The Rape of The Lock is a satirical poem that was written about an actual event. The version that we read in our text rewritten after the original was published. The second version incorporates mythical creatures that serve as primary players in the poem. They are described as being from the elements. They are as much a part of an individual as their physical aspects and cannot be separated except in death. These characters are integral to the plot because they serve to help demonstrate characteristics of the human personality and demeanor.
For when the Fair in all their Pride expire,
To their first Elements the Souls retire:
Different creatures are determined by, or the cause of, what the person is in life.
The Sprights of fiery Termagants in Flame
Mount up, and take a Salamander's Name.
Soft yielding Minds to Water glide away,
And sip with Nymphs, their Elemental Tea.
The graver Prude sinks downward to a Gnome,
In search of Mischief still on Earth to roam.
The light Coquettes in Sylphs aloft repair,
And sport and flutter in the Fields of Air.
Know farther yet; Whoever fair and chaste
Rejects Mankind, is by some Sylph embrac'd:
For Spirits, freed from mortal Laws, with ease
Assume what Sexes and what Shapes they please.
The sylphs are used to illustrate a component of an epic by being deigned guardian of the main character Belinda. The poem suggests that she is the innocent that would require intervention from a superior or supernatural being to be kept from harm, something she is incapable of alone. On her own, she would be influenced too easily and lead astray.
Oft when the World imagine Women stray,
The Sylphs thro' mystick Mazes guide thier Way,
Thro' all the giddy Circle they pursue,
And old Impertinence expel by new.
What tender Maid but must a Victim fall
To one Man's Treat, but for another's Ball?
When Florio speaks, what Virgin could withstand,
If gentle Damon did not squeeze her Hand?
With varying Vanities, from ev'ry Part,
They shift the moving Toyshop of their Heart;
Where Wigs with Wigs, with Sword-knots Sword-knots strive,
Beaus banish Beaus, and Coaches Coaches drive.
This erring Mortals Levity may call,
Oh blind to Truth! the Sylphs contrive it all.
The poem presents the lost lock being attributed to not only the man who took it, but only at the demise of her protector.
Ev'n then, before the fatal Engine clos'd,
A wretched Sylph too fondly interpos'd;
Fate urg'd the Sheers, and cut the Sylph in twain,
It is from this point forward that all is lost and the "war" is waged between the human characters and the immortal ones.
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Saturday, December 1, 2012
Aphra Benhn's Oroonoko
The story of Oroonoko was extremely controversial in the time it was written due to the statement it made concerning slavery. The story was presented as factual and took place in a British colony in the West Indies on a sugar plantation. It tells how Oroonoko, a prince in his native land, was captured through deceit, bought, placed into slavery on the plantation, and his treatment once he arrived there.
The initial description of Oroonoko begins the controversy. He is decribed as having a "greatness of soul", "refined notions of true honor", "absolute generosity", and "softness that was capable of the highest passions of love and gallantry". She goes on to say that "the most illustrious courts could not have produced a braver man, both for greatness of courage and mind, a judgment more solid, a wit more quick, and a conversation more sweet and diverting. He knew almost as much as if he had read much: he had heard of and admired the Romans: he had heard of the late Civil Wars in England, and the deplorable death of our great monarch; and would discourse of it with all the sense and abhorrence of the injustice imaginable. He had an extreme good and graceful mien, and all the civility of a well-bred great man. He had nothing of barbarity in his nature, but in all points addressed himself as if his education had been in some European court.His physical description warranted more controversy."
His physical description warrants more attention as a source of controversy. She describes him in a very sexually charged manner. "He was pretty tall, but of a shape the most exact that can be fancied: the most famous statuary could not form the figure of a man more admirably turned from head to foot. His face was not of that brown rusty black which most of that nation are, but of perfect ebony, or polished jet. His eyes were the most awful that could be seen, and very piercing; the white of ’em being like snow, as were his teeth. His nose was rising and Roman, instead of African and flat. His mouth the finest shaped that could be seen; far from those great turned lips which are so natural to the rest of the negroes. The whole proportion and air of his face was so nobly and exactly formed that, bating his color, there could be nothing in nature more beautiful, agreeable, and handsome. There was no one grace wanting that bears the standard of true beauty."
The controversy arises from the fact that she compares Oroonoko to white British men in a manner that would imply him to be at the very least their equal. In the same paragraph she states that wit and intellegence like his isn't an attribute that can be confined to the white race or men of religion. She singles out Christian men in a way that implies that he is of a stature even greater than theirs.
