are many people who believe that perception is reality, and I agree. That’s why I know that if you ever really want to change you life, you can’t just change your surroundings; you have to change the way you look at things. Let’s watch to see if and how the Macbeths’ minds change. Sometimes perception becomes reality.