The Histories

William Shakespeare had a talent of writing for all genres, including histories. He wrote about glorious kings and disgraceful dukes and the conflicts in which they struggled through. Two of the works we analyzed in class were: Richard III and Henry V. 

Passage Comparison: 

Richard III is an absolutely brilliant play of how one man with everything against him, can manipulate people into accomplishing his desires. Richard was born premature which brought about his cosmetic deformities. He was "cheated of feature" and therefore cannot be loved by a woman, and because of his own self pity he proclaims that if he cannot love, he will hate and become a villain. Isolate, he devises up an evil plan full of murder and deceit, but in the company of others he hides his thoughts and becomes a whole different person. To ensure his kingship, Richard had someone murder Edward, along with various other royal men. Then during the funeral, Richard woos the now widowed Ann over the corpse of her dead husband. Richard blames the murder of Edward on Ann's beauty, "Your beauty was the cause of that effect; Your beauty, that did haunt me in my sleep; To undertake the death of all the world; So I might live one hour in your sweet bosom (29)." By doing so, Richard with his ad misericordiam, successfully manipulated Ann into becoming his wife though everything was against him. Ann knew Richard killed her husband along with other men of royalty, and yet she was still won over by this two-faced manipulative man. At the end of the scene, Richard alone praises himself and mocks Ann that he took "her in her heart's extremest hate; With curses on her mouth, and tears in her eyes (39)" and that he will have her, but not keep her long. Richard knows that he is disrespectful and maniacal, yet he is proud of that. He is without a conscience, which makes him the villain that he wants to be. 

Henry V is a play about an underestimated and youthful king that battles France in order to obtain his desires. Henry was up against obstacles. He was young and reckless, and therefore was not taken seriously by the French. Exeter, Henry's only support, explains to France that Henry is like a tempest and there will be death if the French crown isn't surrendered. The French deny England of the crown and they go to battle. Henry's army was less superior to the French and each soldier knew it. Henry motivates his men in his cape diem speech that, "The fewer men, the greater share of honor; God's will! I pray thee not one man more (83)." During the most desperate moment of the soldiers' lives, he manipulates them into thinking it will be the most glorious. Henry promises them a day of eternal glory that will never be forgotten and always remembered. He builds morale and confidence in each soldier, though the battle was almost certain to be fatal.  The soldiers were told to die for something bigger than themselves and to seize the biggest moment in their life. Henry was brilliant at manipulating these soldiers in order to obtain his desires of battling France and winning the crown. 

Commentary on Genre: 

The Histories were written in order to please the king in thrown at the time. They were written more for entertainment purposes than factual. The histories involve kings, their wars, and corruption. The histories of Richard III and Henry V had many similarities. The men were each of high social status and wanted more for themselves than they had already. Richard was the Duke of Glouster and that was not good enough for him, so he slaughtered his way into the throne. While Henry was the king of England and wanted France too, so he battled his way for the country. Richard and Henry both manipulated people in order to obtain their desires. Richard manipulated poor mourning women into marriage and Henry manipulated soldiers into fighting for his desire. They also sacrificed the lives of other people in order to keep themselves safe when achieving their goal. Richard murdered anyone in his way of obtaining the throne or threatened it. He murdered family, friends, and children for the crown. Henry sacrificed the lives of his men. His army was the "underdog" in the battle. Defeat was in the air, and yet he had his men fight anyway in order for him to obtain the French crown. 

Personal Reflection: 

Richard III and Henry V were both brilliantly written. I admire William Shakespeare in his abilities to portray such strong characters. I favored Richard III out of the two histories because he was the perfect villain. He also symbolized that if you set your mind to something, you can achieve it. Nothing held this character back. This character was repulsive, murderous, deceitful, and everyone knew it, yet he accomplished so much through them. I almost admire him, though it sounds sick. Just the manipulation that occurred in both histories astounded me. Even Henry's ability to build morale through words was powerful. I completely loved reading the histories.  

The Comedies

William Shakespeare wrote many plays in various genres, and among them were comedies. In each of his comedies, he had fools, blocking figures, comical plots, along with an ending containing a feast and a wedding. Two of his works that we analyzed in class were: A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Taming of the Shrew.

