A Midsummer Night’s Dream
By William Shakespeare
“Love looks not with thine eyes, but with thine mind,
Therefore is win'd Cupid painted blind.”
-Helena-
This comedy of the great William Shakespeare is not a love comedy story at the very first time I read it. Though the play had romantic elements still it is not a love story at the first instance. Why is that so? First, love itself brought the troubles in romance. We can see it on how Oberon sent Puck for a mission. Because of wanting for a child, Oberon ordered the fairy Puck to obtain a flower from Cupid that causes on to love the first person a person sees. Oberon planed to give it to Titania, so she will love a vile thing and give him the child. We can also see how the forbidden love of Hermia and Lysander brought rage to the story as the characters of Helena and Demetrius came along the scene. Different pairings were made in the story and it is really a comical one. Second reason why this story for me is not actually a love story is that the great author William Shakespeare distanced the reader from the emotions of the characters in order to bring out the sufferings and ambiguities of love. He really didn’t focused or gave so much attention on the emotions of the characters. He shifted or rumbled the partners or the pairings to make the story really interesting and funny and of course to show the struggles of lovers.
The tone of the play is so lighthearted that I never doubted that things will end happily. Instead of sweet love story, I saw a rough flow of romance as the story goes on. The characters experienced a never ending shift of lover done because of magic. I also saw the love imbalance between the four Athenians- Hermia, Lysander, Helena and Demetrius. Hermia was in love with Lysander while Lysander was in love with Hermia too. Demetrius was engaged and loved Hermia while Helena loved him. This pairings were imbalance and too unfair for Helena. Hermia received two admirers while Helena left no one. This is a simple numeric imbalance in which two men love the same woman, leaving one woman with too many suitors and one with too few. But it was too unfair for Demetrius since the one he loved didn’t want to marry him. As the story goes on, the shifting of pairings occurred with the great contribution of Puck a.k.a. Hobgoblin or Robin Goodfellow, a servant of Oberon. Because of Puck’s mistake Lysander was the one who received the flower potion and got in love to Helena who awaken him from sleep. Demetrius also received the magic and happened to be in love with Helena too. In this case, the two admirers were shifted from Hermia and Helena. In the end of the play , the pairings was resolved and managed to be balanced when Lysander was brought in Hermia’ s arms while Demetrius was with Helena. The traditional happy ending was then achieved. Somewhat similarly, in the relationship between Titania and Oberon, an imbalance arises out of the fact that Oberon’s coveting of Titania’s Indian boy outweighs his love for her. Later, Titania’s passion for the ass-headed Bottom represents an imbalance of appearance and nature: Titania is beautiful and graceful, while Bottom is clumsy and grotesque. In this, it also showed the contrast between Titania and Bottom. It somewhat illustrated the humiliation of Titania. But inspite of this, the power of love was prevalent. Although the four Athenians had this confusion to the one they loved because of magic and mistake of Puck still love managed to escape them from slumber and eventually balance the mutual relationship between the four of them. Also in Titania and Oberon, that although their appearance were really a big contrast still love through the helped of the potion managed to bind them even it was a dream. And with all of these things in the story, it simply showed how great Bard, as what his colleagues called him, really is.
It was also shown here in this novel the struggle of men to dominate women and the conflict between father and daughter in which it contributed to the dramatic content. In the first act both forms of tension appear, when Theseus remarks that he has won Hippolyta by defeating her, "Hippolyta, I wooed thee with my sword" and via the conflict between Egeus and Hermia. Adding to this war of the sexes are Lysander and Demetrius in which both wooing Hermia away from her father.
It is therefore necessary to realize that A Midsummer Night's Dream is really a play about finding oneself in order to be free of these authoritative and sexual conflicts. The forest therefore quickly emerged as the location where all of these struggles was resolved. Hermia tried to seek her freedom from Egeus in the woods, which connotes a battle against arranged marriages and for passionate love. The buffoons, in the form of the artisans, added an undercurrent of comedy which at first masked the very real events unfolding on the stage. Yet at the end they provided a terrifying or somewhat funny vision of what will happen in A Midsummer Night's Dream, in the form of their Pyramus and Thisbe play.
A remarkable aspect of this work by Shakespeare is that it contains a play within a play. The story of Pyramus and Thisbe serves to not only show the tragedy that might have occurred if the fairies had not intervened, but also to comment on the nature of reality versus theater. This play within a play is therefore used by Shakespeare to make a subtle point about theater, namely the fact that it is only acting.
In the story, magic played a great role here. Fairies’ magic brought the confusion in the story and really dominated even the emotions of the characters. Magic created the fantastic atmosphere in which the story flowed not just with comical romance. Shakespeare used magic to show both the supernatural power of love which was represented or symbolized in the love concoction and to create a dreamlike world. The great thing about this is that magic was the one who brought hilarious tension in the story but magic was also the cause of restoring back the pandemonium into order and balanced the love of the four Athenians- Hermia, Lysander, Helena and Demetrius.
It was shown in the dialogue between Helena and Demetrius that the woods were a place to be feared, and also are a place to lose virginity. As Demetrius warns, "You do impeach your modesty too much, To leave the city and commit yourself into the hands of one that loves you not; To trust the opportunity of night and the ill counsel of a desert place, With the rich worth of your virginity". Thus the forest can be emblematically read as a sort of trial for the characters, a phase they must pass through in order to reach maturity.
Hermia's serpent serves as a sign of the monsters which were in the woods. This plays into the fact that the woods were not only a place which the characters must escape from, but were also a place of imagination. Hermia's fear of her dream, in which the monster and the danger were only imagined, was meant to show the readers that the danger in a play is only imagined by the audience; neither the play nor Hermia's dream are real.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream was entitled by William Shakespeare like this because of the presence of dream in every sequence of the story. Even in the characters’ dialogues, dream was prevalent. Dream was the way in which the characters tried to explained or reminisced the uproarious things happened to them brought by magic itself. They thought that what happened to them were all brought by a nightmare from deep slumber. At the end of the play, Puck extended the idea of dreams to the readers , saying that, if they have been offended by the play, they should remember it as nothing more than a dream. In this sense, the play was rendered not as a profound tragedy but rather as a implausible experience.
I also noticed the presence of Theseus and Hippolyta in which they just shown only in the beginning and end of the story. During the actual scenes and the start of commotion after the middle part of scene 1 the couple already left the picture. Therefore, these two persona signifies for something. As we all know Theseus and Hippolyta in Greek Mythology were both great rulers of Athens and the warrior women Amazonas. They were both known for leading their constituents in order and stability. So these two leaders who happened to be couple here in A Midsummer Night’s Dream used by Shakespeare to signify that order was achieved in the beginning part and in the end but not throughout the story. During the actual action of the play where these couple disappeared, tension, uncertainty, dimness and unsteadiness emerged throughout the play. These whole scenes provide a large picture of dream in which a person doesn’t have control with. When stability and order was attained, Hippolyta and Theseus appeared which signifies the control over dream and bringing the end of the dream state and thus returning to the proper context.
One of the most noticeable and entertaining characters in Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream was the presence of the fairies. Titania, Oberon, Puck, and the attendant fairies all affected the human beings in the woods, and provided glimpses into the fairy realm. Fairies here were not just a fantasy people lived in dreams but rather lived in the reality. They brought the fantastic and comical element of the story which made the novel alive and really exciting.
One of the fairies and the main shifter of the whole scenes in the story play was the mischievous, quick-witted Puck itself. Maybe he was the most important character in the story. Because of his magic in which he used to transform Bottom’s head into that of an ass and an unfortunate mistake in identifying a particular person which was shown when he smeared the love potion on Lysander’s eyelids instead of Demetrius’s, chaos started to create in the scene. Because of Puck’s presence, the atmosphere of the play became lively and really filled with hilarity. Puck itself had some contrast in his attitude in which he was a good-hearted jester of Oberon yet vulnerable in making tricks in which one of the his prank victim was Bottom. He was a fairy who supposed to be beautiful yet Puck is often portrayed as somewhat bizarre looking. Indeed, another fairy mentions that some call Puck a “hobgoblin,” a term whose connotations are decidedly less glamorous than those of fairy. Puck a.k.a. Robin Goodfellow is indeed the main character in A Midsummer Night’s Dream of the great William Shakespeare.
