Twelfth Night

This is by far one of my favorite stories that we read during the semester. One of the parts that describes what is going on in this section best for me starts with line 33 of Act 2 Scene 2:

How will this fadge? My master loves her dearly,
And I, Poor monster, fond as much on him,
And she, mistaken, seems to dote on me.
What will become of this? As I am man,
My state is desperate for my master’s love.

I think this encompasses the chaos that ensues in the story and the twisted love triangle that is in place. I love how intricately woven everything is in the story. The thought that was put into everything from the personalities to confusing names (Olivia, Viola, Malvolio) just feeds into this being such a funny and chaotic story. One of my favorite things was when Maria tricked Malvolio into acting like an idiot to prove his love to Olivia. I felt like she was showing her genius because the “secrecy” of the letter; Malvolio didn’t explain his randomness to anyone to make sure it was kept secret. I always associate Shakespeare with Romeo and Juliet, so I really liked reading this because I don’t think I would have seen Shakespeare in the same light. I thought the play was so funny, and it was witty. It wasn’t just stupidity that makes you laugh; it was well thought out and orchestrated. I think this was also an enjoyable read because it was one of the first times where we were just reading for enjoyment (atleast for me) as opposed to constantly looking for themes, undertones and motifs. It just basically celebrated chaos at its best and poked fun at it.

Utopia: My favorite place in the world

Here is a lovely map of Utopia. The most perfect place in the world. Right. As you all know I thought the story was great, but I think the idea of this place was pretty ridiculous. I always wondered where George Orwell came up with his idea for Animal Farm, and I definitely think that Utopia was a muse. I think that Utopia portrays the epitome of a socialist society where everyone is equal and everything is perfect. Not so much. I mean More stresses this idea of everyone getting treated the same and having the same responsibilities, etcetera. One of the blatant examples of this idea being corrupt in the story can be seen in the way that dinner takes place. The minors have to wait on the elders, and the tranibors (meaning gluttonous) get more food than others. Not only do the minors wait on everyone else, they only get to eat if someone gives them scraps. I mean I guess that’s fair… I suppose the idea sounds ideal in some cases, but for the most part I don’t really see it working. Not everyone has the same personality time, and this type of society calls for everyone to be on the same page all the time. Like I said before I love competition and a society that really doesn’t have any (other than gardening) would fail, because I know I am not the only person that happens to have a competitive personality. Doing everything to be “equal” wouldn’t work, and corruption—which is even implied in his version—would be inevitable. The constant intellectual stimulation would be tiresome, too. It is so relaxing sometimes to just go lay on the beach and think about nothing.

Overall I feel like Utopia is meant to sound ideal, but it really isn’t. The live like sheep, they are herded here and there and all wear the same thing. Even in More’s Utopia the idea of complete equality wouldn’t work. There are constant undertones of how some people receive preferential treatment. Not only that, but there are constantly contradictions. My favorite is that Utopians don’t slaughter animals because it destroys compassion, so they make slaves do it. But how compassionate is it to force people to be slaves? After reading the story again, I almost feel like More, the real Thomas More, doesn’t believe it would work either, but as I said, he is contradictory. Maybe this feeds back into the idea from Book 1 that he really doesn’t know if he feels one way or the other, which then becomes evident in the creation of Utopia.
Let’s be honest, who wants to put in for “vacation time” with the government, then work while you are on vacation in a place that looks exactly like home? Think about it…

Utopia Book 1

I know that Thomas More in the book may not be the same as Thomas More the character. However, I feel like Thomas More is channeling his conflicting emotions/ideas through two different characters. I feel like Hythloday is serving to portray the more exaggerated opinions of Thomas More, and More the character has a more conservative point of view. I think he is trying to send the message that he has mixed feelings about how government and his country should run. Whenever Hythloday (meaning nonsense talker) comes up with a crazy idea, such as enslaving thieves, More goes on to disagree with his ideas and says they won’t work. However, he will still assure Hythloday that he would do well to “engage in public affairs”. To me its saying that More is ambiguous about his thoughts, and is almost trying to write out his thoughts on paper to compare. The fictitious More goes on to support Hythloday’s ideas and decides that with patience they can be implemented and help improve the current system. Hythloday disagrees and says that his radical ideas will cause the government to tighten their ways more than in the past. I feel that this further supports the idea that More is trying to rationalize his mixed thoughts.

Hythloday then states his opinion that:
"As long as there is property, and while money is the standard of all things, I cannot think that a nation can be governed either justly or happily; not justly, because the best things will fall to the share of the worst men; nor happily, because all things will be divided among a few (and even these are not in all respects happy), the rest being left to the absolutely miserable."

I feel like this is one of the biggest moments where the ideas to come in Book 2 are foreshadowed. And we all know how I feel about Book 2…but why not elaborate anyway J

Wife of Bath's Tale. Yeah. I'm playing "catch up".