Passage Comparison:

A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play not to be taken seriously. The delivery of the play rhymes to provide a childish, lighthearted feeling to every situation. Events of high importance are casted aside and are spoken with the same emotion as an everyday thing. The play mocks seriousness and love. In the beginning Egeus, father of Hermia, announces that Hermia would become a nun before she could marry her true love, Lysander, for the sole reason that Egeus preferred Demetrius. The characters then flee to the enchanted forest in which they are free to love anyone of their choosing without the Egeus's knowledge. The characters in the play are turned into fools when they fall in love. They act in irresponsible ways and fight. Helena, head-over-heels in love with Demetrius only addresses him in words of affection while he returns her kind admiration with insults and abuse. Also, in Act III, when Lysander was enchanted by the love spell, Hermia and Helena got into a fight over him because he loved Helena instead of Hermia. The fight got so out of control that the two women started to mock each other's height. The women turned a serious situation of love to a foolish insult, lacking seriousness. Love makes the characters foolish to the extreme that the supernatural notice and exclaim the malapropism of, "What fools these mortals be (Act III)." 

The Taming of the Shrew is a play in which Baptista's unwanted and wild daughter, Kate, must be married before the desired and beautiful Bianca could be attainable. The men in the play devise up a plan in which to find a man capable of marrying Kate in order to obtain Bianca's love. Petruchio, a man infatuated with money, was intrigued by the wealth he would inherit and became the candidate for Kate's husband to be. By Petruchio doing so, symbolized that the play mocks love because it is not the person that wins the heart, it is the money. The couple was comparable, both equally nasty and bitter, Kate with her insulting tongue and Petruchio with his incomprehensible taming methods like starving Kate. He uses a pun and plays on her name Kate for cat, he announces, "For I am he am born to tame you Kate; And bring you from a wild Kate to a Kate; Conformable as other household Kates (53)." He refers to her as a "wild Kate" to further emphasize how out of social lines Kate is and that she needs to be tamed, and he is there to do so. 

Commentary on Genre: 

These comedies were written for complete entertainment purposes. They were designed for laughter and ridiculous plot lines, full of fools and mishaps. The plays, A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Taming of the Shrew, had many similarities. Both involved fathers that controlled the marriage of their daughters. Egeus would not let Hermia marry Lysander, her true love because he preferred Demetrius and Baptista would not allow a man to marry his highly adored daughter, Bianca, before her wretched sister, Kate, was married off. Another similarity were the insults between "lovers" in the plays. Helena, in love with Demetrius, would flower him with kind words while he would insult and kick her in return. Kate, loathing Petruchio, let her tongue roll out the most vile insults to her "lover" and Petruchio would return her name calling with terms of admiration and affection. Both plays had the same theme of mocking love as well. Love turned the mortals foolish in A Midsummer Night's Dream, while money was worth more than love in The Taming of the Shrew. 

Personal Reflection: 

I did enjoy reading the comedies. Many of the events that took place casted a smile over my face. The scenes of the two extremes of love and hate were the most entertaining because of the insults versus affection. The only thing I was not a fan of was how the characters changed roles. In A Midsummer Night's Dream, Lysander and Hermia were a couple and Demetrius and Helena were a "couple." Then both Lysander and Demetrius fell out of love with Hermia and in love with Helena. It was just tough to follow. The same events happened in The Taming of the Shrew. Tranio posed as Lucentio along with various other characters posing as someone they were not. It was just difficult to follow along and keep track. But other than the confusing aspects of the play, William Shakespeare did a near flawless job on his comedies. 

A Tale Of Two Cities

The Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens is a descriptive novel which makes wine it's symbol for poverty. Wine spills onto the dirty streets of Paris and the peasants scramble to sip the muddy luxury. There is a repetition of the word "Hunger" to emphasize the poverty in society also. The peasants in Paris are hungry for food, clothing, warmth, a better lifestyle, and most importantly, a triumph over misery. Charles Dickens provides imagery when he describes the hunger of the peasants. Dead dogs are offered as meals, the people are wearing rags, and living undesirable lives. 