Another important character in the story is Bottom. From his first introduction, Bottom is presented as courageous and outgoing. He is confident in his ability to play any, even all, roles in "Pyramus and Thisbe." For example, he says his performance of Pyramus will cause the audience to cry a stormload of tears. As the audience realizes, this confidence is misplaced, and Bottom is little more than a swaggering fool — indeed, an ass, as Puck's prank makes apparent. Bottom's language adds to his comic appeal. For example, he claims that if he performed the role of Thisbe, he would speak her lines in a "monstrous little voice," an obviously contradictory statement. Then he would "aggravate" his voice if he played the lion's role so that the ladies in the audience would not be frightened; once again, Bottom's word choices show his silliness, while adding a comic element to the play. Similarly, rather than worry about his acting performance, Bottom wonders which beard would be most effective for the role of Pyramus. Although Bottom is the locus of comedy in the play, he also draws the audience's attention to serious themes, such as the relationship between reality and imagination. In preparing for the performance of "Pyramus and Thisbe," Bottom continually draws his fellow players' attention back to the question of the audience's gullibility: Will the ladies be upset when Pyramus kills himself; will they realize that the lion is not a lion but an actor? To remedy the first problem, Bottom asks Quince to write a prologue, explaining Pyramus is not really dead, and that Pyramus is not, in fact, Pyramus, but Bottom the weaver. In this instance, Bottom focuses the audience's attention on the difficulty of differentiating reality and perception; his solution suggests his belief that the players' acting will be too convincing, that they will fully realize the goal of theater. Similarly, to keep the ladies from being afraid of the lion, he suggests the actor playing the lion show half of his face and explain that he's really a man, not an animal. This belief in the power of theater extends to his solutions for bringing moonshine and a wall into the play. In creating a wall for the set, he believes covering a man with plaster and some loam will sufficiently convince an audience. Always ready to be surprised, to accept the world's wonder, Bottom believes his audience will be equally susceptible to the powers of art.
Actually, all of the other characters contributed to the story but these two characters- Puck and Bottom really stroke me the most. They both materialized the concept of dream and imagination to reality. They were both contributors of funny elements in the story - Puck as the prank maker and Bottom as the prank victim.
In a nutshell, as I relate A Midsummer Night's Dream in reality, one thing came into my mind. I should not look for a grand metaphysical theory or a system of right living in A Midsummer Night's Dream. The great William Shakespeare’s work mirrors human experience.
We will probably not meet Puck and his supernatural companions when we go into the woods. But when we fall in love, or go crazy, or do creative writing, or fall asleep and dream, we enter the realm of the imagination. This happens even when we choose, as Theseus did, to look beyond performance at intention. Even if we pride ourselves, as Lysander did, on being rational, there are important facets of our humanity that are both non-rational and beyond our control. "A Midsummer Night's Dream"celebrates this essential fact of life.
“I have had a dream, past the wit of man to say what dream it was: man is but an ass, if he go about to expound this dream.”
-Bottom-
Monday, April 27, 2009
King Lear
King Lear
By William Shakespeare
FOOL
Prithee, nuncle, tell me whether a madman be a gentleman
or a yeoman?
LEAR
A king, a king!
FOOL
No, he's a yeoman that has a gentleman to his son, for he's
a mad yeoman that sees his son a gentleman before him.
With these lines in Act 3 Scene 6, we can therefore see that King Lear was totally insane and admit the fact that he is crazy. He is crazy in the sense that he enslaved himself from power of language and language of power. Those two themes in the drama really made this story evolved. But before I proceed with these two meaningful themes let us first try to see why King Lear was entitled "King Lear" and why the story or novel by the great William Shakespeare is considered as a tragedy.
First, King Lear was entitled as King Lear because it simply discussed about the struggles and sufferings of the legendary King Lear. We can see how King Lear, who gave more importance to the outside love than the definition of love Cordelia wanted to imply, fell from the fascinating words of his two wicked daughters, Goneril and Regan. He, then, realized his own mistakes with the help of Fool who is the wisest character in the play and the only character who understands the motivations of Lear, his daughters, and other characters. He constantly ridicules Lear, the better to make the old man understand himself and the folly of his selfish, headstrong ways. We can see that King Lear managed to have realization but he failed to regain himself since he didn't stand up again and be a good king but rather remained insane and didn't recover from it brought by his entrusting mistake to his two depraved daughters.
Second, why King Lear was considered as one of Shakespeare's tragedy? First, Shakespeare dramatized the destructive consequences of a single choice and action by the main character. The rash, impetuous Lear created his own destiny when he gave away his land, his title, and his loving youngest daughter. By the end of the first scene Lear’s abdication and division of the kingdom had already begun to have disastrous consequences. As the drama unfolds, Lear’s family and his realm are ruined as a result of his irresponsible course of action. Well, second, this story is quiet tragic in the sense that it Shakespeare really gave us the clear scenes of violence such as what happen to Act 3 Scene 7 where Gloucester eyes were plucked out and the death of most of the major characters such as King Lear itself, Cordelia, Regan, Goneril and many more. So, the story of King Lear gave us the scenes of a royal family fall to doom because of betrayal with each other. We can see here in King Lear that terror reaches its utmost height and the sense of compassion is exhausted. The principal characters here are not those who act, but those who suffer. King Lear itself who should enjoy the moment as the lead character suffered a lot in the story and really the story gave us the picture of a calamity in which the sudden blows of fate became not fair for King Lear.
We can also see a "rise and fall" plot where King Lear was a known powerful king before but then became weak when he entrusted Goneril and Regan who tricked him because of their desire to be in the power. We can also see this kind of action to Cordelia, Edgar and Gloucester in which they all enjoyed their position before and living peacefully with their families but this all end up because of the villains' desire for power.
We can also see a mirror and intersecting actions towards the characters which really made the scenario a dramatic tragedy. We can see the similarities of King Lear and Gloucester in which both of them were father and gullible in the story. They both have good and bad daughters and sons in which they ended up trusting the wrong daughters or son and leave their good son and daughter in doom. They both realized their weakness and mistakes when they actually suffered from a certain ailment in which King Lear suffered insanity while Gloucester suffered blindness. Edmund and the two daughters of King Lear, Goneril and Regan were almost the same in the story in which they both betrayed their fathers because of their craving to power. They both used the power of their language to actually woo and get the attention of their fathers and made the other son and daughter's image worse in their father's face. But the story also has this contrast in which we can see it between Cordelia and her two evil sisters and between Edmund and Edgar. All of them used a certain power of their language but they are different in their purpose since the iniquitous daughters and son used their own flowering words to grab the power and actually betrayed their own father.
We can also see here in the story that this is considered as tragedy because the threefold dignity of a king, an old man, and a father, is dishonored by the cruel ingratitude of his unnatural daughters. The old king, who out of a foolish tenderness has given away everything, is driven out into the world a homeless beggar and the childish imbecility to which he was fast advancing changes into the wildest insanity, and when he is rescued from the destitution to which he was abandoned, it is too late. The kind consolations of filial care and attention and of true friendship are now lost on him; his bodily and mental powers are destroyed beyond hope of recovery, and all that now remains to him of life is the capability of loving and suffering beyond measure. At the first scene we can see that he wanted to find for his daughters filial love but because of his different definition of it he ended up losing the daughter whom the love he wanted was with her. So instead of a mere happy ending, this story ended up in a tragic way in which most of the characters died.
So when did the power of language emerged in the scenes? We can first see it on the first act in which King Lear, a dotty 80-year-old ruler of ancient Britain, announces that he will retire from the throne and divide his kingdom among his three daughters: Goneril, Regan and Cordelia. The foolish, self-centered old man declares that the daughter who loves him the most will receive the biggest share of his property. Then he will live with each daughter in turn, one month at a time. The avaricious Goneril and Regan declare that their love for their father knows no bounds. Lear is much pleased. But when he asks his favorite daughter what she can say to win the richest share of his kingdom, she replies, “Nothing, my lord” .Surprised and disappointed, Lear presses Cordelia, the only daughter who truly loves her father. We can therefore see with these scenes the two scenarios of proving the power of language. First, in Goneril and Regan's words in which they used their flowering utterances just to win the heart of their father even their speeches were not really meant for the king. Second, in Cordelia's word of "Nothing" in which it brought a dreadful effect to his father and made her be out of the family and the kingdom itself. Telling the truth can deeply wound the listener as well as the speaker. Cordelia wins my admiration because she is forthright and sincere. However, her honesty offended her father, and he disowned her. The Earl of Kent, a loyal subject of Lear, suffered banishment too for speaking up for Cordelia. And he ended up in disguise just to help King Lear with all his hear.On the lighter part about King Lear's daughter, it was nice that these things happened to Cordelia because she had the chance to find true love with the Duke of France and made her father realized his own fault. We can also see the power of language with Edmund's words in which he made Gloucester gullible enough to banish his own son Edgar. Another character who pictured out this power of language is King Lear's Fool. We can see that because of his taunting riddles and insults to King Lear, the king managed to realize his own mistake and somehow manage to find for his own vengeance. But this Fool actually made the whole tragic story lightened up. Because of his presence, he somehow lessened the extremeness of the tragedy. But it was quiet noticeable that Fool only showed up when Cordelia was out of the scenes. It seemed to be that when Cordelia, who served as Lear's loving daughter, was send away by King Lear, Fool was there to help king. But Fool disappeared in the scenes where Cordelia and King Lear already met. Maybe he vanished because Cordelia was already there to help his father and Fool is not needed anymore.
