So I wrote this a few days ago and forgot to publish it....

The houyhnhnms! These horses were one of my favorite parts to read about when I first read Gulliver’s Travels. However, the Yahoos were among my least favorite parts of reading the novel. Either way I found myself marveling at the genius of Jonathon Swift using these stories to display his discontent with England. When Gulliver first gets to the land of the Houyhnhnms he meets the Yahoos first which are ugly creatures that look part goat and part human. The worst part of this though was when they tried to defecate on Gulliver. I think Swift has a slight obsession with bodily functions…

But anyways, based on what Gulliver says in the text, comparing the Yahoos to the people that run the government at home, it is clear that Swift doesn’t like the people in charge of England either. Another aspect of book IV that I found interesting was the part where Gulliver and the leader of the Houyhnhnms were talking about Gulliver’s homeland and the leader had a hard time understanding a lot of his customs. Such as horse riding, “My Master, after some Expressions of great Indignation, wondered how we dared to venture upon a Houyhnhnm’s Back, for he was sure, that the weakest Servant in his House would be able to shake off the strongest Yahoo, or by lying down, and rolling on his Back, squeeze the Brute to Death.” (222- Penguin classics edition) He made such a good point that I hadn’t thought of before and I think that was Jonathon Swift’s aim, to get the reader to think about our own societies actions.

A Mountain of Satire

Let me just start off by saying I was so excited for this week, especially after finishing Oroonoko last week because Gulliver’s Travels was something that I had already read. The satirical references aren’t always the easiest for me to catch but this book is so ludicrous and yet entertaining that I actually like it. I remember when I first read it I was like oh wow…yep he’s peeing and pooping and their wheeling it away in barrels. Interesting. But something I had not thought of, which came up in our discussion today was the idea of why Gulliver is even living under the rules of the Lilliputians? “Besides, I now considered myself as bound by the Laws of Hospitality to a People who had treated me with so much Expense and Magnificence” (26). As was said in class today, he could easily kill all these people by simply stepping on them. So is he an idiot for obeying the laws of these little people? Or is this Jonathan Swift’s way of showing the reader that although you are bigger and more powerful, when shown kindness and authority of a nation foreign to your own there needs to be a level of respect? Perhaps it was about a respect that was not shown to Ireland from England in the 17^th century? For those of you that don’t know, and from what I can remember from European history, the English conquest of Ireland was extremely brutal and bloody during that time period. I wouldn’t be surprised if Swift used the anger for his homeland to fuel this first story.

The frustrations of Oroonoko

I don’t know why but I find this reading for Oroonoko, by Aphra Behn  to be one of the hardest one’s yet. A month or two ago I would have been so happy to read a bit more prose and now I’m just like holy moly there is so much text on one page. Aside from the length though it’s still a hard read for me and I think it is because this story is further away from religion and closer to the nasty nature of human beings. Slavery is a topic that I both hate and love to learn about as a history major. I get extremely passionate about it so it may be clouding my judgment somewhat while I read Oroonoko. I’ll have to work on that.

            I have been trying to think about what Dr. Mitchell-Buck said about if there was a hierarchy…who would be the nicest or morally good characters and I’m just like um none of them. So far though, into the first reading, I would say that Imoinda might be the nicest one. She seems the most innocent and obviously the most beautiful since everyone wants her. “On the other side, the old king, who had many wives and many concubines, wanted not court flatterers to insinuate in his heart a thousand tender thoughts for this young beauty, and who represented her to his fancy as the most charming…” (2189). They all seem pretty awful though, especially their views on slavery, Oroonoko included. The main character himself sold slaves to people and then he later ends up becoming a slave as well. Oh the irony.

The Fallen Angels

During our group projects today Adelae brought up a great point about archangels and the question of whether they can still repent and be saved or if that is a salvation only possible for humans in Milton’s Paradise Lost. I wanted to know, from a perspective of someone who is not as informed on religion as most, if you guys think Satan could be saved if he had ever decided to repent? There are two different sides the way I see it. The first would be that there has to be a line somewhere that defines the savable from the un-savable. I feel as though Satan has crossed that line multiple times so he does not deserve to be saved should he so choose. But then again, God is the almighty and powerful. So does that mean Satan can be saved since God has the capability to forgive those that do wrong? And then, do all the other fallen angels like Beelzebub and Mammon have a chance for redemption when none of them seem particularly interested in bowing down to God’s grace? I am having a hard time distinguishing from the strength of God’s capability to forgive, and the certainty of how I feel they should be forever condemned.

Where is Isabella?

