- A
- B
- C
Listen to a lecture. Take notes on the information presented.
hero – a character in a story that has great strength and courage
noble – royal; someone from the upper class
aristocratic – from the upper class
portray – to show
legendary – famous or renowned
reclaim – to get back or regain
trial – a test or a hardship
drastically – significantly, considerably
literary – relating to literature/p>
comedy – a work that is humorous and that has a happy ending
Listening:
View the transcriptW: Today, we enjoy tales where an unexpected person becomes the hero of the story... but this isn't true of Classical literature. Classicism is the period of Western literature that started during the time of the ancient Greeks and continued until about 1800 BCE. All Western literature written during this time has one characteristic in common: the heroes of the tale are never common or - unexpected like today's heroes, but are always noble and of aristocratic birth. This is known as the aristocratic hero. We see the aristocratic hero portrayed again and again in Classical literature. Perhaps one of the first and foremost examples of the aristocratic hero in Western literature is Odysseus from Homer's The Odyssey. Odysseus is the perfect example of the aristocratic hero. He's a legendary Greek king who spends ten years trying to get back home to reclaim his throne. We can clearly see that despite the trials Odysseus undergoes, his noble nature is never questioned. In fact, Odysseus is favored by the Greek gods, and the gods of Greek literature hardly ever favor anyone that is not of noble birth. Only aristocratic people like Odysseus could become great Greek heroes. Twenty-four centuries and several cultures later, we see the exact same type of aristocratic hero written about in plays by William Shakespeare. The heroes of the plays that Shakespeare wrote about include people like Julius Caesar and the English kings Richard III and Henry VI, but rarely is the main hero ever of common birth. What I'm trying to say here is that even though the views of the world had changed drastically since Greek times, the view of the literary hero remained the same: he had to be of noble birth. Even the heroes of Shakespeare's light comedies were members of England's high society.
Read the prompt below.
Using points and examples from the lecture, describe the aristocratic hero of Classicism and explain its use in classical literature.
Look again at your notes from the listening. Decide what information from the lecture should be included into the response.
Listening:
Write down your summary of the lecture in the listening.
Notes for the Response
Deliver your response, including all the facts and using necessary transitions.
Listen to a sample response. Note any useful ideas and expressions that could improve your response.
The professor says that all Western Classical literature has people of noble birth as its heroes. This is known as the aristocratic hero. The professor says this idea of the aristocratic hero lasted for the entire classical era. She mentions the Greek hero Odysseus as the first example of the aristocratic hero. He is a legendary king that is favored by the gods. The professor mentions that the Greek gods rarely favor characters that are not noble. The professor then says that this characteristic of. the aristocratic hero persisted for thousands of years. She mentions Shakespeare, who lived twenty-four centuries later, but who still focused largely on noble people as his heroes. Even the characters of Shakespeare's comedies were from England's high society.
Notes for the Response
Listening:
Now give your response to the prompt again, incorporating useful expressions from the sample, while also paying attention to your pronunciation and intonation. Record your time.