Greed and lust for power really corrupt every characters in the story and bring about their downfall. It was best explained with Goneril, Regan and Edmund who all have their disguise just to get the power they want. Goneril, Regan and Edmund reject their own fathers in favor of material possessions and power. Ultimately, their cupidity results in their downfall.
King Lear showed a revelation of the emptiness of life and he failed to consider at least two things. First, there is an affirmation in those passages in which Lear comes, through heart-rending anguish, to see that he was not what he thought he was. Second, Lear's recognition was several times associated with love or charity, as when Lear invited the Fool to enter the hovel first and then confessed his guilt in having cared too little for humanity. And this care for humanity was seen in Cordelia and in the nameless servant who at the end of Act 3 Scene 7 promised to apply medicine to Gloucester’s eyeless sockets. No one would say that these actions turn King Lear into a happy vision, but it was perverse to ignore them and refused to see that in this story, love humanizes as surely as egoism dehumanizes. If the novel dramatized man’s desolation, it also dramatized the love that, while providing no protection against pain or death, made man’s life different from the life of a dog, a horse or a rat.
In our life, we don't need words just to describe our love for someone. As what my father always say when he was still alive, "Hindi kailangan ng salita para mapakita ang tunay na pagmamahal kasi ang gawa ay mas matimbang sa salita" ("Words are useless in showing true love because actions weigh more than words"). Every people need to find love that is pure and sincere without words itself because words are sometimes half meant and lie. Just like King Lear, it is better to check if your daughter loves you not by merely asking her how much she loves you but rather observe on her actions. In this way, you can avoid the possibilities of losing service and love from the person whom you love the most.
By William Shakespeare
FOOL
Prithee, nuncle, tell me whether a madman be a gentleman
or a yeoman?
LEAR
A king, a king!
FOOL
No, he's a yeoman that has a gentleman to his son, for he's
a mad yeoman that sees his son a gentleman before him.
With these lines in Act 3 Scene 6, we can therefore see that King Lear was totally insane and admit the fact that he is crazy. He is crazy in the sense that he enslaved himself from power of language and language of power. Those two themes in the drama really made this story evolved. But before I proceed with these two meaningful themes let us first try to see why King Lear was entitled "King Lear" and why the story or novel by the great William Shakespeare is considered as a tragedy.
First, King Lear was entitled as King Lear because it simply discussed about the struggles and sufferings of the legendary King Lear. We can see how King Lear, who gave more importance to the outside love than the definition of love Cordelia wanted to imply, fell from the fascinating words of his two wicked daughters, Goneril and Regan. He, then, realized his own mistakes with the help of Fool who is the wisest character in the play and the only character who understands the motivations of Lear, his daughters, and other characters. He constantly ridicules Lear, the better to make the old man understand himself and the folly of his selfish, headstrong ways. We can see that King Lear managed to have realization but he failed to regain himself since he didn't stand up again and be a good king but rather remained insane and didn't recover from it brought by his entrusting mistake to his two depraved daughters.
Second, why King Lear was considered as one of Shakespeare's tragedy? First, Shakespeare dramatized the destructive consequences of a single choice and action by the main character. The rash, impetuous Lear created his own destiny when he gave away his land, his title, and his loving youngest daughter. By the end of the first scene Lear’s abdication and division of the kingdom had already begun to have disastrous consequences. As the drama unfolds, Lear’s family and his realm are ruined as a result of his irresponsible course of action. Well, second, this story is quiet tragic in the sense that it Shakespeare really gave us the clear scenes of violence such as what happen to Act 3 Scene 7 where Gloucester eyes were plucked out and the death of most of the major characters such as King Lear itself, Cordelia, Regan, Goneril and many more. So, the story of King Lear gave us the scenes of a royal family fall to doom because of betrayal with each other. We can see here in King Lear that terror reaches its utmost height and the sense of compassion is exhausted. The principal characters here are not those who act, but those who suffer. King Lear itself who should enjoy the moment as the lead character suffered a lot in the story and really the story gave us the picture of a calamity in which the sudden blows of fate became not fair for King Lear.
We can also see a "rise and fall" plot where King Lear was a known powerful king before but then became weak when he entrusted Goneril and Regan who tricked him because of their desire to be in the power. We can also see this kind of action to Cordelia, Edgar and Gloucester in which they all enjoyed their position before and living peacefully with their families but this all end up because of the villains' desire for power.
We can also see a mirror and intersecting actions towards the characters which really made the scenario a dramatic tragedy. We can see the similarities of King Lear and Gloucester in which both of them were father and gullible in the story. They both have good and bad daughters and sons in which they ended up trusting the wrong daughters or son and leave their good son and daughter in doom. They both realized their weakness and mistakes when they actually suffered from a certain ailment in which King Lear suffered insanity while Gloucester suffered blindness. Edmund and the two daughters of King Lear, Goneril and Regan were almost the same in the story in which they both betrayed their fathers because of their craving to power. They both used the power of their language to actually woo and get the attention of their fathers and made the other son and daughter's image worse in their father's face. But the story also has this contrast in which we can see it between Cordelia and her two evil sisters and between Edmund and Edgar. All of them used a certain power of their language but they are different in their purpose since the iniquitous daughters and son used their own flowering words to grab the power and actually betrayed their own father.
We can also see here in the story that this is considered as tragedy because the threefold dignity of a king, an old man, and a father, is dishonored by the cruel ingratitude of his unnatural daughters. The old king, who out of a foolish tenderness has given away everything, is driven out into the world a homeless beggar and the childish imbecility to which he was fast advancing changes into the wildest insanity, and when he is rescued from the destitution to which he was abandoned, it is too late. The kind consolations of filial care and attention and of true friendship are now lost on him; his bodily and mental powers are destroyed beyond hope of recovery, and all that now remains to him of life is the capability of loving and suffering beyond measure. At the first scene we can see that he wanted to find for his daughters filial love but because of his different definition of it he ended up losing the daughter whom the love he wanted was with her. So instead of a mere happy ending, this story ended up in a tragic way in which most of the characters died.
So when did the power of language emerged in the scenes? We can first see it on the first act in which King Lear, a dotty 80-year-old ruler of ancient Britain, announces that he will retire from the throne and divide his kingdom among his three daughters: Goneril, Regan and Cordelia. The foolish, self-centered old man declares that the daughter who loves him the most will receive the biggest share of his property. Then he will live with each daughter in turn, one month at a time. The avaricious Goneril and Regan declare that their love for their father knows no bounds. Lear is much pleased. But when he asks his favorite daughter what she can say to win the richest share of his kingdom, she replies, “Nothing, my lord” .Surprised and disappointed, Lear presses Cordelia, the only daughter who truly loves her father. We can therefore see with these scenes the two scenarios of proving the power of language. First, in Goneril and Regan's words in which they used their flowering utterances just to win the heart of their father even their speeches were not really meant for the king. Second, in Cordelia's word of "Nothing" in which it brought a dreadful effect to his father and made her be out of the family and the kingdom itself. Telling the truth can deeply wound the listener as well as the speaker. Cordelia wins my admiration because she is forthright and sincere. However, her honesty offended her father, and he disowned her. The Earl of Kent, a loyal subject of Lear, suffered banishment too for speaking up for Cordelia. And he ended up in disguise just to help King Lear with all his hear.On the lighter part about King Lear's daughter, it was nice that these things happened to Cordelia because she had the chance to find true love with the Duke of France and made her father realized his own fault. We can also see the power of language with Edmund's words in which he made Gloucester gullible enough to banish his own son Edgar. Another character who pictured out this power of language is King Lear's Fool. We can see that because of his taunting riddles and insults to King Lear, the king managed to realize his own mistake and somehow manage to find for his own vengeance. But this Fool actually made the whole tragic story lightened up. Because of his presence, he somehow lessened the extremeness of the tragedy. But it was quiet noticeable that Fool only showed up when Cordelia was out of the scenes. It seemed to be that when Cordelia, who served as Lear's loving daughter, was send away by King Lear, Fool was there to help king. But Fool disappeared in the scenes where Cordelia and King Lear already met. Maybe he vanished because Cordelia was already there to help his father and Fool is not needed anymore.