I know a lot of people on the blog have already been talking about the Duke but I wanted to throw in my two-cents as well. I don't understand why the Duke in Measure for Measure asked Isabella to marry him in the end of the play. What was even the purpose of that? Throughout the entirety of the play I had no reason to believe that he might want Isabella for himself. The Duke kind of just threw that statement in at the end of the play like, “Give me your hand and say you will be mine…” (Act V. Scene I. 564)…AND ISABELLA NEVER RESPONDS. More than anything else about this play, this is what annoyed and frustrated me the most. Isabella has this strong voice through every Act, she makes herself known as a strong and intelligent woman and in the end in the face of marriage she has no dialogue. I guess what I wanted to understand better was why the play ended that way? And if anyone from class had any theories as to why Shakespeare did this. Was it because of what Dr. Mitchell-Buck said? Was Shakespeare tired? Or was there an ulterior motive? If there was then I do not see it.

Two Characters of Confusion

So I feel as though Lord Angelo was the character that our class had the most questions about. For me however, two characters that I had the most questions about were Isabella and the Duke. Something that I do not understand about Isabella was when she left the nunnery to go seek out her brother Claudio after Lucio implores her to go save him. “I will about it straight, No longer staying but to give the Mother Notice of my affair. I humbly thank you. Commend me to my brother. Soon at night I’ll send him certain word of my success.” (Act. 1 scene 4, 94-98) I don’t understand why she was naïve enough to think that she wouldn’t have to partake in some sort of unfavorable act to in order to save Claudio, and why then was she so willing to leave the nunnery? Isabella didn’t spare a second thought to leaving, and yet all she expected she would have to do would be to plead and beg Angelo? I guess I’m just surprised at her quick action and dismayed at her naivety.

            The Duke also confuses me. We talked in class about how he was a coward for letting Angelo step in to reinforce the rules of Vienna, and yet he is a caring coward. No true coward would have lurked around the city in disguise to see what was happening to his people. What I wonder is if he will step in as himself, and not as a disguised friar later in the play. All this advice he is lending out as a friar is well and good but right now his people need him to be rightful king. I am hoping that as we read on into the play Isabella and the Duke will become clearer characters to me.

Trying to walk in Doctor Faustus's shoes

I am finding Doctor Faustus to be the hardest book that we have read for class yet. If anyone agrees with this view point let me know in the comments please! I think it may be because of the play write style, something that I never got into, but I have had an extremely hard time understand and following all of the different characters in each scene. One thing that I did understand though was our discussion in class about Faustus and why he would decide to sign his soul away to the devil in the first place. I wanted to continue that discussion on the blog because I had been thinking, what if Faustus has nothing to live for anymore but his own amusement. Say he has no family, no wife, and no connections that hold him to this earth. What can be done in a situation like that? I am not saying that I agree with the idea of making friends with the devil- certainly not, but if I were to put myself in his shoes I can almost see his thought process. He is a bit egoistical I think, to dismiss various subject matters of the world without a second thought. “This study fits a mercenary drudge Who aims at nothing but external trash, Too servile and illiberal for me.” (32-34) But his dismal to me means that he has already given thought to these studies and they hold no interest for him because all they can really lend him is knowledge. What he really wants is a connection into the magical world. What would you do if you had nothing in the world worth living for besides your own amusement (assuming that Faustus has nothing to connect with)?

The Con's List of Utopia

So on Wednesday we have a class discussion on Book II of Utopia. I heard a lot of people saying that they did not like it as much as Book I and I have to disagree. I thought Book II was great because it offered us insight into the thoughts of what Thomas More may, or may not have considered a Utopian Society. What I wanted to talk about on the blog were some of the things that we didn’t talk about or mention in class. My con’s list far outweighed my pro’s list for the Utopian society so I thought I would address those rather than the pro’s. One of the things that I couldn’t stand was their courting rituals. Where the women and man have to show themselves to each other naked? “Whether she is a widow or a virgin, the woman is shown naked to the suitor by a responsible and respectable matron; and similarly, some respectable man presents the suitor naked to the woman.” (72) It may just be my old soul showing through but I was like that’s odd…and weird…and I am uncomfortable. I also found their ideals on war fascinating. They have this idea that war is beneath them, and yet if it came down to do it they are willing to pay as much as it costs to get the Zapoletes to fight for them. These people, the Zapoletes, are said to be made of the utmost viciousness. It is curious that although war is beneath the Utopians, they are willing to slaughter their enemy, and the fighters they hired should it be necessary. 

Raphael is brilliant

            Utopia, is by far that hardest book we have had to read so far in class, at least in my opinion. I feel as though there are so many underlying messages and ideas beneath the text that I have not understood or unearthed yet. Even so, this is my favorite out of what we have read so far. I took a couple of philosophy classes last year and this book reminded me of a lot of our discussions on human nature and Plato, who is mentioned several times in Book I.

