Reading Journal (The Great Gatsby): Chapter two

Section One:

• Metaphor: Valley of ashes, Dr Ecklebergs eyes (consumerism) 
• Use of time: It's a Sunday (god's day)- yet affairs and drunkenness take place. how fast time seems to move at the party- end of chapter a key example
• Perspective: this use of time shows us Nick's drunkenness

Section Two:

• Mr Wilson: summation of the Valley of ashes-  yet still a figure of hope- "yet handsome man"
• Mrs Wilson: described as "large several times", changes clothes several times, reading material non-intellectual ("Town Tattle" etc)
• Tom Buchanan: "cruel body" finally comes to work, rude to strangers and friends "go by 20 more dogs" 

Reading Journal (The Great Gatsby): Chapter 1

Section A

• Setting: Contrast between Midwest and Eastern Coast (new york)
• Perspective: Do we thrust nick? "I'm inclined to reserve all judgement", "I wanted the world to stand to a sort of moral attention forever
• Metaphor: everything is carraway hates about the east, but the reason for this "is what preyed on him"
• Use of speech- gossip (Jordan)

Section B:

• Movement imagery "floating etc."
• Tom's phsyniognomy, Aggressive conversation (use of dashes)
• why is daisy sad?, musical imagery used to describe
• Parallel with musical imagery used to describe Gatsby
• Meet Gatsby- longing for something across the water

Reading Journal: (Much ado about nothing) Act 4

An act of great contrast between it's two scenes:

• Scene one: The climax in terms of drama: Hero is slander, Leonato practically disowns her and Beatrice asks Benedick to kill Claudio. This latter exchange is interesting considering how up until Beatrice and Benedick's Conversations have been witty exchanges of banter- which were extremely comedic- but now they are having an extreme, and emotionally intense exchange
• Scene Two: Another scene with the almost clown like Dogberry. Which relieves the tension from the last scene with more of Dogberry's antics. Specifically the comedic highlight  "let it be written down I am an ass"

Reading Journal (much ado about nothing): Act three

• opens with a scene that mirrors the scene in which Benedick is tricked into believing Beatrice loves him, and in the same way the use of staging and slapstick humour as Beatrice tries to listen in on the conversation
• The next scene sees Benedick mocked by his friends in a very macho and bawdy fashion- with lots of innuendo and references to the cuckolds horns
• the latter half of scene two sees a development of the drama in the play- Don John's intiates his new plan, and informs Claudio of Hero's supposed adultery
• We are now introduced to the Dogberry and the watchmen. Dogberry has a habit of getting his words wrong and is the plays figure of comedic imcopetence
• The watchmen (who are associated with Dogberry so are more often than not portrayed as comedic characters also) are also an important part of the drama since they over hear Borachio and Conrad, and seemingly foil them by capturing them
• Conrad and Borachio's capture should have foiled Don John's Plan, but In the last scene of this Dogberry's comedic mixing up of words andantics confuses Leonato so much that he doesn't get the message- in advertently causing the dramatic climax in act 4  

Reading Journal (Much ado about nothing): Act 2

• Starts with Beatrice talking about Don John and how he gives her "heat burn"- effective dramatically since it shows how abrasive Don John is, but is quite a humorous piece of mocking
• Beatrice further her wit b saying that a man halfway between Don John and Benedick would be perfect, and goes on to encourage Hero not to bow down the whim of her father
• The masked party scene is a comedic highlight of the play- being open to much experiment dramatically in terms of staging etc (i.e. the gender reversal in the RSC version)
• foreshadowing of a later dramatic climax is when claudio believes Don Pedro "woos for himself"- thanks to Don John- but this quickly resolved
• After Don John's plan fails, Borachio reveals he has access to Hero chambers and her chamber maid, so they plot to frame Hero with adultery- setting us up for a dramatic climax in the next act

Reading Journal (much ado about nothing): Act one

• Opens with men returning home from war- element of serious drama
• Beatrice's witty mocking of Benedick is the first comedic element of the play
• Swiftly followed by witty banter between the two characters- one of the comedic highlights of the play
• The verse speaking Claudio confesses his love for the the "fair hero", while Benedick claims she is "short" in comparison to her cousin (Beatrice) giving us a not so subtle hint at his true feelings for his combatant in their "merry war"
• Don pedro and Claudio plan to court Hero during the masked ball (foreshadowing act 2)
• Don John gives a speech to his right hand, showing the audience he is the "canker in the rose" of the comedy in the play- through his villiany, which injects a serious dramatic element to the narrative 

Much ado about nothing:

Title: Infers that a large amount of bother ("Much ado") is caused by "nothing"

Nothing in elizabethan english:
- Slang meaning rumour and/or gossip (a tool ustilized in Lenato's plan to trick Beatrice and Benedick)
- Double entendre (O nothing/ n othing/ nothing) meaning Vagina- reflecting the bawdy sexual humour