The wine also serves as a foreshadowing device toward the French Revolution. The wine stained everything it splashed upon. The streets were dyed red and the word "BLOOD" was painted onto the wall, which symbolized that the streets will once again be dyed red, but with blood. Violent weapons like gallow-ropes, knives, axes, and guns, along with the word "murderous" are introduced. All these components of poverty and violence symbolize the events to come that the peasants are building up to. It all foreshadows the French Revolution. 

"It was a heavy mass of a building, that chateau of Monsieur the Marquis,with a large stone court-yard before it, and two stone sweeps of staircase meeting in a stone terrace before the principal door. A stony business altogether, with heavy stone balustrades, and stone urns, and stone flowers, and stone faces of men and stone heads of lions, in all directions. As if the Gorgon's head had surveyed it, wen it was furnished, two centuries ago" (90). 

This passage describes in descriptive imagery of the abode of Marquis. The repetition of the word "stone" is unavoidable. Everything, when describing the possessions of the man, is described as stone. There is even an allusion of the mythical Gorgon, or Medusa, who with a stare turns everything her eye touches into stone. The word is not only describing Marquis's home, but also Marquis himself as a cold, heartless, man made of stone. An example made to prove this was when he ran over a child, killing the child, and threw coins at the grieving father to make the pain and inconvenience go away. Marquis symbolizes the the evil side of the French aristocracy.

Though I did not enjoy reading this novel, it did provide excellent imagery. The repetition that occurred was also magnificent. The point was well proven. The subject of poverty greeted the reader within the first few chapters. I believe I would have enjoyed this novel more, for selfish reasons, like if it were shorter. Description has never been my forte, I've never liked it. Too much description intervenes with my interest with the novel. 

The Importance of Being Ernest

Oscar Wilde's play, "The Importance of Being Ernest" was a farce that criticized the importance of trivial things and etiquette. In the beginning of the play, the protagonist, Jack, was introduced. Jack lived in the country for half of his life and the city for the other part. Jack gave himself the name of Ernest when he visited the city in order to maintain two separate lives. It was evident that Jack was in love with the beautiful city girl, Gwendolin. Gwendolin, having had the same feelings for Jack in return, was most attracted to his "name" of Ernest. She even denied to love a man with a name of Jack because it was too common, while Ernest had a vibration to it. 

The scene was repeated when the character, Algernon, was introduced. Algernon went to the country and disguised himself with the name of Ernest to cause and altercation between Jack and Gwendolin. When Algernon arrived, he was greeted by the young beautiful county girl,  Cecily. Algernon and Cecily immediately fell in love. The naive Cecily, who only knew Algernon's false name of Ernest, admitted that she dreamed of marrying a man with the name of Ernest and that no other name would have been suitable. 

The trivial importance of a name to determine love is a symbol in the play. Each woman was in love with the men while their names were known to be Ernest, and fell out of love immediately when it was discovered that their names were different. Both men realized that in order to obtain the love of the women, their names must be Ernest. The issue of a name to be eligible for the marriage of the women is a very trivial matter. Love is of lesser importance in comparison to a name.

"In matters of grave importance, style, not sincerity is the vital thing." In this quote, Gwendolin states that appearance and etiquette matters so much more than the truth of the whole matter. This plays a huge part in the play's trivial importance. It ridicules the importance of etiquette and appearance in society. Appearance is most significant in this play rather than the importance of an issue. 

I loved this play. I thought it was absolutely comical. The events that the characters were fighting over were astonishing to me. Everything was so trivial and the important things that were going on were casted aside for a muffin fight. I laughed while reading this and that does not often happen. The only criticism I have toward this farce is that the trivial matters were taken so seriously that it was hardly believable. The constant bickering over nothing, and the nonsense spoken by Lady Bracknell was just inconceivable. 

Cat's Cradle

The novel, Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut, has two main focuses; science and religion. The beginning of the novel takes place in a town called Ilium, which is the hometown of the famous scientist, Dr. Hoenikker. Dr. Hoenikker is best known for his contribution to the atom bomb and his creation of ice-nine. Both discoveries, however admired, provide lethal and dyer consequences to society.
Furthermore, the setting later takes place on the island of San Lorenzo. San Lorenzo has a thick religious atmosphere. The natives are said to be very pious Christians, yet the lie is uncovered and it is found that they are all Bokonists. Each native lies about their religion and rub feet together while backs are turned to express their religion. Yet, religion like science, can be lethal to society as well.