Greed and lust for power really corrupt every characters in the story and bring about their downfall. It was best explained with Goneril, Regan and Edmund who all have their disguise just to get the power they want. Goneril, Regan and Edmund reject their own fathers in favor of material possessions and power. Ultimately, their cupidity results in their downfall.
King Lear showed a revelation of the emptiness of life and he failed to consider at least two things. First, there is an affirmation in those passages in which Lear comes, through heart-rending anguish, to see that he was not what he thought he was. Second, Lear's recognition was several times associated with love or charity, as when Lear invited the Fool to enter the hovel first and then confessed his guilt in having cared too little for humanity. And this care for humanity was seen in Cordelia and in the nameless servant who at the end of Act 3 Scene 7 promised to apply medicine to Gloucester’s eyeless sockets. No one would say that these actions turn King Lear into a happy vision, but it was perverse to ignore them and refused to see that in this story, love humanizes as surely as egoism dehumanizes. If the novel dramatized man’s desolation, it also dramatized the love that, while providing no protection against pain or death, made man’s life different from the life of a dog, a horse or a rat.
In our life, we don't need words just to describe our love for someone. As what my father always say when he was still alive, "Hindi kailangan ng salita para mapakita ang tunay na pagmamahal kasi ang gawa ay mas matimbang sa salita" ("Words are useless in showing true love because actions weigh more than words"). Every people need to find love that is pure and sincere without words itself because words are sometimes half meant and lie. Just like King Lear, it is better to check if your daughter loves you not by merely asking her how much she loves you but rather observe on her actions. In this way, you can avoid the possibilities of losing service and love from the person whom you love the most.
The Little Prince
The Little Prince
1. What do the snake, the fox and the rose signify?
First, the rose signifies love. Although the rose was arrogant, seductive, demanding and pretentious, the little prince still took care of her. She was the reason why the prince left his planet and find for his queries. She was also the reason why the prince was very eager to return to his world. Although she used too much time and effort of the prince, still the young prince sacrificed all of these for her because of love. For him, the flower served as the perfume of his small planet. The rose was the reason of the young little prince gaining of knowledge and morals from the fox and all other characters. The prince experience love in an innocent way through investing his whole self to the rose. As what the fox said, love comes from investing in other people. And that’s what the prince did.
Second, the snake signifies death. The snake had a power of ‘sending someone to the land of which he came from’. He enforced the idea that human body is not essential and just a shell that is a hindrance to seeking the answers to the riddles of life. It’s too heavy and a burden to carry. With the snake’s help the prince experienced death and eventually led him to his small planet.
Third and last, the fox signifies true friendship. Through the fox, the prince understood the principles of life, love and friendship. The fox served as his adviser and also a friend to lean on during the time the little prince was mourning about the uniqueness of his flower among other roses in the garden. The fox established selflessness during prince’s departure.
2. Which scenes best exemplify the differences in attitudes of grown-ups and children?
Scenes: When the young pilot drew a boa constrictor and showed it to the grown-ups and the first time the prince and the pilot met
First, the young pilot shows to the grown-ups his drawing of boa constrictor and asks them if it scares them but they lookat it as a hat instead. Upon presenting his drawing Number Two, the viewer sees it is actually an elephant inside a boa constrictor. The adults don’t see it in the original drawing because grown-ups only accept what is sensually obvious. They do not perceive with their inner eye, their imagination. Nor do they seem to possess the desire, or make the effort, or the time, to enquire as to the reason, the essence, or the purpose of what is before them. On the other hand, children’s minds are imaginative because they find what is beyond our eyes. In the scene in which the pilot met the young prince, we can see that the little man distinguished the boa constrictor and the elephant drawing. He asked for a sheep’s drawing and checked every detail of it which shows how keen children are compare to grown-ups.
3. Explain the following quotations.
“You are responsible for those whom you have tamed.”
Taming means building an eternal bond that can be seen in love and friendship. In every relationship that we made, responsibilities are attached to it. Efforts, pain, patience and love were all needed for true bonds of friendship or love. This responsibility or what we call sacrifice is the language of love, as the little prince learns from his own experience with his flower. One has to be very patient, as friendship is not a condition acquired otherwise. The other has the burden of waiting, both eager and anxious, for that precious moment of nearness as it approaches. The people whom you’ve created a bond means that you are willing to render your life and sacrifice for him in order to find true friendship or love.
“It is with the heart that one sees clearly. What is essential is invisible to the naked eye.”
Those important details can be seen through thorough seeing. Seeing things clearly with the eyes is not possible. Their vision is hampered by the physical world that is as a stain ruining the essential nature of the things the eyes cast. The eyes see the outer form: color, texture, and shape but the brain actively searches from a stored catalogue of information, deduces what the image most satisfactorily resembles, and the process is complete. For the young pilot, his drawing of a boa constrictor may have presented only the outer image. But if you see it beyond our eyes or by truly understanding it, there is an underlying principle which is essential. This drawings didn’t evoke an emotional response from the grown-ups because it was seen with the eyes.
If one sees with the heart, then things becomes clear. When things are clear, it means they are transparent. The outer shell becomes irrelevant because one can see straight through it, as if it wasn’t even pertinent to its existence. The little prince speaks of this when he attempts to comfort the pilot in alluding to his approaching death. He tells him “There’s nothing sad about an old shell”. Instead the reality of his existence is as a star, shining throughout time and space. To see clearly the essential nature of something requires vision on the same dimension. The heart is the giver of life; therefore it is the perceiver of life.
4. What are your favorite lines, dialogues or scenes in the movie and why?
Actually I like the whole thing about the rose. It gives to many lessons since the flower signifies universal love. As we all know, the other flowers on the little prince’s planet are simple, possessing only a single row of petals so that they “got in no one’s way”. They would last but a day, leaving not a trace. But the rose possesses a dazzling beauty that gins the little prince admiration. It also had thorns to protect its vulnerability believing, naïve and as weak as they are, that their “thorns make them frightening”. The little prince learns this the hard way as he accepts the pain of her thorns through her torments of vanity, lies, contradictions, and pretensions. Realizing too late that her boastful words were born of vulnerability moves him to remark that he “ought to have realized the tenderness underlying her silly pretensions”, for “Language is the source of misunderstandings”. The rose “perfumed my planet” with the essence of her being which is far stronger than words. For words are merely symbols and have no lasting value except what we allude to them.
The flower is important to the little prince inasmuch as he has watched it grow and labored, in love, to provide for and protect it. It is a “unique flower, one that exists nowhere in the world except on my planet”. Yet the little prince did come across five thousand such flowers in a single rose garden during his visit to earth. Initially deeming his rose to be ordinary, and focusing on the absolute quantity of roses before him, he despairs of his wealth and his position on his little planet. But the little prince learns from the fox, a special friend, since he has tamed him from among all the “hundred thousand other foxes”, that the ties created by patience and responsibility are unique and unbreakable. Hence, his rose is important; it is the only one of its kind “among all the millions and millions of stars”. He had tamed her, rendering them inseparable. He has tolerated her arrogance and complaints in his love for her, and thus providing the screen and the glass to protect her from the trials of drafts and the cold of night. This love transcends time and space so that, as he gazes up into the heavens he feels happy simply knowing she is there. It is as though the flower exists within him; his loyalty to the flower has engraved the “image of the rose…within him”. To learn of its demise would be equal to quenching the very existence of his soul. For, without the soul there is no life; and without that life, everything else ceases to exist.
1. What do the snake, the fox and the rose signify?
First, the rose signifies love. Although the rose was arrogant, seductive, demanding and pretentious, the little prince still took care of her. She was the reason why the prince left his planet and find for his queries. She was also the reason why the prince was very eager to return to his world. Although she used too much time and effort of the prince, still the young prince sacrificed all of these for her because of love. For him, the flower served as the perfume of his small planet. The rose was the reason of the young little prince gaining of knowledge and morals from the fox and all other characters. The prince experience love in an innocent way through investing his whole self to the rose. As what the fox said, love comes from investing in other people. And that’s what the prince did.
Second, the snake signifies death. The snake had a power of ‘sending someone to the land of which he came from’. He enforced the idea that human body is not essential and just a shell that is a hindrance to seeking the answers to the riddles of life. It’s too heavy and a burden to carry. With the snake’s help the prince experienced death and eventually led him to his small planet.
Third and last, the fox signifies true friendship. Through the fox, the prince understood the principles of life, love and friendship. The fox served as his adviser and also a friend to lean on during the time the little prince was mourning about the uniqueness of his flower among other roses in the garden. The fox established selflessness during prince’s departure.
