A Semester with Canon Tales

Well, we’ve reached the end now. After weeks of pouring over stories, epics, and poems we have completed this semester. I really enjoyed this semester and all the stories we have read,especially Beowulf and the Tempest (they have to be my favorite) The class itself was fun, especially when we got into smaller groups to discuss something about the text. I found that when we did this, I liked having to bounce ideas off of others and was able to get to know my peers a little better.

This blog was interesting task, it was the first time I had to do something of this nature and for me, it was difficult to remain on top of updating it. However, I think that this aspect was difficult for me only because I had been trying to distance myself from the internet this term and I had to actively remind myself to write a blog post. However, when I did get into the swing of writing a post, I found that  it was really nice to have a space where I could write my rambling thoughts that had some vague connection to the course. I think this was a really good idea, but I would suggest having various due dates or check in dates for the posts.

But now that we are done, I just want to say thank you for this term. I hope you have a wonderful holiday season.

When George Orwell was mentioned in class, about his politics mainly, I immediately sparked an idea to mention on this blog.

In another course (HIST 103 with Prof. Byrne, to be exact) I read his book Homage to Catalonia, in which he recounted his time fighting in the Spanish Civil War- Orwell fought on the side of the Communists. Mostly, I found it really interesting that this person, whom I wrote a historical essay on, was mentioned in passing in this course. While I knew that Orwell was a very influential writer, I didn’t think that he would have commented on other works, especially Guillver’s Travels.

I don’t have anything particularly profound to write in this post, unfortunately. I was just excited to find connections in my courses thus far this semester.

In addition to this Orwell mention, just the other day in my ANTH 217 class about Language and Communication, we were discussing the change of language over time and as an example, my Professor played a segment of one of shakespeare’s text, and then proceed to lament about how we ran out of time and how she wanted to play a part of Beowulf being read aloud. I was disappointed at that point, because I will take any chance to listen to Beowulf, no matter what context!

Hey there!

So, yeah…I’m apparently really bad at getting my ideas from my brain onto paper(well in this case, the internet). I had this idea to talk about Shakespeare and the Tempest, and before I knew it we began discussing Gulliver’s Travels!

In any case, I do not want my little blog idea to go to waste, so here it goes….

I love Shakespeare. I think it was something I inherited from my father, and he inherited from his father, and so on and so forth.  The point I’m trying to make in this very round about way is that my family is pretty obsessed with Shakespeare. In fact, the story goes that if I had been born a boy, my middle name would have been Othello. Instead, my parents ended up with a little girl. While I ended up with the name Katherine, apparently my dad very much wanted me to be called Katherina (you know…the Shrew in Taming of the Shrew?).

So given my familial background in Shakespeare(and my complete obsession with Hamlet during my “goth years”- ah, high school…) I was ecstatic to talk about Shakespeare, and The Tempest, for the second time in my University life.

I LOVE The Tempest. But, more importantly(for the sake of my blog post) I love Caliban.

I know he attempted to rape Miranda and everything, but he is such an interesting character. He lives a pretty messed up life, considering he isn’t human(…as far as I can tell), lost his mother, lives on this abandoned island and is a slave to people who washed upon the shore of  “his” island. You assume at first that he is a savage, a monster. That he is an idiot, that he is someone that deserves the treatment he receives because he is a monster who tried to rape Miranda.

However, once you reach his infamous lines:

“Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises,
Sounds, and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears; and sometime voices
That, if I then had waked after long sleep,
Will make me sleep again; and then in dreaming,
The clouds methought would open, and show riches
Ready to drop upon me, that when I waked
I cried to dream again.”

You then realize that Caliban loves the island he lives on, that he understands and values this land better than any one else does. You realize that he is intelligent and caring in his own way. He has desires, dreams, goals. Yet the other people take him for granted and view him as worthless.

This blog post could go on forever if I continued to talk about how much I love the Tempest, Caliban and Shakespeare. But I’ll end it here, for I believe I’ve made my point quite clear.

As I discussed in my last blog post, I absolutely love the Wife of Bath, and this got me thinking of my recent trip to Bath, England. I figured I would share a couple of images from my trip. I hope you enjoy!

I personally have really enjoyed reading the Canterbury Tales, specifically the Prologue of the Wife of Bath.  Why? Simply because I have grown rather fond of the Wife. She is an amazingly funny character. I love how absolutely blunt she is about… everything. As I was reading her story of herself disguised as the prologue to her tale, I just could not believe that Chaucer had the guts to create this woman, for certainly she was a woman who would have been scorned in Medieval society…right? The Wife just seems so completely modern. She demands respect, authority and beyond that, she is given both! Additionally, The Wife is very crass, which is not how I’ve ever imagined women of this time to be, I’ve always assumed that the society of the time was to oppressive for anyone to be crass, let alone a woman. Yet here is this character, whom I am assuming may have been modeled after someone Chaucer actually knew, who is more than willing to tell you every single thing that’s on her mind: the good, the bad and the ugly. She is educated, well-read and well- traveled. She takes the circumstances she is in and she dominates them, making her life her own…and this is remarkable for the time.