Ashley

The term “nothing” signifies emptiness or a lack of.  In King Lear, however, this word creates a theme that becomes meaningful to the play and is especially seen throughout in Act One.  For instance, in Scene 1, Cordelia tell Lear “nothing,” which he takes to mean that she has nothing to say, although the reader knows that really it is “nothing” good enough to talk about.  In Scene 4, “nothing” is really a driving force that breeds a reaction.  There is also a conversation between Lear and the Fool in Scene 4, where “nothing” is again strongly suggested.  For example, Lear does not have a title anymore, since he is no longer king, but the fool can still be called a Fool.  This implies that the Fool is not higher in rank than the former king. 

“Nothing” is also the base for the concept of the “zero,” which did not exist until the 14^th century.  “Zero” is a nullifier that means stripped down; and “nothing” is central and free.  In fact, the end of the play is also a representation of “nothing,” where the characters continue to die until almost no one is left.

When God created Man, He gave them free will. He would not force man to obey Him and remain passive because then man would be useless and vain, and God would not know if man’s faith, love, and allegiance to Him were sincere. God also knew that man would be corrupted by Satan’s treachery, although the evil will rebound to Satan. However, man’s failure to resist temptation will be man’s fault because God has provided him with will and the ability to reason to resist these temptations.

In the text, Eve agrees with God that obedience lacks value and meaning if it enforced; although obedience is not enforced, Eve believes that it is in the Garden of Eden. Eve’s weakness is curiosity, which contributes to her rebellion of going off by herself in the garden and eating the forbidden fruit. Eve also wants equality with Adam and God. God talks to Adam, and then Adam relays the messages to Eve. This also fuels her consumption of the forbidden fruit. Neither Adam nor Eve take the responsibility for the Fall of Paradise; instead, they continue to pass the blame back and forth.

In Paradise Lost, Satan is the tragic hero. He is cast into Hell and his goal is to corrupt God’s new creation, man; he succeeds in bringing about the fall of Adam and Eve. Satan is the tragic hero in this story because he cannot ask for forgiveness. This is the main difference between Satan and Man. For example, Adam and Eve feel shame for eating the Forbidden Fruit and engaging in sexual activity for pleasure, but Satan does not feel any remorse for his continuing struggle against God. As Satan says in line 263, “Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.”

In the Tragedy of Miriam, the chorus is used as a voice of opinion that is not necessarily the voice of the text.  At the end of Act 4, the chorus is condemning Mariam’s behavior because she does not do what a woman is supposed to do; instead, she has her own opinions and ideas about what she should do.  The chorus makes this speech to try to guilt Mariam (and all other women) to follow the expectations set up for women.  The standards that the chorus focuses on are impossible to live up to, and they believe that if Mariam does not follow them she will be alone and chastised further.  They do not understand Mariam’s lack of self-restraint and questions Miriam’s tendency to push the line that has been drawn for her each time she gets a little more freedom.  The chorus also does not understand why Mariam would rather be without a man and not have as many luxuries, than be with a man and be constantly restrained.  Everyone in the play is so reluctant to attack Miriam’s husband, Herod, because he is a king and therefore has power over people.  He is dominating and cruel, and has unrealistic expectations for Miriam to be submissive, considering her outspokenness and refusal to go along with society’s expectations for women.  Mariam is somewhat of a feminist because she would rather be strong and stand up for herself and what she believes in than have weak character. 

    The Houyhnhm society is based on a utopian society where everything is run perfectly. It seems communist in the way that everyone has his or her own job and hierarchy in the society. For example, each Houyhnhm is born into a distinct class and stays there during his or her lifetime, no matter what kind of work they do. There seems to be a common sense of acceptance within the Houyhnhm society because each horse knows what it is supposed to do (regardless of class) and performs their tasks without complaint. The Houyhnhms are much disciplined, which makes the community an ideal place to live because everything runs the way it is supposed to. In fact, Gulliver believes this society to be perfect and wants to continue to live this way.

