All Things To Their End!!

English 102 was a class that focused on introducing students to a wide variety of stories in three different genres short stories, poems and plays. English was never one of my strong subjects because I was never really good at reading a piece of literature and understanding all the allusions or symbolism that was presented in the play. What I realized in this class that is important to read some ones work and ask yourself what can I learn from this, what is this story trying to tell me and why did they author write this. I feel that the point of English is to learn how to communicate with people, to not take things as they are but dig for the hidden information because that is where the really meaning lies.   

All the pieces of literature that we went through in the semester changed my perspective on moral issues, decision making, and the consequences that come from the choices we make. The play Everyman really demonstrated that it doesn’t matter how many people are in your life or how much money you have but the only thing that really counts in life are the good deeds that you do. Of course, this something that all people are aware of but it really impacted me when I read it in the play. My thoughts changed about men dominating over women in the 1800s because reading the stories “The Yellow Wallpaper”, “A Doll’s House” and “A Rose For Emily” the men never expressed dominance it to hurt the women that was all they knew and that to them was a way of showing their love.

The poem that I felt the most disconnected was “The Flea” I just don’t understand why John Donne picked a flea to represent his love for his lover. Even reading the poem three or four times didn’t help me to understand it any better. The poem that I liked the most was “Daddy” by Sylvia Plath it really moved me to the point where I almost felt her angry and frustration. The power the poem had because it was so sad and Plath doesn’t hold back or try to make her feelings less than what they were it really made me feel for her because the way she wrote it, the words really grab the reader’s attention. All the other poems and stories were nice and I enjoyed them but they didn’t really influence me or make an impact like “The Flea” did where I just couldn’t get it or like “Daddy” where the intensity made me really want to understand what was going on.

The story that I felt was important in the message that it conveyed was The Tempest; I don’t really like to read Shakespeare’s play because it is very hard for me to understand Old English. But, I really did like the one of the themes that expressed the differences between nature and civilization and how complicated things can be because people like to lead their own lives no matter what the cost. The message was important because it really made me realize that it isn’t just a modern idea that people don’t connect themselves with nature but it was also a fact in the beginning of conquering new worlds. This idea makes me question if people could ever live with nature and respect it or are we just made as a species to feel like we rule the lands.    

A World of Wonder or Not!

Serious Drama                     

Lighthearted Escapist

      The play "The Tempest" by William Shakespeare has all the elements to make the play a serious drama but it also has a lot of different elements like spirits and magic. The story is very interesting to read but at times it can be difficult to understand some elements in the play because of the deeper meaning behind certain instances that the reader doesn't catch when you first read the play. I do feel that the play "The Tempest" is more like a lighthearted escapist work because the story seems to have a fun feel to it with the main character Prospero having the ability of magic and controlling spirits to do his will. As I said before the play did have the elements of being a drama with Prospero being a Duke who was betrayed by his brother cause he wanted to be Duke as a consequence Prospero and his daughter Miranda were exiled and condemned to death but by luck they didn't die and landed on a remote island.

       Only taking his library of books and his daughter Miranda, Prospero learns how to do magic which seemed to me more like Sorcery or the type of magic that Merlin had. With all the magic that Prospero learned he was able to control the spirits and cause the huge storm that caused the shipwreck with his brother on board and all his other targets. What really made it funny was that when the Butler(Stephano) and the Jester(Trinculo) came into the play, Trinculo took cover next to Caliban while Stephano approached them being drunk. Then they get the idea, with Caliban a character that was described to be half fish, half man, to go kill Prospero and become rulers of the island, it made the play a little comedic because as a reader you know that it would never happen. Also with the power that Prospero had being able to control everyone by manipulating everything around them or even the people themselves, it seems to be more of a fantasy like Shakespeare really got into the topic and just went where his imagination took him. Especially with the idea that Prospero was controlling the spirits because spirits were really powerful being able to change and bend reality it begs the question as to why the the spirits would follow his commands and not just killed him when he first tried to control them or Ariel to be specific. But, I do feel that a lot of what went on in the play with Caliban being some kind of creature, all the magic, and spirits made this play more of an escapist rather than a serious drama because of the extensiveness of the imagination.

      I did like this play a lot more than the others for the same fact that as a reader you get to read something that as a lot of imagination with the magic in it rather than the play just being serious, morbid and stressful like reality. The reader can escape to a place that is different than just the norm. Not that this play was a big joke or anything, it is just that I didn't find this play as a serious drama for example like Oedipus because this play seemed to be a lot more fun with all the magical elements that were included in the play.