This is only the first few examples of how the written account of Oroonoko was a piece that was politically charged and made a stance against slavery. It illustrates the writer's view that slavery was an injustice simply by the way she chose to narrate the events that had transpired.
The initial description of Oroonoko begins the controversy. He is decribed as having a "greatness of soul", "refined notions of true honor", "absolute generosity", and "softness that was capable of the highest passions of love and gallantry". She goes on to say that "the most illustrious courts could not have produced a braver man, both for greatness of courage and mind, a judgment more solid, a wit more quick, and a conversation more sweet and diverting. He knew almost as much as if he had read much: he had heard of and admired the Romans: he had heard of the late Civil Wars in England, and the deplorable death of our great monarch; and would discourse of it with all the sense and abhorrence of the injustice imaginable. He had an extreme good and graceful mien, and all the civility of a well-bred great man. He had nothing of barbarity in his nature, but in all points addressed himself as if his education had been in some European court.His physical description warranted more controversy."
His physical description warrants more attention as a source of controversy. She describes him in a very sexually charged manner. "He was pretty tall, but of a shape the most exact that can be fancied: the most famous statuary could not form the figure of a man more admirably turned from head to foot. His face was not of that brown rusty black which most of that nation are, but of perfect ebony, or polished jet. His eyes were the most awful that could be seen, and very piercing; the white of ’em being like snow, as were his teeth. His nose was rising and Roman, instead of African and flat. His mouth the finest shaped that could be seen; far from those great turned lips which are so natural to the rest of the negroes. The whole proportion and air of his face was so nobly and exactly formed that, bating his color, there could be nothing in nature more beautiful, agreeable, and handsome. There was no one grace wanting that bears the standard of true beauty."
The controversy arises from the fact that she compares Oroonoko to white British men in a manner that would imply him to be at the very least their equal. In the same paragraph she states that wit and intellegence like his isn't an attribute that can be confined to the white race or men of religion. She singles out Christian men in a way that implies that he is of a stature even greater than theirs.
This is only the first few examples of how the written account of Oroonoko was a piece that was politically charged and made a stance against slavery. It illustrates the writer's view that slavery was an injustice simply by the way she chose to narrate the events that had transpired.
John Donne's Holy Sonnets
The Holy sonnets are a written representation of man's struggle with his human nature, shown here as sin, and his aspiration to be of a strict moral fiber worthy of God.
It shows a contradiction of a desire to die because of self-imposed shame and a desire to saved from death through God's grace. The overwhelming sense is one of desperation and self-defeat.The illustation of this begins in sonnet one, line 3, with a spoke desire to die.
I run to death, and death meets me as fast,
In sonnet 9, man's justification of his actions and his his struggle with God is shown.
If poisonous minerals, and if that tree,
Whose fruit threw death on (else immortal) us,
If lecherous goats, if serpents envious
Cannot be damn'd, alas ! why should I be ?
Why should intent or reason, born in me,
Make sins, else equal, in me more heinous ?
And, mercy being easy, and glorious
To God, in His stern wrath why threatens He ?
It is an exemplary example of the struggle with religion and deity as a whole, that many encounter at some point in their life. As you read on though the sonnet and into the following sonnets, you see how he has returned to his beliefs and continues to ask for his savior to rescue him from himself, even confronting death himself.
Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so ;
For those, whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy picture[s] be,
Much pleasure, then from thee much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.
Thou'rt slave to Fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,
And poppy, or charms can make us sleep as well,
And better than thy stroke ; why swell'st thou then ?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And Death shall be no more ; Death, thou shalt die.
Sonnet 14 then illustrates his reverence for God and his belief that God can overcome all obstacles and is truly the supreme and omnipotent being of his faith.
Batter my heart, three-person'd God ; for you
As yet but knock ; breathe, shine, and seek to mend ;
That I may rise, and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend
Your force, to break, blow, burn, and make me new.
The last of the sonnets, number 19, is a concise picture of the thoughts and feelings of most religious people that I have encountered. It shows that faith requires an daily submission to and renewal of their beliefs. It is an active process.
Oh, to vex me, contraries meet in one:
Inconstancy unnaturally hath begot
A constant habit; that when I would not
I change in vows, and in devotion.
As humorous is my contrition
As my profane love, and as soon forgot:
As riddlingly distempered, cold and hot,
As praying, as mute; as infinite, as none.