2. Which scenes best exemplify the differences in attitudes of grown-ups and children?
Scenes: When the young pilot drew a boa constrictor and showed it to the grown-ups and the first time the prince and the pilot met
First, the young pilot shows to the grown-ups his drawing of boa constrictor and asks them if it scares them but they lookat it as a hat instead. Upon presenting his drawing Number Two, the viewer sees it is actually an elephant inside a boa constrictor. The adults don’t see it in the original drawing because grown-ups only accept what is sensually obvious. They do not perceive with their inner eye, their imagination. Nor do they seem to possess the desire, or make the effort, or the time, to enquire as to the reason, the essence, or the purpose of what is before them. On the other hand, children’s minds are imaginative because they find what is beyond our eyes. In the scene in which the pilot met the young prince, we can see that the little man distinguished the boa constrictor and the elephant drawing. He asked for a sheep’s drawing and checked every detail of it which shows how keen children are compare to grown-ups.
3. Explain the following quotations.
“You are responsible for those whom you have tamed.”
Taming means building an eternal bond that can be seen in love and friendship. In every relationship that we made, responsibilities are attached to it. Efforts, pain, patience and love were all needed for true bonds of friendship or love. This responsibility or what we call sacrifice is the language of love, as the little prince learns from his own experience with his flower. One has to be very patient, as friendship is not a condition acquired otherwise. The other has the burden of waiting, both eager and anxious, for that precious moment of nearness as it approaches. The people whom you’ve created a bond means that you are willing to render your life and sacrifice for him in order to find true friendship or love.
“It is with the heart that one sees clearly. What is essential is invisible to the naked eye.”
Those important details can be seen through thorough seeing. Seeing things clearly with the eyes is not possible. Their vision is hampered by the physical world that is as a stain ruining the essential nature of the things the eyes cast. The eyes see the outer form: color, texture, and shape but the brain actively searches from a stored catalogue of information, deduces what the image most satisfactorily resembles, and the process is complete. For the young pilot, his drawing of a boa constrictor may have presented only the outer image. But if you see it beyond our eyes or by truly understanding it, there is an underlying principle which is essential. This drawings didn’t evoke an emotional response from the grown-ups because it was seen with the eyes.
If one sees with the heart, then things becomes clear. When things are clear, it means they are transparent. The outer shell becomes irrelevant because one can see straight through it, as if it wasn’t even pertinent to its existence. The little prince speaks of this when he attempts to comfort the pilot in alluding to his approaching death. He tells him “There’s nothing sad about an old shell”. Instead the reality of his existence is as a star, shining throughout time and space. To see clearly the essential nature of something requires vision on the same dimension. The heart is the giver of life; therefore it is the perceiver of life.
4. What are your favorite lines, dialogues or scenes in the movie and why?
Actually I like the whole thing about the rose. It gives to many lessons since the flower signifies universal love. As we all know, the other flowers on the little prince’s planet are simple, possessing only a single row of petals so that they “got in no one’s way”. They would last but a day, leaving not a trace. But the rose possesses a dazzling beauty that gins the little prince admiration. It also had thorns to protect its vulnerability believing, naïve and as weak as they are, that their “thorns make them frightening”. The little prince learns this the hard way as he accepts the pain of her thorns through her torments of vanity, lies, contradictions, and pretensions. Realizing too late that her boastful words were born of vulnerability moves him to remark that he “ought to have realized the tenderness underlying her silly pretensions”, for “Language is the source of misunderstandings”. The rose “perfumed my planet” with the essence of her being which is far stronger than words. For words are merely symbols and have no lasting value except what we allude to them.
The flower is important to the little prince inasmuch as he has watched it grow and labored, in love, to provide for and protect it. It is a “unique flower, one that exists nowhere in the world except on my planet”. Yet the little prince did come across five thousand such flowers in a single rose garden during his visit to earth. Initially deeming his rose to be ordinary, and focusing on the absolute quantity of roses before him, he despairs of his wealth and his position on his little planet. But the little prince learns from the fox, a special friend, since he has tamed him from among all the “hundred thousand other foxes”, that the ties created by patience and responsibility are unique and unbreakable. Hence, his rose is important; it is the only one of its kind “among all the millions and millions of stars”. He had tamed her, rendering them inseparable. He has tolerated her arrogance and complaints in his love for her, and thus providing the screen and the glass to protect her from the trials of drafts and the cold of night. This love transcends time and space so that, as he gazes up into the heavens he feels happy simply knowing she is there. It is as though the flower exists within him; his loyalty to the flower has engraved the “image of the rose…within him”. To learn of its demise would be equal to quenching the very existence of his soul. For, without the soul there is no life; and without that life, everything else ceases to exist.
Papers....
I don't have anything to post that's why I decided to put here my analysis paper, poems and some other stuffs that I've passed as a requirement on my subjects....
Comparative Analysis of Bible and Metamorphoses by Ovid
“Who created man, the world and everything surrounds us? How we were created? Is God really true?”
These are the basic yet important questions about our existence. Many folklores, myths and different fables passed from generation to generation and tried to describe and explain the history of the world. Two of those prominent masterpieces are the Bible particularly the first book which is Genesis and the narrative poems in fifteen books by Ovid entitled Metamorphoses. Those two are known to be influential literary pieces in which it transcends time and culture. It touches each and everyone’s life. Like me for example, I am raised with Christian beliefs and strongly consider and respect the seven days creation by God and Adam and Eve story. But when I started to be exposed to various texts in school particularly classical literature of Greece and Romans, I somehow wonder for truth. I am curious about supernatural powers of Gods and Goddesses which made up the world and universe in these books. This paper will not intend to find whether which belief is true or not but rather this will just analyze the similarities and differences of Metamorphoses stories compare to the Bible. As we all know, basically they differ in formats since Metamorphoses was in a verse form while the bible was simply in a narrative prose but we can’t deny the fact that these two are canons and represent every written arts thus holding their own style and respect in the literary world.
Book 1: The Creation
The story of universe and mankind’s creation in Metamorphoses has lots of resemblance and variations compare in the first book of the bible which is Genesis. In Metamorphoses, before land, sea and sky existed in the whole world, it was said that the earth is an undivided mass, naught but a lifeless bulk with warring weeds. This is also the same on the bible accounts in which in the beginning all of the elements of the universe were at odds with one another until a God came to create everything. Both accounts conceded that universe is in total darkness and just made up of spacious water. Both stories have one Supreme Being who walk in the surface of water above the earth and made up everything that surrounds us. But as we see the likeness of the two stories, we can also notice the differences on details. As we all know, the Father God was the one responsible for the world's existence today as what was stated in the Catholic’s belief. But in the Metamorphoses it was Prometheus who made up the world and universe. Maybe they differ in name but as we can observe, both Gods have supernatural powers that can create the whole mass in just a snap.
In terms of emphasis, Ovid's purpose for writing the creation story is geared more towards explaining creation as it happens, in his opinion, whereas the Bible stresses the fact that the God of the Hebrews is responsible for the world's existence today. So generally, Ovid was very detailed in explaining and describing the formlessness of earth using figurative depiction. The Biblical account seems to be more plain, simple, and organized. It does not spend time on intricate detail.
One detail that we can still compare side by side is the time frame of creation. In Metamorphoses, it was depicted that Prometheus seems to make up everything in just a wink of an eye but in the bible God himself consumed six days of creation and rested on the seventh day. Each life being and mankind was fashioned separately in days in contrast with Ovid’s in which light, sky, birds, trees, fishes and many more were produced in an instant.
Many accounts adopted the ideas of these two masterpieces just like our own country’s folklore which is the story of Malakas and Maganda from bamboo shoots and a big bird flying between the sky and sea of our ancestors. There are lots of versions of this story in every province here in Philippines. One example is the story in which the bird made sky and the sea in a total argument. The bird was tired of flying all his life because there is no land to rest for that is why he made the sky and sea’s conflict. The clash between the sky and the sea made the land because the sky threw rocks and stones to the sea. Here, it was implied that the earth before was in a spacious water. Just like in the accounts of Metamorphoses and Genesis book of the Bible, the world was shapeless and in void plus a water covers up everything in which no man can swim on it because it’s gigantic.
Yes, those two literary pieces were dissimilar in some details yet those two were both amazing writings which transcend time and culture. They both stood out and mutually exclusive from each other. Many literary pieces which tried to explain creation were based on Metamorphoses and Bible. They both tried to explain the basic questions of our existence here in this world. How we were made? Who created us? Where we came from?