The Wife of Bath was a really fun and interesting story for me. The prologue portrays her as this woman who knows the ins and outs of men and relationships. I felt like the Tale sent a different message. In the beginning I think you see where the story is heading as far as the lesson that has to be learned, etcetera. I do think it is funny when she prefaces his task by talking about Midas and the asses ears, then tells everyone they have to read Ovid to figure out how it ends. I think this is Chaucer taking a jab at her social class and her actual intelligence, basically he is saying she doesn’t really know how it ends. I really want to focus on her feelings about men and how she expresses them in the story.

Line 1044-1046: “Wommen desiren to have sovereyntee
As wel over hir housbond as hir love,
And for to been in maistrie him above.”

So basically she is saying that women want to be in control of their husbands and have the freedom to make their own decisions in the relationship. Obviously here I feel like she is expressing her desire to be considered superior to men. Later when he is judging the old woman based on her looks and social status—saying she is nowhere near nobe, she responds with:

“For, God it woot, men may wel often finde
A lords sone do shame and vileinye;

So she is saying that men of nobility have definitely done wrong (HINT HINT: You raped someone and you are supposedly “noble”). Basically that nobility doesn’t come from your parents and your possessions, it comes from God and grace. To support her idea of “wearing the pants” in the relationship, she is pointing out the faults of men. Up until this point I have considered her to have a feminist point of view. Then he wins in the end. I think it is really funny (as in ironic) that he learns his lesson by giving her the final decision of her physical appearance and giving her sovereignty in the relationship. By doing this she gets what she wants—what every woman wants—and is extremely pleased. However, did he really learn the lesson? I mean I really feel like in the end he is definitely still superior because all he had to do was give her what she wanted and he is cleared of the fact that he flat out raped someone. So let’s break this down.

Man rapes women
Women puts man to the test
Man passes the test only because of a woman
Man “learns lesson” and ends up with a beautiful wife.
Man really doesn’t learn lesson, woman really isn’t in control

…there’s my humble opinion on that.
With that being said I feel like it shows that the Wife of Bath pretends she likes to be in control, but really she still likes for the man to have superiority in the relationship.

The Lowdown on Oroonoko

I found this story to be very different almost bordlerine Romeo and Juliet with the plot if you actually sit and think about it. The story start of with Oroonoko, who is the grandson of an African king, who falls in love with Imonioda, the daughter of that king's top genreal.
But guess what the king, Oroonoko grandaddy falls in love with the same girl! The king gives the sacared veil, basically making her his wife. She really didnt want to be there with the king and so she decided to choose Oroonoko. Bad Choice! because the king sold her as a slave and Oroonoko was tricked and captured by an English slave captain. Both Imroinda and Oroonoko are carried to Surinam. Surinam is a sugarcane colonoy that the English established in the West Indies. Well anyways the two lovers are reunited therem under new names Caesar and Clemene. But the trouble doesnt stop there, Imonida is so beautiful that she caught the attention of the governor Byam.
Well in the mean time, Oroonoko organizes a slave revolt. That didnt work out to his advanatage because even though Byam promised ammnesty when he was captured he was beat. So of course you know that Oroonoko wanted his revenge because his pride was hurt, he decided to kill Byam. So he decides to kill Byam and in the process he decided to kill Imoroinda as well because he doesnt want her to suffer any injustices, that might happen from his actions. Now, here is where it starts to sound Romeo and Juliet, she agrees that she will go thorugh with this plan. As you are well aware in Romeo and Juliet they did something similiar but it dealt with a misunderstanding and poison. Ok, so Oroonoko really doesnt really want to kill her, because of the love that he has for her, but when he stabs her to death she dies with a smile on her face. He is captured mourining over her body, they kept him from killing himself because they wanted him to get excuted publically. But the crazy thing about the ending is that that while being dismembered, Oroonoko calmly smokes a pipe and he doesnt even make a noise. That takes a lot of courage to stay that calm.
I found that novel is written in a mixture of first and third person. It has been said that narrotor is Aphra Benn herself becuase of how pesrsonailzed the experiences are, but who really knows! In the story the narrotor presents herself as a lady who came to Surinam, with her father, which nobody knows his name, and that they basically came to because her father was supposed to be the new deputy governor of the colony. But in the process of the trip traveling to the new colony the father dies and the narrotor and the family still settles there in Surinam.
There is so much going on with this story. The theme is centered around lust, sex, and slavery.

Delight in Disorder

"A sweet disorder in this dress" what would the disorder be? It has to be a physical characteristic being the dress causes it. Maybe he is saying that attractiveness is a disorder? The way he words the poem, it seems very sexual to me, like the lady wearing the dress is very atractive. The clothes have a "wantonness" Which seems to be loose fitted and excessively luxurious. I think the shoestring line is the most interesting line "a careless shoestring, in whose tie i see a wild civility" It's like he's speaking bad of the shoes not being tied, but then goes to say but that's a daring statement/action i like it. That's a flaw the shoe not being tied correctly, but then after that he says that things like this "bewitch" him more than "when art is too precise", Maybe he's saying flaws are a nice thing everyonce in a while?

Review!

I am going to bed, Must I say this is a good review though! I'm reading all these stories and making sure i know it for the exam, will finish all of them first thing in the morning!