I durst not view heaven yesterday; and today
In prayers and flattering speeches I court God:
Tomorrow I quake with true fear of his rod.
So my devout fits come and go away
Like a fantastic ague; save that here
Those are my best days, when I shake with fear.
It shows a contradiction of a desire to die because of self-imposed shame and a desire to saved from death through God's grace. The overwhelming sense is one of desperation and self-defeat.The illustation of this begins in sonnet one, line 3, with a spoke desire to die.
I run to death, and death meets me as fast,
In sonnet 9, man's justification of his actions and his his struggle with God is shown.
If poisonous minerals, and if that tree,
Whose fruit threw death on (else immortal) us,
If lecherous goats, if serpents envious
Cannot be damn'd, alas ! why should I be ?
Why should intent or reason, born in me,
Make sins, else equal, in me more heinous ?
And, mercy being easy, and glorious
To God, in His stern wrath why threatens He ?
It is an exemplary example of the struggle with religion and deity as a whole, that many encounter at some point in their life. As you read on though the sonnet and into the following sonnets, you see how he has returned to his beliefs and continues to ask for his savior to rescue him from himself, even confronting death himself.
Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so ;
For those, whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy picture[s] be,
Much pleasure, then from thee much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.
Thou'rt slave to Fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,
And poppy, or charms can make us sleep as well,
And better than thy stroke ; why swell'st thou then ?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And Death shall be no more ; Death, thou shalt die.
Sonnet 14 then illustrates his reverence for God and his belief that God can overcome all obstacles and is truly the supreme and omnipotent being of his faith.
Batter my heart, three-person'd God ; for you
As yet but knock ; breathe, shine, and seek to mend ;
That I may rise, and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend
Your force, to break, blow, burn, and make me new.
The last of the sonnets, number 19, is a concise picture of the thoughts and feelings of most religious people that I have encountered. It shows that faith requires an daily submission to and renewal of their beliefs. It is an active process.
Oh, to vex me, contraries meet in one:
Inconstancy unnaturally hath begot
A constant habit; that when I would not
I change in vows, and in devotion.
As humorous is my contrition
As my profane love, and as soon forgot:
As riddlingly distempered, cold and hot,
As praying, as mute; as infinite, as none.
I durst not view heaven yesterday; and today
In prayers and flattering speeches I court God:
Tomorrow I quake with true fear of his rod.
So my devout fits come and go away
Like a fantastic ague; save that here
Those are my best days, when I shake with fear.
Whether a religious person or not, his ability to convey such commitment and conviction is to be admired.
King Lear (Week Two)
In the beginning of the play, King Lear banishes his daughter Cordelia because she refused to make a public proclamation of her love for him and take part in a public ritual, of the King's own design, in which he divides his kingdom according to his daughters' decree of love for him. As a result, he divides the kingdom and gives it to his two eldest daughters who indulge him with false flattery.
The king has a reunion with Cordelia near the end of the play. At this time, he has been abandoned by his oldest children who have conspired against him and are motivated by their own selfishness and greed. Cordelia returns from France to reclaim the Kingdom for her father but finds him in a disheveled state and unsound mind.
Scene 4.7 lines lines 68-77
CORDELIA
These lines show the Kings true remorse. He regrets his treatment of Cordelia. The reunion is one that is bittersweet. The older sisters have conspired to gain sole rein of the kingdom. They have turned against each other.
Although you would think that the King would be angry at the thought of his kingdom being overthrown and now being a prisoner, his only thoughts lie in the joy of being with Cordelia. He seems truly grateful to, at last, have something that is sure and stable in his his life, even if it entails imprisonment.
Scene 5.3
KING LEAR
The play concludes with the death of Edmund, Goneril, and Regan. Lear, who has escaped death thus far, dies of a broken heart over his now dead and beloved' Cordelia.
O, look upon me, sir,KING LEAR
And hold your hands in benediction o'er me:
No, sir, you must not kneel.
Pray, do not mock me:CORDELIA
I am a very foolish fond old man,
Fourscore and upward, not an hour more nor less;
And, to deal plainly,
I fear I am not in my perfect mind.
Methinks I should know you, and know this man;
Yet I am doubtful for I am mainly ignorant
What place this is; and all the skill I have
Remembers not these garments; nor I know not
Where I did lodge last night. Do not laugh at me;
For, as I am a man, I think this lady
To be my child Cordelia.