Book 1:
The Flood
Deucalion and Pyrrha
Something that catches my interest while reading Metamorphoses was the story about the flood and the couples Deucalion and Pyrrha. In reminds me of Noah and his ark story in the bible. It was said that because of humankind’s sins, God was angry and send a flood to wipe out everything. But God chose Noah and his family to survive since they are the only morally righteous and obedient family. The Almighty One told Noah to make an ark before the flood. He also commanded the old man to bring pairs of all animals with them in the ark. The flood lasted for forty days and forty nights.
On the other hand, Ovid’s depiction of blood was almost the same. Because of immorality and disobedience, Jove called a meeting of the gods and goddesses to determine what to do with the degenerate mortals. Jove swore by the river Styx that he had tried everything to purge the evil from mankind, but the only solution was to destroy the human race in order to save the earth itself. Jove had descended from Olympus and walked the earth in mortal disguise to determine the severity of mankind's ruin. He went to the palace of Lycaon, where the mortal greeted the disguised god with disbelief and scorn. Although Jove had made his true identity obvious to the mortals, Lycaon tried to feed him the boiled flesh of a mortal man to test whether or not Jove was a god. As a punishment for Lycaon's impudent action, Jove destroyed the man's home and turned him into a wolf. Jove sentenced all mankind to death for their sins and promised that a greater race of humanity would be created after this first race was destroyed. He sent a flood to wipe out the first race of mankind. Jove locked the north wind in a cave and sent out the south wind to bring storms. Iris, the rainbow and messenger of the gods, refilled the rain clouds, and Neptune, god of the seas and brother to Jove, called forth the rivers and oceans to rise from their beds and cover the globe. The world was covered in water and the flood destroyed everything living. But just like in the Genesis, Jove chose a couple, Deucalion and Pyrrha to be the start of earth’s humankind because they are righteous.
So as we can analyze these two accounts, there are lots of similarities and differences. Like the creation story in Metamorphoses, the flood story gives no
specific time frame for the length of the flood. However, Genesis gives a
detailed time frame for this event. The rains last forty days and forty
nights. When the rain stops, it was said that the water prevails upon the earth for
one hundred and fifty days. After ten months, the mountain tops become visible. At the end of one year, one month, and twenty- seven days, Noah,
his family, and the various animals exit the ark.
Another thing to compare between these two accounts is the explanation of existence after the flood. In Metamorphoses, Deucalion and Pyrrha, the two
survivors, throw stones over each of his and her shoulder. The stones that
Deucalion throw become men, and the ones that Pyrrha toss, turn into women. In Genesis all of the earth is populated by Noah, his wife, Shem, Ham, Japheth, along with their wives. But as we can notice, it was stated in Metamorphoses that we came from Mother Earth’s bone which is the rocks or the soil. This testimony cites the story in Genesis that we came from mud or ash. So these two masterpieces both conceded to the premise that we, all the humankind came from ash. And as what the Catholics believe, we will return to ash when we die and be part of Mother Earth’s body again.
Another addition to these is that in Ovid's tale, the animals of the
earth form, or evolve, from heat and water amongst the mud. The creatures
of the earth repopulate themselves in Genesis since Noah brought one pair of all kinds of animals for reproduction of their species for the new world.
Just as these tales have had their differences, they also share features and characteristics. As what I mention at the previous part, the flood, in each story, was sent because of humankind’s immorality and disobedience to God in which they should be the subject of humankinds’ worship.
In both accounts, only one family is "chosen" or "spared" to continue existence of the human race. In Metamorphoses it was Deucalion and Phyrrha. And Noah's family is chosen by God in Genesis. Both families seem to be in a right standing with God, or the Gods, when the flood occurs. It is very interesting to notice that in both accounts, as soon as the families are delivered safely from the flood, each worship and show reverence to God, or the Gods, in ultimate control. Also, both accounts of the flood, give some explanation, though very different, for the survival of the human race and animal species.
Both versions and explanations stated that it was due to super powers of God that the flood emerged. In the bible the Almighty God was the one who brought the inundation to earth while in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, it was Neptune’s power who made it, of course, under the commands of Jove which is the highest ruler that time. We can observe in this statement that in Metamorphoses, two different Gods created the earth and the one who brought the flood. Prometheus as what I’ve mentioned before was the one who formed and crafted the Earth and the universe. But here in another poem, Jove was now the one who controlled the earth. In the bible, the supreme ruler and the deluge maker was only one or the same.
In these two masterpieces, Metamorphoses and the Bible, we can also compare the Gods and Godesses. In the bible, we only have one supreme ruler who manipulate and lead the world. He is known to be omniscient or all-knowing and omnipotent or all-powerful. He is dominant yet righteous. According to our Christian faith, no one sees him and he has no direct or physical contact with the humankind because he is in the sky watching us all- his creations. But as we can compare it to the Metamorphoses by Ovid, there is more than one God in the world. We have God and Goddesses. They pilot different fields. Such for example is Hera who is known to be goddess of marriage, Venus as godess of beauty and love and Apollo who is kown to be the god of the sun, poetry, music, and oracles. But the supreme above them all is Jove or Jupiter who is the King of the Gods and the storm, air, and sky god.
Aside from the number of Gods or Godesses who ruled the Earth in these two accounts, we can notice that in Metamorphoses Gods and Goddesses can go down to earth and interact with the humankind if needed. As for example in Jove, in which he went to earth to court his mistresses. We can cite it in the story of Io in which he made himself as a shooting star to touch the maiden Io. Another is the story of Apollo and Daphne in Book One of Metamorphoses in which Apollo fell in love with Daphne and chased to rape her and later on the lady becomes a laurel tree. We can see how Gods in the said book was somehow immoral compare to the God in the Bible. We can see how some of Gods and Goddesses in Metamorphoses used their supernatural powers and influences to take advantage to humankind especially those things between the lover Gods and poor beautiful maidens.
As one can see, when comparing each of the accounts of the stories of creation, the flood, Deucalion and Pyrrha and even the qualities of Gods and Goddesses in Ovid's Metamorphoses and Genesis, there are some very similar
actions or events that take place in each of these accounts putting emphasis on very different messages. It is due to these variations in writing and technique that each of these narrative literary pieces have acquired and maintained the respect they truly deserve through many years of evaluation and criticism. Still, these two masterpieces are both works of art. It’s up to us if we will believe on either of them. What is more important is to stay in our faith, give importance to our precious life and everything surrounds us and remember to thank whoever created us all. That’s the truth about life.
Comparative Analysis of Bible and Metamorphoses by Ovid
“Who created man, the world and everything surrounds us? How we were created? Is God really true?”
These are the basic yet important questions about our existence. Many folklores, myths and different fables passed from generation to generation and tried to describe and explain the history of the world. Two of those prominent masterpieces are the Bible particularly the first book which is Genesis and the narrative poems in fifteen books by Ovid entitled Metamorphoses. Those two are known to be influential literary pieces in which it transcends time and culture. It touches each and everyone’s life. Like me for example, I am raised with Christian beliefs and strongly consider and respect the seven days creation by God and Adam and Eve story. But when I started to be exposed to various texts in school particularly classical literature of Greece and Romans, I somehow wonder for truth. I am curious about supernatural powers of Gods and Goddesses which made up the world and universe in these books. This paper will not intend to find whether which belief is true or not but rather this will just analyze the similarities and differences of Metamorphoses stories compare to the Bible. As we all know, basically they differ in formats since Metamorphoses was in a verse form while the bible was simply in a narrative prose but we can’t deny the fact that these two are canons and represent every written arts thus holding their own style and respect in the literary world.
Book 1: The Creation
The story of universe and mankind’s creation in Metamorphoses has lots of resemblance and variations compare in the first book of the bible which is Genesis. In Metamorphoses, before land, sea and sky existed in the whole world, it was said that the earth is an undivided mass, naught but a lifeless bulk with warring weeds. This is also the same on the bible accounts in which in the beginning all of the elements of the universe were at odds with one another until a God came to create everything. Both accounts conceded that universe is in total darkness and just made up of spacious water. Both stories have one Supreme Being who walk in the surface of water above the earth and made up everything that surrounds us. But as we see the likeness of the two stories, we can also notice the differences on details. As we all know, the Father God was the one responsible for the world's existence today as what was stated in the Catholic’s belief. But in the Metamorphoses it was Prometheus who made up the world and universe. Maybe they differ in name but as we can observe, both Gods have supernatural powers that can create the whole mass in just a snap.
In terms of emphasis, Ovid's purpose for writing the creation story is geared more towards explaining creation as it happens, in his opinion, whereas the Bible stresses the fact that the God of the Hebrews is responsible for the world's existence today. So generally, Ovid was very detailed in explaining and describing the formlessness of earth using figurative depiction. The Biblical account seems to be more plain, simple, and organized. It does not spend time on intricate detail.
