IN-CLASS ONLINE LESSON #12

Step 2:

The common theme among the scrolls inside each of the caskets is that appearance is not all that matters and not to judge things by its appearance. "Don't judge a book by it's cover" and "All that glitters is not gold". You should not judge the something by its appearance as sometimes appearance can be deceiving. Hence, one requires good judgement skills and intelligence to be able to pick the right choice.


The Prince of Morocco picked the golden casket and was tricked by the appearance. He opened the golden casket and found a skull. It turns out that the golden casket is a symbol of the hollowness and treachery of wealth or the beautiful face which once covered the skull or all the 'outward shows' of life. It shows that appearance can be deceiving and hence we should not judge by the appearance. The Prince of Arragon chose the silver casket but it turned out to be a wrong choice. He opened the silver casket and found a portrait of a blinking idiot. The scroll stated that " I will ever be your head". It means that he would always be a fool. This shows a bad judgement made by the Prince of Arragon. Bassanio had made the right choice by choosing the lead casket. He opened the lead casket and found a portrait of Portia. The scroll stated that " You that choose not by the view, Chance as fair, and choose as true". Bassanio did not choose the caskets by the appearance and hence had made the right choice.


Step 3:


“ It’s now or never!” I exclaimed as I jumped down a 3-storey building.
It all started when I started investigating on a kidnapping case. I was a private investigator and was hired by Tom, father of a son that was kidnapped. He was frustrated that the police was unable to find the kidnapper and hence he looked up for me. I managed to get hold of some clues and they led me to a 3-story building. I was suspecting that the kidnapper is in this building.
The building was at least abandoned for five years. The paint was already flaked off. Some sound came out from the room up a flight of stairs. I approached cautiously towards the room, not wanting to get noticed. I managed to peep what is in the room as the door was not closed properly. There were quite a number of people tied up to the chairs and blindfolded. It is a kidnapping syndicate! I immediately dialed for the police.
“Who are you?” A few men appeared at the entrance of the building. I was scared out of my wits. More men came out from the room after hearing the commotion. I have no way to run! I looked around and managed to find a staircase leading upwards. I dashed for the staircase immediately. They were hot on my heels. I reached the rooftop and had no other way to run. Immediately, I ran to the edge of the building.
I looked back and found out that they had surrounded me. I looked down the building and saw that there is a canopy below. To jump or not to jump? I thought that if I do not jump, I would definitely have no other way to escape and would be caught by them. Who knows what they would do to me! If I would to jump down, there is a slight chance that I would be able to escape as the canopy below would break my fall. I am willing to take the risk!
I jumped down the building and landed on the canopy. I injured my legs and was unable to move. Oh no! Just then, I heard a siren approaching. I am safe.

Reflections:

I agree that we should not judge something by its appearance but its appearance would give us its first impression as it is the first thing we would notice. Hence, I feel that it is quite difficult not judging something by its appearance. However, appearance can be deceiving hence we should consider carefully first before judging something. For example, besides looking at the cover of the book, we could read the plot of the story to see if we are interested in it and maybe read a few pages first. Then, we can judge the book better. Also, we can use logic to make a difficult decision. We can consider both side arguments and compare to see which one is better. We can weigh the advantage and disadvantage of doing it this way and decide which would be a better choice.