    As perfect as their society seems to be, the Houyhnhms lack several human qualities. For example, they lack emotion and sympathy. They also do not have a concept of passion; for instance, the Houyhnhm women seem to be asexual, as opposed to humans. There also is no love in the community. For example, the relationships between parent and child seem clinical and unnatural. The women reproduce because that is their role in society. Another human quality the Houyhnhms lack is that they take everything at face value and have no concept of lies. There is not even a word for lie; it is just referred to as “the thing that is not,” which Gulliver has a hard time understanding. They also lack the ability to write, so traditions and stories get passed down orally through generations instead of being recorded into books, which could cause problems in the future.

    If humans abandoned emotions to live as purely rational beings, there would be both positive and negative consequences. I think humans would gain more discipline in work and become more of a close-knit society, where everything would be done for the greater good of society instead of for personal gain. However, there would be losses as well. No one would be accepting of other cultures and races; instead they would shun others who are different. Gulliver finds this out when the Houyhnhms make him leave because he is too much like a Yahoo to help their society prosper. Also, emotions and the ability to reason are qualities that set humans apart from all other animals. For example, humans are the only species who reproduce and form bonds with their children. If humans were purely rational, I do not believe that they would be able to function as individuals, and much less as a community. If all of these qualities were lost, humans would not be any different from other animalistic societies and therefore would not continually thrive as a whole.

According to the Galenic one-sex model, everyone starts out as a female.  This model is the idea that that men and women have the same sexual organs; the only difference is that men have their organs on the outside, and the women’s are inside.  This is due to differences in heat: women are warm so the organs stay inside the body, and men are colder which cause the organs to drop outside.

Shakespeare’s Sonnet 20 discusses the Galenic one-sex model.  It begins by describing the beloved as a “master-mistress,” who is a feminized man, with a “woman’s face” and a “woman’s gentle heart.”  In this sonnet, the beloved appeals to men on a spiritual level and women on a more sexual level.  Line nine also mentions the “addition,” which is referring to the male genitalia – this happens because nature falls in love with the woman and wants to make her a man. 

The sex/gender system is relatively fluid in Twelfth Night.  When this play was written, the men and women were literally the same; only men performed in the theater so both the male and female gender roles were played by men.  Viola also disguises herself as Cesario, a male character in the play.

 In the Wife of Bath’s Tale, I found the argument between the knight and the hag interesting and comical. They have a conflict because he does not want to “go to bed” with her. The knight says that she is ugly, old, poor, and the hag has an answer for each one of the arguments. First, she says that it is better to have an ugly and old woman because she will be faithful – no one will want to tempt her away from him. She also tells the knight that it is better to be poor because no one will want to steal from you, and it keeps you simple and honest. The subject of being poor is an interesting one. The hag says that doing good deeds makes you gentilesse. It is a way that she challenges the classes – where the knight is put at the bottom. This is because a knight is born into his class, and must uphold the position and family value by being honorable and true.

There are several differences in Beowulf’s previous battles and his battle with the dragon. The biggest difference is that Beowulf dies after the fight. Beowulf went into the battle knowing that he was going to die. When he makes his last formal boast (lines 2510-2515), he says that this battle is going to be his last. During this passage, he admits that his reason for fighting the dragon is for “the glory of winning.” This is a completely different reason from when he fought Grendel, which was to save the Danes from their foe. Although Beowulf defeats the dragon, this was the only battle that he lost because he dies.

There were changes in Beowulf’s character as well, which contributed to some of the differences in the last battle. Perhaps it was because he had aged fifty years, but Beowulf was more vulnerable than before. Aging made Beowulf seem more human because it was obvious that he was on the road to death.

Beowulf’s view of responsibility is also something that has changed. When he went to fight Grendel, there was already a ruler of the Geats so if he died, the people would not be on their own. However, after Beowulf returned he was made king of the Geats and ruled for fifty years. It seemed that he was being reckless and irresponsible when he went to fight the dragon, because he knew he was going to die and that his people would be without a king when he was gone.