            One of my favorite parts to read about was closer to the beginning when Raphael is talking about Capital punishment. He was saying how the penalty for thieves is death but that it was too harsh a penalty for something as menial as stealing when society may sometimes force their hand. “These noblemen drag around with them a great train of idle servants, who have never learned any trade by which they could earn a living. As soon as their master dies, or they themselves fall ill, they are promptly turned outdoors…” (17) It struck me how much of the reading I spent internally agreeing with Raphael and thinking that his ideals on how society should work were beyond that of his time.

Fifteenth Century Problems

 I have read the Wife of Bath story before, and I have to say I did not like it any better after reading it for a second time. I think the problem is that I keep comparing what I would want most as a woman, and what this story claims woman want most; the answers could not be further apart. The bottom line that I gathered from this tale was that woman ultimately desire power over their husbands, just as the Wife herself boasted of having over her five husbands. Maybe I find it so hard to connect with is because it was written in a different time period where woman did not have as much of a choice as they do now? But even so, I would hope that if I had to live during that time period I would have wanted to be equal to my husband, or as equal as I could have been, rather than wanting to outwit and control him.

Also, I wanted to talk about the end of the story and how it was annoying that the guy got to have a beautiful and kind wife just because he gave her a choice. "My lady and my love, and wyf so dere, I put me in youre wyse governance: Cheseth youreself which may be most pleasance." (1236-1238) In the real world you get what you get; we can only change by improving ourselves, or resorting to plastic surgery. We can’t just be beautiful by willing it to happen. I know this is fiction of course; it just annoyed me because that part was not applicable to life today for me.

Of bums and fake floods

Dr. Mitchell-Buck was right; the Miller’s tale was very amusing. Although, I did not originally think it would end up being amusing because, I kept thinking that Alison, the Carpenter’s wife was annoying. She seemed fickle to me, and I haven’t given up on that idea yet but other than that the whole story was like some sort of twisted and raunchy sitcom. First of all, the scholar Nicholas is a sly dog. He basically whisked right into the story and stole Alison right from under the Carpenter’s nose. Plus there was the incident where Nicholas convinced the Carpenter that Noah’s flood was coming, “Shal al be dreynt, so hidous is the shour” (3520). I cannot believe that he bought that foolish tale that the scholar sold. That was ridiculous enough but of course it gets better. The funniest part was when the Absolon kissed Alison’s butt. (This was also a really shocking scene as well… I did not expect it at all). My face when I read that was basically like this:

Were you guys expecting Alison and Nicholas to pull something like that off? And to add to that, were you expecting the guy to come back with a hot iron and burn the skin off of Nicholas’s bum? There was much more bum in this story than I thought there would be. 

The Joys of Middle English

This week we have to read the first seventeen lines from The Canterbury Tales, and I’ll be honest, I think this is going to be a hard read for me. I find that while the read for Monday’s class is so short, it takes three times as long to read because I have to refer to the translations on the right side of the page every time. Even so, while I think it is going to be hard, the Middle English language is quite beautiful. It sounds so musical when I read it in my head. When I went to listen to the audio files I was pleasantly surprised that it sounded exactly how I imagined it would in my head. It was definitely still hard to understand but it sounds so amazing that that hardly mattered to me. Let me know if you guys agree, but it seems to me that how people read aloud today, lacks a lot of the passion that I heard on the audio files for The Canterbury Tales. It is a lost art I think, to speak and emphasize the way this reading does.  

In addition, since our reading was so short for Monday I thought I’d share my favorite line with you guys, and see if anyone else had the same one! “Inspired hath in every holt and heath”. (Line 6) I am not sure why but that line was fun to read aloud to myself in the way that Dr. Mitchell-Buck demonstrated to us in class.

Beowulf in his old age

This week's reading was great for me because it clarified a lot about who Beowulf is and whether he was more prideful or vain as we were talking about in class. I've read the text before, but have had trouble deciding whether pride of vanity ruled Beowulf’s actions. This time, when I started out reading I was immediately struck but some of the boasts Beowulf made. One being "I was the strongest swimmer of all" (533). Simple statements like this caught my eye because if someone were to say that today than they would be labeled as egotistical. But in the context of this time period, as I read further into our reading I realized that I think he is a proud person, rather than a vain one. One of the moments I realized this was when he acknowledged his people, the Geats, in his final speech before his death. “I give thanks that I behold this treasure here in front of me, that I have been allowed to leave my people so well endowed on the day I die. Now that I have bartered my last breath to own this fortune, it is up to you to look after their needs.” (2795-2801) If Beowulf had truly been a vain man he would not have cared about leaving his people with a means to support themselves. Nor would he have cared to tell Wiglaf to take care of them when he passed away. All in all I quite enjoyed reading this second half of Beowulf much more than the first half because I think it showcased his true colors. In the face of death it becomes clear what a person is actually like, and I think Beowulf displayed himself to be a confident but caring ruler.