And so I am, I am.KING LEAR
Be your tears wet? yes, 'faith. I pray, weep not:CORDELIA
If you have poison for me, I will drink it.
I know you do not love me; for your sisters
Have, as I do remember, done me wrong:
You have some cause, they have not.
No cause, no cause.
These lines show the Kings true remorse. He regrets his treatment of Cordelia. The reunion is one that is bittersweet. The older sisters have conspired to gain sole rein of the kingdom. They have turned against each other.
Although you would think that the King would be angry at the thought of his kingdom being overthrown and now being a prisoner, his only thoughts lie in the joy of being with Cordelia. He seems truly grateful to, at last, have something that is sure and stable in his his life, even if it entails imprisonment.
Scene 5.3
KING LEAR
No, no, no, no! Come, let's away to prison:The tool Goneril and Regan (the two elder sisters) have used to attain complete power, a young man by the name of Edmund (who has his own nefarious goals), has sent the King and Cordelia to their unbenounced death at the hand of his captain.
We two alone will sing like birds i' the cage:
When thou dost ask me blessing, I'll kneel down,
And ask of thee forgiveness: so we'll live,
And pray, and sing, and tell old tales, and laugh
At gilded butterflies, and hear poor rogues
Talk of court news; and we'll talk with them too,
Who loses and who wins; who's in, who's out;
And take upon's the mystery of things,
As if we were God's spies: and we'll wear out,
In a wall'd prison, packs and sects of great ones,
That ebb and flow by the moon.
The play concludes with the death of Edmund, Goneril, and Regan. Lear, who has escaped death thus far, dies of a broken heart over his now dead and beloved' Cordelia.
King Lear (Week One)
The character of the Fool seems to
have an ability to state the unvarnished truth concerning events that
take place in King Lear without any restriction or repercussions from even the King himself. Beginning with line 133 and ending in line 160, the Fool speaks to the King about the inevitable results of his actions when he divided his kingdom and gave it to two of his daughters. It is a synopsis of what has transpired and stated in a manner that is blunt and unencumbered with flattery. It is also somewhat foreboding of the events that follow in the play.
Fool
Fool
Dost thou know the difference, my boy, between aKING LEAR
bitter fool and a sweet fool?
No, lad; teach me.Fool
That lord that counsell'd theeKING LEAR
To give away thy land,
Come place him here by me,
Do thou for him stand:
The sweet and bitter fool
Will presently appear;
The one in motley here,
The other found out there.
Dost thou call me fool, boy?Fool
All thy other titles thou hast given away; that
thou wast born with.
KENT
He further prepares the King in lines 166-182.
Fool
This is not altogether fool, my lord.Fool
No, faith, lords and great men will not let me; ifKING LEAR
I had a monopoly out, they would have part on't:
and ladies too, they will not let me have all fool
to myself; they'll be snatching. Give me an egg,
nuncle, and I'll give thee two crowns.
What two crowns shall they be?Fool
Why, after I have cut the egg i' the middle, and eatThe Fool is telling the King that he is a fool, more than the Fool himself, for giving away his land and his power. That although he remains a King by title, he is now at the disposal of his two eldest daughters and that decision will come back to haunt him.
up the meat, the two crowns of the egg. When thou
clovest thy crown i' the middle, and gavest away
both parts, thou borest thy ass on thy back o'er
the dirt: thou hadst little wit in thy bald crown,
when thou gavest thy golden one away. If I speak
like myself in this, let him be whipped that first
finds it so.
He further prepares the King in lines 166-182.
Fool
I have used it, nuncle, ever since thou madest thyKING LEAR
daughters thy mothers: for when thou gavest them
the rod, and put'st down thine own breeches,Singing
Then they for sudden joy did weep,
And I for sorrow sung,
That such a king should play bo-peep,
And go the fools among.
Prithee, nuncle, keep a schoolmaster that can teach
thy fool to lie: I would fain learn to lie.
An you lie, sirrah, we'll have you whipped.Fool
I marvel what kin thou and thy daughters are:In these lines the Fool not only foreshadows the upcoming events but he give insight to the audience of the plot. He, as a Fool, demonstrates boldfaced truths that King intuitively knows, but is in denial of.
they'll have me whipped for speaking true, thou'lt
have me whipped for lying; and sometimes I am
whipped for holding my peace. I had rather be any
kind o' thing than a fool: and yet I would not be
thee, nuncle; thou hast pared thy wit o' both sides,
and left nothing i' the middle: here comes one o'
the parings.
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