One detail that we can still compare side by side is the time frame of creation. In Metamorphoses, it was depicted that Prometheus seems to make up everything in just a wink of an eye but in the bible God himself consumed six days of creation and rested on the seventh day. Each life being and mankind was fashioned separately in days in contrast with Ovid’s in which light, sky, birds, trees, fishes and many more were produced in an instant.
Many accounts adopted the ideas of these two masterpieces just like our own country’s folklore which is the story of Malakas and Maganda from bamboo shoots and a big bird flying between the sky and sea of our ancestors. There are lots of versions of this story in every province here in Philippines. One example is the story in which the bird made sky and the sea in a total argument. The bird was tired of flying all his life because there is no land to rest for that is why he made the sky and sea’s conflict. The clash between the sky and the sea made the land because the sky threw rocks and stones to the sea. Here, it was implied that the earth before was in a spacious water. Just like in the accounts of Metamorphoses and Genesis book of the Bible, the world was shapeless and in void plus a water covers up everything in which no man can swim on it because it’s gigantic.
Yes, those two literary pieces were dissimilar in some details yet those two were both amazing writings which transcend time and culture. They both stood out and mutually exclusive from each other. Many literary pieces which tried to explain creation were based on Metamorphoses and Bible. They both tried to explain the basic questions of our existence here in this world. How we were made? Who created us? Where we came from?
Book 1:
The Flood
Deucalion and Pyrrha
Something that catches my interest while reading Metamorphoses was the story about the flood and the couples Deucalion and Pyrrha. In reminds me of Noah and his ark story in the bible. It was said that because of humankind’s sins, God was angry and send a flood to wipe out everything. But God chose Noah and his family to survive since they are the only morally righteous and obedient family. The Almighty One told Noah to make an ark before the flood. He also commanded the old man to bring pairs of all animals with them in the ark. The flood lasted for forty days and forty nights.
On the other hand, Ovid’s depiction of blood was almost the same. Because of immorality and disobedience, Jove called a meeting of the gods and goddesses to determine what to do with the degenerate mortals. Jove swore by the river Styx that he had tried everything to purge the evil from mankind, but the only solution was to destroy the human race in order to save the earth itself. Jove had descended from Olympus and walked the earth in mortal disguise to determine the severity of mankind's ruin. He went to the palace of Lycaon, where the mortal greeted the disguised god with disbelief and scorn. Although Jove had made his true identity obvious to the mortals, Lycaon tried to feed him the boiled flesh of a mortal man to test whether or not Jove was a god. As a punishment for Lycaon's impudent action, Jove destroyed the man's home and turned him into a wolf. Jove sentenced all mankind to death for their sins and promised that a greater race of humanity would be created after this first race was destroyed. He sent a flood to wipe out the first race of mankind. Jove locked the north wind in a cave and sent out the south wind to bring storms. Iris, the rainbow and messenger of the gods, refilled the rain clouds, and Neptune, god of the seas and brother to Jove, called forth the rivers and oceans to rise from their beds and cover the globe. The world was covered in water and the flood destroyed everything living. But just like in the Genesis, Jove chose a couple, Deucalion and Pyrrha to be the start of earth’s humankind because they are righteous.
So as we can analyze these two accounts, there are lots of similarities and differences. Like the creation story in Metamorphoses, the flood story gives no
specific time frame for the length of the flood. However, Genesis gives a
detailed time frame for this event. The rains last forty days and forty
nights. When the rain stops, it was said that the water prevails upon the earth for
one hundred and fifty days. After ten months, the mountain tops become visible. At the end of one year, one month, and twenty- seven days, Noah,
his family, and the various animals exit the ark.
Another thing to compare between these two accounts is the explanation of existence after the flood. In Metamorphoses, Deucalion and Pyrrha, the two
survivors, throw stones over each of his and her shoulder. The stones that
Deucalion throw become men, and the ones that Pyrrha toss, turn into women. In Genesis all of the earth is populated by Noah, his wife, Shem, Ham, Japheth, along with their wives. But as we can notice, it was stated in Metamorphoses that we came from Mother Earth’s bone which is the rocks or the soil. This testimony cites the story in Genesis that we came from mud or ash. So these two masterpieces both conceded to the premise that we, all the humankind came from ash. And as what the Catholics believe, we will return to ash when we die and be part of Mother Earth’s body again.
Another addition to these is that in Ovid's tale, the animals of the
earth form, or evolve, from heat and water amongst the mud. The creatures
of the earth repopulate themselves in Genesis since Noah brought one pair of all kinds of animals for reproduction of their species for the new world.
Just as these tales have had their differences, they also share features and characteristics. As what I mention at the previous part, the flood, in each story, was sent because of humankind’s immorality and disobedience to God in which they should be the subject of humankinds’ worship.
In both accounts, only one family is "chosen" or "spared" to continue existence of the human race. In Metamorphoses it was Deucalion and Phyrrha. And Noah's family is chosen by God in Genesis. Both families seem to be in a right standing with God, or the Gods, when the flood occurs. It is very interesting to notice that in both accounts, as soon as the families are delivered safely from the flood, each worship and show reverence to God, or the Gods, in ultimate control. Also, both accounts of the flood, give some explanation, though very different, for the survival of the human race and animal species.
Both versions and explanations stated that it was due to super powers of God that the flood emerged. In the bible the Almighty God was the one who brought the inundation to earth while in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, it was Neptune’s power who made it, of course, under the commands of Jove which is the highest ruler that time. We can observe in this statement that in Metamorphoses, two different Gods created the earth and the one who brought the flood. Prometheus as what I’ve mentioned before was the one who formed and crafted the Earth and the universe. But here in another poem, Jove was now the one who controlled the earth. In the bible, the supreme ruler and the deluge maker was only one or the same.
In these two masterpieces, Metamorphoses and the Bible, we can also compare the Gods and Godesses. In the bible, we only have one supreme ruler who manipulate and lead the world. He is known to be omniscient or all-knowing and omnipotent or all-powerful. He is dominant yet righteous. According to our Christian faith, no one sees him and he has no direct or physical contact with the humankind because he is in the sky watching us all- his creations. But as we can compare it to the Metamorphoses by Ovid, there is more than one God in the world. We have God and Goddesses. They pilot different fields. Such for example is Hera who is known to be goddess of marriage, Venus as godess of beauty and love and Apollo who is kown to be the god of the sun, poetry, music, and oracles. But the supreme above them all is Jove or Jupiter who is the King of the Gods and the storm, air, and sky god.
Aside from the number of Gods or Godesses who ruled the Earth in these two accounts, we can notice that in Metamorphoses Gods and Goddesses can go down to earth and interact with the humankind if needed. As for example in Jove, in which he went to earth to court his mistresses. We can cite it in the story of Io in which he made himself as a shooting star to touch the maiden Io. Another is the story of Apollo and Daphne in Book One of Metamorphoses in which Apollo fell in love with Daphne and chased to rape her and later on the lady becomes a laurel tree. We can see how Gods in the said book was somehow immoral compare to the God in the Bible. We can see how some of Gods and Goddesses in Metamorphoses used their supernatural powers and influences to take advantage to humankind especially those things between the lover Gods and poor beautiful maidens.
As one can see, when comparing each of the accounts of the stories of creation, the flood, Deucalion and Pyrrha and even the qualities of Gods and Goddesses in Ovid's Metamorphoses and Genesis, there are some very similar
actions or events that take place in each of these accounts putting emphasis on very different messages. It is due to these variations in writing and technique that each of these narrative literary pieces have acquired and maintained the respect they truly deserve through many years of evaluation and criticism. Still, these two masterpieces are both works of art. It’s up to us if we will believe on either of them. What is more important is to stay in our faith, give importance to our precious life and everything surrounds us and remember to thank whoever created us all. That’s the truth about life.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Inbox from ELF in Facebook
Hey guys, sth exciting for sharing this week
1) 2009.04.23 Mnet M!countdown 1st place
2) 2009.04.24 KBS Music Bank Mutizen Song, this is a monthly champion for April. That means Super Junior has won the mutizen song @ KBS music bank for two consecutive months! If you haven't check it out, make sure to do it ASAP!
http://www.facebook.com/groups.php?ref=sb#/video/video.php?v=74057817181&oid=4926284105
3) Battle of the Pop: Asia vs Asia
This voting cast is just over. For any of you who have voted for Super Junior, I should say you really did a great job! Even the result has not come out right now, I could say I am pretty sure Super Junior will get NO.1!
Find out who won by tuning in to Channel [V] on SUNDAY, 26th April at 5.15pm HK/SG, 6.15pm MAL!