"The mountebank told them that God was surely trying to kill them, possible because He was through with them, and that they should have the good manners to die. This, as you can see, they did" (182).
Religion is dangerously powerful, to the extent the natives will follow any guidance. Bokono, the father of the Bokonist religion and the God like figure in society, had a whole island of followers. The religion was based upon lies. When the ice-nine devastated the Earth, the islanders looked to Bokono for guidance. Bokono lied and spoke for God when he stated that "He was through with them" and was trying to kill them. Bokono told the natives to kill themselves. Since the natives were so faithful to their religion, they committed suicide by glazing their lips with ice-nine with out resistance. Religion is is tremendously powerful, enough to eliminate followers in order to be faithful.

I enjoyed reading this novel. It definitely kept my interest, and was perfect in it's amount of detail. The explanation of everything was very well explained and easy to follow. I liked how Kurt Vonnegut combined science with religion and by mixing them together, they destroyed society. I also enjoyed how he created something so simple to eliminate the entire world. Ice-nine is so powerful for it's size. Ultimately, the elimination of the human race through science and religion just won me over for that book. It was so creative and just brilliant how it all came together and caused the most lethal of all destruction. 

The Handmaid's Tale

The satirical novel, "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood, focused on the two extremes of religion and feminism. The society attempted to do both right by God and right by women. The pious characters in this dystopian society were taught that women were not to be viewed or treated as objects. Items like pornography, prostitutes, and vanity that were degrading to God and women were eliminated. Sex was denounced as sin and to be performed only for reproduction and never for pleasure. Mirrors, cosmetics, and provocative clothing were taken away so that all women were equal in appearance. This novel took both religion and feminism to such extremes that the society was miserable and barely functional. Female characters were contemplating suicide and male characters altered the rules for their satisfaction.

"What he is fucking is the lower part of my body. I do not say making love, because this is not what he's doing" (p 94). This quote describes how unpleasurable sex has become and how women are still being treated as objects. In the chapter where the quote is taken from, the two characters are involved in the Ceremony, in which the Commander must fertilize the Handmaid. Neither one of them want to perform this task, in fact both of them want it to be over as soon as possible. It is viewed as a job both of them must partake in for reproduction. Sex is no longer desirable but is now an unwanted duty.
In the quote, Offred says "the lower part of my body." She is detaching that part of her body from herself. By doing so, implies that her lower half is an object used for fertilization. Despite feministic attempts to obliterate the view of women as objects, women are still objects.

I did not enjoy reading "The Handmaid's Tale." This novel described every event in so much detail, that it was difficult to get through the chapters. The subject of the novel too, was controversial. Being a woman, I resented the treatment and little choice that women had. I also objected to how the men in the society had all the control and had the ability to twist the rules and create a "club" for their satisfaction. This novel was just awful, but I do applaud Margaret Atwood for her imagination to dream this dystopian society up. To push two major opinions like religion and feminism to such extremes and let it erupt onto the pages of her novel was just brilliant.

Anthem

The theme in the novel, "Anthem" by Ayn Rand, is individualism. Throughout the novel, the people were taught the same things and were not allowed to think outside of the box because it was prohibited for a brother to be superior to another. Choices were also made for the people as to what their jobs would be for the rest of their life by the age of 15, and by the age of 40 people were sent away into a center for people of the generation. People were not able to think or do for themselves. But unlike the rest, the protagonist breaks away from society. He makes discoveries, like the use of the light bulb. He does like no other, and dares to fall in love. The protagonist became an individual by not conforming to the society's rules. 

"We have come to see how great is the unexplored, and many lifetimes will not bring us to the end of our quest" (36).
In this quote, the protagonist realized that superior knowledge is great. Despite the prohibition against superior knowledge to another brother, he was striving to become an eminent thinker and to never cease gaining knowledge or let anyone stop him.

I loved this novel. It was written very well and it definitely kept my interest. It made me realize how sacred the word "I" really is. I loved all the characters and I supported the protagonist's determination to be different 100%. This book really made me think and at no part was it in the slightest bit not entertaining. This book was a perfect example of a dystopian society over run by rules, and how one person with the will to be different can break away from the pack and become and individual.