4) VOTE for SUPER JUNIOR at YAHOO
http://kr.rival.kids.yahoo.com/rival/favor/?ac=favor&tac=view&category=1&code=200904&rcd=4634&cd=223
1. click the "로그인" at the top to login your yahoo account
2. there is 2 box...
click PURPLE box to VOTE for them
click ORANGE box to see the current polling result
3. you can vote for them EVERY 10 SECONDS
HURRY UP ELF!!!
SUJU in 3rd position now
let's make it NO.1!!!
5) Last but the most important one!!!
VOTE FOR SUPER JUNIOR @ ARIRANG TV POP COUNTDOWN
check the discussion board for more information:
http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?topic=7979&uid=4926284105#/topic.php?uid=4926284105&topic=7979
I know voting is really a boring task. But it is really important for our lovely guys - Super Junior. I am sure all of you guys want to see they get a weekly, monthly or even yearly champion. So please keep voting!
HAVE A NICE DAY ♥
Thanks,
Tracy from "I ♥ Super Junior"
1) 2009.04.23 Mnet M!countdown 1st place
2) 2009.04.24 KBS Music Bank Mutizen Song
http://www.facebook.com/groups.php?ref=sb#/video/video.php?v=74057817181&oid=4926284105
3) Battle of the Pop: Asia vs Asia
This voting cast is just over. For any of you who have voted for Super Junior, I should say you really did a great job! Even the result has not come out right now, I could say I am pretty sure Super Junior will get NO.1!
Find out who won by tuning in to Channel [V] on SUNDAY, 26th April at 5.15pm HK/SG, 6.15pm MAL!
4) VOTE for SUPER JUNIOR at YAHOO
http://kr.rival.kids.yahoo.com/rival/favor/?ac=favor&tac=view&category=1&code=200904&rcd=4634&cd=223
1. click the "로그인" at the top to login your yahoo account
2. there is 2 box...
click PURPLE box to VOTE for them
click ORANGE box to see the current polling result
3. you can vote for them EVERY 10 SECONDS
HURRY UP ELF!!!
SUJU in 3rd position now
let's make it NO.1!!!
5) Last but the most important one!!!
VOTE FOR SUPER JUNIOR @ ARIRANG TV POP COUNTDOWN
check the discussion board for more information:
http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?topic=7979&uid=4926284105#/topic.php?uid=4926284105&topic=7979
I know voting is really a boring task. But it is really important for our lovely guys - Super Junior. I am sure all of you guys want to see they get a weekly, monthly or even yearly champion. So please keep voting!
HAVE A NICE DAY ♥
Thanks,
Tracy from "I ♥ Super Junior"
Inbox from ELF in Facebook
Hey guys, sth exciting for sharing this week
1) 2009.04.23 Mnet M!countdown 1st place
2) 2009.04.24 KBS Music Bank Mutizen Song, this is a monthly champion for April. That means Super Junior has won the mutizen song @ KBS music bank for two consecutive months! If you haven't check it out, make sure to do it ASAP!
http://www.facebook.com/groups.php?ref=sb#/video/video.php?v=74057817181&oid=4926284105
3) Battle of the Pop: Asia vs Asia
This voting cast is just over. For any of you who have voted for Super Junior, I should say you really did a great job! Even the result has not come out right now, I could say I am pretty sure Super Junior will get NO.1!
Find out who won by tuning in to Channel [V] on SUNDAY, 26th April at 5.15pm HK/SG, 6.15pm MAL!
4) VOTE for SUPER JUNIOR at YAHOO
http://kr.rival.kids.yahoo.com/rival/favor/?ac=favor&tac=view&category=1&code=200904&rcd=4634&cd=223
1. click the "로그인" at the top to login your yahoo account
2. there is 2 box...
click PURPLE box to VOTE for them
click ORANGE box to see the current polling result
3. you can vote for them EVERY 10 SECONDS
HURRY UP ELF!!!
SUJU in 3rd position now
let's make it NO.1!!!
5) Last but the most important one!!!
VOTE FOR SUPER JUNIOR @ ARIRANG TV POP COUNTDOWN
check the discussion board for more information:
http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?topic=7979&uid=4926284105#/topic.php?uid=4926284105&topic=7979
I know voting is really a boring task. But it is really important for our lovely guys - Super Junior. I am sure all of you guys want to see they get a weekly, monthly or even yearly champion. So please keep voting!
HAVE A NICE DAY ♥
Thanks,
Tracy from "I ♥ Super Junior"
1) 2009.04.23 Mnet M!countdown 1st place
2) 2009.04.24 KBS Music Bank Mutizen Song
http://www.facebook.com/groups.php?ref=sb#/video/video.php?v=74057817181&oid=4926284105
3) Battle of the Pop: Asia vs Asia
This voting cast is just over. For any of you who have voted for Super Junior, I should say you really did a great job! Even the result has not come out right now, I could say I am pretty sure Super Junior will get NO.1!
Find out who won by tuning in to Channel [V] on SUNDAY, 26th April at 5.15pm HK/SG, 6.15pm MAL!
4) VOTE for SUPER JUNIOR at YAHOO
http://kr.rival.kids.yahoo.com/rival/favor/?ac=favor&tac=view&category=1&code=200904&rcd=4634&cd=223
1. click the "로그인" at the top to login your yahoo account
2. there is 2 box...
click PURPLE box to VOTE for them
click ORANGE box to see the current polling result
3. you can vote for them EVERY 10 SECONDS
HURRY UP ELF!!!
SUJU in 3rd position now
let's make it NO.1!!!
5) Last but the most important one!!!
VOTE FOR SUPER JUNIOR @ ARIRANG TV POP COUNTDOWN
check the discussion board for more information:
http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?topic=7979&uid=4926284105#/topic.php?uid=4926284105&topic=7979
I know voting is really a boring task. But it is really important for our lovely guys - Super Junior. I am sure all of you guys want to see they get a weekly, monthly or even yearly champion. So please keep voting!
HAVE A NICE DAY ♥
Thanks,
Tracy from "I ♥ Super Junior"
SHANE doing some stunts...
Since napanood ng kapatid kong pilya yung babaeng nagaacrobatics sa Kakaibang Pinoy ng Eat Bulaga kahapon, heto't nag-ilusyon kaagad na maging gymnast...sa kamalasmalasan, dumikit yung kulay ng creep paper sa ulo niya dahil nabasa ng pawis...CGE SHANE! pagbutihan mo at baka jan tayo yumaman!!!!GO SISTAH!!!
Oricon : Most Beautiful People (NEWS from Tokyograph)
American magazine People will soon be releasing its "100 Most Beautiful People" list, so Oricon has put together a small survey about "beautiful" Japanese celebrities. 1,000 men and women participated in the survey, which asked about both male and female celebrities.
The #1 answer for male celebrities was young actor Hiro Mizushima (25), though the survey was conducted just before he announced his marriage to singer Ayaka (21). Among female celebrities, the recently divorced Norika Fujiwara (37) was the #1 choice.
Men:
1. Hiro Mizushima
2. Gackt
3. Masaharu Fukuyama
4. Takuya Kimura
5. HYDE
6. Hiroshi Tamaki
7. Junichi Okada
8. Koichi Domoto
9. Hideaki Takizawa
10. Shosuke Tanihara
And here are the winners in women's category...I didn't put their pictures because I only want Namie Amuro..and I'm disappointed because she's not in the list...nevermind
Women:
1. Norika Fujiwara
2. Sayuri Yoshinaga
3. Yukie Nakama
4. Koyuki
5. Hitomi Kuroki
6. Nanako Matsushima
7. Misaki Ito
8. Yuko Takeuchi
9. Kou Shibasaki
10. Meisa Kuroki
The #1 answer for male celebrities was young actor Hiro Mizushima (25), though the survey was conducted just before he announced his marriage to singer Ayaka (21). Among female celebrities, the recently divorced Norika Fujiwara (37) was the #1 choice.
Men:
1. Hiro Mizushima
2. Gackt
3. Masaharu Fukuyama
4. Takuya Kimura
5. HYDE
6. Hiroshi Tamaki
7. Junichi Okada
8. Koichi Domoto
9. Hideaki Takizawa
10. Shosuke Tanihara
And here are the winners in women's category...I didn't put their pictures because I only want Namie Amuro..and I'm disappointed because she's not in the list...nevermind
Women:
1. Norika Fujiwara
2. Sayuri Yoshinaga
3. Yukie Nakama
4. Koyuki
5. Hitomi Kuroki
6. Nanako Matsushima
7. Misaki Ito
8. Yuko Takeuchi
9. Kou Shibasaki
10. Meisa Kuroki
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